THE financial services company of Chinese business magnate Jack Ma has acquired a substantial minority interest in Globe Fintech Innovations Inc., otherwise known as Mynt, to help the Filipino company plug the gap between the banked and the unbanked through digital financial services.
Globe Telecom Inc. President Ernest L. Cu said the fresh capital from Ant Financial, through its acquisition of new shares in Mynt, will help the company accelerate financial inclusion and upgrade payment services in the Philippines.
“A world-leading digital financial services provider has decided to partner with us. We are confident that having a strategic partner for Mynt will help fulfill our mission of providing financial services in a nontraditional manner that will benefit the majority of our population who are unbanked. With this partnership, we are set to democratize financial services in the Philippines,” he said.
Cu did not disclose the specific details of the deal, but said this will aid Mynt in achieving its vision of becoming a world-class online and offline payment provider, as well as scale up its mobile-wallet services and quickly expand its digital financial services.
Ant Financial CEO Eric Jing said his group is committed to “building an open, technology-based ecosystem” with its partners.
“We look forward to working with Mynt’s innovative management team to provide simple, secure, low-cost and accessible digital financial services to unserved and underserved individuals and small and micro enterprises in the Philippines, thus helping individuals to live a better life and helping SMEs [small and medium enterprises] to grow and create more jobs,” he said.
The deal represents Ant Financial’s first-ever investment in the Philippines. With this partnership, Ant Financial, whose suite of digital financial services includes Alipay, will share with Mynt its know-how in using technology to provide equal access to financial services.
Subject to the closing of the transaction, Ant Financial will own a substantial minority interest in Mynt, while Ayala Corp. will acquire a minority interest. Globe Capital Venture Holdings Inc., the parent company of Mynt, will hold the remaining equity interest.
“With the combined strengths of Ayala, Globe and Ant Financial, we believe we can help more Filipinos gain access to safer, more convenient, and extensive payment and lending platforms,” Ayala Chairman and CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said.
Mynt operates Globe’s mobile-wallet service called GCash, and its digital loan-disbursement facility called Fuse Lending. It has over 3 million registered customers, processing P1 billion worth of transactions per week.