Southeast Asia e-payment and financial service provider TrueMoney is aggressively expanding its services, with the aim of becoming a financial services super application.
The company has strengthened its relationship with Alipay by offering Thai tourists the option of using their TrueMoney e-wallet for payment at Alipay outlets in China.
Mobile payment market leader Alipay holds a 30% share in Ascend Money. TrueMoney became a part of the Ascend Group in 2014.
"TrueMoney aims to have 50% of the Thai population using its services actively everyday by 2025 and aims to reach profitability in 2023 after a decade of operations," said Monsinee Nakapanant, co-president of Ascend Money.
TrueMoney is also planning to apply to the Bank of Thailand for a virtual bank licence and will pursue new fundraising through an initial public offering or other options, she said.
The company has 27 million users, of which 17 million are active users. Their average spending via its app is 3,000-4,000 baht per month. The company aims to grow the customer base to 35 million by year-end, Ms Monsinee said.
The largest category is Gen Y -- consumers aged between 22 and 40 -- accounting for 40% of users. She said TrueMoney aims to capture more Gen Z users.
TrueMoney hired K-pop singer Lalisa "Lisa" Manoban, a member of the K-Pop group Blackpink, to be its brand ambassador.
Anantinee Jitcharoongphorn, Ascend Money's group head of marketing, said Lisa represents "making something impossible possible", so she is a gateway that opens the door to bring users to its new financial services.
In terms of financial services, TrueMoney has 2.5 million account holders who use its savings, investment and lending services.
"Our goal is to raise the number of users of financial services up to 7 million accounts in 2025, said Ms Monsinee.
TrueMoney has gained net profit in payment services in the local market and expects profitability in its overall operations this year.
Ms Monsinee said that by 2025, financial services would account for 50% of TrueMoney's profit, up from the current level of 10%.
Thailand still offers opportunities in the field of financial services as the number of individual investors with accounts stands at only 3 million or fewer than 5% of the country's population.
The financial research firm data TABInsights found Thailand was among the top five markets in Asean in terms of mobile wallet users, with growth of 202% forecast between 2020 and 2025.
Ms Monsinee said TrueMoney's payment service currently covers 7 million points in the country and supports payment in 40 other countries, including Singapore, Japan, South Korea and China.
Nutthawadee Sae-Iah, head of strategy and business innovation at TrueMoney, said the company would continue to integrate products that meet customers' needs.
She said TrueMoney anticipates growth in its lending service, contributed by small and medium-sized enterprises and consumers who borrow to pay for products at 7-Eleven stores or Lotus's hypermarkets.
