1. Startups

Standard Chartered and Atome Announce Joint Venture, Provide Access to 7 Trillion Rupiah Credit to Enlarge Paylater

The strategic partnership will last for 10 years for multi-product development, with early paylater stages, followed by digital lending

Standard Chartered and Atome Financial announce 10-year multi-product strategic partnership to increase market share paylater and personal banking solutions in Asia. Under the agreement, Standard Chartered committed to providing access to credit of $500 million (more than 7 trillion Rupiah).

Atome Financial is a business unit under the Advance Intelligence Group. In early September 2021 it has pocketed funding series D for $400 million from a consortium of investors led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Warburg Pincus. This investment managed to boost the company's valuation of more than $2 billion. In Indonesia, this group of companies oversees several digital services, including: advance.ai, Atome, Smart Credit, and Ginee.

In an official statement, this agreement marks one of the largest strategic investments at Standard Chartered in supporting the fintech industry at this time. Standard Chartered has ambitions to expand its reach and scale in mass market through approach digital-first, supported by digital acquisitions and new partnership models.

At an early stage this partnership will include services paylater which is targeted to launch in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam in the next few months. Then, it was expanded to digital loan products. Under Standard Chartered's $500 million financing commitment, it opens up opportunities for Atome Financial to grow and connect the wider merchant ecosystem to a larger customer base.

Then, increase product access and financial inclusion for consumers across the region. At the same time, Atome Financial customers will gain access to more innovative financial services, easily accessible via their mobile devices.

In embarking on a 10-year multi-product strategic partnership, the two companies will combine each other's strengths. Atome Financial will deliver a cost-effective and scalable experience in consumer finance and digital platforms.

Thanks to Standard Chartered's broad footprint and banking expertise, this strategic partnership aims to reach more than 16 million customers by 2025. As well as, gain access to multiple financial ecosystems to capture a share of the $92 billion digital lending market by 2025 in Southeast Asia. just.

Standard Chartered Bank's CEO Consumer, Private, and Business Banking Judy Hsu explained that by leveraging the successful digital business and partnerships built, the company continues to innovate and continue to disrupt itself in order to better serve clients. According to him, this partnership with Atome Financial opens the opportunity to be part of the rapidly growing digital consumer finance ecosystem and provide convenient and relevant digital financial products.

“[..] Our in-depth knowledge of the Asian market coupled with Atome Financial's experience in digital consumer finance will allow us to reach more customers and drive greater financial participation from the underserved and unbanked,” Hsu said, Wednesday. (13/10).

Co-founder, Group Chairman and CEO of Advance Intelligence Group and CEO of Atome Financial Jefferson Chen added, "We are enthusiastic about the support provided by Standard Chartered in realizing the company's mission to help people lead a better life by utilizing technology.

“At the same time, this partnership with Standard Chartered will allow us to expand our merchant network and help retailers increase their customer base and basket size, contributing to economic growth across the region,” said Chen.

Ambition to develop digital financial services

Both Atome and Standard Chartered are currently working on an industry that is experiencing significant growth in Indonesia. Apart from Atome, previously Standard Chartered partnered with Bukalapak and Sociolla to come up with solutions banking-as-a-service (BaaS) through the nexus.

Sociolla and Bukalapak users can experience new financial services, such as opening savings accounts, applying for loans, and credit cards. Its realization is targeted to live at the end of this year.

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Meanwhile, for business paylater Atome is engaged in in Indonesia, is an industry that consumers are starting to choose when shopping online. According to survey Katadata Insight Center together Kredivo, paylater is the fourth most popular payment (27%), after e-wallet (65%), bank transfer (51%), and Alfamart/Indomaret (29%).

From the research, it was also said that the public's understanding was also good, as many as 86% of people stated that they already knew paylater with moderate level of knowledge. There are two conceptual approaches paylater used in Indonesia. First, it is part of the consumer platform -such as Traveloka, Gopay, and Shopee. Second, a stand-alone service that integrates with various consumer applications.

Atome goes into the second approach, competing with several other providers. They are:

ApplicationDownloads (Playstore)Rating (Playstore)
Akulaku10 million+3 (Shopping)
Atom1 million+19 (Shopping)
Home Credit10 million+33 (Finance)
indodan5 million+30 (Finance)
July5 million+28 (Finance)
Kredivo10 million+10 (Finance)
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