Super apps have changed the way people live around the world, in countries like China, Korea, and India. Becoming an integral part of their everyday lives. And they’re poised to change how we live in the West as well, as companies like Meta, Amazon, and Uber, among others, develop their own super apps. One of the big ways these super apps will change our lives, is how we bank. Let’s take a look at how.

What are Super Apps?

Super apps are exactly what they sound like. As opposed to having a collection of different apps—one for banking, one for ordering food, one for social media, etc.—super apps offer a full ecosystem of different services tailored to the everyday lifestyle of the user. 

With super apps you can do almost anything you would do with other apps, utilizing different mini programs contained within the super app. Need to make a payment using your super app? Bored and want to play a game? There’ll be a mini program for that. Need to book an appointment with your doctor? The super app has you covered there as well. You never have to leave the super app, because you can do all of those things and more from within it.

While super apps are still trying to find their footing in the West, in the East super apps quickly grew in popularity after being introduced over a decade ago. Now they dominate not just the payment landscape in Asia, but have become ingrained in the everyday lives of billions of Asian consumers.

How Will Super Apps Work With Banks

Financial services are a big function of super apps, and part of their appeal. Super app users can pay for goods and services, check their bank accounts, and perform other financial transactions all from within the super app.

This is done through open banking. According to Investopedia, “Open banking is a banking practice that provides third-party financial service providers open access to consumer banking, transaction, and other financial data from banks and non-bank financial institutions through the use of application programming interfaces (APIs).”

Open banking allows for the super app to be a one-stop shop for all of a user’s financial services needs. Meaning no more hopping between apps to perform different financial tasks. Everything one would need is already conveniently in the super app.

This means that the future of banking, and your relationship with your bank, is poised to change. While super apps haven’t taken over in the West like they have in the East, people are slowly reverting back to rebundling services in their lives so that they don’t need to hop from one app to another app for different purposes. This includes banking. In time you won’t be logging into your bank’s app to transfer funds or check your balance, rather it will be done via mini program in a super app.
Super apps, like Alipay and KakaoPay, are the preferred payment methods for billions of consumers. Consumers who, when vacationing in North America, find themselves frustrated by their inability to pay for goods and services using those super apps. With Pockyt’s simple integration to your point of sale system, you can easily accept approximately 40 international digital wallets, with more added regularly. Want to learn more? Talk to our team today.