Ripple to acquire 40% stake in FinTech company Tranglo as it expands in Asia

The deal is expected to close this year

As FinTech evolves, payment options are developing rapidly worldwide. Bloomberg

US blockchain technology company Ripple, which is also behind the cryptocurrency XRP, is buying a 40 per cent stake in Malaysian cross-border payments company Tranglo as part of its push into South-East Asia.

Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close this year, were not disclosed.

The deal will help Ripple to meet growing customer demand in Asia and expand the reach of its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The ODL service boosts cross-border payments and enables partnering banks or financial service providers to transfer funds economically and instantly across jurisdictions using the XRP coin.

“Tranglo’s robust payments infrastructure coupled with their unparalleled customer service and quality makes them an ideal partner to support our expansion of ODL starting with the South-East Asia region,” said Asheesh Birla, general manager of RippleNet – a network of banks and money services businesses that use solutions developed by Ripple.

Founded in 2012, Ripple’s blockchain technology is currently used by hundreds of financial institutions across more than 55 countries, the company said.

Tranglo has strived to make “cross-border transactions faster, cheaper and more secure”, Jacky Lee, chief executive of the company, said.

“By partnering closely with Ripple and introducing ODL to new markets, we aim to further that ambition to provide accessible and equitable financial services to the masses,” Mr Lee added.

A physical imitation of a Ripple cryptocurrency XRP. AFP

Tranglo, which was established in 2008, has offices in Malaysia, Indonesia, the UK, the UAE and Singapore. The company has more than 1,300 payout partners worldwide and has processed over 20 million transactions, totalling $4 billion in value since its inception, according to its website.

South-East Asia’s payments landscape is highly fragmented. Each country comes with its own unique process and payments infrastructure – the lack of a standard integration for regional cross-border payments currently requires expensive workarounds.

Ripple’s investment in Tranglo is expected to solve some of these cross-border payment challenges.

“This partnership will see both companies combine their in-depth local expertise to address the challenges associated with cross-border payments,” Ripple said.

Last week, Ripple appointed Brooks Entwistle, a former executive at Goldman Sachs and Uber, as its managing director for South-East Asia to lead and scale up its regional operations.

In December, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Ripple and two of its executives, who are also significant security holders, for allegedly misleading investors in XRP. They were accused of raising over $1.3bn through an unregistered, ongoing digital asset securities offering.