Everything You Need to Know About Southeast Asia Payment Methods in 2026

We often group the Southeast Asian region under one label when talking about the countries casually: SEAblings.

But each country has its own unique identity, which transcends to how each market uses its respective payment methods, shaped by factors like dominant payment methods, relationship with cash, homegrown champions, and regulatory philosophy.

Understanding those differences across markets is the best way to see how payments work in Southeast Asia. Right now, Asia Pacific, and by that extension, Southeast Asia, is where the most interesting payment method developments are taking place.

From the warungs in Indonesia to street vendors in Bangkok and the hawker centres in Singapore, many of us have already made the switch from cash and cards, opting to pull out our phones to scan a QR code to pay via a bank account, digital wallet, or any other mode. It feels like second nature. Some of us still use cards and yes, cash too.

The newly released Global Payments Report 2026 puts Southeast Asia payment methods into a clearer context with a comprehensive breakdown, comprising digital wallets, BNPL services, A2A transfers and more over e-commerce and point-of-sale systems.

One global statistic stands out: By 2030, payment apps like digital wallets, BNPL services, account-to-account transfers, and banking apps will account for 46% of all Point-of-Sale (POS) spending worldwide, estimated at US$15.6 trillion.

Now, how is Southeast Asia moving in its payments scene?

Singapore: Digital Wallets Have Overtaken Cards at POS

For the first time in history, Singapore’s digital wallets overtook debit cards as the leading payment method at the point of sale in 2025. Digital wallets captured 36% of POS value and 40% of e-commerce value in 2025.

In Singapore’s digital wallet ecosystem, Apple Pay and Google Pay are increasingly available online and in stores, while local wallets like GrabPay, ShopeePay and PayPal are more prevalent and competing online.

It’s interesting to note that stored credit cards are the leader in payments made from within wallets themselves. Credit cards remain preferred over debit at a 3-to-1 ratio by transaction value. Overall, cards still account for 44% of e-commerce and 40% of POS transaction value in 2025.

A2A payments are also growing thanks to PayNow and SGQR, and the latter enables transactions to be completed through wallets or banking apps.

Popular payment methods in Singapore: GrabPay, ShopeePay, PayNow, Apple Pay

Malaysia: DuitNow and DuitNow QR Drive Digital Wallet Growth

Global Payments forecasts A2A payments to reach 40% of online and 16% of point-of-sale value for Malaysia by 2030. DuitNow and DuitNow QR have been central to the growth across digital wallet and A2A channels, with Malaysia’s central bank reporting 2.6 million DuitNow QR acceptance points as of the end of 2024.

PayNet’s FPX system adds another layer, allowing consumers to pay online merchants directly from their bank accounts.

Meanwhile, cash is retreating, dropping from 64% in POS value in 2019 to 22% in 2025, though this still remains above the APAC average. The Malaysian government has made reducing cash use a policy goal in its Financial Sector Blueprint, and is motivated partly by the need to curb persistent tax evasion.

Digital wallets captured 26% of e-commerce and 32% of point-of-sale value for 2025, led by local providers like Touch’ n Go and Boost, alongside GrabPay and ShopeePay. Global brands such as Apple Pay and Google Pay trail behind among the Malaysian consumers surveyed.

The adoption of digital wallets is driven on two fronts: speed, security, and convenience draw consumers in, while merchants pull them closer with in-app discounts, loyalty rewards, and targeted incentives.

Popular payment methods in Malaysia: DuitNow, FPX, Boost, Touch ‘n Go

Philippines: 94 million on GCash, but Cash Still Reigns Supreme

The Philippines has an interesting mix of the use of cash and digital wallets. On the one hand, digital wallets accounted for 41% of e-commerce and 29% of POS value in 2025.

GCash, which is one of the country’s dominant digital wallets, now connects more than 94 million users to 6+ million merchants. Maya, Lazada Wallet, and ShopeePay are also highly rated according to the consumers Worldpay surveyed.

On the other hand, the Philippines also records the highest rate of cash use across the entire global report, with 42% of in-store transaction value. Cash on delivery itself still represents a huge chunk of e-commerce value at 23%. This is possibly an important enabler still for Filipinos, given that 50% of the population remained unbanked as per the World Bank’s 2024 data.

That said, the use of InstaPay and QR Ph is both picking up, with A2A-based payments accounting for 13% of e-commerce and 7% of POS transaction value. The central bank of the Philippines, BSP, is pursuing interoperable payment arrangements across SEA.

Popular payment methods in the Philippines: GCash, Instapay, Maya, ShopeePay

Indonesia: The Fastest Cash-to-Digital Shift in the Region

Indonesia’s cash share of its POS value more than halved from 77% in 2019 to 36% in 2025, driven almost entirely by two factors: BI-FAST, its instant payment system, and QRIS, the national QR code standard. Both are initiatives by Bank Indonesia to reduce cash dependency under its Indonesia Payment System Blueprint 2030.

