With more companies turning to digital platforms and offering contactless payments, mobile marketing analytics company AppsFlyer’s study the overall demand for fintech apps increased by 68% between the first quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021.

The “AppsFlyer’s 2021 State of Finance — App Marketing report” also saw the Philippines rank among the top 15 global markets by the number of Finance app installs, coming in at sixth place.

Digital banking accounted for most of the fintech app installs with 69%, followed by traditional banks, loans, investments, and other financial services.

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Strong user demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the rise in the number of users and installs. Fintech companies also increased their marketing spend that led to the increase in non-organic installs (NOI) from just 9.6% to 20.2% (110% increase) — the second-largest surge in Southeast Asia (SEA).

The report found marketers invested a total of $244 million (8% in global spend) in marketing to acquire new users.

“2020 was a game-changer year, impacting how businesses and consumers interact and operate,” said Ronen Mense, Managing Director & President, APAC, AppsFlyer. “As more users shifted to their mobile devices, financial institutions followed suit, enabling consumers to function through their devices. Marketers should focus on meeting this increase in demand through remarketing and user acquisition campaigns to be successful amongst competitors.”

Loan apps installs dropped as consumer financial behavior was affected by the pandemic. It currently makes up 22% of total installs in the country.

The AppsFlyer report tracked 2.7 billion app installs in Asia-Pacific (APAC) between Q1 2019 and Q1 2021, of 4.7 billion app installs globally. The report also examined 600 million non-organic installs and 1,230 apps across Southeast Asian markets including Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.