MOL to turn heads

Last month MOL Access Portal Sdn. Bhd. (MOL), Asia’s leading e-payment service provider, entered into a joint venture agreement with pioneering Vietnamese e-commerce group PeaceSoft Solutions Corporation (PeaceSoft) to acquire a 50 per cent stake in NganLuong, PeaceSoft’s online payments unit.

Under the joint venture agreement, MOL and PeaceSoft will jointly operate one of the country's first online payments and escrow platforms together with other related e-payments services in Vietnam.

“This is an excellent combination as MOL can bring its global network of merchants into Vietnam, while giving the opportunity for Vietnamese merchants and publishers to sell their products and content directly to 12 markets through MOL’s growing payment network,” said PeaceSoft president Nguyen Hoa Binh.

“We have strong trust and belief that we will be able to bring NganLuong to the next growth level with our global experience and expertise in building, investing and operating leading localised payment services worldwide. We are extremely delighted to partner with PeaceSoft in this strong growth opportunity,” said MOL Global’s Group chief executive officer Ganesh Kumar Bangah.

“NganLuong is one of the market leaders in the field of e-payments in Vietnam and this investment strengthens MOL’s regional leadership position with a strong presence in every major Internet market in South East Asia,” Ganesh said, adding that with more than 31 million Internet users, Vietnam was an important and potential market to MOL.

From 2013 onwards, NganLuong’s development will pursue three-pillar strategy, focusing on tapping three major online market segments, including online payment for e-commerce, payment for digital content services- the segment which is forecast to reach $1 billion revenue by 2015 by the Vietnam Software Association and payment via mobiles- the segment catching 300 per cent growth each year globally, but not yet available in Vietnam.

In fact, many foreign players have stepped into Vietnam’s online payment market in the past years.

For instance, in October, 2011 Japan’s NTT Data Corporation acquired a 40 stake in VietUnion Online Services Corporation, a subsidiary of the Saigon Investment Group, in a capital tie-up venture. VietUnion owns Payoo e-wallet, a payment services company.

Before entering into a joint venture with MOL, NganLuong had a cooperative deal with global online payment gateway Paypal.

Besides, IDG Ventures bought a stake in Vietnam’s mobile payment serviceVinaPay and Ukraine-based Kosto Group put claws into PayLink.