Business users, especially SMEs, emerge as fastest-growing segment at 8.55% CAGR, fueled by alternative lending and real-time payments.

Despite retail customers holding 71.85% of Singapore's fintech market in 2025, growth in basic deposits and payments has stalled, while business users—led by underserved SMEs—are driving the next expansion wave through alternative lending and real-time cross-border payments.

Retail Dominance Plateaus

Retail customers retained a commanding 71.85% of Singapore's fintech market share in 2025, according to Mordor Intelligence. However, growth in basic deposit accounts and payment services—the foundational retail offerings—has flattened, signaling a market nearing saturation. The ubiquity of digital payments reinforces this maturity: 92% of Singapore residents use digital payments daily, per aboveA Capital, leaving little room for further penetration in core retail transactions.

The plateau reflects a market where nearly every adult already has access to basic fintech services. Neobanks in Singapore, including Trust Bank, GXS Bank, and MariBank, have scaled rapidly but remain unprofitable; Trust Bank posted total income of SGD 96.9 million in 2025 while still recording a SGD 93.3 million loss, according to the Singapore Fintech Report 2025. The next growth vector for retail players will require innovation beyond simple deposit and payment products—into embedded finance, investment tools, and loyalty ecosystems.

%Source: Orionmano Industries

Business Users Lead Growth Amid SME Funding Gap

While retail holds the volume, business users—particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs)—are the fastest-growing segment. Mordor Intelligence projects business users will expand at an 8.55% CAGR through 2031, nearly double the expected retail growth rate. This acceleration is driven by a structural gap in SME financing: a SGD 20 billion (USD 15.60 billion) funding shortfall leaves many small businesses underserved by traditional banks, which struggle to assess collateral-light balance sheets.

Alternative lenders have stepped into this void. By deploying cash-flow-based credit scoring rather than collateral requirements, these platforms can approve loans in under 48 hours—a turnaround time legacy banks cannot match with manual underwriting processes. The speed advantage directly addresses SME working capital needs, where delayed funding can disrupt supply chains and inventory cycles.

Cross-border B2B payments represent another catalyst. Project Nexus, a real-time payment corridor initiative involving multiple central banks, has begun reducing settlement costs for supplier payments. For Singapore's trade-intensive SME sector, where cross-border transactions are routine, lower-cost real-time settlement directly improves cash conversion cycles. Mordor Intelligence notes that B2B cross-border payment corridors are a key driver of business user adoption, as alternatives to correspondent banking fees gain traction.

The trajectory suggests that business-facing fintech will increasingly command a larger share of the market, though from a base of 28.15% in 2025. Digital banks serving SMEs—such as ANEXT Bank and Green Link Digital Bank—are demonstrating the model's viability; GLDB's income surged 447% to SGD 47.8 million in 2025 while losses narrowed 83% to just over SGD 5 million (Singapore Fintech Report 2025).

User Interface Shift: POS/IoT Outpace Mobile Apps

Mobile applications remain the dominant user interface, controlling 69.10% of Singapore's fintech market in 2025, sustained by near-universal smartphone penetration and mature app ecosystems. However, the fastest-growing channel is point-of-sale (POS) and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, forecast to climb at a 13.38% CAGR through 2031, per Mordor Intelligence.

The surge is driven by merchant innovation. SoftPOS solutions from NETS, FOMO Pay, and 2C2P transform standard Android phones into contactless payment terminals, eliminating hardware acquisition costs for small retailers and hawker stalls. This approach is gaining traction in Singapore's hawker centres, which are rolling out smartphone-based POS systems to reduce reliance on dedicated card terminals. Beyond retail, IoT integration enables "invisible payments"—automated transactions at parking gates, vending machines, and smart building entry points—without requiring users to open an app or tap a device.

The shift toward POS/IoT reflects a broader maturation of payment infrastructure. As Singapore's SGQR and PayNow systems make interoperability seamless, the marginal cost of accepting digital payments approaches zero. For fintech platforms, the hardware-free SoftPOS model lowers the barrier to merchant acquisition, while IoT payments create recurring transaction volumes from physical infrastructure that was previously cash-based.

Outlook

The Singapore fintech market, valued at USD 13.97 billion in 2026, is approaching an inflection point. Retail will remain the largest user segment by volume, but with 92% daily digital payment adoption and plateauing deposit growth, the incremental gains will come from business users. The SGD 20 billion SME funding gap, combined with regulatory support via Project Nexus and open banking APIs, positions alternative lending and real-time B2B payments as the next high-growth verticals.

Retail platforms face a strategic imperative: innovate beyond basic deposits and payments into integrated wealth management, embedded lending, and loyalty programs, or risk ceding growth momentum to business-facing competitors. As Singapore's fintech ecosystem matures, the winners will be those serving the underserved—not just retail consumers, but the SMEs and merchants who have been overlooked by traditional financial infrastructure.