Grace Ashiru
TymeBank, a South African digital bank with customer deposits totaling R4 billion ($222 million), is set to launch in Indonesia by the end of 2024. This will mark the bank’s entry into its third Southeast Asian market, following its launch in the Philippines in October 2022 and Vietnam in January 2024.
In its Indonesian venture, TymeBank will not initially seek a banking license. Instead, it will introduce its lending product, Merchant Cash Advance, targeted at Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). This approach mirrors the strategy the bank employed in Vietnam.
“We see a massive opportunity with good profit potential in the small business lending space in Indonesia and the region,” Tyme Group chair Coen Jonker told TechCabal. “We can also build our brand faster because it takes a lot more time and money to get a full banking license and infrastructure up and running.”
TymeBank was established in 2018 by Coenraad Jonker and Tjaart van der Walt, with a focus on serving low-income earners and SMEs. The bank is supported by major investors, including Tencent, British International Investment, and Patrice Motsepe’s Africa Rainbow Capital (ARC). To date, TymeBank has secured $316 million in funding and is in the process of raising an additional $150 million in a Series D round. The bank also has plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange by 2028.
With a thriving ecosystem of over 60 million SMEs and restricted access to conventional financing, Indonesia offers a promising market opportunity for TymeBank to expand its merchant lending business. In South Africa, TymeBank has already disbursed $100 million to more than 60,000 small enterprises.
In the Philippines, TymeBank’s operations reported a loss of 2.47 billion Philippine pesos ($42 million) in 2023, marking its first full year of operations in the country. According to Jonker, the bank aims to break even by 2025 and achieve full-year profitability in South Africa by 2024.
By October 2024, TymeBank is set to reach 10 million customers in South Africa and 5 million in the Philippines. Jonker noted, “In the Philippines, we have achieved half in two years of the total customer base that we achieved in South Africa over six years, so that is an amazing growth story.”
In the meantime, TymeBank’s attention is focused on the Southeast Asian market, where a favorable regulatory environment and a vast potential customer base present significant opportunities. Looking ahead, TymeBank is also considering further African expansion, with Jonker emphasizing that the question is not “if” but “when” this move will take place.
