GoTyme Bank eyeing Vietnam expansion

The Gokongwei-backed GoTyme Bank is looking at expanding into Vietnam which, it says, shares the same market potential as the Philippines, and adding that discussions with a local partner bank there are already in advanced stages.

“Vietnam actually has very similar demographics here, over a hundred million underserved. We feel like there’s a gap in the market when it comes to customer experience and service,” GoTyme CEO Nathaniel Clarke told reporters last week.

Clarke added that the possible expansion is also part of the company’s strategy to focus on expanding their footprint in the Asian region.

“As the Tyme group very much sees, our home now is increasingly Southeast Asia. So, even though our origin story is in South Africa, we are not focused in South Africa, we are focused on Southeast Asia,” he said.

GoTyme currently has 1.35 million users in the Philippines, a figure that is growing by around 200,000 every month, with the company projecting it will hit the 2 million mark by year’s end.

It also has 370 kiosks nationwide where people aged 18-year-old and up can open an account and be issued a Visa debit card within five minutes by submitting a single, valid identification card, a Philippine address and a mobile number.

The bank is expecting to have a total of 400 kiosks across the Philippines by the end of the year, a number that is expected to increase to 550 by the middle of 2024.

Aside from expanding their user base, the company also has plans to launch three credit products by next year.

It also has plans to venture into the cryptocurrency space and stock trading, and is currently seeking approval from local government regulatory agencies.

The GoTyme Bank is a partnership venture between the Gokongwei Group and the South Africa- and Singapore-based Tyme.

It is one of the six financial institutions issued a digital bank license by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. INQ