Merchantrade, a digital money services business operator and e-money issuer, has acquired a 100% stake in Valyou from the Norwegian Telenor Group following a competitive bidding exercise.
Valyou is a mobile fintech player in Malaysia and a cross-border digital remittance service provider and e-money issuer. The company is said to serve 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 merchants.
Managing Director Ramasamy K Veeran, said that 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 the end of 2020. Merchantrade has also obtained all regulatory approvals for the acquisition.
The merger of these two fintech players with each having their own e-wallet services, Merchantrade Money, a card-based e-wallet with VISA prepaid card and Valyou’s wholly app-based e-wallet, will be a game-changer in the local digital payments space.
He added that 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 said.
In line with the company’s aspiration to become a regional player, Merchantrade in July this year further consolidated its position in Singapore’s cross-border remittance market by acquiring an additional 21% stake in KLIQ, a fully digital cross-border remittance service provider based on Singapore.
