Merchantrade Asia

Merchantrade Asia (Merchantrade) is a financial service company based in Malaysia. The company's business is centered on international money transfers, foreign currency exchange, wholesale banknotes, digital payment processing and mobile telecommunications.[1] They also introduced microinsurance as part of their service offerings.[2]

Merchantrade Asia operates 94 outlets, 5 main wholesale banknote trading hubs, more than 450 agent locations and 480 cash-in and cash-out merchants throughout Malaysia.[3][4] Its institutional shareholders are Celcom Axiata Bhd,[5][6] Kenanga Investment Bank[7][8] and MCIS Insurance Berhad (MCIS Life).

History

The company was founded in 1996 as a telecommunications equipment supplier in Malaysia.

In 2007, the company offered Merchantrade Mobile, which is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) with Celcom Axiata Berhad.[9] It also offered Merchantrade Express Remittances. In 2009, the company obtained an investment from Sumitomo Corporation.[10] It obtained a Class A money services business license in 2012.[11] It later created a mobile remittance platform, Merchantrade Doowit.[12]

It obtained an investment from Celcom Axiata Berhad in 2014. Later, it acquired a 100% stake in Vital Rate Sdn. Bhd., currency exchange outlets in Pavilion, Suria KLCC and KL Sentral, and a 49% stake in Kliq Pte, later 100%.[13][14] It formed a joint venture with Jetixa (Dubai) in 2017 and a partnership for global money transfer network service with Western Union in 2019. In 2020, it acquired a 100% stake in Malaysian mobile financial services business Valyou Sdn. Bhd.[15][16] Subsequently, it increased its outlets to 101 locations in Malaysia. It also obtained an investment from Kenanga Investment Bank.[17][18][19] The partners were to offer Kenanga Money eWallet [20][21][22][23]

The company formed partnerships with IDEMIA for Digital Onboarding and LintraMax. The MVNO service was moved to its wholly-owned subsidiary, Valyou Sdn Bhd (Valyou).

Awards

  • 2019 – Received RemTECH Award.[24]
  • 2019 – Awarded as Visa's Most Outstanding Launch - Innovation Products Award and also received a Malaysia Technology Excellence Award.[25]

Services

The company offers international remittance services, currency exchange and wholesale banknote services as part of its money services business segment. The company is also a member of the Malaysian Association of Money Services Business (MAMSB) and the International Association of Money Transfer Networks (IAMTN).[26] Merchantrade also offers retail and online currency exchange services. Some of the key outlets are located in Suria KLCC and Imago, Kota Kinabalu.[14][27]

The company offered a non-bank issuer of a multi-currency e-wallet[28][29][30] with a VISA-accepted prepaid card in Malaysia. The e-wallet is able to exchange directly into 20 foreign currencies and make payments directly with the card.[31]

Its MVNO, through a partnership with Celcom Axiata, offered international mobile direct dial (IDD) 4G LTE mobile internet and international airtime credit transfer.[32]

References

  1. ^ "Money Transfer Process – Sending and Receiving Money". Global Money Transfer. September 24, 2013. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  2. ^ "AXA Affin General Insurance Berhad and Merchantrade Asia offer insurance protection for migrant workers". www.malaysian-business.com. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
  3. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 7, 2017. Retrieved May 3, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Merchantrade target RM4.1b remittance transactions in 2015". The Star Online. May 11, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  5. ^ "Celcom buys a 20% stake in Merchantrade". The Malaysian Reserve. March 31, 2017. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  6. ^ "Axiata to have digital financial service JV with Merchantrade | The Star". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  7. ^ "Kenanga Investment Bank Acquires Stake In Malaysia's Largest Money Services Business Operator Merchantrade Asia". Kenanga Group. October 28, 2020. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  8. ^ "Kenanga buys a minor stake in money services operator Merchantrade". The Edge Markets. October 28, 2020. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  9. ^ "Venture into mobile virtual network operator (MVNO)". Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  10. ^ "Merchantrade likely to raise RM250m in IPO next year". The Edge Markets.
  11. ^ "List of Licensees". www.bnm.com.my.
  12. ^ "Celcom perkenal khidmat kirim wang". BH Online (in Malay). April 13, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2020.
  13. ^ "Merchantrade takes up 49% stake in M1 unit". The Edge Markets. October 24, 2017. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  14. ^ a b "Merchantrade buys money changer Vital Rate". The Star Online.
  15. ^ Business, N. S. T. (September 17, 2020). "Merchantrade acquires fintech player Valyou | New Straits Times". NST Online. Retrieved September 28, 2020. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  16. ^ "Malaysia's Merchantrade acquires fintech player, Valyou from Telenor Group". Digital News Asia. September 17, 2020. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  17. ^ "Kenanga Investment Bank Acquires Stake In Malaysia's Largest Money Services Business Operator Merchantrade Asia". Kenanga Group. October 28, 2020. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  18. ^ Business, N. S. T. (October 28, 2020). "Kenanga Investment Bank buys stake in Merchantrade Asia | New Straits Times". NST Online. Retrieved November 5, 2020. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  19. ^ "Kenanga buys stake in Merchantrade | The Star". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  20. ^ "Kenanga Partners Merchantrade To Introduce Malaysia's First Stockbroker E-Wallet". Kenanga Group. September 25, 2020. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  21. ^ "Kenanga, Merchantrade launch stockbroker e-wallet | The Star". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  22. ^ "Kenanga, Merchantrade Launch Malaysia's First Stockbroker E-Wallet, Kenanga Money". RinggitPlus. September 25, 2020. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  23. ^ "Kenanga partners Merchantrade in planned stockbroker e-wallet rollout". The Edge Markets. September 25, 2020. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  24. ^ "Merchantrade". The RemTECH AWARDS. May 27, 2019. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  25. ^ "Merchantrade Asia nabs Fintech - Financial Services Award at Malaysia Technology Excellence Awards". Singapore Business Review. December 4, 2019. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  26. ^ "IAMTN Members". IAMTN.
  27. ^ "Merchantrade Asia: All Vital Rate workers to be retained". FMT.
  28. ^ "New Merchantrade card makes currency exchange a breeze".
  29. ^ "Entrepreneurs: Master of reinvention".
  30. ^ "merchantrade-multi-currency-card-tops-stiff-local-e-wallet-race". New Straits Times.
  31. ^ "MERCHANTRADE GETS E-KYC NOD FROM BNM FOR MONEY CHANGING".
  32. ^ "Celcom Offers Prepaid Package For Foreign Workers". Bernama. July 25, 2007.