In Southeast Asia, 70% of the population is unbanked or underbanked.

Nearly half of the Philippines don’t have bank accounts, while Vietnam’s 70% figure makes it the second-most unbanked population in the world. Firms such as Advance are on a mission to change this.

The Filipino startup provides financial services such as salary advances to underserved employees. The firm currently works with over 200 companies and recently acquired its Vietnam-based counterpart BravoHr to support its expansion into the country.

BravoHr already provides services to thousands of employees at companies such as McDonald’s, L’Oreal, and AstraZeneca.

Advance recently partnered with customer experience firm Sitel Philippines, enabling 43,000 employees to access the former’s on-demand pay services.

SOURCE: techinasia.com