UK multinational banking group Standard Chartered announced on Wednesday it plans to provide financing of $500 million in Singapore FinTech firm Atome Financial, as part of a 10-year multi-product strategic partnership of the two companies have forged.
The strategic partnership combines the two companies’ strengths in finance and technology to deliver a wide range of financial services to consumers and merchants across key markets in Asia, Standard Chartered said in a statement.
“This partnership with Atome Financial gives us the opportunity to be part of the rapidly growing digital consumer finance ecosystem and provides convenient and relevant digital financial products to complement and enrich clients’ digital lives,” Standard Chartered Bank Consumer, Private and Business BankingChief Executive Officer Judy Hsu said.
Standard Chartered is investing in Atome Financial, which operates Asia’s largest buy now pay later platform Atome, as well as digital lending platform Kredit Pintar in Indonesia. This marks one of Standard Chartered’s largest strategic investments in a FinTech to date and supports its ambition to expand its reach and scale within the mass market segment via a digital-first approach, underpinned by digital acquisition and new partnership models, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday.
The partnership will initially include buy now pay later (BNPL) services, targeting to roll out in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam in the next few months, and later expand to include digital lending products.
Standard Chartered plans to provide financing of $500 million and is committed to supporting Atome Financial’s growth in the future. This funding will enable Atome Financial to grow and connect a wider ecosystem of merchants to a larger customer base, improving product access and financial inclusion for consumers across the region. At the same time, Atome Financial’s customers will gain access to more innovative financial services, easily accessed via their mobile devices, the bank said.
This announcement also kickstarts a 10-year multi-product strategic partnership to deliver personal banking solutions across Asia, the banking group said. This strategic partnership aspires to reach over 16 million customers by 2025 and gain access to multiple financial ecosystems in order to capture a share of the digital lending market, valued at $92 billion by 2025 in Southeast Asia alone.
“By providing consumers with easier, simpler, and more convenient access to a full suite of digital-first financial services, we can accelerate broader financial inclusion across both developed and emerging markets in Asia. At the same time, this partnership with Standard Chartered will allow us to expand our merchant network and help retailers increase their customer base and basket sizes, contributing to economic growth across the region,” Atome Financial Co-Founder Jefferson Chen said.
Standard Chartered’s move to invest in BNPL startup comes at a time when BNPL services are gaining traction across the globe including Southeast Asia. Payment giants including Visa and Mastercard are providing BNPL services to customers in certain markets. Last month, US payment firm Paypal announced plans to acquire Japan BNPL unicorn Paidy for $2.7 billion.
Traditional lenders have also invested in BNPL startups. In June, HSBC and ING reportedly led a Series B funding round in BNPL firm Divido. Sony Innovation Fund by IGV, SBI Investment, OCS, Global Brain and DG Daiwa Ventures, DN Capital, Dawn Capital, IQ Capital, and Amex Ventures joined the round.
Atome Financial is a business unit under Advance Intelligence Group, which recently closed a $400 million plus Series D financing round from an investor consortium led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Warburg Pincus, valuing the company at more than $2 billion.
Atome partners Softbank-backed travel tech firm Klook to expand BNPL services