Vesta's General Manager of Asia Pacific, Shabab Muhaddes shares his thoughts.

Southeast Asia is home to the world’s fastest growing e-commerce markets, and that growth is coming exponentially. In 2017, a Google-Temasek report foresaw a $200 billion internet economy in the region by 2025 – but by 2019 it was already past the $100 billion mark.   There are 360 million internet users in Southeast Asia, and 90% of them connect primarily through their mobile phones. More than 40% of consumers in the region use mobile devices several times a week for e-commerce, and nearly half have at least two active digital wallets on their mobile device . This explosion of e-commerce growth also provides a ripe opportunity for fraudsters.  Online fraud in Southeast Asia accounted for 40% of Asia Pacific’s total fraud losses in 2019, and the average overall cost of fraud for merchants in the region is 1.75% of revenues.

“At Vesta, our one simple goal is to allow our partners to increase revenue by eliminating the fear of fraud. If we tell our customers a transaction is safe to approve, it is, and we stand behind that with our payment guarantee.” Shabab Muhaddes, GM of Asia Pacific.