KUALA LUMPUR: Axiata Group Bhd is in the process of building one of the largest fintech companies in Asia to include five micro services - payments, remittance, lending, savings, and insurance.
President and group chief executive Officer Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim said since 2013, Axiata had invested some US$200 million for its digital and internet ventures.
Out of the US$200 million, RM50 million worth of investment went into Axiata’s fintech business.
“We now have 30 digital brands and six JVs (joint ventures) companies significantly including the e-commerce business 11street, and a digital insurance company BIMA.
“BIMA alone is now the largest insurance company in terms of customers in three countries namely Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
“Definitely you will see more investment from Axiata in the Fintech space moving forward,” he told reporters after the launch of the partnership between Axiata’s mobile wallet, Boost, and Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) here today.
In April 2017, Axiata’s digital services arm Axiata Digital invested US$16.8 million into BIMA, a micro insurance player from Sweden.
In less than a year, BIMA, along with Axiata’s subsidiary Smart, has become the largest provider of life insurance in Cambodia.
According to reports, three million of Axiata customers in three of its operating companies are covered by mobile insurance policies by end-2016.
Meanwhile, Jamaludin said the company had set an ambitious target to get 100,000 merchants on board to support payment via Boost by year end from the current 4,000 merchants.
He said based on subscribers, Boost has acquired almost 800,000 users since its rollout in November last year.
Jamaludin said the collaboration with UiTM is part of a larger partnership, under the umbrella of “Pioneering Digital@UiTM, Powered by Axiata”.
Both parties has agreed on a master partnership that cuts across four areas - Boost as mobile wallet, a big data onsite and offsite learning experience, an intership programme, and network enhancements with Celcom increasing its network quality at UiTM campuses nationwide.