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In focus
- M-Daq realigns as revenue declines, losses rise
- Nium’s card business powers growth in 2025
- GXS Bank, Grab, and Singtel team up for credit card
Hello reader,
Competition in Southeast Asia’s fintech space, particularly in cross-border payments, is crowded. Regional players like Airwallex, M-Daq, and Nium are all competing for market share.
That said, each appears to be taking a different focus lately. Airwallex is starting to target agentic AI financial infrastructure, M-Daq is going after enterprise customers, while Nium is seeing significant growth from its card issuance business.
M-Daq started its shift to enterprises in 2025. In what it called a year of “realignment and building,” its revenue fell 32%, while its loss before income tax widened 67%.
On the other hand, its gross margin improved by 13 percentage points, driven by the firm’s focus on “higher quality revenue” from enterprise customers.
In today’s first featured story, I take a closer look at M-Daq’s financials for last year and its expansion plans.
On the other side of the coin, Nium cut its losses in 2025 and saw revenue increase. My colleague Samreen takes a deep dive into Nium’s earnings for the year in the second featured story.
Card issuance remained Nium’s largest revenue contributor in 2025, while the firm has also been using debt and its cash position to pursue acquisitions in Mexico, the US, and India.
Jofie Yordan, journalist
Top Stories
1️⃣ M-Daq chases bigger clients as revenue falls, losses grow
Tan Choon Seng, group CEO of M-Daq Global / Photo credit: M-Daq
M-Daq is trying to revive growth after its revenue fell in 2025 by moving upmarket to enterprise clients with larger FX and payment needs. The strategy is already showing early signs of success, with enterprise transaction volumes surging and Vietnam emerging as a key growth market.
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