Velo Labs Technology Ltd. (Velo Labs) has announced a collaboration with Lightnet Pte. Ltd. (Lightnet Group) and Visa Worldwide Pte. Limited (Visa) to jointly develop payment solutions in Asia.
With a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in effect between the parties, Velo Labs, Lightnet Group and Visa will collaborate on payment solutions aimed at addressing the under-served micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) lending market in Asia. The International Finance Corporation estimates that, globally, USD 5.2 trillion in MSME lending goes unserved annually, with more than half of this financing gap existing in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.
“Being new-to-credit or lacking creditworthiness is often an obstacle to achieving one’s financial goals, such as securing loans to start a business or even buying a car,” said Tridbodi Arunanondchai, Vice Chairman and Group CEO of Lightnet Group. “We are delighted to be a part of this unique cooperation along with trusted partners like Velo Labs and Visa. We are providing customers from the MSME market with another pathway to build credit and improve financial wellness.”
Velo Labs, Lightnet Group and Visa’s partnership extends the reach of all three firms by allowing near real-time global transactions between participating banks, money transfer operators and other financial service providers. This initiative aims to enable users with poor or inexistent credit histories to receive a line of credit by depositing digital assets as collateral. This approach is ideally suited to connect over one billion unbanked and underbanked individuals in APAC to the global financial system. VELO tokens will serve as the digital asset collateralizing financial solutions.
“This agreement is a testament to Velo Labs’ and its partners’ continuous efforts to achieve financial inclusion for millions in the under-served MSME lending market. It also illustrates VELO’s capacity as a bridge asset enabling greater financial inclusion,” says Chatchaval Jiaravanon, Chairman of Velo Labs.
