KUALA LUMPUR: Merchantrade Asia Sdn Bhd has completed the acquisition of 100 per cent stake in Valyou Sdn Bhd (Valyou), from the Norwegian Telenor group following a competitive bidding exercise.
The digital money services business operator and e-money issuer said the group has also obtained all regulatory approvals for the acquisition.
Merchantrade managing Director Ramasamy K Veeran said 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 end 2020.
Ramasamy said the merger of these two leading fintech players with each having their own strong e-wallet services, Merchantrade with Merchantrade Money,a card-based e-wallet with VISA prepaid card and Valyou's wholly app-based e-wallet, which will be a game-changer in the local digital payments space.
"The merger will accelerate the roll-out and provide convenient access to more secure and innovative financial products and services to the migrant workers, expatriates, Malaysian travellers and tech-savvy online shoppers.
"Together with a combined staff strength of over 1,200 and a network of over 1,700 touchpoints that consist of branches, agent locations and CICO merchants, the acquisition propels Merchantrade to be Malaysia's largest money services business operator, serving a customer base of over three million," he said.
Valyou is a mobile fintech player in Malaysia and a leading cross-border digital remittance service provider and e-money issuer serving 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 (CICO) merchants.
According to Ramasamy, the acquisition will result in Merchantrade having a combined annual remittance turnover value of more than RM11 billion which includes domestic outbound and international aggregator transactions.
He also said the acquisition will 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 providers and set the stage for us to go regional" Ramasamy added.
In line with the company's aspiration to become a regional player, Merchantrade in July this year further consolidated its position in the large Singapore cross-border remittance market by acquiring an additional 21 per cent stake in KLIQ Pte Ltd (KLIQ), a fully digital cross-border remittance service provider based on Singapore, to make KLIQ a 70 per cent subsidiary.