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By Anshuman Daga
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Grab, Southeast Asia’s largest travel-sharing company, deepened its momentum in the monetary sector by announcing that it will offer loans to customers in Singapore and deploy wealth control products in a fast-growing but congested sector.
Backed by high-weight investors, adding SoftBank Group Corp, Grab has already rooted its roots in money services, food delivery and cell bills in recent years, even before the coronavirus pandemic harmed its core ride-sharing business.
It raised approximately $850 million in February from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc and other investors to expand its money and implement an online banking license in Singapore with Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.
“Consumer loans would be presented through our partner banks, a platform we provided in the Grab app,” Said Reuben Lai, Grab’s senior managing director of monetary activity, at a press conference.
Starting in Singapore later this year, before expanding to Malaysia and other countries, customer loans to third parties will be granted within two to 4 days of approval, the company said.
Grab already provides current capital loans from its balance sheet to small and medium-sized enterprises in 4 countries.
Southeast Asia’s valuable top start-up, with an estimated $14 billion, announced a 5% relief on staff in June, as it reduced prices amid slower expansion due to the pandemic.
The eight-year firm, which holds electronic cash licenses in six primary economies in Southeast Asia, says its application has recorded 187 million cellular downloads.
Grab, which acquired a theft consulting firm in February, also announced that it would launch an investment service that would allow users to invest small amounts of cash while spending on Grab services.
It has partnered with Fullerton Fund Management of Singapore and UOB Asset Management to provide the constant source of revenue funds.
(Reporting through Anshuman Daga; Edited through Muralikumar Anantharaman)