Hi
@mondy85.
Thanks for your serious analysis. We can all do with more of that on this IOU forum.
But you have made a fundamental error by equating not having a credit card with being
unbanked. At worst, the vast majority without a credit card can only be described as
underbanked. Its a big difference because the
underbanked all have a relationship with a bank, probably with a standard bank account and a debit card attached, whilst the
unbanked have no relationship with a bank at all. In Malaysia the
unbanked, ie no bank account at all, are only 8% of the population or 2.5 million people. It is a fallacy to suggest that there some great unmet demand in Malaysia for IOU to service.
The deal IOU has for access to Easystore's customers has nothing to do with the
unbanked. These are all people with bank accounts. In the fullness of time that deal will be undercut by a major bank in Malaysia bank offering more convenience to customers and better terms for merchants. It is just a matter of time before a Malaysian bank does a CBA.
If the
underbanked want to progress to having access to credit either with a credit card or BNPL then their bank will be first in line to fulfill that need. When the CBA example has spread to Malaysia, IOU will thereinafter never actually have contact with those people. And if the
unbanked want a bank account they will contact a bank, so they too will never be known to IOU. There is no way out of that reality for IOU.
But in the Philippines it's an entirely different matter as 70% of the population there or 75 million people are
unbanked. The banks don't know them and merchants don't know them. No one has any contact details for them so there is a real unmet demand if you can find a way of reaching them. Let me give you the tip, the only way to reach them is by putting in unglamourous hard yakka on the ground. There is no shortcut that can be executed from some soft armchair in some far away office and I know of only one company on the ASX that fully comprehends the challenge in providing financial services to those people.
(20min delay)