SINGAPORE: United Overseas Bank (UOB) and Lazada Group have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on retail products and banking solutions for their combined customer base in five key Southeast Asian markets – Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.
This regional strategic partnership will also see the two industry leaders working together to increase access to financing for e-commerce sellers on the Lazada platform.
This will be Lazada’s first partnership with a bank across a variety of payments and financial services in Southeast Asia, as well as UOB’s first regional collaboration with an e-commerce platform. The partnership will tap Lazada’s technology and position as a leading Southeast Asian e-commerce platform and UOB’s proven expertise in financial products, best-in-class digital banking services and long-established trust with customers.
This will allow customers and sellers to enjoy better access and enhanced benefits from payment and financial services that best meet their needs.
UOB’s group wholesale banking and markets head Frederick Chin said, “Asean plays a strategic role as an economic powerhouse to the world.
“As a bank with strong presence in Asean, our ambition is to open doors to new business opportunities across the region. Working with an e-commerce partner like Lazada complements our continued effort to bring personalised and innovative solutions to a thriving Asean.
“Through this partnership, consumers and businesses can benefit from seamless financial services that bring about access to rewarding experiences within Asean’s dynamic digital landscape.”
Lazada Group CEO James Dong said, “Lazada is committed to building an open, accessible ecosystem for Southeast Asia. We are pleased to share this vision with UOB. For consumers, we will offer easy-to-use, convenient and secure payment and financing options to enable their lifestyle needs.
“For brands and sellers, we are here to help them scale up their businesses and accelerate growth. We are here for the long haul, to achieve sustainable, long-term growth with all our ecosystem partners.”
With UOB’s acquisition of Citigroup’s consumer banking businesses in four Asean markets, the bank will be continuing the partnership of the Citi-Lazada co-brand credit cards in Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. In these three markets, the cards will be refreshed as new UOB-Lazada co-brand credit cards later this year with enhanced benefits.
UOB and Lazada will look to extend the co-brand credit card partnership to Singapore and Indonesia.
As Lazada expands its localised payments and financial services products throughout the region, the e-commerce platform and UOB also intend to collaborate on cash management and transaction processing services for Lazada sellers across the region.
The two partners are looking into offering loans to sellers on the Lazada platform through a new digital lending experience.
Leveraging Lazada’s seller insights and UOB’s digital banking capabilities with integrated financial supply chain management solutions, the collaboration will focus on giving sellers access to streamlined onboarding, approval and disbursement processes for loans and financing across their businesses.
The two partners are working towards a pilot launch later this year.