Globe, Ant Financial form partnership to improve GCash, Fuse services  

Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. announced on Friday that Globe Fintech Innovations Inc. (Mynt) had joined with China’s Ant Financial Services Group in a strategic partnership which would accelerate financial inclusion and upgrade payment services in the Philippines.

 

In a statement, the company noted that Ant Financial and Globe’s parent company Ayala Corp. had signed the definitive documents to enter into an investment via subscription to new shares in Mynt —operator of GCash and Fuse Lending.

 

Subject to the closing of the transaction, Ant Financial will own a substantial minority interest in Mynt while Ayala Corp. will acquire a minority interest.

 

GCVHI will hold the remaining equity interest.

 

Mynt is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Globe Capital Venture Holdings (GCVHI) under Globe Telecom.

 

GCash is a micropayment service which can be used to buy prepaid load, pay bills, send money, make donations, shop online, and purchase goods without the need for cash.

 

Fuse Lending offers personal and business loans to unbanked and underserved Filipinos through the use of mobile technology, alternative data, and innovative credit scoring methods.

 

The fresh capital infusion will help Mynt achieve its vision of becoming a world-class online and offline payment provider as well as scale up its mobile wallet services and quickly expand its digital financial services.

 

“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. With this partnership, we are set to democratize financial services in the Philippines,” Ernest Cu, Globe president and CEO, said.

 

For his part, Eric Jing, CEO of Ant Financial, said, “We look forward to working with Mynt’s innovative management team to provide simple, secure, low-cost and accessible digital financial services to unserved and underserved individuals and small and micro enterprises in the Philippines, thus helping individuals to live a better life and helping SMEs to grow and create more jobs.”

 

Ant Financial Services Group is focused on serving small and micro enterprises, as well as consumers. Businesses operated by Ant Financial include Alipay, Ant Fortune, Zhima Credit and MYbank. — John Ted Cordero/DVM, GMA News