Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) will invest $195 million in Thai mobile payments operator Ascend Money through its local subsidiary, Bank of Ayudhya, also known as Krungsri. This joint investment with Krungsri will secure MUFG around a 10% stake in Ascend Money, affiliated with Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group.
MUFG plans to dispatch an executive to Ascend and deepen its management involvement through technology exchanges. Additionally, MUFG will explore collaboration opportunities with CP Group, which operates 7-Eleven and Thailand’s largest mobile phone company, leveraging these customer bases to bolster Ascend’s TrueMoney service, which boasts 30 million active users.
Ascend Money, Thailand’s first fintech unicorn, aims to expand its consumer credit business. MUFG will utilize Ayudhya’s expertise in credit decisions and corporate governance to support this expansion. Ayudhya, known for its extensive branch network and strong retail loan portfolio, ranks fifth in assets but leads in retail loan balances and profitability.
MUFG’s investment aligns with its strategy to grow its Southeast Asian footprint beyond corporate loans, tapping into the region’s burgeoning consumer finance market. In 2022, MUFG invested in Indonesian buy-now, pay-later service Akulaku and acquired Philippine and Indonesian subsidiaries of a Dutch smartphone finance company.
This move signals MUFG’s commitment to capturing growth opportunities in Southeast Asia’s rapidly expanding consumer finance sector.
