WorldFirst, a one-stop digital payment and financial services platform for cross-border trade SMEs, announced today its intention to launch e-commerce digital finance solutions in new Southeast Asian markets in 2023 and 2024, with the goal of assisting online sellers in growing by providing secure, fast, and reliable cross-border payment and financial services, as well as an easy one-stop connection to multiple global marketplaces.

Building on its success in China, Singapore, and other regions, WorldFirst will provide the portfolio of products to Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia via World Account to help SMEs with worldwide selling, management, and growth.

Selling: SMEs may open a multi-currency World Account in minutes and trade like a local anywhere in the world. To enable global sourcing, World Account supports 42 currencies in over 200 global marketplaces. It also supports local collection in 30 currencies from more than 120 e-marketplaces, thanks to WorldFirst's global connection to 40 local rapid payment programmes. While traditional service providers frequently deny SMEs access to worldwide multi-currency pooling, with World Account, cash put into sellers' local collecting accounts are instantaneously pooled over as accessible balance.

Management: SMEs are sometimes hampered during the critical scaling-up stage by the problem of managing various storefronts across several e-marketplaces under multiple entities. World Account offers vendors a single, user-friendly platform for managing their expanding business across countries and marketplaces. Sellers can customize account statements for reconciliation by tiering stores, e-marketplaces, and entities.

Growth: WorldFirst's Global Voyage programme, which debuted in 2022, provides hassle-free one-stop store opening services across global marketplaces, thanks to strong ties with these marketplaces. The seller's set-up time is reduced to 24 hours thanks to an expedited process across 28 partner e-commerce platforms. Furthermore, sellers can access a wide range of value-added professional services from online advertising to logistics to website construction and maintenance through WorldFirst.

"Building on our global fintech capabilities and strong success in China, Singapore and other markets, we are confident our secure and fast cross-border payment and e-commerce enablement services can help small business in Southeast Asia extend their international footprint," said Clara Shi, chief executive officer of WorldFirst and vice president of Ant Group, in a statement.

With an industry-leading fraud prevention track record, WorldFirst prioritises the safety and security of client transactions above all else. It collaborates with banks and financial institutions, including eight Globally Systemically Important Banks, to protect client cash.

According to a report by the EU-ASEAN Business Council, the adoption of cross-border digital payment systems is a crucial stimulant for e-commerce growth, making it easier for small firms to discover new consumers by accessing new regional and global markets and handling their payments. SME clients of WorldFirst in Singapore saw a 70% rise in monthly GMV between October and January 2023.