The $1.49 billion deal will combine Atome’s businesses — including BNPL loans and cards, consumer loans, and digital lending — with Grab’s financial services business, the company said in a Tuesday (Sept. 15) news release.
The acquisition “allows Grab and Atome Financial to innovate together to offer everyday financing options to more users in the region, expanding financial access to millions who lack a formal credit history and are shut out of the traditional banking sector,” the release added.
Atome operates in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand and serves 25 million “cumulative transacted” users, the release said. Grab’s financial services covers payments, digital banks, partner lending, insurance and consumer lending, in addition to the company’s ride-hailing business.
“Atome Financial’s leading use of AI to underwrite digital lending to millions of users across the region, while managing risk effectively, will help to scale and strengthen Grab’s whole ecosystem,” said Alex Hungate, Grab’s president and chief operating officer.
“The proposed transaction accelerates the growth and profitability of our financial services segment by deepening our consumer lending capabilities and unlocking opportunities for us to serve Atome’s large merchant network.”
We’d love to be your preferred source for news.
Please add us to your preferred sources list so our news, data and interviews show up in your feed. Thanks!
Hungate added that last year, 68% of Grab’s “drive-partner” borrowers used the company to access formal credit for the first time, with half saying they did so to avoid working with “predatory” lenders.
“By coming together, we can deliver on our common vision of using technology to responsibly extend financial access to the unbanked and underbanked in the region, to drive Southeast Asia forward,” he said.
The announcement follows a report last week from Bloomberg News that Grab was in talks to acquire Atome, whose name is short for “available to me.”
In other BNPL news, recent research from PYMNTS Intelligence research finds the installment payment option is finding purchase with super prime consumers.
Consumers who spread their purchases across pay later “providers are also the ones most prepared to pay for something BNPL was built to avoid: interest,” PYMNTS wrote last month. “That distinction may impact how far the product can move beyond Pay in 4.”
Research from “Beyond Pay in 4: Many BNPL Buyers Would Pay for More Time,” the August edition of The Pay Later Ecosystem Report, found that 82% of consumers who use at least four BNPL providers would pay interest in change for access to a lengthier repayment schedule. That’s compared to 46% for consumers who work with just one BNPL provider, while users of two or three providers came in at the middle at 70%.
“The gap suggests that BNPL’s most active customers could provide a natural market for longer-duration credit,” the report added.
“They already use multiple providers, and their willingness to accept interest indicates that at least some are looking for how long they have to repay.”
Add as Preferred Source
