Coverage: weekly note · Information to 18 November 2025
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TGB Weekly Research Note · 18 November 2025
Grab, Sea and GoTo grew their loan books by 65% to 76% year on year to September 2025, far faster than loan growth in Indonesia or Malaysia, while banks took part as channelling partners and, in Thailand, as members of approved virtual-bank groups.
The desk view
Southeast Asia's listed super-apps are building lending businesses on their platforms. Sea's consumer and SME loans reached US$7.9 billion at 30 September 2025, up 69.8%; GoTo's consumer loans rose 76% to Rp7.6 trillion; and Grab's loan portfolio rose 65% to $821 million. Bank credit grew 7.70% in Indonesia and outstanding loans 5.6% in Malaysia. Yet part of super-app credit is funded by partner institutions through channelling arrangements, and Grab operates its own digital banks. In Thailand, Krung Thai Bank and SCB X sit in two of the three groups cleared to set up virtual banks. We expect the next phase to turn on deposit pricing and credit quality, not user numbers.
Super-apps moved from payments into credit
Sea's financial services arm, Monee, earned US$989.9 million of revenue in the third quarter of 2025, up 60.8% year on year, which Sea attributed primarily to its consumer and SME credit business. Its adjusted EBITDA rose 37.5% to US$258.3 million. The loan book reached US$7.9 billion, of which US$6.9 billion was on-book, and the 90-day non-performing loan ratio was 1.1%, relatively stable on the quarter. Sea said it is extending its SPayLater product beyond e-commerce into users' everyday financial use cases.
GoTo's financial technology unit grew net revenue 55% to Rp1.5 trillion, with lending revenue up 84% to Rp1.0 trillion as consumer loans outstanding rose to Rp7.6 trillion. Adjusted EBITDA was Rp136 billion, a fourth consecutive profitable quarter.
Grab's Financial Services revenue rose 39% to $90 million, equal to 10.3% of group revenue. Disbursements rose 56% to $886 million, and Grab said its loan portfolio remains on track to exit the year above $1 billion. The segment's adjusted EBITDA loss widened 8% to $28 million as provisions rose with disbursals.
Growth carries a credit cost: Sea's provision for credit losses rose 76.3% to US$373.8 million, slightly faster than the 69.8% rise in its loan book.
Super-app financial services, third quarter of 2025
| Group | Segment revenue | Revenue growth | Loan book | Loan growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea (Monee) | US$989.9m | 60.8% | US$7.9bn | 69.8% |
| GoTo (fintech) | Rp1.5trn | 55% | Rp7.6trn | 76% |
| Grab (Financial Services) | $90m | 39% | $821m | 65% |
Source: Sea Limited, Sea Limited Reports Third Quarter 2025 Results, 11 November 2025; PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk, GoTo Group Records First Quarterly Adjusted Pre-Tax Profit and Raises Full Year Guidance as it Reports 2025 Third Quarter Earnings, 29 October 2025; Grab Holdings Limited, Grab Reports Third Quarter 2025 Results, 4 November 2025.
Loan definitions differ: Sea and GoTo report principal including loans funded off balance sheet by partners; Grab reports its portfolio net of credit-loss allowances.
Banks are funders as well as rivals
Part of this lending sits on other institutions' balance sheets. Sea's US$0.9 billion of off-book loans mainly reflect channelling arrangements, in which other financial institutions lend on its platform. GoTo's consumer loan figure likewise includes loans funded through channelling partners, and the group provides banking services through its partnership with Bank Jago.
Bank Jago's loans rose to Rp23.4 trillion at 30 September 2025 from Rp17.6 trillion at the end of 2024, an increase of 32%. Deposits reached Rp23.9 trillion, with savings deposits up from Rp4.9 trillion to Rp6.7 trillion. The loan-to-deposit ratio was 98.21%, the net interest margin 8.31% and the gross NPL ratio 0.38%.
Grab has taken a different route and operates its own digital banks. Customer deposits at GXS Bank in Singapore and GX Bank in Malaysia were $1,311 million, up 20% year on year but down 15% on the quarter from $1,543 million, as Grab aligned deposit rates with the prevailing interest rate environment to manage funding costs. Deposit customer numbers still reached a record. In Indonesia, deposit customers at Superbank, 37.88% owned by Grab on an effective basis, grew by over 20% on the quarter, helped by a product linking the OVO wallet to a Superbank savings account.
Loan growth, year on year, %
Source: PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk, GoTo Group Records First Quarterly Adjusted Pre-Tax Profit and Raises Full Year Guidance as it Reports 2025 Third Quarter Earnings, 29 October 2025; Sea Limited, Sea Limited Reports Third Quarter 2025 Results, 11 November 2025; Grab Holdings Limited, Grab Reports Third Quarter 2025 Results, 4 November 2025; Bank Indonesia, BI-Rate Held at 4.75%: Strengthening Economic Growth, Maintaining Stability (news release), 22 October 2025; Bank Negara Malaysia, Monetary and Financial Developments in September 2025, 31 October 2025.
The contest shifts to funding costs and credit risk
Bank Negara Malaysia cut the Overnight Policy Rate by 25 basis points to 2.75% on 9 July 2025. Bank Indonesia has cut the BI-Rate by 150 bps since September 2024 to 4.75%, but the 1-month term deposit rate fell only 29 bps in 2025 to 4.52% in September, held back by special rates for large depositors. Grab's acceptance of a 15% quarterly fall in digital-bank deposits shows its banks putting funding costs ahead of balance growth.
Indonesian consumer loans grew 7.42% and MSME loans 0.23% in September 2025, and Bank Indonesia noted bank prudence on credit risk in both segments. Malaysian household loans grew 5.7%. The super-apps are expanding fastest in the segments where banks are most cautious, which makes their reported NPL ratios the key test of the model.
Thailand shows incumbents choosing to compete through new vehicles. On 19 June 2025 the Minister of Finance, advised by the Bank of Thailand, approved three of the five applicants to set up virtual banks: ACM Holding; Krung Thai Bank with Advanced Info Service and PTT Oil and Retail Business; and SCB X with WeTechnology and KakaoBank. They must begin operations within one year of that approval. The Bank of Thailand wants them to serve underserved retail and SME customers and promote competition in quality and price.
For bank executives, super-apps are now credit originators of scale, but banks can still capture much of the economics as funders, partners or licensed digital rivals; the open question is who bears the losses as these books season.
What to watch
- 19 June 2026: deadline for Thailand's approved virtual banks to begin business operations.
- End of 2025: Grab expects its loan portfolio to exit the year above $1 billion.
Primary sources: Grab Holdings Limited, Grab Reports Third Quarter 2025 Results, 4 November 2025; Sea Limited, Sea Limited Reports Third Quarter 2025 Results, 11 November 2025; PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk, GoTo Group Records First Quarterly Adjusted Pre-Tax Profit and Raises Full Year Guidance as it Reports 2025 Third Quarter Earnings, 29 October 2025; Bank of Thailand, Announcement of a List of Successful Applicants Approved by the Minister of Finance to Establish a Virtual Bank (BOT Press Release No. 21/2025), 19 June 2025; Bank Indonesia, BI-Rate Held at 4.75%: Strengthening Economic Growth, Maintaining Stability (news release), 22 October 2025; Bank Negara Malaysia, Monetary and Financial Developments in September 2025, 31 October 2025; PT Bank Jago Tbk, Financial Statements PT Bank Jago Tbk, 30 September 2025 and 31 December 2024 (published quarterly report), 29 October 2025; Bank Negara Malaysia, Monetary Policy Statement, 9 July 2025, 9 July 2025.