BackBankBazaar.com ventures into international markets with Singapore entry
BankBazaar hires Aman Narain, former global head of digital banking at Standard Chartered Bank, as CEO of its international operations
Premiumhas set a target of around $10 million net revenue run rate (dollar terms) for its Singapore market in the coming months.
Bengaluru: A&A Dukaan Financial Services Pvt. Ltd, the company that operates online financial services marketplace BankBazaar.com, has ventured into the international market starting with operations in Singapore.
The company has appointed former global head of digital banking at Standard Chartered Bank, Aman Narain, as chief executive of its international operations to be based in Singapore.
“In India there’s a 10x potential to grow. In the Asian markets, interestingly, the household debt as a function of GDP (gross domestic product) is actually fairly large. In dollar terms, they (Singapore and other Asian markets) consume more number of mortgages, more number of credit cards than we do in the Indian market in value terms," Adhil Shetty, co-founder and chief executive officer at BankBazaar, said in an interview.
He added that both the Singapore and Malaysia markets (in dollar terms) are larger than the Indian market.
The Singapore entity will be a wholly owned subsidiary of the Indian arm, Shetty said.
“The rationale behind this move is that we built a lot of platform-based IP (intellectual property) which is actually applicable globally. Being a very IP-based business which is not resource- or capital-intensive, essentially what we are sharing with our Singapore entity is our IP, our platform and our best practices, based on which they’re running on at full speed in their own markets."
As part of its plans, BankBazaar will roll out its flagship credit card services first and eventually expand into personal, home and auto loans, among other services.
The company has set a target of around $10 million net revenue run rate (dollar terms) for its Singapore market in the coming months.
Shetty said the company is considering venturing into other markets like the Middle East, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia within the next few quarters.
BankBazaar will have close to 100 members working on international markets, both offshore and onsite, Shetty said.
“Technology is fundamentally altering the way we live and work, and with new rules come new players," Narain, the newly appointed chief executive, said in a statement.
In India, BankBazaar has 950 employees; it receives five million visitors a month and has concluded dispersing ₹ 3,000 crore at the end of 2015, Shetty said. The company has 12 products on offer in India ranging from credit cards and personal loans to home loans and auto loans, among others from over 50 public and private sector banks and non-banking financial corporations.
BankBazaar currently offers services to non-resident Indians in markets like Singapore and Dubai for customers interested in buying property in India.
BankBazaar raised ₹ 375 crore in July 2015 led by Amazon Inc., Fidelity Growth Partners, Mousse Partners and existing investors Sequoia Capital and Walden International.
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