Continuing to drive its presence across South East Asian markets, BankBazaar, India’s leading online financial services marketplace for loans, Credit Cards and other financial products, is all set to disrupt the international Fintech landscape as it forays into Malaysia. To further scale and steer its international operations, BankBazaar has appointed Fintech stalwart Vipin Kalra to lead the business growth and replicate the company’s India success story globally.
After successfully consolidating its leadership position in the Indian market over ten years, BankBazaar is steadily expanding its foothold across South East Asia. In line with this vision, last month, BankBazaar announced an investment of INR 5 crores in the Malaysian market and an additional INR 10 crores in its Singapore business. As part of its international expansion strategy, the company also plans to begin its operations across Australia, Hong Kong, UAE and the Philippines over the next couple of years.
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The presence of over 70% active internet users, coupled with the Malaysian Government’s commitment to digitise the financial ecosystem has led to the adoption of advanced financial technologies to equip customers to shift towards digital transactions. Furthermore, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has recently issued licenses to emerging Fintech companies with an aim to improve the quality, efficiency and accessibility of financial services in Malaysia, thereby presenting a huge potential for growth and expansion in this market.
Commenting on this development, Adhil Shetty, Co-founder and CEO, BankBazaar.com said, “Buoyed by the positive business sentiment and a progressive regulator, Malaysia’s banking industry is poised towards the next phase of disruption. This complements BankBazaar’s vision to enable, simplify and improve the financial services value chain for consumers. Backed by the company’s paperless finance vision and under Vipin’s leadership, we are confident that BankBazaar International will play a pivotal role in transforming the Malaysian financial services market.”
Vipin Kalra joins BankBazaar.com from Visa where he held various senior-level positions. In his previous role, Vipin was Senior Vice President of Merchant Sales & Solutions for Asia Pacific. Prior to this, Vipin was the Country Manager for Visa’s Australia business. He was instrumental in not only accelerating Visa’s revenue growth but also making Australia a leading global marketplace for payment innovation. Under his leadership, Visa Australia successfully rolled out Visa’s contactless payment (Visa payWave) and mobile NFC payments. He also led the proliferation of credit, debit and prepaid payment products with Visa’s clients and partners. Vipin is a seasoned global payments expert with over 25 years of experience in the transactional, hardware and software industry in Asia Pacific and Australia.
BankBazaar will deploy a team of 30 people to support its expansion in Malaysia in addition to the 40-member Singapore team. In his new role, Vipin will be responsible for growing and establishing BankBazaar’s presence in international markets, starting with Malaysia and Singapore. Further, he will focus on forging strategic partnerships with financial institutions as well as product development for international markets.
Commenting on BankBazaar’s international expansion, Vipin Kalra, CEO, BankBazaar International added, “The technological landscape across the globe is changing rapidly. I believe companies focused on innovation, clubbed with agility are sure to make an impact, irrespective of their business scale and scope. After successfully shaping India’s Fintech space through customer-focused innovations, BankBazaar is now taking this legacy across new markets. I am excited to be a part of BankBazaar and partner with them in this new journey.”
Wui Liang, Country Head, Singapore at BankBazaar International said, “As BankBazaar seamlessly scales its international operations, we are delighted to establish our presence in Malaysia, a critical Fintech hub of South East Asia. We welcome Vipin Kalra as he brings extensive experience in areas of global payments, transactional business, digital and online retail sector along with emerging technology to further steer the company’s growth trajectory across international markets.”
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