Sea, Southeast Asia’s biggest tech startup, now fully controls Bank Kesejahteraan Ekonomi which is popularly known as Bank BKE after buying stakes through its subsidiary Turbocash Hong Kong. These shares were purchased from its existing shareholders PT Danadipa Artha Indonesia and PT Koin Investama Nusantara Ltd.
This particular move has accelerated the company’s aspirations to establish itself as a leader in financial technology and services across the region. Sea has raised close to $3 billion in a stock offering last month and it said that the proceeds will be spent on business expansions. The company was also allotted a digital bank license in Singapore in January 2021.
The accelerated digital banking space of Southeast Asia has grabbed the attention of various big fintech organizations that are planning to achieve shares in the growing digital banking arena. Sea has secured a license to open a digital bank in Singapore in December 2020 through a joint venture with Grab Holdings and Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel). Gojek also increased its stake by 22.16% in PT Bank Jago for about $160 million which is the biggest investment in the financial services to date.
Gojek, backed by Facebook and PayPal Holdings, aims to let users open bank accounts with Jago and then manages the finances through its app. Gojek’s e-wallet, GoPay, provides digital financial services to the merchants and is in competition with Sea’s e-wallet, ShopeePay, and Ovo, which are backed by Grab and Tokopedia.
Sea was one of the four companies that were chosen by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to receive digital banking licenses. Other license receivers include China’s Ant Group and a consortium of Greenland Financial Holdings Group, Linklogis Hong Kong Ltd., and Beijing Co-operative Equity Investment Fund Management Co.
Sea Group even replaced DBS as the largest Singaporean company by market capitalization in July 2020. The company was profitable for two quarters straight in 2020 on an adjusted EBITDA basis.
The group’s digital payment arm is expected to be a revenue-generating unit that makes money from the transaction fees and financial services.