Asia's Top
Fintech Companies
A rigorous annual ranking recognizing fintech companies whose payments, lending, insurance, wealth, brokerage, risk, remittance, merchant-acquiring and financial-infrastructure models shaped Asia's financial-technology landscape in 2016.
InfluenceAsia 50: Asia's Top Fintech Companies 2016 identifies the companies that made financial technology a mainstream commercial force across Asia in a year defined by mobile payments, online consumer credit, SME financing, digital insurance, cross-border payouts, online brokerage, merchant acquiring, crypto exchanges and risk-data infrastructure.
The 2016 edition treats fintech influence as the ability to change how money moves, how credit is assessed, how insurance is discovered, how merchants accept payments, how consumers invest and how underserved users enter formal finance. The most important companies were not merely funded startups; they were financial-behavior platforms.
In 2016, Asian fintech crossed from novelty into infrastructure. China produced the world's most powerful mobile-payments and online-credit ecosystems. India experienced a sudden acceleration in wallet adoption and merchant digitization. Southeast Asia began building payments, remittance and SME-lending rails for fragmented markets. Japan and South Korea moved digital finance into accounting, crypto and peer-to-peer transfer use cases. The Middle East advanced payment gateways and online SME finance. Valuation alone is insufficient. The ranking prioritizes 2016 market consequence, product adoption, financial inclusion, merchant utility, infrastructure role, risk capability, regulatory seriousness, regional relevance and the company's ability to change user behavior.
Fintech platforms that set the pace
The leading tier shows Asian fintech moving from useful apps into financial infrastructure: mobile wallets, credit engines, digital insurance, marketplace lending and transaction rails.
Ant Financial
- Market
- China
- Domain
- Digital payments, wealth, credit and financial infrastructure
- Score
- 99.4
Ant Financial leads the 2016 edition because it turned Alipay from a payment tool into a broad digital-finance ecosystem. Its influence rested on mobile payments, money-market access, credit scoring, online banking, merchant digitization and a scale that made Chinese fintech a global reference point.
Tenpay
- Market
- China
- Domain
- Social payments and wallet infrastructure
- Score
- 99
Tenpay is ranked second for the force of WeChat Pay inside China's social and commercial life. In 2016, Tencent's payments infrastructure made money movement conversational, mobile, merchant-facing and culturally embedded through red packets, QR payments and everyday wallet behavior.
Lufax
- Market
- China
- Domain
- Online wealth and marketplace lending
- Score
- 98.6
Lufax is included for making online wealth management and credit intermediation a central Chinese fintech category. Its 2016 influence reflected a powerful institutional sponsor, broad investor reach, digital distribution and the transformation of household savings into technology-enabled investment products.
ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance
- Market
- China
- Domain
- Digital insurance and embedded protection
- Score
- 98.2
ZhongAn is ranked for proving that insurance could be built around data, platforms and embedded use cases rather than branch distribution. In 2016, its influence came from online-only underwriting, e-commerce insurance, travel protection, health-adjacent products and the rise of insurtech as a serious Asian category.
Qudian
- Market
- China
- Domain
- Online consumer credit and installment finance
- Score
- 97.8
Qudian is included for its rapid growth in small-ticket consumer credit and installment payments. In 2016, the company captured the appetite for mobile-first borrowing among younger users, showing how data-driven underwriting and app-based distribution could challenge traditional credit channels.
JD Finance
- Market
- China
- Domain
- Consumer finance, supply-chain finance and payments
- Score
- 97.4
JD Finance is ranked for extending JD.com's commerce and logistics data into financial services. Its 2016 influence lay in consumer credit, supply-chain finance, crowdfunding, payments and the demonstration that large e-commerce platforms could become financial operating systems for merchants and users.
The complete 2016 ranking
Companies are ordered by InfluenceAsia score. The table preserves every source entry and identifies each company's Asian link, fintech domain and editorial rationale.
