Ant Financial, an affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, has acquired a sizable minority stake in Vietnamese e-wallet eMonkey, says a Reuters report, citing three unnamed people aware of the deal.
With this deal, Ant Financial is attempting to gain entry into Vietnam with a population of nearly 100 million people, a quarter of who are under 25. Vietnam has one of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets in the region.
The Chinese fintech giant will have significant influence and provide technical expertise to the e-wallet.
Ant Financial has already obtained operating licences from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).
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As per this report, the announcement of the deal was withheld due to strong anti-China sentiments in Vietnam over a maritime dispute, in spite of deep economic ties between the countries.
eMonkey is owned and operated by M-Pay, which was founded in 2008 with an aim to develop and build a secure messaging service for mobile phones, as well as for payments and banking. eMonkey is a multi-functional e-wallet which aims to bring customers a smart non-cash payment method to use anywhere, anytime on their mobile phone. The wallet can be used for making distant payments for shopping transactions.
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