Merchantrade Asia, a home-grown digital money services company and e-money issuer in Malaysia, has fully acquired local fintech player Valyou from Telenor Group, following a competitive bidding exercise.
As per a press statement, Merchantrade has obtained all regulatory approvals for the acquisition.
Following the deal, the businesses, operations and staff force of Valyou will be merged with Merchantrade and operate as a single entity by the end of 2020.
Also Read: Malaysia’s cross-border remittance is going through a renaissance, say fintech experts
It will result in Merchantrade having a combined annual remittance turnover value (based on 2019 figures) of more than RM 11 billion (US$2.7 billion), which includes domestic outbound and international aggregator transactions.
The new entity will have a staff strength of over 1,200 and a network of over 1,700 touch-points and will serve a customer base of over three million.
According to Merchantrade MD Ramasamy K Veeran, 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.
“To serve the migrant worker segment effectively, we’ve built an ecosystem of relevant financial services through industry partnerships and collaborations. We currently work with AXA and MCIS to offer affordable micro-insurance products. The acquisition of Valyou will further strengthen and expand our digital channel and present us with new opportunities to partner with more financial services provider and set the stage for us to go regional,” he added.
Also Read: How fintech is disrupting the Southeast Asian payments market
Valyou is a player in the e-money and cross-border digital remittance services industry in Malaysia, which is going through a renaissance . It serves a customer base of over one million through its online and app-based digital channels and physical network comprising 22 branches, 20 agents and 1,200 cash-in cash-out (CICO) merchants.
Merchantrade is a money transfer, e-money issuer, wholesale currency services and foreign currency exchange service provider. It operates at 81 retail money services outlets with footprints in major and high-end shopping malls, which offer retail currency, remittance, and on-boarding of Merchantrade Money.
In July, Merchantrade acquired an additional 21 per cent stake in KLIQ, a fully digital cross-border remittance service provider based on Singapore, to increase its stake to 70 per cent.
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Image Credit: Merchantrade Asia
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