From Pymnts · PYMNTS · · 1m 20s
Grab buys its way into BNPL
A $1.49 billion bet that Southeast Asia's unbanked will borrow through a ride-hailing app.
In brief
A $1.49 billion bet that Southeast Asia's unbanked will borrow through a ride-hailing app. Grab is buying distribution and an AI underwriting engine to lend to people banks won't touch, and BNPL's heaviest users are ready to pay interest for longer terms. Originally reported by Pymnts.
Grab takes control of Atome
Grab Holdings is buying a controlling stake in Singapore BNPL provider Atome Financial for $1.49 billion, announced Tuesday, Sept. 15.
What comes in the box
Atome brings BNPL loans and cards, consumer loans and digital lending. All of it folds into Grab's existing financial services arm.
Five countries, 25 million users
Atome runs in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand, with 25 million cumulative transacted users to hand over.
The AI underwriting prize
Grab's president Alex Hungate points at Atome's AI models as the real asset: lending to millions while keeping risk in check, plus access to its merchant network.
“Atome Financial's leading use of AI to underwrite digital lending to millions of users across the region, while managing risk effectively, will help to scale and strengthen Grab's whole ecosystem”
Credit for the shut out
Last year 68% of Grab's driver-partner borrowers got formal credit for the first time through the company. Half said they did it to avoid predatory lenders.
“we can deliver on our common vision of using technology to responsibly extend financial access to the unbanked and underbanked”
Heavy users want longer terms
PYMNTS Intelligence found 82% of people using four or more BNPL providers would pay interest for a longer repayment schedule, against 46% of single-provider users.
“The gap suggests that BNPL's most active customers could provide a natural market for longer-duration credit”
The essence
Grab is buying distribution and an AI underwriting engine to lend to people banks won't touch, and BNPL's heaviest users are ready to pay interest for longer terms.
