This week in SEA fintech: wallets and lenders reached further. Touch 'n Go let Malaysians book rides in 47 countries, GCash started piloting an AI assistant that pays rather than just answers, and Philippine lender Skyro made its first loans in Malaysia.
P.S. My report The Branch Is the Product is open for pre-order at US$99 until 6 Dec. This week's number from it, a 34% return at ~10x earnings, is at the bottom of this issue..
New Launch
RHB courts RM2,000 earners with an Islamic credit card
Recap: RHB Bank launched the Sinar Credit Card-i, a Shariah-compliant card for people earning at least RM24,000 a year (about RM2,000 a month). It charges a fixed 14% a year with no compounding and no annual fee, and caps the limit at RM20,000 or twice monthly income, whichever is lower. (Fintech News Malaysia, Nov 6)
Why it matters: RM24,000 is the usual entry floor for a Malaysian credit card, the same crowd that paylater apps have been signing up. A flat rate and a low cap are easy to explain to first-time borrowers and keep the bank's exposure small.
Frontier angle: The segment is not empty: Atome already runs its own card in Malaysia. The opening is for credit-data and collections vendors, because a 14% flat-rate card only pays if underwriting and early collections are cheap.
AI Adoption
GCash pilots an AI assistant that pays, not just answers
Recap: GCash began piloting Gabby with a limited group of users. The assistant mixes support, financial guidance and tasks: it can buy mobile load, suggesting an offer based on past transactions, and the user confirms before any payment goes through. (Gizguide, Nov 9)
Why it matters: GCash had 42.1 million monthly active users in Q3 2026 (Daily Tribune, Nov 10), so even a narrow pilot tests whether people will let an AI move their money. It goes a step beyond Pera Coach, the advice-only assistant GCash built with Microsoft in March.
Frontier angle: Agentic assistants are already live in the region: DBS's handle servicing tasks for 10M+ customers (Jul 2026) and Malaysia's Ryt Bank runs on chat. In Thai and Indonesian bank apps I could not find one that completes a top-up yet; small, frequent tasks are the safe place to start.
Expansion Move
Skyro takes Philippine app lending to Malaysia
Recap: Skyro launched its first credit product in Malaysia: app-based cash loans of up to RM1,000 for first-time borrowers, over four months at a fixed 1.5% a month, through a KPKT-licensed moneylender. It plans to raise limits toward RM10,000 and add a credit-limit product by end-2026. (Fintech News Malaysia, Nov 5)
Why it matters: Malaysia is Skyro's second market after the Philippines, where it had 6.3 million registered users and disbursed PHP15.8 billion in 2025 (company figures, May 2026). Philippine-built lenders are now exporting their scoring and collections, not just an app.
Frontier angle: At home Skyro grew on credit lines from PBCom and Sterling Bank (2025). Malaysian banks could fund lenders like it, but private credit got there first (Silverstreak's US$20M line to Fingular, Oct 2026), so banks would compete on price.
JV & Partnership
Recap: Trusting Social plugged its telco-based credit score into the lending engine of Datung, a microfinance lender run from Singapore and Manila. Datung says it can now approve MSME loans within minutes for borrowers with no credit history, combining the score with e-wallet cash flows and field-officer input. (Fintech News Philippines, Nov 9)
Why it matters: Trusting Social says it has scored 110M+ Filipinos since 2019. MSME loans were only 3.9% of Philippine bank loans in 2024 (ADB, cited by the companies), against a 10% benchmark in the Magna Carta for MSMEs.
Frontier angle: Banks already buy the score: six of the top 10 Philippine banks use Trusting Social (Manila Bulletin, May 2026). What they lack is Datung's field network, so funding such lenders may reach small firms faster than building one.
Cross-Border
TNG eWallet lets Malaysians book rides in 47 countries
Recap: Touch 'n Go's TNG eWallet added overseas ride-hailing powered by Alipay+: users book DiDi, AMap, GO, Kakao T, Bolt or Lyft rides in 47 countries and 12,000+ cities and pay in ringgit from their balance, with no local app to download. (Fintech News Malaysia, Nov 5)
Why it matters: TNG says 35% of its users have already used a travel service in the app, which also offers QR payments in 50+ countries and travel eSIMs (Lowyat.NET, Nov 5). Every new travel feature keeps outbound spending inside a Malaysian wallet.
Frontier angle: The bigger story is what TNG is becoming. With QR payments, an eSIM, a Visa travel card, travel deals and now rides, it is growing from a payments wallet into a travel business. For SEA wallets and bank apps, outbound travel can be a product line of its own, not just a payment feature; GCash (Grab rides, 2025) is moving the same way. See The Play below.
