(13 April 2021 – Singapore) SC Ventures, the innovation, ventures and fintech investments unit of Standard Chartered has made a strategic investment, resulting in the merger of Dublin-based CurrencyFair with Australia’s Assembly Payments.
Paul Byrne, CEO of CurrencyFair, will lead the merged business, which will focus on payments, global payment accounts, partner ecosystem, lending and settlement, and services.
The move comes a year after Standard Chartered invested in Assembly Payments. The combined venture is promising to address some of the key pain points, including the fragmentation of payment ecosystems, the complexity of implementing different payment ecosystems, privacy and security of data, and cross-border e-commerce for multi-market and multi-currency collection requirements.
“Digital payments is a core strategic area for Standard Chartered and our 2020 investment in Assembly Payments greatly enhanced our presence in the domestic payments business. By bringing together the complementary strengths of CurrencyFair and Assembly, we are supporting the merged company in offering the full range of payment services, providing retail and corporate clients access to fast, high-volume domestic and cross-border payments,” said Standard Chartered Group Chief Executive Bill Winters.
“E-Commerce is one of the highest conviction themes for SC Ventures, and we will continue to grow and scale our capabilities and geographies to support the transition to digital economies,” said SC Ventures global head Alex Manson.