MANILA, Philippines – The Ant Financial Services Group, an affiliate of Jack Ma‘s Alibaba group, has entered the Philippines through an investment in Globe Fintech Innovations, Incorporated (Mynt) to upgrade digital payments services in the country.
Mynt is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Globe Capital Venture Holdings Incorporated (GCVHI) under Globe Telecom and Ayala Corporation.
Ant Financial, parent company of Alipay, and Ayala Corporation have signed the definitive documents to enter into an investment via subscription to new shares in Mynt, the operator of GCash and Fuse Lending, Globe announced on Friday, February 17.
Subject to the closing of the transaction, Ant Financial will own a substantial minority interest in Mynt while Ayala Corporation will acquire a minority interest. GCVHI will hold the remaining equity interest.
Capital to scale
The fresh capital infusion, Globe said, will help Mynt achieve its vision of becoming a world-class online and offline payment provider as well as scale up its GCash mobile wallet service.
“A world-leading digital financial services provider has decided to partner with us. We are confident that having a strategic partner for Mynt will help fulfill our mission of providing financial services in a non-traditional manner that will benefit the majority of our population who are unbanked,” said Globe CEO Ernest Cu in a statement announcing the investment.
“With this partnership, we are set to democratize financial services in the Philippines,” Cu added.
The deal represents Ant Financial’s first-ever investment in the Philippines and gives Mynt access to the digital payment giant’s know-how in using technology to provide equal access to financial services. Ant Financial’s Alipay platform is China’s leading online payment platform.
“Ant Financial is committed to building an open, technology-based ecosystem with our partners,” said Ant Financial CEO Eric Jing.
Aside from Ant Financial, Mynt also recently partnered with leading US payment platform Paypal to provide services targeted towards the country’s burgeoning freelancer market. – Rappler.com
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