Managepay gets nod to lend money
Company receives letter of approval from housing and local govt ministry
PETALING JAYA: Managepay Systems Bhd has received a letter of approval (LoA) to operate a moneylending business from the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry (MHLG).
TheLoAconfirmsthatManagePay Resources Sdn Bhd (MRSB), a wholly owned subsidiary of MPay, had fulfilled the conditions as specified in an earlier letter of approval dated May 12, 2017 and in essence grants the approval to MRSB to operate a money-lending business.
“With the receipt of LOA and after six months preparation for fulfilling the requirements as specified in the conditional approval letter issued by MHLG, MPay is now able to start the money lending business targeting both individuals and businesses, over and above MPay’s Quickash Peer-to-Peer (P2P) financing platform, which also target underserved small and medium enterprises (SMEs) segment but not individual, which was launched in September 2017,” said MPay in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.
With these new added lending capabilities, which MPay Group targets to launch in April, it will con- tribute to both revenue and bottom line of the company in year 2018.
The board, after considering all the relevant factors, is of the opinion that the acceptance of the LoA is in the best interest of the company.
This LoA is not subject to approval of the shareholders of MPay and any relevant government authorities.
ManagePay managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) Chew Chee Seng told StarBiz that the personal loan business is complementary to all card issuing businesses.
“MPay can do prepaid business now.
“Next should be personal loans and finally credit cards,” he said.
Chew says MPay is serious about entering the moneylending business as it has acquired a personal loan origination system and developed the entire scoring engine.
“Now that we have the licence, we can fully utlise the system, which we are currently only using for our prepaid card,” said Chew.
MPay would appear to have the funds to start this business.
As of its third quarter to Sep 30, 2017, MPay has short-term funds of RM44.25mil, fixed deposits of RM3.4mil and cash of RM3.81mil, giving it capital of some RM51.6mil.
For the third quarter to Sep 30, 2017, MPay was in the red with losses of RM2.71mil from losses of RM1.86mil previously.
For the nine months to Sep 30, 2017, MPay was still in the red with losses of RM7.14mil from losses of RM4.45mil previously.
Revenue for the period increased to RM4.49mil from RM3.95mil previously.
In recent times, there have been quite a few public listed companies that have applied for moneylending licences.
Just last month, MyEG Services Bhd was granted a moneylender’s licence by the MHLG for a period of two years.
Some 54 property developers in Peninsular Malaysia have money-lending licences to provide loans to home buyers.
The licence allows developers to provide bridging loans to house buyers, especially first-timers, to secure end-financing for their property acquisition.