The people of Singapore, Thailand and Brunei are the most interested in personal finance management according to analysis by UnaFinancial based on search queries related to personal finance management in Southeast Asia.
Meanwhile, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos demonstrated the highest growth rates of interest in this topic.
The analysts considered search requests about personal finance management in 11 countries of Southeast Asia for the past year. They calculated the indicator of interest, which represents a ratio of all requests in a particular country to its average population over the past 12 months.
The country with the greatest interest in personal finance management is Singapore, with an indicator of 9.8%.
Thailand is the second with 6.7%, and Brunei – the third (3.1%).
The report said: “All three countries are characterized with a growing supply of investment tools, high levels of accumulated wealth, and a large share of Millennials and Gen Z (54%), who are looking for financial management tools. Singapore’s performance is driven by a rising income per capita and a growing number of wealthy people, who are interested in investment tools. In Thailand, the main reason is the depreciation of the local currency, which makes people search for ways to preserve their wealth.”
Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos have the lowest indicator of interest, however, they demonstrate the fastest growth of search requests. Over the past 12 months, the number of search queries related to personal finance management in Myanmar has increased by 34.8%, in Cambodia – by 38.4%, and in Laos – by 50%.
According to the analysts, the growth is driven by changes in the financial literacy of the population, influenced by the development of the respective programs for growing micro-enterprises in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, measures to increase financial literacy in Cambodia, and post-pandemic recovery of the investment industry in Laos.
