Standard Chartered Launches Singapore-Based Venture

The bank is partnering with Australia-based start-up Assembly Payments to deliver next-generation payment solutions to merchants globally.

Standard Chartered is launching a new payments venture to be headquartered in Singapore as part of a strategic partnership with Assembly Payments, the two parties announced on Tuesday.

The joint venture will offer merchants globally a digital payment platform to manage transactions across multiple payment types and countries, including online, mobile and point-of-sale, digital wallets, debit and credit cards and real-time payments, a joint statement said.

As the world moves towards platform-based e-commerce, the need for the next generation of tools to empower merchants and enable financial inclusion continues to grow, Alex Manson, head of SC Ventures, the bank’s innovation, fintech investment and ventures arm, said.

The payments venture is the latest in a series of new business models the bank has launched recently, which include a strategic joint venture with PCCW, HKT and Ctrip Finance in Hong Kong to deliver a new standalone digital retail bank, virtual banking partnerships in Taiwan and Korea and SME-focused financial and business services platform Solv in India.

Assembly, which already offers these services in its home market, said the partnership better positions it to capture a larger slice of the $29 trillion international payments market and exponentially grow its business.

Since its founding in 2013, Assembly has already raised $70 million in equity financing. Its rapid growth has been spurred on by the introduction of the country’s fast payment network, the New Payments Platform.