Funding Societies eyes profitability in 2024 amid bleak lending environment

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IN FOCUS

In today’s newsletter, we look at:

• Funding Societies’ revenue jump in 2022
• A new proposal in Singapore to make banks and telcos more accountable for the rise in phishing attacks
• How a 14-year-old company offering point-of-sale solutions bootstrapped its way to a revenue of “high seven figures”

Hi there,

If good news out of the regional digital lending space appears to be slowing to a trickle these days, that’s because it is.

With US interest rates at their highest in 22 years, rising inflation, and an uncertain economic outlook, digital lending platforms in Southeast Asia are taking signals from global banks. Some are already seeing non-performing loans creep up.

That said, Singapore-headquartered Funding Societies recorded an 84% revenue jump in 2022 amid growing losses, as my colleague Budi discusses in this week’s Big Story.

The firm’s revenue growth is expected to slow down in 2023 as it cherry-picks its SME customers. However, it expects to become profitable in the fourth quarter of 2024, CFO Frank Stevenaar said.

In addition to a credit crunch, financial firms in Singapore may soon face increased responsibilities in mitigating the risks of phishing scams.

Last week, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Infocomm Media Development Authority proposed that financial institutions should bear a share of the losses incurred by their customers in phishing scams, if found to fall short in their duties to mitigate these risks.

I discuss some implications of the move in this week’s Hot Take.

— Melissa

THE BIG STORY

Funding Societies posts 84% revenue jump in 2022 as losses grow

Image credit: Timmy Loen

THE HOT TAKE

NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW

FYI