Customers can pay for petrol with the Momo app. — Photo courtesy of Momo .

Vietnamese electronic wallet and payment application Momo jumped 48 places to sit at 36th in the top 100 global innovative fintech firms this year.

The Fintech100 is collected by a panel comprised of senior partners from H2 Ventures, a fintech venture capital investment and KPMG, a global network of independent member firms offering audit, tax and advisory services.

Firms were ranked based on total capital raised, rate of capital raising, location and degree of sub-industry disruption and the judging panel's subjective rating of the degree of product, service, customer experience, and business model innovation.

Leading the ranking this year are China’s Ant Financial, the world’s largest third-party payments platform, JD Finance, a digital technology company and Singapore’s ride-hailing firm Grab from Singapore, Go-Jek from Indonesia, Opendoor from the US, Paytm India and OakNorth from the UK.

It is the second time Momo has been named in the list, while there is a drop in the number of payments and lending companies from 34 firms last year to 27 firms. According to the panel, some payments and lending companies have been replaced by a surge in the number of wealth, insurance and multi-sector companies.

Nguyen Ba Diep, vice chairman and co-founder of Momo said: “Being on the list is such a nice way to celebrate our 12th anniversary. We are proud to show the world how Vietnamese fintech can compete with the world.”

According to the panel, Momo’s products help customers in Viet Nam make nationwide cash transfers, pay more than 100 types of bills, recharge mobile phone accounts, settle personal loans, and purchase services such as software licences and online game cards, airline and movie tickets, etc.

Up to now, Momo has 13 million customers and a growth rate of 15 per cent in monthly transaction volume and user base.

The firm’s notable investors include Warburg Pincus, Standard Chartered Bank and Goldman Sachs.

Finhay, a smart savings app that helps Vietnamese customers plan and save for their goals, is also included in the list this year. — VNS

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