Fintech firm Ripple acquires 40% stake in Malaysian cross-border payments firm

Global payments company Ripple announced it will acquire a 40% stake in Malaysia-based cross-border payments platform Tranglo for an undisclosed sum.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse / Photo credit: Ripple

The acquisition of the stake in the company will help Ripple expand the reach of its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service, which uses the digital asset XRP to send money instantly, eliminate pre-funding of destination accounts, and reduce working capital needs.

Ripple provides financial services to over 300 customers using blockchain technology to deliver financial solutions including bidirectional messaging, settlement, liquidity management, and lines of credit.

Founded in 2008, Tranglo is a cross-border payments hub which deals with business payments, foreign remittance, and mobile payment solutions. Its network spans over 100 countries, 2,500 mobile operators, 1,300 banks or wallets, and 130,000 cash pickup points.

“Southeast Asia’s payments landscape is highly fragmented. Each country comes with its own unique process and payments infrastructure – the lack of a standard integration for regional cross-border payments currently requires expensive workarounds,” said Ripple in a statement.

Tranglo will support existing corridors for payments, such as the Philippines, and introduce new ODL corridors within its current network. Meanwhile, customers using Ripple’s ODL service will also be able to leverage the company’s line of credit to free up working capital and enable cross-border payments into new markets.

See also: The fintech players putting Indonesia on the map

Recently, Ripple also stepped up efforts to increase its push into Southeast Asia after the payments firm roped in ex-Uber executive Brooks Entwistle as managing director of its regional operations.