Merchantrade Asia

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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]

Contents

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

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]

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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. 1 2 "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.
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