Merchantrade Asia (Merchantrade) is a

financial service Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...

company based in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. The company's business is centered on international money transfers, foreign currency exchange, wholesale banknotes, digital payment processing and

mobile telecommunications Mobile telephony is the provision of wireless Telephony, telephone services to Mobile phone, mobile phones, distinguishing it from fixed-location telephony provided via landline phones. Traditionally, telephony specifically refers to Telephon ...

. They also introduced

microinsurance Microinsurance is the protection of low-income people (defined as those living on more than approximately $1 but less than $4 per day) against specific perils in exchange for regular premium payment proportionate to the likelihood and cost of the r ...

as part of their service offerings. Merchantrade Asia operates 94 outlets, 5 main wholesale banknote trading hubs, more than 450 agent locations and 480 cash-in and cash-out merchants throughout Malaysia. Its institutional shareholders are Celcom Axiata Bhd, Kenanga Investment Bank and MCIS Insurance Berhad (MCIS Life).

History

The company was founded in 1996 as a telecommunications equipment supplier in Malaysia. In 2007, the company offered Merchantrade Mobile, which is a

mobile virtual network operator A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which it provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobil ...

(MVNO) with Celcom Axiata Berhad. It also offered Merchantrade Express Remittances. In 2009, the company obtained an investment from

Sumitomo Corporation is one of the largest worldwide '' sōgō shōsha'' general trading companies, and is a diversified corporation. The company was incorporated in 1919 and is a member company of the Sumitomo Group. It is listed on three Japanese stock exchange ...

. It obtained a Class A

money services business A money services business (MSB) is a legal term used by financial regulators to describe businesses that transmit or convert money. The definition was created to encompass more than just banks which normally provide these services to include non-b ...

license in 2012. It later created a mobile

remittance A remittance is a non-commercial transfer of money by a foreign worker, a member of a diaspora community, or a citizen with familial ties abroad, for household income in their home country or homeland. Money sent home by migrants competes ...

platform, Merchantrade Doowit. It obtained an investment from Celcom Axiata Berhad in 2014. Later, it acquired a 100% stake in Vital Rate Sdn. Bhd., currency exchange outlets in

Pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

Suria KLCC Suria KLCC is a 6-story shopping mall located at the foot of the Petronas Twin Towers. Suria KLCC is a premier shopping destination with over 300 flagship stores. The shopping mall is situated in Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malays ...

and

KL Sentral Kuala Lumpur Sentral Station (KL Sentral) is a transit-oriented development that houses the main railway station of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Opened on 16 April 2001, KL Sentral replaced the old Kuala Lumpur railway station as t ...

, and a 49% stake in Kliq Pte, later 100%. It formed a joint venture with Jetixa (Dubai) in 2017 and a partnership for global money transfer network service with

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Denver, Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the co ...

in 2019. In 2020, it acquired a 100% stake in Malaysian mobile financial services business Valyou Sdn. Bhd. Subsequently, it increased its outlets to 101 locations in Malaysia. It also obtained an investment from Kenanga Investment Bank. The partners were to offer Kenanga Money eWallet The company formed partnerships with IDEMIA for Digital Onboarding and LintraMax. The MVNO service was moved to its wholly-owned subsidiary, Valyou Sdn Bhd (Valyou).

Awards

* 2019 – Received ''RemTECH Award''. * 2019 – Awarded as

Visa Visa most commonly refers to: * Travel visa, a document that allows entry to a foreign country * Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Vi ...

's ''Most Outstanding Launch - Innovation Products Award'' and also received a ''Malaysia Technology Excellence Award''.

Services

The company offers international remittance services,

currency exchange A bureau de change (plural bureaux de change, both ; British English) or currency exchange (American English) is a business where people can exchange one currency for another. Nomenclature Originally French, the term () is widely used thro ...

and wholesale banknote services as part of its money services business segment. The company is also a member of the Malaysian Association of Money Services Business (MAMSB) and the International Association of Money Transfer Networks (IAMTN). Merchantrade also offers retail and online

services. Some of the key outlets are located in

and

Imago In biology, the imago (Latin for "image") is the last stage an insect attains during its metamorphosis, its process of growth and development; it is also called the ''imaginal'' stage ("imaginal" being "imago" in adjective form), the stage in wh ...

Kota Kinabalu Kota Kinabalu (; formerly known as Jesselton), colloquially referred to as KK, is the state capital of Sabah, Malaysia. It is also the capital of the Kota Kinabalu District as well as the West Coast Division of Sabah. The city is located on the ...

. The company offered a non-bank issuer of a multi-currency

e-wallet A digital wallet, also known as an e-wallet or mobile wallet, is an electronic device, online service, or software program that allows one party to make electronic transactions with another party bartering digital currency units for goods and se ...

with a VISA-accepted prepaid card in Malaysia. The e-wallet is able to exchange directly into 20 foreign currencies and make payments directly with the card. Its MVNO, through a partnership with Celcom Axiata, offered international mobile direct dial (IDD)

4G LTE In telecommunications, long-term evolution (LTE) is a standard for wireless broadband communication for cellular mobile devices and data terminals. It is considered to be a "transitional" 4G technology, and is therefore also referred to as 3 ...

mobile internet and international airtime credit transfer.

References

{{Malaysia mobile phone companies 1996 establishments in Malaysia Remittances Foreign exchange companies Financial services companies of Malaysia Malaysian companies established in 1996 Telecommunications companies of Malaysia Payments Cashless society