Boku has announced the opening of an Innovation Hub in Singapore. The Hub will be led by Yi Hahn Chin, Head of FX & Money Movement at Boku. He will lead a dedicated team focused on building new payment capabilities to solve merchants’ cross-border money movement challenges across APAC. Yi Hahn Chin will report to Paul Jarrett, Chief Banking and Treasury Officer. The announcement came at the start of the Singapore Fintech Festival.
The new Hub will also operate under the governance of the Global Leadership Team. Including the Paul Jarrett, Adam Lees – Chief Product Officer, Keegan Flanigan – Chief Technical Officer; Keegan Flanigan – CTO; and Stuart Neal – CEO. The Singapore Economic Development Board will also support the operation, though Boku did not clarify how. The Hub will be built out over the first year. With Boku intending to grow the team to around 17 people by the end of its third year.
Yi Hahn Chin, Head of Boku’s Innovation Hub, commented, “Cross-border payments remain one of the most persistent friction points for digital merchants operating across multiple markets.
“By working closely with merchants and regional partners in Singapore, our team can stay close to evolving market needs and accelerate our response with new capabilities. We’re focused on building deeper partnerships with merchants to shape the next generation of payment solutions that improve commercial outcomes.”
The opportunity is huge, with FXC Intelligence estimating that global payments are projected to reach US$290 trillion by 2030. In APAC alone, the research firm estimates that cross-border payments will reach $23.8 trillion by 2032, up from $12.8 trillion in 2024. Boku will look to develop capabilities using technologies such as Blockchain and AI to capitalise on this growth.
Why Singapore?
The new Hub will aim to meet the requirements from across the APAC region. Enterprise Times asked Boku to clarify this. The response was, “The focus is on APAC as a region. Singapore has been chosen specifically because it is a regional nexus for wallets, networks and regulators. And its time zone works well for APAC and European coordination.
“A main priority for the Hub is the development of next-generation payment solutions for cross-border commerce. So its remit is region-wide, not contained to a specific country.”
As a location, Singapore has access to a rich set of fintech talent. Singapore ranked fourth in the recent Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI 38) FinTech rankings. It is behind Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and New York, and has overtaken London, now in fifth place. The city captured 84% of all fintech funding in South East Asia for the first nine months of 2025, according to Tracxn.
The location has a forward-looking regulatory environment and is close to Asia-Pacific’s most innovative payment ecosystems. With rapidly developing markets in India, Indonesia and Vietnam, as well as established financial centres such as Singapore and Hong Kong.
The region hosted some of the earliest mobile-first payment platforms. Including WeChat Pay (China), Alipay (China), GCash (Philippines), PayPay (Japan), ZaloPay (Vietnam) and PayMaya (Philippines), which collectively serve billions of users.
What will the team do?
The team based in the new Hub will collaborate with regional fintechs, merchants, and financial institutions to design, prototype, and validate capabilities that reduce cross-border complexity and expand acceptance. Those capabilities will aim to remove friction for global merchants operating across borders with new real-time FX and payout capabilities.
Stuart Neal, CEO of Boku, commented, “Merchants don’t just need more payment methods – they need payment infrastructure that reduces complexity while expanding reach.
“Payments have now moved beyond plastic, and the Innovation Hub lets us reflect that reality by prototyping against real merchant requirements, pressure testing solutions in live markets, and accelerating the deployment of capabilities that directly impact the bottom line. Embedding our team in Singapore brings us closer to APAC customers and partners, which is central to Boku’s growth.”
Enterprise Times also asked Boku which functions would be present in the new Hub. The reply stated, “The hub will bring together product, engineering and ecosystem partners to prototype, validate and ready proof-of-concepts that help global brands reach and convert more customers – starting in APAC.”
A catalyst for change
The world of payments is evolving, with cross-border payments moving away from traditional card payments. Local payment methods are reshaping global commerce. Boku currently operates a network that includes over 200 local payment methods. Its network already reaches more than 7 billion consumer accounts in over 60 countries. The network processes transactions for over 100 million monthly active users.
Importantly, Boku is seeing the shift in real time with Digital wallets and account-to-account payment methods representing the majority of the company’s transaction growth.
According to Boku research conducted with Juniper Research, LPMs surpassed traditional card payments in 2025. And are projected to account for 59% of global e-commerce transactions by 2028. The change is not without its challenges. With merchants facing increased complexity due to hundreds of local systems, an evolving regulatory landscape, and settlement processes.
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
With an Innovation Hub in Singapore, Boku hopes to place itself at the forefront of the ever-evolving Fintech payments ecosystem. With an estimated 1,700 to 2,300 Fintech startups in Singapore, Boku hopes to keep a close eye on the rapidly evolving market and ensure the most successful join its global network. It now means that Boku has a presence in three major time zones: the US, the UK, and Singapore.
While the announcement signals the launch of a new unit in Singapore, it will be interesting to see which new initiatives emerge from the Hub in the coming months.
