China’s PINTEC Acquires Bank SaaS Firm InfraRisk

China-based financial services technology firm PINTEC Technology has announced its acquisition of Australia-based InfraRisk.

PINTEC said in a press release on Monday (March 11) that it will acquire the credit risk Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution, which links financial institutions (FIs) to its financial technologies, with a focus on the commercial and retail loan origination process. InfraRisk counts Australia’s Big Four banks and Toyota Financial as customers.

According to PINTEC, the takeover is a key component of its international expansion, as well as its focus on ramping up its “Software-as-a-Service Plus” business model. After the takeover, PINTEC said it will continue to explore expansion in other developed markets.

“With rich experience in providing products and services for financial institutions, and a well-established reputation and brand, InfraRisk will become a strong support for PINTEC’s overseas business expansion,” said PINTEC Founder and CEO William Wei in a statement. “In the future, PINTEC and InfraRisk will jointly develop new products, and explore new markets to serve more financial institutions.”

PINTEC also pointed to InfraRisk’s knowledge of the local Australian market as a factor behind the acquisition.

In another statement, InfraRisk Founder and CEO Nicholas Davies highlighted the technologies that the two companies will jointly bring to banking customers.

“PINTEC has world-leading, digital lending technologies, best risk management practice[s] and mature product operation experience, which is complementary to InfraRisk’s leading credit risk management system,” Davies stated. “With the support from PINTEC, InfraRisk will leverage artificial intelligence and Big Data technologies to upgrade our products and services, and drive future growth by providing financial institutions with comprehensive FinTech solutions.”

Late last year, PINTEC raised $44 million on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Soon after, Wei spoke with PYMNTS’ Karen Webster about the Chinese market, which is “very active,” but without many competitors in the area of solutions for FIs and businesses. Service providers must understand how to integrate seamlessly within FIs’ existing infrastructures, however.

“Our partners, who are using our technology and solutions, are more flexible and want to be able to do things to their own system requirements,” he said at the time.