Singtel has acquired a 16.3 per cent stake in an Indonesian bank for 500 billion rupiah (S$47 million) in cash, as part of its plans to pursue banking opportunities in the country.

 

In a bourse filing on Friday (Jan 21), the telco said its wholly owned subsidiary Singtel Alpha Investments has taken up 2.4 billion new shares issued by Bank Fama International.

 

Fama' s investors include Nasdaq-listed digital services player Grab, which is also in a joint venture with Singtel to operate a digital bank in Singapore.

 

Singtel noted that Indonesia' s population is the most unbanked and underbanked in South-east Asia, and expects that its investment will develop Fama' s digital banking proposition and drive greater financial inclusion.

 

The net asset value of Fama was 1.04 trillion rupiah as at Jun 30, 2021. It is majority-owned by a subsidiary of Indonesian media and technology conglomerate Elang Mahkota Teknologi.

 

The Grab-Singtel tie-up was awarded a digital full-bank licence in Singapore in 2020. In July 2021, the joint venture also applied for a digital banking licence in Malaysia.

 

The Fama acquisition was funded via internal sources, said Singtel.