Standard Chartered plans to provide US$500 million in financing to Atome Financial, the parent company of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) firm Atome, as part of 10-year multi-product strategic partnership.
The bank said this financing is its largest strategic investment in a fintech to date. Standard Chartered had also invested in digital lending platform Kredit Pintar in Indonesia.
The partnership will initially include 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.
The bank aims 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 US$92 billion by 2025 in South East Asia alone.
Standard Chartered’s investment in Atome as well as digital lending platform Kredit Pintar in Indonesia
Atome Financial is a business unit under Advance Intelligence Group, which recently closed a US$ 400 million Series D financing round from an investor consortium led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Warburg Pincus, valuing the company at more than US$ 2 billion.
Judy Hsu, CEO, Consumer, Private and Business Banking, Standard Chartered Bank said,
“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.
Our deep knowledge of Asia’s markets coupled with Atome Financial’s experience in digital consumer finance will allow us to reach even more customers and drive greater financial participation of those underserved and underbanked.”
Jefferson Chen, Co-Founder, Group Chairman and CEO of Advance Intelligence Group, and CEO of Atome Financial said,
“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.”
Featured image: Edited from Unsplash
