Singapura Finance to invest US$3m in MatchMove's digital bank unit

Singapore

FINANCE company Singapura Finance is investing US$3 million in MatchMove PowerBank (S) Pte Ltd (Power-Bank), a wholly owned subsidiary of homegrown digital payments start-up, MatchMove Pay.

The Singapura Finance-MatchMove consortium is a contender for a digital full bank licence in Singapore.

In a bourse filing on Monday, mainboard-listed Singapura Finance noted that it had on Oct 16 entered into an agreement to subscribe for shares in PowerBank.

Singapura Finance will provide US$3 million in financing to support the establishment and growth of PowerBank, it said. The investment shall comprise US$1 million in equity financing and US$2 million in convertible debt financing. These will be funded by the group's internal resources, Singapura Finance said.

The convertible debt is convertible to Class A ordinary shares in Power-Bank, subject to the conditions agreed with PowerBank, Singapura Finance added.

Following the completion of the equity financing, Singapura Finance will hold about 10 per cent of Power-Bank's share capital on a fully-diluted basis, or about 1.8 million Class A ordinary shares in the company.

Singapura Finance said the investment is an opportunity for it to acquire a "strategic stake in a business that has possible significant long-term growth potential". It added that the transaction meets one of its strategic goals to invest in the fintech sector, which its board believes could provide "synergistic opportunities to achieve growth in the financial services sector".

Last year, Singapura Finance also paid US$5 million for a 1.6 per cent stake in MatchMove.

PowerBank was incorporated by MatchMove in Singapore in June this year to apply for digital bank licences that may be issued by the financial market regulators of Singapore and other Asean nations.

MatchMove is bidding for a digital full bank licence in the Republic that comes with an eventual S$1.5 billion capital requirement. MatchMove said it would lead a consortium consisting of three other equity partners in the financial industry - Singapura Finance, UK fintech OpenPayd and Thailand's CP Group-linked Lightnet.

Singapura Finance shares last traded at 79 Singapore cents on Friday, down 1.5 cents or 1.9 per cent.