Payment Expert profiles five companies building the wallets, rails and cross-border links defining Asia-Pacific’s next phase in mobile payments
Asia-Pacific records the highest mobile payment adoption of any global region, and its largest platforms now move trillions of dollars a year across payments, lending and cross-border transfers.
India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) processed a record 23.2 billion transactions worth ₹29.9tn ($312bn) in May 2026, per National Payments Corporation of India data – the largest real-time payment system in the world.
Mobile wallets will overtake cards as the region’s leading e-commerce payment method by 2027, according to ResearchAndMarkets. Outbound cross-border payment volume from Asia-Pacific could reach $3.7tn by 2032, Ant International estimates, almost double the 2024 figure.
Below, Payment Expert profiles five companies defining where the region’s mobile payments go next.
PhonePe
Founded: 2015
HQ: Bengaluru, India
CEO: Sameer Nigam
PhonePe runs India’s largest Unified Payments Interface (UPI) application by transaction volume, holding a share of roughly 46–48% and ranking as the top provider for 58 consecutive months, per its updated draft prospectus.
It had more than 650 million registered users and over 40 million merchants as of 30 September 2025. Revenue from operations reached ₹7,055.59 crore (about $850m) in FY25.
PhonePe filed for a listing on the NSE and BSE structured entirely as an offer for sale, and received SEBI clearance on 20 January 2026. Walmart, which controls the company, planned to cut its stake by about 12%, while Microsoft and Tiger Global registered full exits.
PhonePe paused the process on 16 March 2026, citing market volatility and geopolitical tensions. CEO Sameer Nigam said the company remained committed to a public listing once conditions stabilised.
India’s zero-MDR rule means UPI payments generate almost no direct revenue, so PhonePe earns through merchant services, lending and insurance distribution, and newer platforms including Share.Market for stockbroking and the Indus Appstore.
GCash
Founded: 2004
HQ: Taguig, Philippines
CEO: Martha Sazon
GCash operates the Philippines’ most-used finance app, reporting 40.4 million monthly active users as of 31 March 2026 – 55% of the adult population and four times its nearest competitor, per Frost & Sullivan figures in its prospectus.
Parent company Mynt, formally Globe Fintech Innovations, recorded 2025 revenue of ₱79.7bn and net income of ₱17.2bn, on payment gross transaction value of ₱17.03tn.
Mynt filed for a Philippine Stock Exchange listing on 27 June 2026 under the ticker GCASH, with an offer period of 5–9 October and listing targeted for 19 October. The sale could raise up to ₱92.3bn ($1.5bn) and value Mynt at up to ₱669bn ($10.9bn), which would make it the largest IPO in Philippine history.
Shareholders include Globe Telecom, Ant Group, Ayala Corp, Warburg Pincus and MUFG Bank.
Grab
Founded: 2012
HQ: Singapore
CEO: Anthony Tan
Grab runs a superapp spanning ride-hailing, deliveries and financial services across eight Southeast Asian countries and more than 900 cities. It posted its first full-year net profit in 2025 – $200m on revenue of $3.37bn – after more than a decade of losses. GrabPay sits within Grab Financial Group alongside lending, insurance and two digital banks. Grab trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker GRAB.
Financial services was Grab’s fastest-growing segment in 2025, with revenue up 37% to $347m. First-quarter 2026 financial services revenue rose 43% year-on-year to $107m, and the gross loan portfolio expanded 130% to $1.438bn. Grab operates GXS Bank in Singapore and GX Bank in Malaysia, and began consolidating Indonesia’s Superbank, which serves over 6 million customers, from May 2026.
Kakao Pay
Founded: 2017
HQ: Seongnam-si, South Korea
CEO: Shin Won-geun
Kakao Pay grew out of a payment feature inside KakaoTalk, South Korea’s dominant messaging app, and became an independent company in 2017. It reported 24 million monthly active users at the end of 2024. First-quarter 2026 revenue rose 41.7% year-on-year to KRW 300.3bn ($200m), with operating profit up 630.9% to KRW 32.2bn. Total payment volume reached KRW 50.9tn ($33.9bn). Kakao Pay is a subsidiary of Kakao Corp and trades on the KOSPI; Ant Group is a shareholder.
Kakao Pay posted its first full-year consolidated profit in 2025. Kakao Corp, Kakao Pay and KakaoBank signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with USDC issuer Circle on 23 July 2026 to develop payment infrastructure for a won-pegged stablecoin, covering merchant settlement and cross-border remittances. The company is a partner in Ant International‘s Alipay+ network, which lets its users pay at overseas merchants, and competes at home with Naver Pay and Toss.
Ant International (Alipay+)
Founded: 2023
HQ: Singapore
CEO: Peng Yang
Ant International runs Alipay+, a gateway that connects a single merchant integration to more than 50 e-wallets and bank apps used across Asia and beyond. The network links over 2 billion consumer accounts to more than 150 million merchants in over 55 countries, including more than 10 national QR payment schemes.
Ant International, the international unit of China’s Ant Group, is headquartered in Singapore and led by CEO Peng Yang.
Alipay+ added Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Bank as a partner on 24 July 2026, letting the bank’s app users pay by QR code at more than 100 million merchants abroad. Recent connections include a China–Indonesia QRIS linkage in May 2026 and a Latin American rollout across Chile and Argentina.
Ant International charges for cross-border transaction processing and licenses related technology to banks. Its Falcon foreign-exchange model produces long-range currency forecasts with up to 93% accuracy and is used by Citi and Barclays, while its Whale blockchain platform handles near-instant cross-border liquidity for partners including Standard Chartered and HSBC.
If you are interested in featuring in Payment Expert’s Spotlight series, get in touch with the team today by emailing News Editor Louis Thompsett at [email protected], or Senior Media Sales Executive Annabel Selvadurai at [email protected].
