Fintech Validus and Citibank have established a $100 million securitisation facility, collateralized by small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) loans originated by Validus in Singapore.

This collaboration, Validus says, between a large global bank and a fintech is the first-of-its-kind in Southeast Asia in terms of deal and structure and was launched in early Q2 this year. The facility is also supported by First Plus Asset Management, a Singapore-based multi-asset investment manager focused on Asia structured credit and equities.

Since the facility was established in the second quarter, Validus has doubled its borrower base in Singapore and grew its loan book by 60% across the company over the same time period. This tracks similar growth across the company, which has grown its monthly volumes by over eight times and tripled its loan book over the last 24 months.

The fintech plans to introduce neobanking products in other Southeast Asia markets. Since its launch in 2015, Validus has disbursed over $1.6 billion across more than 65,000 loans to small businesses in Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. The company is backed by venture capital firms like FMO, Vertex Growth, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, AddVentures by SCG, K3 Ventures, Openspace Ventures and VinaCapital Ventures.

“This collaboration with Citi underscores the quality of our origination, credit portfolio management, strength and resilience of our business, in today’s market environment,” says Milena Naitoh, Validus’ head of corporate development. “With this evolution in our financing strategy, as well as the support of Citi as an established player in the asset-backed securities space, we are now even better positioned to support the growth of SMEs with accessible and effortless business finance.”

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker