Major alternative lending companies SEA 2020, by funding raised

 As of November 2020, Akulaku was the biggest alternative lending platform in Southeast Asia, with 218 million U.S. dollars of funding raised. Akulaku is a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform operating in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. FinAccel from Singapore followed second with 120 million U.S. dollars raised. FinAccel operates the online point-of-sale (POS) financing platform, Kredivo, in Indonesia.

 Types of alternative lending 

P2P or marketplace lending is the leading model of the alternative finance industry in the Asia Pacific region. Marketplace business lending, or also called crowdlending, transaction value in Asia has grown significantly in recent years and was forecasted to keep expanding. In comparison, the transaction value growth of consumer marketplace lending in Asia was forecasted to slow down in the coming years.

 Potential of alternative finance in Southeast Asia

  The alternative finance market in Southeast Asia is relatively underdeveloped as it takes up less than one percent of the global transaction volume. The value of alternative lending transactions in Southeast Asia is low as well compared to mature markets like China. For example, the average funding per crowdlending loan in Vietnam is just one U.S. dollar. However, gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecasts combined with low banking penetration rates sets up a promising prospect for Southeast Asia’s alternative finance market.