| Rank | Company | Asian Link | Fintech Domain | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ant Financial Ant Financial leads the 2016 edition because it turned Alipay from a payment tool into a broad digital-finance ecosystem. Its influence rested on mobile payments, money-market access, credit scoring, online banking, merchant digitization and a scale that made Chinese fintech a global reference point. | China | Digital payments, wealth, credit and financial infrastructure | 99.4 |
| 2 | Tenpay Tenpay is ranked second for the force of WeChat Pay inside China's social and commercial life. In 2016, Tencent's payments infrastructure made money movement conversational, mobile, merchant-facing and culturally embedded through red packets, QR payments and everyday wallet behavior. | China | Social payments and wallet infrastructure | 99 |
| 3 | Lufax Lufax is included for making online wealth management and credit intermediation a central Chinese fintech category. Its 2016 influence reflected a powerful institutional sponsor, broad investor reach, digital distribution and the transformation of household savings into technology-enabled investment products. | China | Online wealth and marketplace lending | 98.6 |
| 4 | ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance ZhongAn is ranked for proving that insurance could be built around data, platforms and embedded use cases rather than branch distribution. In 2016, its influence came from online-only underwriting, e-commerce insurance, travel protection, health-adjacent products and the rise of insurtech as a serious Asian category. | China | Digital insurance and embedded protection | 98.2 |
| 5 | Qudian Qudian is included for its rapid growth in small-ticket consumer credit and installment payments. In 2016, the company captured the appetite for mobile-first borrowing among younger users, showing how data-driven underwriting and app-based distribution could challenge traditional credit channels. | China | Online consumer credit and installment finance | 97.8 |
| 6 | JD Finance JD Finance is ranked for extending JD.com's commerce and logistics data into financial services. Its 2016 influence lay in consumer credit, supply-chain finance, crowdfunding, payments and the demonstration that large e-commerce platforms could become financial operating systems for merchants and users. | China | Consumer finance, supply-chain finance and payments | 97.4 |
| 7 | Paytm Paytm is included for becoming the defining Indian fintech company of 2016. The sudden acceleration of digital payments after currency withdrawal placed Paytm at the center of wallet adoption, QR merchant acceptance, bill payments, mobile commerce and India's broader movement toward cash-light transactions. | India | Mobile wallets, QR payments and consumer fintech | 97 |
| 8 | Payoneer Payoneer is ranked for enabling freelancers, exporters, marketplace sellers and digital businesses to receive cross-border payments with less friction. In 2016, its influence reflected global payout infrastructure, e-commerce integration, India market relevance and the importance of Asian talent and merchants in global digital commerce. | Israel / Global Asia | Cross-border payouts and marketplace payments | 96.6 |
| 9 | PayU India PayU India is included for strengthening the payment gateway layer behind Indian e-commerce and digital services. In 2016, its influence came from merchant acceptance, card and net-banking aggregation, mobile checkout, industry consolidation and the infrastructure required for online transactions to become routine. | India | Online payment gateways and merchant acquiring | 96.2 |
| 10 | eToro eToro is ranked for turning trading into a social and mobile-first experience. In 2016, its influence rested on copy trading, multi-asset access, retail investing education and the idea that digital platforms could make investment behavior more transparent, networked and globally participatory. | Israel / Global | Social trading and digital investing | 95.8 |
| 11 | Yirendai Yirendai is included for giving Chinese online consumer lending a public-market reference point by the 2016 horizon. Its influence reflected data-based borrower assessment, personal loan distribution, investor access and the visibility of China's P2P credit boom in global capital markets. | China | Online consumer lending | 95.4 |
| 12 | CreditEase CreditEase is ranked for its broad role across P2P lending, wealth management and inclusive finance. In 2016, it represented the institutionalization of China's alternative-credit market, connecting retail investors, borrowers and advisory services inside a rapidly expanding digital-finance environment. | China | Marketplace lending and wealth management | 95 |
| 13 | Dianrong Dianrong is included for building a technology-driven marketplace lending platform with strong attention to credit process, data and institutional design. In 2016, its influence reflected China's search for more sophisticated online lending models beyond simple traffic acquisition. | China | P2P lending and credit technology | 94.6 |
| 14 | MobiKwik MobiKwik is ranked for its role in India's wallet economy and its push into merchant payments, bill payments and small consumer credit. In 2016, it became one of the companies converting demonetization-era urgency into mass digital-payment experimentation. | India | Mobile wallets and consumer payments | 94.2 |
