WeLab, a fintech platform based in Hong Kong, has announced the purchase of PT Bank Jasa Jakarta (BJJ), an Indonesian commercial bank with a 50-year history.
Following the success of its digital bank debut in Hong Kong in 2019, the business intends to establish Asia’s second digital bank in the archipelago in H2 2022.
According to the official release, the WeLab-led consortium, WeLab Sky Limited, has also acquired US $240 million in funding from current and new investors for this transaction, which is expected to be Indonesia’s largest fintech fundraising in 2021.
The money will be used to buy controlling holdings in companies from their present owners and to invest in technology.
With a strategic investment for a 24 percent ownership in the initial stage, WeLab Sky will become the only controlling investor of BJJ following the purchase. The remaining share for majority ownership will be finalised once all essential regulatory certifications, including those from Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority, have been obtained.
WeLab, which was founded in 2013, provides retail clients with mobile-based consumer financing and digital banking services, as well as business customers with technological solutions. To handle several digital banks in the region, the company uses unique risk management technologies, patented privacy computing approaches, and powerful AI capabilities.
It now has offices in Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Indonesia, and claims to service more than 50 million individual users and 700 business clients in the area.
According to a news release, it has been expanding throughout Southeast Asia since 2018 through a joint venture with Astra International to operate Maucash, a licenced online lending app with more than three million Indonesian consumers. WeLend and WeLab Bank in Hong Kong, as well as WeLab Digital, Taoxinji, Wallet Gugu, and Tianmian Tech in Mainland China, are under its administration.
“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.”
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 are among the institutional investors and venture capitalists that have funded WeLab.
According to the World Bank, 66 percent of Indonesia’s 260 million people lack access to financial services, making it one of the most potential untapped areas in the APAC digital banking sector. Furthermore, according to Google data, only roughly 40% of Indonesian smartphone users have used financial services apps.
