The battle to combat fraud, while fostering trust and enabling a secure digital engagement has been greater now, considering how more and more users are turning to digital transactions.
Finance leaders, as they look forward and plan ahead for their organisations, are expected to look into diverse opportunities while ensuring to inspire greater confidence for growth and value creation– all these amid the changes in the payments landscape.
As the world propel to the next half of 2025, it is important for finance leaders to see through the increasing importance of digital adoption for their teams, along with the transformative potential of embedded finance.
It is for this matter that Ershad Ahamed, head of Southeast Asia at Airwallex, believes finance leaders in Asia-Pacific should prepare for an even more dynamic, competitive, and digitally integrated payments environment.
For him, economic rebalancing in the region, coupled with ongoing geopolitical realignment, will continue to push demand for faster, more secure, and more cost-efficient cross-border payments.
The past six months
When it comes to the changes and adjustments around payments, the past six months have marked a period of significant transformation across the Asia-Pacific payments landscape.
"We’ve seen rapid advances in technology, particularly in AI, that are dismantling traditional barriers and bridging conventional finance with emerging decentralised systems," Ahamed observes. "These technologies are enabling faster, cheaper, and more transparent payment experiences – all while reducing reliance on intermediaries."
Simultaneously, he highlights that the explosive growth of cross-border trade, especially fuelled by APAC’s booming eCommerce sector, has heightened demand for efficient and localised digital payment infrastructure.
"More businesses now view seamless cross-border capabilities not just as an operational convenience, but a strategic enabler – key for expanding customer bases, streamlining supply chains, and attracting top talent."
Yet, according to Ahamed, the current global financial infrastructure remains fragmented and costly to navigate.
"A recent Airwallex-commissioned survey of 250 Singapore-based SMEs revealed that almost half face challenges managing cash flow locally and globally, illustrating the complexities of cross-border financial operations."
Ahamed believes this is where local relevance becomes critical, as businesses are demanding solutions that feel native to each market – from preferred local payment methods and multi-currency support to settlement capabilities.
"These shifts point to a broader evolution toward a more interconnected, agile, and intelligent global financial ecosystem – and an opportunity for fintechs like Airwallex to drive that change."
Impact on finance
Considering these changes, Ahamed says finance leaders across APAC are undergoing a fundamental mindset shift.
"Where once payments were viewed as a cost centre or back-office function, today they sit at the heart of strategic decision-making. The evolving payments landscape – shaped by digital transformation, heightened customer expectations, and complex regulatory demands – has forced finance leaders to become more agile, forward-thinking, and tech-enabled."
He notes that they now see a growing emphasis on platforms that enable real-time financial visibility, optimise working capital, and support seamless international operations.
"Payment infrastructure is no longer simply about processing transactions; it’s about enabling businesses to operate globally with speed, transparency, and control. This is particularly true in APAC, where companies must juggle multiple jurisdictions, currencies, and compliance regimes."
As a result, Ahamed says more finance teams are turning to fintech providers and broader Banking-as-a-Service ecosystems as these platforms offer deep integration, automation, and scalability, allowing finance leaders to future-proof their operations while reducing dependency on fragmented legacy systems.
"Our recent survey found that 38% of SMEs already use fintech platforms for financial operations, with 58% planning to do so soon. This signals a clear shift toward digital-first, insight-led financial leadership."
Three lessons
As payments evolve, finance leaders have an opportunity to rethink their approach to growth, efficiency, and risk. For this matter, Ahamed enumerates three key lessons that stand out:
Adopt a global-first mindset. In today’s re-globalising world, businesses are no longer limited by geographic boundaries. With embedded finance and API-led platforms, even early-stage companies can expand across markets without replicating financial infrastructure in each country. Taking a borderless approach from day one enables agility, improves capital efficiency, and unlocks new revenue opportunities.
Automation and AI should be embraced as foundational, not aspirational. From optimising FX routes and automating treasury workflows to enabling real-time fraud detection and smarter reconciliation, AI is already transforming how money moves. By freeing finance teams from manual tasks, these tools unlock bandwidth for higher-value work – forecasting, scenario planning, and strategic analysis.
Innovation must be built on trust. As regulation tightens across APAC, finance leaders must view compliance, data governance, and operational resilience as core pillars – not afterthoughts. Fintech partners that combine speed with robust controls will prove most valuable in the long run.
Moving forward
Moving forward to the next half of the year, Ahamed believes finance leaders in the Asia-Pacific region should expect embedded finance to become a baseline capability.
"As businesses operate across increasingly fragmented financial ecosystems, embedded APIs will allow seamless integration of payments, FX, treasury, and reconciliation tools into core business platforms – reducing operational overhead and enabling scale without complexity."
Further, he expects a step-change in AI adoption. "From improving fraud prevention and AML to real-time credit decisioning and cash flow forecasting, AI will become essential to how finance teams manage risk and support growth."
In regions like APAC, where diversity in language, regulation, and customer behaviour prevails, Ahamed explains that intelligent automation will be key to navigating complexity.
However, with this progress comes greater regulatory scrutiny, as he cautions that compliance with evolving local laws will demand closer collaboration between finance teams and fintech providers with strong governance frameworks.
Advice
To stay competitive, Ahamed advises finance leaders to move decisively in response to APAC’s evolving payments landscape.
"The shift to digital, borderless finance is no longer a trend – it’s the new standard. But the global financial system remains fragmented, and traditional solutions often lack the speed, transparency, and adaptability modern businesses require."
He notes that finance leaders should modernise their payments infrastructure, which means moving beyond legacy systems and embracing embedded finance platforms that provide real-time visibility, control, and flexibility across markets.
"Fintechs like Airwallex offer the ability to integrate payments, treasury, and FX into core workflows, transforming what was once back-office complexity into streamlined, scalable capabilities."
Ahamed says it is critical to choose partners that balance innovation with compliance, especially as regulatory requirements across the Asia-Pacific region are intensifying, particularly around cross-border data flows, AML, and e-money. He advises working with fintech providers that deeply understand these environments will help businesses scale safely and sustainably.
In his view, finance leaders should view payments not just as a cost to manage but as a lever for growth.
"With the right tools, cross-border capabilities can unlock new revenue streams, accelerate market entry, and enhance customer experience. The most forward-thinking leaders will treat payments as a strategic pillar – one that drives agility, resilience, and long-term business value."