| 15 | PolicyBazaar PolicyBazaar is included for making insurance discovery more transparent in a market long dominated by offline agents. In 2016, its influence came from comparison, consumer education, online distribution and the early formation of India's digital insurance marketplace. | India | Digital insurance comparison and distribution | 93.8 |
| 16 | BankBazaar BankBazaar is ranked for building a marketplace for loans, cards and financial products at a time when Indian consumers were moving online for financial decisions. Its 2016 relevance reflected comparison, digital application flows, lender partnerships and the democratization of financial-product discovery. | India | Financial-product comparison and digital acquisition | 93.4 |
| 17 | Money Forward Money Forward is included for advancing Japan's personal-finance and cloud-accounting software market. In 2016, its influence reflected automated account aggregation, household money visibility, SME back-office tools and the modernization of a financial culture still burdened by manual administration. | Japan | Personal finance and back-office fintech SaaS | 93 |
| 18 | freee freee is ranked for making cloud accounting one of Japan's most credible fintech categories. By the 2016 horizon, its rapid SME adoption showed that financial software could reduce back-office friction, improve compliance workflows and help entrepreneurs run businesses with less administrative drag. | Japan | Cloud accounting and SME financial operations | 92.6 |
| 19 | bitFlyer bitFlyer is included for becoming Japan's most visible Bitcoin and blockchain company in 2016. Its influence came from exchange activity, Ethereum support, institutional experimentation and the emergence of Japan as one of Asia's most serious early digital-asset markets. | Japan | Crypto exchange and blockchain infrastructure | 92.2 |
| 20 | Viva Republica Viva Republica is ranked for launching Toss as a simpler mobile money-transfer experience in South Korea. In 2016, its influence reflected consumer frustration with cumbersome bank transfers, mobile-first design and the early formation of a Korean fintech company built around financial convenience. | South Korea | P2P money transfer and mobile finance | 91.8 |
| 21 | Futu Securities Futu Securities is included for digitizing brokerage access for Chinese and Hong Kong investors. Its 2016 influence rested on mobile stock trading, user-friendly investing tools, community features and the demand for technology-led access to public markets. | Hong Kong / Mainland China | Online brokerage and digital wealth | 91.4 |
| 22 | WeLab WeLab is ranked for making Hong Kong-origin online lending relevant across Greater China. In 2016, its influence came from digital loan origination, consumer credit analytics, venture backing and the ability to connect Hong Kong fintech credibility with mainland demand. | Hong Kong / Mainland China | Online lending and credit technology | 91 |
| 23 | Tiger Brokers Tiger Brokers is included for bringing mobile-first overseas securities access to Chinese investors. In 2016, its influence reflected a new generation of retail investors seeking global-market exposure through app-based brokerage, low-friction onboarding and technology-driven trading tools. | China / Singapore | Online brokerage and cross-border investing | 90.6 |
| 24 | 51 Credit Card 51 Credit Card is ranked for using mobile software to manage consumer credit-card bills, repayments and adjacent financial services. In 2016, it reflected China's shift from bank-centered card relationships toward app-based personal finance and credit-data engagement. | China | Credit-card management and personal credit services | 90.2 |
| 25 | Tongdun Technology Tongdun Technology is included for addressing one of fintech's most important hidden layers: trust. In 2016, its risk-control and anti-fraud tools mattered because fast-growing lenders, payment companies and online platforms needed data infrastructure to identify fraud, score users and manage exposure. | China | Risk decisioning, anti-fraud and credit infrastructure | 89.8 |
| 26 | Lakala Lakala is ranked for its role in China's offline-to-online payment transition. In 2016, its influence came from merchant acquiring, bill payments, small-business payment acceptance and the broader integration of card, mobile and convenience-store payment behavior. | China | Third-party payments and merchant acquiring | 89.4 |
| 27 | BillDesk BillDesk is included for providing a foundational Indian digital-payments layer long before mobile wallets became fashionable. In 2016, its influence reflected bill payment rails, merchant connectivity, online collections and the trust infrastructure required for recurring digital transactions. | India | Bill payments and online payment infrastructure | 89 |
| 28 | Pine Labs Pine Labs is ranked for expanding card and digital acceptance at Indian merchants. In 2016, its influence lay in POS infrastructure, retailer integration, transaction reliability, merchant financing adjacency and the practical problem of helping offline commerce participate in digital payments. | India | Merchant payments and point-of-sale technology | 88.6 |
| 29 | Razorpay Razorpay is included for bringing a developer-first payments approach to Indian startups and online merchants. In 2016, its influence reflected clean APIs, easier onboarding, payment aggregation and the emergence of infrastructure fintech built for India's new generation of internet businesses. | India | Developer payments and online merchant infrastructure | 88.2 |
