CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, Malaysia's second largest bank by asset scale, said that its subsidiary Touch n Go, in which the bank holds a 52.22% stake, has reached an investment agreement with Alipay to set up a joint venture entity in Malaysia.
According to CIMB, Touch n Go will hold a majority stake in the joint venture, while Alipay will hold a minority stake. The joint venture will launch a new payment and related financial services mobile platform in Malaysia.
CIMB also said that it is expected that the establishment of this new joint venture will not have major influence on CIMB's profit or net asset value in 2017. If calculating by assets, CIMB is the fifth largest bank in Southeast Asia.
Chinese Internet finance enterprises like Ant Financial and WeChat payment are actively expanding overseas recently. Earlier this month, a representative from WeChat payment overseas business revealed that they already applied for a payment license in Malaysia. If approved, users in Malaysia would be able to bind their local bank accounts with WeChat payment to complete payments for products and services in Malaysian currency.