EXPERTS are predicting that consumer spending in Southeast Asia’s online economy will rise six and a half times, or 500% from US$30 billion (RM117.5 billion) currently to US$200 billion by 2025, fuelled by consumption of electronics, clothing, household goods, and groceries, as well as increased travel within the region

HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd (HSBC) said Southeast Asia was the world’s fastest growing internet region, with nearly four million new users coming online every month for the next five years, translating into a user base of 480 million by 2020.

“Asean economies stand to benefit from the potential of the flourishing digital economy, but for that potential to become a reality, changes must be made,” chief executive officer Mukhtar Hussain said today.

HSBC said the mobile wallet segment in Malaysia had been growing since the entry of Ant Financial’s mobile solution, Alipay, which had potential to drive Malaysians to leverage mobile payments and spur the shift towards a cashless society.

“Malaysia is on the brink of the next wave of e-payment transformation.

“In line with this, Bank Negara Malaysia has put up the Interoperable Credit Transfer Framework to drive the next e-payment migration, which will be propelled by the high penetration of mobile phones complementing debit cards to replace cash,” it added.

HSBC said the Digital Free Trade Zone would provide physical and virtual zones for small and medium enterprises to capitalise on the Internet economy’s exponential growth and cross-border e-commerce activities.

“It will act as a microcosm to support Internet companies to trade goods, provide services, innovate and co-create solutions,” it said.

On the development of smart cities in Asean in line with the region’s growing digital economy, HSBC estimated that US$2.1 trillion of infrastructure investments would be needed.

The bank said the planned infrastructure investment in the 11th Malaysia Plan was US$85 billion, up from US$50 billion in 2011-2015.

Mukhtar said that without investing in the region’s soft infrastructure and harmonising systems, Asean would lose its competitive edge in the global economy.

“Smart cities can’t be developed without embracing the technologies used to build the digital economy.

“Without a thriving integrated digital economy, the Asean economic community will have less to offer partners”, he added. – Bernama, March 20, 2018.