Ricardo Moraes/Reuters
Singapore-based payments firm fastacash has made a strategic investment in Myanmar-focused payments company, MyPAY.
MyPAY, which is developing a mobile payment system, also has a strategic partnership with local social network MySQUAR, which claims to have 1.5 million user accounts.
However, a fastach spokesperson told Myanmar Business Today that the firm “won’t be able to disclose details around the size of the investment.”
Along with the investment, fastacash will also provide the technology platform to MyPAY to enable payments through social networks.
The company will also support MyPAY’s go-to-market activities, including market insights and global partnership management, fastcash said in a release.
Through the fastacash platform, anyone using MyPAY will be able to transfer money, and airtime with their social connections, and make payments at retail points.
MyPAY will leverage MySQUAR’s user base. Consumers on MySQUAR will be able to transact with their connections on the channel and with merchants.
Vince Tallent, chairman and chief executive officer of fastacash, said, “In MyPAY we have found a strong local partner. Together we will make social payments a reality – for the very first time – in one of the last large untapped markets.
“Building a presence in Myanmar is aligned with our strategy to be a global leader in social payments, given Myanmar’s prominence as a large domestic market and receive market for global remittances.”
Myanmar is one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia but is projected to achieve high economic growth over the next decade. Mobile penetration in the country is estimated to rise from 10.5 percent in 2014 to 57 percent in 2016, boosted by the entry of foreign telecom companies.
It is estimated that by 2016 nearly 15 million people will be able to access the internet, mainly via their mobile devices. Meanwhile, only 4.8 percent of citizens have a bank account, presenting a large opportunity for mobile money services.
Nicolas Nguyen, chief executive officer of MyPAY, said, “We see tremendous opportunity for both peer-to-peer and person-to-merchant payments in Myanmar. Together with fastacash, MyPAY is going to introduce a mobile money app, compliant with Myanmar law, to make payments easier for consumers and merchants in Myanmar.
“With fastacash’s technology, we are able to leverage social networks such as MySQUAR. Together, we are empowering a connected market where ninety percent of people are unbanked and underserved by traditional financial institutions.”
fastacash has live services in India, Indonesia, Russia, Singapore and Vietnam. Through partnerships with banks, money transfer operators, mobile network operators and social networks, it builds social payment capabilities within their services and mobile applications. Its partners include financial institutions such as DBS Bank (Singapore), Axis Bank (India), Oxigen Wallet (India), Techcombank (Vietnam), Doku (Indonesia), MOBI.Dengi (Russia), as well as VISA Europe.
From:Myanmar Business Today