Tyme Group is accelerating its Southeast Asian expansion, planning to launch full retail banking services in Indonesia through an acquisition after rolling out GoTyme Indonesia’s MSME lending products earlier this year.

The Singapore-headquartered digital bank has also set up a data processing hub in Vietnam in preparation for its next market entry, DealStreetAsia reported.

GoTyme Indonesia currently offers merchant financing products such as GoTyme Modal supported by Olsera and Luna Capital Modal Xpress.

These services, developed with partners including Olsera, danabijak and Finfra, have disbursed more than IDR 10 billion to merchants with fast approval and flexible repayment options.

Tyme entered the Philippines in 2022 via a joint venture with the Gokongwei Group and has since grown GoTyme Bank to 7 million customers and has disbursed over PHP 5 billion in loans as of the end of July.

In South Africa, TymeBank serves about 11 million customers. The company counts Brazil’s Nubank and China’s Tencent among its investors.

The group’s push into retail banking in Indonesia highlights the country’s growing role in Southeast Asia’s digital banking race.

With high smartphone use but relatively low formal banking penetration, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines have emerged as the region’s biggest opportunities for digital lenders.

If successful, Tyme would transition from a primarily MSME-focused operator in Indonesia to a full-service digital bank competing with local players such as GoTo’s Bank Jago and Grab-linked lenders.

Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by karandaev via Freepik