Facilitates real-time remittances to Alipay.
Malaysian money services business operator, Merchantrade Asia Sdn Bhd has entered into a partnership with Ant Group – the developer of open platforms for technology-driven inclusive financial services.
The collaboration allows customers of Merchantrade in Malaysia and Singapore to facilitate real-time remittances to Alipay users in China, with funds reaching bank accounts linked to their Alipay app. Alipay is operated by Ant Group and currently serves more than one billion users.
The service is now available at Merchantrade’s 81 branches and over 450 of its agent locations in Malaysia.
It is also available on Merchantrade’s award-winning remittance mobile app, eRemit Malaysia and soon will be available on Merchantrade’s e-wallet, Merchantrade Money as well as at Merchantrade’s Singapore-based subsidiary, Kliq Pte Ltd, on its eRemit Singapore mobile app.
The partnership aims to bring more innovative and convenient financial services to Merchantrade’s customers in Malaysia and Singapore, said Ramasamy Veeran, founder and managing director of Merchantrade Asia. It will also expand to allow Merchantrade customers to remit funds to persons in the Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia, through Ant Group’s partners in these markets.
“As a leading MSB operator and international remittance hub provider, we continuously explore new ways to apply our technology and connect with partners to make financial services more inclusive, especially for the underserved globally, particularly in Asia, where we have a foothold in the remittance market through local partners,” said Veeran. “The company has built an ecosystem of relevant financial services through industry partnerships and collaborations and continue to welcome future partnership opportunities to enrich the lives of our customers.
In September Merchantrade acquired Valyou from the Norwegian Telenor Group following a competitive bid.
Valyou is a mobile fintech player in Malaysia and a cross-border digital remittance service provider and e-money issuer. The company is said to have a customer base of over 1 million through its online and app-based digital channels and physical network comprising of 22 branches, 20 agents and 1,200 cash-in cash-out merchants.
At the time Veeran, said that following the completion of the acquisition, the businesses, operations, and staff force of Valyou will be merged with Merchantrade and operate as a single entity by the end of 2020. Merchantrade has also obtained all regulatory approvals for the acquisition.
The merger of these two fintech players with each having their own e-wallet services, Merchantrade Money, a card-based e-wallet with VISA prepaid card and Valyou’s app-based e-wallete.
He added that the acquisition will also consolidate and significantly bump-up Merchantrade’s share of Malaysia’s large migrant-worker customer base which is a major user of the cross-border remittance services.
In July this year Merchantrade acquired an additional 21 per cent stake in KLIQ, a fully digital cross-border remittance service provider based on Singapore.
Tags: AlipayMerchantrade
