Hong Kong-headquartered fintech platform WeLab has announced its acquisition of PT Bank Jasa Jakarta (BJJ), a 50-year-old commercial bank in Indonesia.
The firm has plans to locate Asia’s second digital bank in the archipelago in H2 2022, following the success of its digital bank launch in Hong Kong in 2019.
According to the official statement, the WeLab-led consortium, WeLab Sky Limited, also secured US$240 million from existing and new investors for this transaction, touted to be the largest fintech fundraising in Indonesia in 2021.
The funds will be utilised to purchase controlling stakes from current owners and make technology investments.
Upon the acquisition, WeLab Sky will become the single controlling stakeholder of BJJ with a strategic investment for a 24 per cent stake in the initial stage. The remaining share for majority control will be finalised once it fulfills all necessary regulatory clearances, including ones from Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, OJK).
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Founded in 2013, WeLab offers mobile-based consumer financing solutions and digital banking services to retail individuals and technology solutions to enterprise customers. The firm utilises proprietary risk management technology, patented privacy computing techniques, and advanced AI capabilities to run multiple digital banks in the region.
So far, it has established a presence in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Indonesia, claiming to serve more than 50 million individual users and over 700 enterprise customers in the region.
As per a press statement, since 2018, it has expanded into Southeast Asia through a joint venture with Astra International to run Maucash, a licensed online lending app with over three million Indonesian customers. Other brands under its management are WeLend and WeLab Bank in Hong Kong, WeLab Digital, Taoxinji, Wallet Gugu, and Tianmian Tech in Mainland China.
“We continue the journey that we started in 2018 to build one of the first pan-Asian digital banking platforms, first in Hong Kong and now in Indonesia,” said Simon Loong, founder and group CEO of WeLab. “WeLab combines its advanced digital banking technology with the BJJ network to further grow the Bank’s business towards a bright digital future.”
WeLab is backed by institutional investors and VCs including Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, Allianz, China Construction Bank International, International Finance Corporation (a member of the World Bank Group), CK Hutchison’s TOM Group, and Sequoia Capital.
In the APAC digital banking sector, Indonesia is one of the most lucrative untapped markets with 66 per cent of the country’s 260 million population having no access to financial services, according to the World Bank. In addition, only about 40 per cent of Indonesian smartphone users have utilised financial services applications, as per research by Google.
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Image Credit: WeLab
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