Singtel and Grab have acquired a combined 32.5% stake in the digital banking subsidiary of Emtek, diluting the latter’s to 62.8%.
Telecommunications firm Singtel and ride hailing app operator Grab each invested Rp 500bn ($35m) in Bank Fama International, an Indonesia-based digital bank owned by media group Emtek, today, indicating a rise in non-traditional banking in the country.
The corporates both acquired 2.4 billion shares from Bank Fama equating to a 16.3% stake each. Emtek’s Elang Media Visitama unit had agreed to acquire the company in November 2021, and the latest deal reduced its stake from 93% to 62.8%, according to Tech in Asia.
Founded in 1993, Bank Fama operates a digital consumer bank through a network of offices across the Indonesian cities of Bandung, Jakarta and Tangerang. It focuses on retail customers such as small and medium-sized enterprises.
Singtel and Grab had joined forces to apply to Singapore’s Monetary Authority for a digital full bank licence which was granted in December 2020, before the two got another similar permit…