| 30 | Lendingkart Lendingkart is ranked for using data and digital workflows to serve small businesses outside traditional bank underwriting. In 2016, its influence came from faster SME credit assessment, online applications, working-capital finance and the promise of lending models built around business data rather than asset security alone. | India | SME digital lending | 87.8 |
| 31 | Capital Float Capital Float is included for becoming one of India's most visible digital lenders to SMEs. In 2016, its influence rested on short-term working capital, e-commerce seller finance, partnership-led distribution and the effort to narrow the credit gap for small enterprises. | India | SME finance and alternative credit | 87.4 |
| 32 | Mswipe Mswipe is ranked for helping small merchants accept card payments through mobile POS devices. In 2016, its influence reflected India's under-penetrated merchant-acquiring market, the need for affordable acceptance infrastructure and the shift from cash dependence toward electronically recorded transactions. | India | Mobile point-of-sale and merchant acceptance | 87 |
| 33 | Ezetap Ezetap is included for turning smartphones and compact devices into enterprise-grade payment acceptance tools. In 2016, its influence came from mobile POS deployment, large-merchant use cases, field collections and the digitization of payments in sectors where conventional terminals were too expensive or inflexible. | India | Mobile POS and enterprise payment acceptance | 86.6 |
| 34 | Zerodha Zerodha is ranked for changing the economics of Indian stock trading through low-cost online brokerage. In 2016, its influence reflected transparent pricing, trader education, digital account access and the possibility of building a profitable fintech company without relying on aggressive consumer lending. | India | Discount brokerage and online investing | 86.2 |
| 35 | Coverfox Coverfox is included for expanding online insurance comparison and purchase in India. In 2016, its influence came from consumer-friendly product discovery, motor and health insurance workflows, digital documentation and competition in a category where trust and explanation mattered as much as price. | India | Digital insurance broking | 85.8 |
| 36 | 2C2P 2C2P is ranked for serving the fragmented payment needs of Southeast Asian merchants. In 2016, its influence reflected airline, e-commerce and offline payment acceptance, alternative payment methods and the hard infrastructure required to connect merchants across diverse regulatory and currency environments. | Singapore / Thailand | Payment gateway and regional payment infrastructure | 85.4 |
| 37 | Omise Omise is included for building modern payment infrastructure from Thailand into regional markets. In 2016, its influence came from API-based merchant acceptance, funding momentum, cross-border ambition and the proof that Southeast Asian payment companies could build developer-oriented products. | Thailand / Japan / Southeast Asia | Online payments and payment APIs | 85 |
| 38 | Coda Payments Coda Payments is ranked for helping digital-content companies monetize users in markets where card penetration was limited. In 2016, its influence reflected carrier billing, voucher distribution, online gaming payments and the conversion of fragmented consumer payment methods into usable merchant infrastructure. | Singapore / Southeast Asia | Digital content payments and alternative billing | 84.6 |
| 39 | M-DAQ M-DAQ is included for addressing foreign-exchange friction in cross-border e-commerce and investment. In 2016, its influence lay in currency conversion infrastructure, pricing transparency, risk management and the need for Asian digital commerce to operate across multiple currencies. | Singapore | FX technology and cross-border commerce | 84.2 |
| 40 | Funding Societies Funding Societies is ranked for becoming one of Southeast Asia's most visible SME digital-financing platforms by the 2016 horizon. Its influence reflected Singapore and Indonesia expansion, bank referral collaboration, marketplace lending discipline and the region's urgent need for small-business credit. | Singapore / Indonesia | SME P2P lending and digital financing | 83.8 |
| 41 | MatchMove Pay MatchMove Pay is included for building wallet and prepaid-card infrastructure for businesses seeking embedded finance capabilities. In 2016, its influence came from stored-value technology, virtual cards, loyalty-linked payments and the early movement from consumer wallets toward platform-enabled financial services. | Singapore | Wallet-as-a-service and prepaid card infrastructure | 83.4 |
| 42 | InstaReM InstaReM is ranked for targeting remittance and cross-border transfer costs with a digital-first model. In 2016, its influence reflected Asian migrant flows, SME payments, transparent fees, licensing expansion and the importance of reducing friction in money movement across corridors. | Singapore / India | Digital remittance and cross-border payments | 83 |
| 43 | Coins.ph Coins.ph is included for connecting mobile financial services, remittance and Bitcoin rails in the Philippines. In 2016, its influence came from serving users beyond traditional banking, enabling cash-in and cash-out networks, and demonstrating how digital assets could support practical payment use cases. | Philippines | Mobile wallet, remittance and digital assets | 82.6 |
