ASEAN Connectivity Strengthened Through Financial Services
ASEAN economic integration continues to be built. The private sector also has a role in making regional connectivity felt in the daily activities of society. One way is through financial services that facilitate cross-border mobility and transactions.
One party taking that position is UOB Indonesia, which has relaunched its Visa Infinite card portfolio. The launch took place simultaneously in several ASEAN countries, including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, with enhanced premium card benefits.
In Indonesia, UOB became the first bank to introduce the enhanced premium card portfolio. The improvements provide access to various travel, dining, and lifestyle benefits at both regional and global levels. Customers can also enjoy the new benefits gradually without having to immediately replace their physical cards.
Acting Head of Consumer Banking at UOB Indonesia, Herman Soesetyo, said the service enhancements were prepared in response to changing customer mobility patterns, with customers increasingly travelling to various countries. UOB positions regional service development as part of its effort to meet the needs of customers who are increasingly connected with various ASEAN countries.
Thanks to benefits that can be used across the region, the banking sector is helping to shape people-to-people connectivity, which is one of the important foundations of ASEAN integration. According to Herman, the various new benefits in the latest innovation are expected to provide added value for the public.
“We continue to develop products and services to meet the evolving needs and aspirations of our customers. As the frequency of our customers’ travel to various ASEAN countries and other international destinations increases, they need banking solutions that align with the way they live, travel, and transact,” Herman said in a statement on Thursday (13/8).
Based on data from The Wealth Report 2026 published by Knight Frank, the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWI) in Indonesia is projected to grow by 82% until 2031.
That projection places Indonesia as one of the fastest-growing wealth markets in the world. For ASEAN, this development has broader significance. The increase in cross-border travel and transactions demonstrates the increasingly close economic ties among communities in the region. When financial services are able to keep pace with that mobility, national borders become simpler in everyday transaction practices.
The presence of relatively uniform services across several ASEAN countries shows how the financial sector can become part of regional community connectivity. A person’s mobility from one ASEAN country to another is no longer only related to transport and tourism, but also to the need to make payments, access services, and enjoy facilities with a more integrated experience.
In that context, banking can serve as one of the connectors of economic activity among ASEAN communities. UOB is currently the largest Visa card issuer in ASEAN, with more than 8.5 million customers in the region.
Together with Visa, UOB is also the first Visa issuer in ASEAN to enhance its premium card portfolio simultaneously across several countries. This move comes as economic activity in the affluent segment in ASEAN continues to grow.
A similar trend is visible in Indonesia. Credit card transactions in the travel, dining, hospitality, and lifestyle categories grew by 10% last year. That growth was mainly driven by the increase in Indonesians travelling abroad.