Solving FX Liquidity in Southeast Asia

At OpenFX, we continually seek new markets that can benefit from more reliable FX liquidity at institutional volumes. We have seen significant success in Latin America, and now we are working to expand into Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia has built some of the world's most advanced domestic financial systems.

• Singapore's PayNow processes 311 million transactions annually.

• Hong Kong's FPS handles 1.25 million transactions daily.

• The Philippines' InstaPay surpassed 1 billion transactions in 2024.

These payments settle in seconds and have helped to drive immense economic growth across this region of over 700 million people.

But behind these innovations are cross-border FX systems that continue to rely on decades-old rails, and a highly fragmented regulatory environment that creates significant complexities for anyone who wants to move money through these currencies.

A Fragmented Market

Thin liquidity in places like the Philippines force most cross-border transactions to pass through USD, the so-called "triangle trade," leading to total transaction costs that can exceed 8%. These flows include $38.34 billion worth of remittances in 2024, along with another $38 billion in BPO (Business Process Outsourcing).

Meanwhile, places like Hong Kong and Singapore are each managing their own complex efforts to support the FX markets.

Hong Kong's Stablecoin Ordinance adds much needed clarity for providers, but also requires these issuers to maintain significant reserves of liquid assets, and approximately USD $3.2M in paid-in capital.

Singapore, which has cemented itself as the financial "gateway" to Southeast Asia, capturing 84% of all fintech funding in the region, is working to manage a host of changing regulations and spearhead future financial innovations through initiatives like FSTI 3.0.

All of this combines to create a period of massive opportunity married to massive risks, that requires innovators who not only understand regional nuances, but have the talent and infrastructure needed to support these highly dynamic markets.

This is where OpenFX can make a difference, with our focus on developing world-class infrastructure for the world’s most dynamic markets.

A Reliable Solution

We provide reliable liquidity, competitive pricing, and near-instant settlements, whether the transactions are fiat-to-fiat or involve stablecoin. 86% of all our transactions settle in under 10 minutes, and we have a proven track record of delivering at scale, with an annualized transaction value of $34B last month. We have built a product designed from the ground up to move money in some of the most complex regions in the world at institutional scales.

• Reliable liquidity for exotic pairs like AED → PHP or AUD → PHP eliminates the forced USD hops that can double conversion costs or increase pre-funding cost.

• Near-instant settlement for PHP remittances means that working capital no longer has to wait 5 days, reducing currency risk.

• Reducing costs from percentage points to basis points directly impacts the margins for all businesses that need to move money across borders.

Reducing costs from percentage points to basis points

Our mission is to bring these new, modern cross-border rails to SEA, and we have assembled a team with deep regional expertise to drive that.

Our Head of New Business for SEA, Rocco Puno grew up in the Philippines. He has a first-hand, personal understanding of the market's complexities, having also worked as a CRO of a Philippine-focused remittance startup. He knows the pain points because he's lived them.

Our Head of Client Success, Nirmit Nevatia, is ex-Visa and far from a recent transplant. He has been deeply integrated in the South East Asia tech and financial ecosystem ever since he attended the prestigious National University of Singapore.

We are also humbled to have Huey Lin as a chief advisor. Huey's experience is simply unmatched, bridging the entire ecosystem:

• She was one of the first Risk PMs at PayPal, eventually rising to GM of China and APAC.

• She sits on the Board of HSBC, one of the world's largest traditional banks.

• She serves as a member of the International Technology Advisory Panel for the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

This is our key advantage in the region. We are not a Silicon Valley company imposing an outside solution. We are a regional partner, guided by a local team that understands how SEA thinks and moves money.

Our roadmap is clear. We are beginning by launching support for the Philippine Peso (PHP), which we see as the largest opportunity for immediate impact. From there we will expand into the Singapore dollar (SGD) and Hong Kong dollar (HKD), along with other regional currencies.

This is just the beginning. We are working to build the rails that will drive the next century of commerce in Southeast Asia. If you're moving currency cross-border, scaling your operations, or just tired of waiting five days days to pay a supplier 500 miles away — let's talk.