Distribution
M Lhuillier sells disaster cover at 3,000+ branches with Igloo
Recap: Pawnshop and remittance chain M Lhuillier teamed up with insurtech Igloo to sell Calamity Protect plans at more than 3,000 branches. The one-year cover pays for accidental death or disability and gives cash if a home is damaged by fire, earthquake, typhoon or flood. (Fintech News Philippines, Nov 10)
Why it matters: Insurance penetration in the Philippines is about 2% (Asia Insurance Review), in the country the 2025 WorldRiskIndex ranks as the most disaster-prone. Selling cover where people collect remittances puts it in front of them when cash is in hand.
Frontier angle: Branch-sold microinsurance is not new in the Philippines; rival Cebuana Lhuillier has done it for years. The bigger gap may be Vietnam, where local press still calls disaster cover unfamiliar and pawn and remittance shops are everywhere.
The Play: Touch 'n Go turns its wallet into a travel app
The move: TNG eWallet added overseas ride-hailing in 47 countries inside its main app, charged in ringgit.
How they did it:
One network, many ride apps: through Alipay+, TNG connects to the local leader in each region (DiDi and AMap in China, GO in Japan, Kakao T in Korea, Bolt in the EU, Lyft in North America).
Mini-apps inside the wallet: DiDi and AMap run inside TNG in English or Chinese; users see the fare first and pay from their balance (SoyaCincau, Nov 6).
One travel need at a time: payments via Alipay+ (from Jun 2022), a travel eSIM (Mar 2025), now rides. 35% of users already use a travel feature.
GCash vs TNG: GCash got there first, with Grab rides in 8 SEA countries from Sep 2025. But its rides came through Alipay+ Voyager, an AI travel agent, with one ride partner, so they reach only where Grab runs. TNG built a ride menu with several providers per region instead. As far as I can find, GCash has not added rides outside SEA since.
Who can copy it: Wallets already on Alipay+ in Vietnam and Indonesia; as far as I can find, none books rides abroad yet. The first move: two or three ride apps for the places their users travel most, inside the main app.
Watch out: It all runs on Alipay+'s partner list and terms. DiDi also asks first-time users to register with a Malaysian number.
What we're watching
Whether GCash's Voyager adds ride apps beyond Grab and outside Southeast Asia.
Skyro's next step in Malaysia: a credit-limit product by end-2026.
Whether GCash widens Gabby beyond buying load; its roadmap names food, travel and money management.
From the report desk
A 34% return for ~10x earnings
Six listed lenders in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia earn 10–34% on equity and trade at 4.5–10x last-twelve-months earnings. F88 (Vietnam) earned a 34% return in 2025 and trades at 10.4x; MTC (Thailand) 17% at 9.2x; BFI Finance (Indonesia) 15% at 6.4x. Adira Finance is the cheapest, at 4.5x for a 10% return. (FY2025 ROE; market caps of 23 Oct–6 Nov 2026.)
Why it matters: for an investor or a bank's JV team, the Thai and Indonesian lenders trade at 0.6–1.5x book, while Krungsri paid about 1.6x when it bought more of Tidlor in 2025. F88's premium pays for growth (its loans grew 57% in 2025). So the question is not whether the model works, but where a stake is still available, at what price, and what the buyer brings. Funding is the clearest gap: F88's cost of funds is ~13%, against under 7% for its Thai and Indonesian peers.
The report: The Branch Is the Product compares 8 lenders across Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. It opens with an Investor & JV lens (ROE vs valuation, a credit-cost stress test, a target longlist and a note for lending-tech vendors), then the scorecard, the ecosystem ladder, 7 case studies, how they keep NPLs low with unbanked borrowers, and 24 deal precedents with price per branch. It comes with the CSV. Out 4 Dec.
Pre-order for US$99 → (US$149 from 7 Dec)
Buying for a team? Team licence for up to 10 people at one company, with a live data feed: US$249 until 6 Dec, then US$349.
Quick poll: which market would you put money into first? Reply with one letter: A Thailand, B Vietnam, C Indonesia, D the Philippines.
Independent research, not investment advice.
Correction: last Friday I suggested a zero-fee bank account for wallet users. GoTyme already offers one, with 10M+ users and 20 free InstaPay transfers a month. The real gap is getting money out of the wallet; my revised idea is on LinkedIn.
Friday: the pain points of the week, from people who work in banks and the customers they serve.
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— Yo Jetni
