Malaysia’s CIMB, Alipay to cooperate on mobile payments
CIMB Group Holdings Berhad, Malaysia’s second- biggest bank, on Monday said that one of its subsidiaries will form an equity joint venture with Ant Financial Services Group, the parent of Alipay, to provide mobile wallets and related fi nancial services, the Reuters reported.
The CIMB unit, Touch ‘ n Go Sdn Bhd, will be the majority shareholder and Ant Financial will be a minority shareholder, the bank said in a statement to the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange on Monday.
“The capital injected by both parties will go toward the creation of a world- class online and off - line payments provider, delivering superior mobile wallet solutions and other related fi nancial services,” CIMB said in the statement.
Millions of Malaysians use Touch ‘ n Go cards daily to pay for road tolls, bus fares, parking and shopping.
The envisaged mobile wallet will allow these users to access more services on mobile phones, said the statement.
Alipay customers use e- wallet services on mobile phones to hail taxis, book hotels, buy movie tickets, pay utility bills, make healthcare appointments and manage their fi nances.
For Ant Financial, an affi liate of Alibaba Group Holding, the investment will be its fi rst in Malaysia.
Its association with CIMB is likely to advance the fi nancial institution’s plans to build an early lead in the country in fi ntech.
After growing into multi- billion dollar companies, a number of Chinese fi ntech and Internet companies including Ant Financial, Lufax and Tencent Holdings are moving into Southeast Asia and beyond in search of more customers.
Ant Financial last year bought a minority stake in Ascend Money, according to media reports.
The move signals the company’s plan to benefi t from the Thai company’s presence in six countries, including Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s most populous nation.
“To bring digital fi nancial inclusion to more people across the world, Ant Financial takes an approach of collaborating with strategic partners overseas and enabling them with its innovative solutions,” Ant Financial CEO Jing Xiandong was quoted as saying in the statement.
Digital payment providers are looking to tap the more than 370 million people without bank accounts who use cash on a dayto- day basis in Southeast Asia to off er lending and other fi nancial services.
Tencent has applied for a license in Malaysia to off er local payment services via its popular WeChat Pay, while Lufax announced plans to launch its wealth management platform in Singapore.
In 2016, CIMB reported revenue of 16.07 billion Malaysian Ringgit ($ 3.76 billion) and profi t of 3.56 billion Malaysian Ringgit, according to the company’s fi nancial statement released in February.