The IOUpay Ltd (ASX: IOU) share price has been a strong...

The IOUpay Ltd (ASX: IOU) share price has been a strong performer on Tuesday morning.

At the time of writing, the Malaysia-based buy now pay later (BNPL) provider’s shares are up 13% to 68.5 cents.

Why is the IOUpay share price charging higher?

Investors have been buying IOUpay shares following the release of an announcement this morning.

According to the release, the company has entered into a Merchant Referral Agreement with iPay88. The agreement will see IOUpay provide iPay88’s merchants and end-user customers with BNPL payment services.

IOUpay advised that the two parties have entered into a one-year renewable term. Positively, there is no consideration paid by IOUpay to iPay88 for entering into this agreement.

What is iPay88?

The release explains that iPay88 is the dominant online payments brand in Malaysia.

In 2020, its merchants processed over 360 million transactions across iPay88’s payment gateway network with a total transaction value (TTV) of approximately A$10 billion.

This represents 50% of the total online transaction and payment market in Malaysia, as reported by iPay88 on 16 November 2020.

The iPay88 network currently services more than 45,000 online merchants and 20,000 in-store merchants in Malaysia. It also has operations firmly established across the South East Asian (SEA) markets of Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Bangladesh.

What now?

IOUpay and iPay88 will commence integrating systems with BNPL payment processing capabilities in March. After which, the onboarding of merchants and approved customers is planned for April.

The release advises that the merchant onboarding and rollout will initially consist of selected priority merchants for quality control purposes.

IOUpay’s CEO, Mr Khong Kok Loong, commented: “iPay88 are the clear market leader in the online payments industry in Malaysia with a strong presence across South East Asia. We are delighted to be partnering with iPay88 in this landmark deal to rollout our BNPL offering to merchants and consumers and are committed to building a long term strategic relationship”.