Tribe Payments Joins Emerging Payments Association Asia as APAC Expansion Gathers Pace

WHY THIS MATTERS: The immense scale of Asia-Pacific’s digital payments growth, projected to nearly double to over $33 trillion by 2031, necessitates specialized operational support. This move by Tribe Payments is significant because it strategically embeds a core payments infrastructure provider directly into the region’s regulatory and commercial dialogue. For the diverse ecosystem of local fintechs and global banks scaling across APAC, navigating the fragmentation of multiple local payment rails and distinct regulatory frameworks is the biggest challenge. The partnership with the Emerging Payments Association Asia (EPAA) signals a value-first commitment: bringing deep issuing and acquiring processing expertise to the table to ensure the foundational technology keeps pace. This is critical for improving the efficiency and compliance of soaring cross-border payment activity and laying robust payments infrastructure for the next wave of regional commerce.

Tribe Payments, the payments fintech specialising in issuer and acquirer processing, has joined the Emerging Payments Association Asia (EPAA), strengthening its engagement with banks, fintechs and payment providers across the Asia-Pacific payments ecosystem.

The Emerging Payments Association Asia is an industry body that connects financial institutions, fintechs, payment providers and policymakers across APAC to collaborate on the development of the region’s rapidly evolving payments landscape.

Asia-Pacific remains one of the fastest-growing regions for digital payments. The regional payments market is projected to grow from $17.86 trillion in 2026 to $33.08 trillion by 2031, representing a 13.1% compound annual growth rate, driven by fintech innovation and rising cross-border payment activity.

The move builds on Tribe’s growing presence in Asia-Pacific following the opening of its Singapore office in 2024, which established the company’s regional hub. Since then, Tribe has expanded its activity across the region through new client relationships and partnerships with banks and fintechs operating across multiple markets.

Founded in 2018, Tribe Payments supports banks and fintechs launching and scaling payment programmes across complex regulatory and commercial environments. Through EPAA, the company will engage in industry discussions around issuing, acquiring and the continued development of payments infrastructure across Asia-Pacific markets.

Matt Weir, General Manager for Asia-Pacific at Tribe Payments, commented: “One of the biggest lessons from operating across global regions is that local context really matters. Payments infrastructure develops differently in every market, shaped by regulation, technology adoption and customer behaviour. EPAA brings together people with first-hand experience of those differences, making it a valuable forum for informed industry discussion. We look forward to contributing our operational perspective to that conversation.”

Camilla Bullock, CEO of the Emerging Payments Association Asia, said: “We’re pleased to welcome Tribe Payments to the EPAA community. Our network brings together organisations shaping the future of payments across APAC, and Tribe’s experience in issuer and acquirer processing across multiple markets will add valuable perspective to discussions around the continued development of payments infrastructure in the region.”

Tribe’s EPAA membership supports its work with banks and fintechs operating across multiple Asia-Pacific markets, each with distinct regulatory frameworks, payment networks and operational requirements.

FF NEWS TAKE:This is a small but structurally important addition to the APAC payments conversation. While one membership won’t move the needle alone, it adds specialist issuing and acquiring perspective to a crucial policy-setting forum. Successful global fintech expansion increasingly requires this level of deep, hyper-local regulatory engagement rather than a pure technology play. As a result of this announcement, we will watch closely for concrete collaborations and discussions initiated within the EPAA that aim for greater standardization and interoperability across the region’s disparate payments infrastructure networks.

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