2020-07-20
UALA LUMPUR: CTOS, Malaysia’s leading credit reporting agency, has today announced its acquisition of CIBI Information Inc (CIBI), the Philippines’ first and most established credit reporting agency.
CTOS said the acquisition marked its first regional investment, and a critical first step in its expansion into Asean.
“CTOS has cemented its position as Malaysia’s leading credit reporting agency, with a broad suite of innovative products and services developed in Malaysia over our 30-year history.
“This acquisition is a first key step towards bringing our products, solutions and knowledge across Asean,” CTOS group chief executive officer Dennis Martin said in a statement today.
He said the deal was strategic, both in terms of the company and the market.
“While the fintech scene in the Philippines is active, credit bureau services are still at their infancy, creating a gap that needs to be filled as the country’s adult population of over 60 million embraces new financial products and services.”
There is significant room for growth, with CTOS projecting topline growth of between 20-30 per cent compounded annual growth rate at CIBI over the next five years.
CIBI president and CEO Marlo R. Cruz said the deal would allow it to benefit from CTOS’ resources, technology and vast experience to effectively expedite its goal of supporting the unbanked/underbanked, micro-SMES and the direct-to-consumer market segments in the Philippines.
In terms of talent and knowledge, Martin believes that the transfer will be mutually beneficial.
“CIBI is traditionally a business and people information provider, and they are also heavily involved in employment vetting, which is a sector that is new to us.
“As a local Filipino” company, they also have invaluable insights to their market that multinationals don’t,”
Brahmal Vasudevan, founder and CEO of private equity firm Creador, majority shareholder in CTOS, said its aim when investing in CTOS in 2014 was to make Malaysia a centre of excellence for credit reporting in Asean.
PCCM Review：
(1) The cross-border M&A of consumer credit reporting agencies occurred between emerging market countries, rather than the traditional mergers and acquisitions of European and American credit reporting agencies in emerging market countries.
(2) Mergers and acquisitions between institutions are relatively common in the field of consumer credit reporting. Through mergers and acquisitions, different resources are integrated to seize the market, and eventually the rapid development of personal credit reporting agencies is achieved.
(3) Mergers and acquisitions in China’s consumer credit reporting industry are relatively rare. In the future, with the further development of marketization and the opening up of foreign investment, there may be occurrences.