Asia's digital banks trail behind European counterparts in deal activity

The region’s virtual lenders have been involved in only 7.8% of deals since 2014.

Europe’s digital banks are putting their Asian counterparts out of the running in terms of deal activity as the latter only account for a measly 7.8% of total deal activity from 2014 to Q1, reports Fintech Global.

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Only Singapore’s WB21 which has raised $79.5m across six transactions led Asia’s digital banks as the startup lenders still face difficulty in luring customers away from traditional banking models.

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On the other hand, Europe accounts for 57$% of total deals in the near four year period with UK-based Atom Bank and Germany’s N26 snagging the top investments at $207.1m and $160m respectively.

North America is trying to catch up to Europe’s dominance after gaining a fifth (21.9%) of deals followed by Latin America at 7.8%.

Globally, deal activity rose from 21 in 2014 to 35 with the amount of capital invested growing by seven times over the near four year period. Average deal size also quadrupled from $7.2m in 2014 to $31.8m in 2017 as digital banks usually require more capital to fund acquisition costs and pursue licenses.