Ant Financial and Ayala take minority stakes in Globe Telecom’s Mynt

mynt
Source: Mynt

Globe Telecom has announced that Alibaba-owned Ant Financial Services Group and Ayala will invest in Mynt – a.k.a. Globe Fintech Innovations, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Globe Capital Venture Holdings (GCVHI) under Globe Telecom – with the aim of accelerating financial inclusion and upgrading payment services in the Philippines.

Ant Financial, parent company of Alipay, and Ayala have signed the definitive documents to enter into an investment via subscription to new shares in Mynt, which operates GCash and Fuse Lending. GCash is a micropayment service which can be used to buy prepaid load, pay bills, send money, make donations, shop online, and purchase goods without the need for cash. Fuse Lending offers personal and business loans to unbanked and underserved Filipinos through the use of mobile technology, alternative data, and innovative credit scoring methods.

Subject to the closing of the transaction, Ant Financial will own a substantial minority interest in Mynt while Ayala will acquire a minority interest. GCVHI will hold the remaining equity interest.

Globe says the fresh capital infusion will help Mynt achieve 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.

The deal represents Ant Financial’s first-ever investment in the Philippines. With this partnership, Ant Financial, whose suite of includes Alipay, will share with Mynt its digital financial service expertise in using technology to provide equal access to financial services.

“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 non-traditional manner that will benefit the majority of our population who are unbanked,” said Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu.

Ayala Chairman and CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said, “We believe this is a great platform to redefine the country’s financial services space amidst a robust consumer market and an increasingly digital environment.”

Globe claims that Mynt is currently the biggest mobile money base in the Philippines with over 3 million registered customers and PHP1 billion ($19.8 million) worth of transactions per week.

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