Standard Chartered is said to be the first major bank to target the fast-growing buy now pay later segment. Credit: Cobaltblue25 / Wikimedia Commons.

British banking major Standard Chartered has made a strategic investment of $500m in Atome Financial as part of a ten-year multi-product strategic partnership.

Atome Financial operates buy now pay later (BNPL) platform Atome and digital lending platform Kredit Pintar in Indonesia.

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The latest partnership, which aims to deliver personal banking solutions across Asia, will entail the roll-out of BNPL offerings across Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam in the next few months.

It will later include the launch of digital lending products as well.

Standard Chartered said that its investment, its largest in a fintech to-date, will enable Atome Financial to ramp up its ecosystem of merchants and customer base in Asia.

Leveraging their respective strengths in finance and technology, Standard Chartered and Atome Financial expects to reach over 16 million customers by 2025.

They will also work together to tap the evolving digital lending market, which is expected to grow to $92bn by 2025 in South East Asia alone.

Standard Chartered Bank Consumer, Private and Business Banking CEO Judy Hsu said: “This partnership with Atome Financial gives us the opportunity to be part of the rapidly growing digital consumer finance ecosystem and provides convenient and relevant digital financial products to complement and enrich clients’ digital lives.”

The partnership comes on the heels of Atome’s more than $400m Series D financing round, which valued the company at over $2bn.

Commenting on the partnership, Atome Financial CEO Jefferson Chen said: “By providing consumers with easier, simpler, and more convenient access to a full suite of digital-first financial services, we can accelerate broader financial inclusion across both developed and emerging markets in Asia.

“At the same time, this partnership with Standard Chartered will allow us to expand our merchant network and help retailers increase their customer base and basket sizes, contributing to economic growth across the region.”

Last year, Standard Chartered introduced a platform allowing the public to track and trace payments much like a parcel delivery.

This April, Irish payment firm CurrencyFair and Australia’s Assembly Payments merged following investment from Standard Chartered.