Axiata seeks potential acquisitions in digital financial services sector

KUALA LUMPUR: Axiata Group Bhd is scouting around for potential acquisitions in the financial technology (fintech), advertising technology (adtech) and Internetof-Thing (IoT) companies as it is allocating RM200 million for expansion into the three areas this year.

President and Group Chief Executive Officer Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim said twothirds of the amount would be spent to strengthen the company's business in the country, while the rest would be to build up its regional presence, particularly in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

“But our focus is BOOST, we will definitely invest in it to build more channels, and right now we already have 8,000 touchpoints and we are looking at increasing that number,” he told reporters after attending the “Engagement and Townhall session with Axiata and CelcomEmployeesandEcosystem” at Axiata Arena, Bukit Jalil here yesterday.

BOOST, a digital mobile wallet (e-wallet) application developed by Axiata Digital Services Sdn Bhd, has set a target of acquiring as many as 100,000 merchants by year-end.

“We had invested US$150 million in digital-related industry for the past five years,” he added.

Jamaludin also said Axiata would continue to focus on tapping into digital financial services, offering five micro services, namely payments, remittance, lending, savings, and insurance.

At present, Axiata has 30 digital brands and six joint ventures companies, including 11street, an e-commerce business, and a micro digital insurance company from Sweden dubbed as BIMA, which the largest insurance provider in Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

In April 2017, Axiata's digital servicesarmAxiataDigitalinvested US$16.8 million into BIMA.