Merchantrade Asia
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Merchantrade Asia (Merchantrade) is a financial service company based in Malaysia. The company's business is centered on international money transfers, foreign currency exchange, wholesale banknotes, digital payment processing and mobile telecommunications.[1] They also introduced microinsurance as part of their service offerings.[2]
Merchantrade Asia operates 94 outlets, 5 main wholesale banknote trading hubs, more than 450 agent locations and 480 cash-in and cash-out merchants throughout Malaysia.[3][4] Its institutional shareholders are Celcom Axiata Bhd,[5][6] Kenanga Investment Bank[7][8] and MCIS Insurance Berhad (MCIS Life).
The company was founded in 1996 as a telecommunications equipment supplier in Malaysia.
In 2007, the company offered Merchantrade Mobile, which is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) with Celcom Axiata Berhad.[9] It also offered Merchantrade Express Remittances. In 2009, the company obtained an investment from Sumitomo Corporation.[10] It obtained a Class A money services business license in 2012.[11] It later created a mobile remittance platform, Merchantrade Doowit.[12]
It obtained an investment from Celcom Axiata Berhad in 2014. Later, it acquired a 100% stake in Vital Rate Sdn. Bhd., currency exchange outlets in Pavilion, Suria KLCC and KL Sentral, and a 49% stake in Kliq Pte, later 100%.[13][14] It formed a joint venture with Jetixa (Dubai) in 2017 and a partnership for global money transfer network service with Western Union in 2019. In 2020, it acquired a 100% stake in Malaysian mobile financial services business Valyou Sdn. Bhd.[15][16] Subsequently, it increased its outlets to 101 locations in Malaysia. It also obtained an investment from Kenanga Investment Bank.[17][18][19] The partners were to offer Kenanga Money eWallet [20][21][22][23]
The company formed partnerships with IDEMIA for Digital Onboarding and LintraMax. The MVNO service was moved to its wholly owned subsidiary, Valyou Sdn Bhd (Valyou).[citation needed]