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The end of manual finance? AI agents are coming for startup payments

For years, the promise of fintech in Southeast Asia was to take paperwork out of finance. Cash became wallet balances. Invoices moved from filing cabinets into enterprise resource planning systems. Payment approvals shifted from email chains to dashboards. The broad direction was clear: digitise what used to be manual.

AI will not cut costs or grow revenue until you redesign how work gets done

Every week, another AI tool launches with the promise of helping businesses save time, reduce costs and grow faster. Companies subscribe. Employees attend workshops. Leadership teams announce that the organisation is now “AI-enabled”. Yet months later, many businesses are still facing the same problems.

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