| 44 | Mynt Mynt is ranked for developing GCash into one of the Philippines' most important mobile-money platforms. In 2016, its influence rested on wallet payments, remittance, bill payment, mobile-first access and the effort to bring formal digital finance to a large cash-heavy market. | Philippines | Mobile wallet and financial inclusion | 82.2 |
| 45 | DOKU DOKU is included for helping establish Indonesia's online payment infrastructure. In 2016, its influence reflected payment gateway services, merchant acceptance, e-commerce enablement and the challenge of building trusted digital transactions in a fragmented, cash-oriented archipelagic economy. | Indonesia | Online payments and merchant services | 81.8 |
| 46 | Soft Space Soft Space is ranked for expanding mobile point-of-sale and card acceptance technology from Malaysia into regional markets. In 2016, its influence came from low-cost acquiring infrastructure, merchant enablement, security standards and the modernization of face-to-face payments for smaller businesses. | Malaysia | Mobile POS and payment acceptance | 81.4 |
| 47 | CompareAsiaGroup CompareAsiaGroup is included for building financial-product marketplaces across Asian consumer markets. In 2016, its influence reflected comparison of cards, loans and insurance, online acquisition funnels, financial education and the early platformization of consumer choice in personal finance. | Hong Kong / Southeast Asia | Financial comparison and digital acquisition | 81 |
| 48 | PayFort PayFort is ranked for becoming one of the Middle East's most important online payment gateways. In 2016, its influence rested on e-commerce acceptance, card and alternative-payment processing, fraud tools and the push to reduce cash-on-delivery dependence in regional digital commerce. | United Arab Emirates | Payment gateway and e-commerce payments | 80.6 |
| 49 | Beehive Beehive is included for pioneering online marketplace lending for SMEs in the Gulf. In 2016, its influence came from digital loan applications, investor-funded SME finance, Sharia-compliant structuring and a practical answer to working-capital gaps in the region. | United Arab Emirates | P2P SME finance and Sharia-compliant lending | 80.2 |
| 50 | Tipalti Tipalti completes the 2016 list for its role in automating global payables, supplier onboarding and mass payments for digital businesses. Its influence reflected the back-office side of fintech: compliance, tax documentation, cross-border payouts and operational scale for fast-growing online platforms. | Israel / Global | Supplier payments and payables automation | 79.8 |
How the fintech list was built
The edition uses a 100-point editorial research framework for 2016 fintech influence, normalized across payments, lending, insurance, brokerage, remittance, risk infrastructure and financial software.
InfluenceAsia uses a 100-point editorial research framework. Scores are comparative indicators within this 2016 edition, not investment recommendations, credit ratings, regulatory approvals, customer guarantees, app-store rankings, accounting statements or legal judgments.
Companies are assessed by fintech category, then normalized across payments, wallets, lending, insurance, brokerage, remittance, merchant acquiring, risk infrastructure, accounting SaaS, financial comparison and digital-asset platforms.
Placement reflects the combined strength of 2016 market consequence, user and transaction reach, product originality, access contribution, trust and risk readiness, Asia and cross-border connectivity, and long-term category significance.
The editorial voice is anchored to 2016. Subsequent acquisitions, listings, scandals, regulatory outcomes, name changes, valuation changes and future market dominance are not used as the basis of this ranking copy.
InfluenceAsia recognizes that a wallet, payment gateway, online lender, brokerage platform, insurtech company and risk-technology provider create influence in different ways. The final order therefore weighs domain-specific consequence rather than forcing all companies into a single funding or valuation metric.
- 2016 Market Consequence 20%
- User, Merchant and Transaction Reach 18%
- Product Originality and Infrastructure Value 16%
- Financial Inclusion and Access 14%
- Trust, Risk and Regulatory Readiness 12%
- Asia and Cross-Border Connectivity 10%
- Category Leadership and Long-Term Significance 10%
Copyright and legal statement
Copyright
InfluenceAsia 50: Asia's Top Fintech Companies 2016 is an original editorial and research ranking prepared for InfluenceAsia. The selection logic, ranking order, scoring structure, written profiles, annual theme and presentation language are independently prepared. The InfluenceAsia 50: Asia's Top Fintech Companies name, edition structure, ranking framework, scores, profiles and publication copy are controlled by InfluenceAsia. All rights reserved.
Editorial Independence
Inclusion in the ranking does not constitute endorsement, sponsorship, partnership, certification, investment advice, lending advice, insurance advice, trading advice, legal advice, banking advice or official approval by any company, regulator or organization named or implied.
Legal Disclaimer
The ranking is not a substitute for investment research, regulatory review, credit evaluation, security assessment, consumer due diligence, accounting review, product comparison or professional financial advice. It is an editorial ranking designed for public-facing fintech communication.