As of August 2025, with 40 million merchants and 57 million users, BI-FAST and QRIS connect merchants and consumers to digital wallets, making it the leading payment method online and one that’s growing fast at POS too.

Popular payment methods in Indonesia: BI-FAST, Gopay, DANA, Ovo

Thailand: A2A Payment Leads The Way

A2A is the top payment method across e-commerce and point-of-sale channels. This is pushed by the widespread merchant acceptance of PromptPay, the instant payment system from the Bank of Thailand, which aims to improve financial inclusion by reducing cash dependency. A2A payments accounted for 44% of e-commerce and 43% of POS value in 2025, the report shares.

Digital wallets trail behind, with TrueMoney and ShopeePay cited as the preferred wallets by survey respondents. Next, cash use remains high in rural and suburban areas, but is falling in cities like Bangkok. Cash on delivery tells a similar story, as its share of e-commerce in Thailand ranks among the highest globally.

Popular payment methods in Thailand: Prompt Pay, ShopeePay, TrueMoney, LINE Pay

Vietnam: A Maturing Digital Payments Market Built on QR

QR codes have been growing steadily in Vietnam. VietQR, in particular, allows users to pay from different wallets and banks by scanning a single code. Possibly due to this, adoption has scaled quickly. QR code payments grew 62% in volume and 151% in value year-on-year in 2025, becoming the fastest-growing segment in the digital payment ecosystem according to the State Bank of Vietnam.

Vietnam’s digital wallet market is broad and competitive, with 49 licensed operators as of 2025. MoMo, ZaloPay and ShopeePay rank highest among consumers surveyed. Global players are also expanding their presence: in April 2025, NAPAS, the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam, brought Apple Pay’s Tap to Pay to over 80 million contactless cardholders, following up in September with an expansion to Android devices.

By 2030, digital wallets are forecast to account for 38% of e-commerce and 33% of POS spending. Cash still accounts for one-third of POS value in Vietnam in 2025, with cash on delivery representing 16% of e-commerce spending.

Popular payment methods in Vietnam: MoMo, VietQR, ZaloPay, ShopeePay

Southeast Asia’s Payment Landscape is Vibrant and Now, Digital

Taking in the bigger picture across these five markets and their respective Southeast Asia payment methods, each country arrived at their current payment landscape through a mix of similar pushes and very different starting points. Some, for instance, treated cash like a problem to solve, whilst others took it as a reality to accommodate.

Phil Pomford, General Manager, Global eCommerce, APAC, Global Payments, shares on Asia’s payment landscape,

“Wallet adoption continues to surge, A2A rails are gaining scale across multiple markets, and interoperable QR standards are stitching the region into a unified, low‑cost real‑time payments corridor. Merchants that enable these preferred methods will be the ones who benefit most from the region’s accelerating digital economy.”

Digital adoption by consumers is seemingly driven by a cocktail mix of incentive structures by merchants, regulatory mandates by governments and in some cases, public-private infrastructure, but all moving towards the same goal of digital payments as the default.

For merchants operating across the region, understanding where each market sits on that curve is quickly becoming critical.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What are the most popular payment methods in Southeast Asia?

This depends on which market you’re looking at under the Southeast Asia digital payments market.

In Singapore, digital wallets like GrabPay and Apple Pay lead at the point of sale. In the Philippines, GCash dominates with 94 million users, though cash still accounts for 42% of in-store value. Indonesia’s consumers increasingly pay via QRIS QR codes and wallets like GoPay and DANA. Malaysia’s DuitNow QR has reached 2.6 million merchant acceptance points as of 2024.

There is no single dominant payment method across the region, as each country has its own preference.

Is cash still widely used in Southeast Asia?

Yes, but the trajectory varies sharply by country. The Philippines has the highest cash usage in the Global Payments Report 2026, while Indonesia’s cash share had the fastest decline in the region.

How do QR code payments work in Southeast Asia?

Most Southeast Asian countries have developed national QR code standards. Examples include QRIS in Indonesia, VietQR in Vietnam, QR Ph in the Philippines, DuitNow QR in Malaysia, and SGQR in Singapore.

These systems allow a consumer to scan a merchant’s QR code using any participating bank app or digital wallet, complete the payment instantly via account-to-account transfer or wallet balance, and receive real-time confirmation.

For merchants, the cost is minimal, like a printed QR code, which is why adoption has grown rapidly among small businesses and street vendors across the region.

Featured image edited by Fintech News Singapore based on an image by Global Payments