SK Group to invest $60 million in Malaysia's Big Pay to expand foothold in Southeast Asia's fintech sector

South Korea’s SK Group is aggressively strengthening its foothold in the Southeast Asian fintech business by investing $60 million in BigPay, a unit of Malaysia’s AirAsia Group Bhd.

BigPay is competitive in the digital wallet sector, providing payments and remittance services in Malaysia and Singapore. It will expand to entire Southeast Asia with payments and remittance services in such countries as Thailand and the Philippines.

SK, which also obtained an option to invest $40 million more, will extend its business model by including installment payment, loans, and customer-tailored financial product brokerage services.

SK will equip BigPay with artificial intelligence and data analysis know-how.

Over 80 percent of Malaysians use smartphones, allowing its fintech industry to potentially grow quickly.

Online transactions in Malaysia are rapidly increasing, while the digital wallet market is at its early growth stage.