Shoppers try out mobile devices at a Globe Telecom Inc. retail outlet in Manila, Philippines. (Photo : Getty Images)
Ant Financial Services Group, the financial arm of Alibaba Group Holdings, is making a strategic move as it invests to get a 45 percent stake in Globe Fintech Innovations Inc. to help accelerate financial inclusion in the Philippines.
Globe stated that Ant and Ayala Corp have signed definitive documents to enter into an investment via subscription to new shares in Mynt.
Globe Fintech Inniovations Inc., also known as Mynt, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Globe Capital Venture Holdings Inc. under Globe and Ayala Corp. Mynt currently operates GCash as well as Fuse Lending.
Yoly Crisanto, Globe's senior vice president for corporate affairs, said: “Ant and GCVHI will have 45 percent holdings each, while the rest is Ayala.”
She declined to disclose an amount when she is asked about how much worth of investment would be made by Ant in Mynt, but hinted on a text message that "it only represents 10 percent of the total equity of Globe."
It is expected that the fresh capital infusion will help Mynt become a world-class payment provider both online and offline. It will also help scale up its mobile wallet services as well as expand its digital financial services.
This is Ant's first investment in the Philippines, which shows that the company is confident that Mynt and its management team will be able to upgrade the digital financial services in the region.
“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,” Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu said.
"With this partnership, we are set to democratize financial services in the Philippines," he added.
Eric Jing, the CEO of Ant, 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.”
