[SINGAPORE] GXS Bank announced on Monday (Apr 14) that it has acquired digital lending platform Validus Investment’s Singapore business.
The all-cash transaction is expected to be completed by Apr 15. The amount was not disclosed. The acquisition of Validus Capital encompasses its Singapore customer base, partnerships, technology stack and employees.
Validus Capital has disbursed more than US$1 billion in supply chain financing and working capital loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) since its inception in 2015.
“Validus Group will continue to be headquartered in Singapore and will redouble our commitment to our core markets in Indonesia (where we operate under the brand Batumbu), and Thailand where the untapped addressable markets are much larger and deeper,” said Nikhilesh Goel, co-founder and group chief executive.
Vishal Shah, group head of business banking at GXS, noted that acquiring Validus Capital over other similar fintech platforms boiled down to a few factors. One was the platform’s presence in the region, and another was Validus’ receptiveness to a potential acquisition.
Validus’ credit models and data also impressed GXS during the due diligence process. The addition of Validus’ loan portfolio will boost the digital bank’s current SME loan book as well.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
“What we are acquiring and (whatever) loans we have already booked in the last four months since we did our soft launch, we are looking to grow five times in the next three years,” added Shah.
GXS business banking services had a soft launch in the first quarter of 2025, which was limited to sole proprietorships. Currently it offers these customers only an interest-bearing account and its FlexiLoan product.
The digital bank has more than 400 business banking customers, acquired through organic growth with no advertisements driving the process. Instead, it was just through SMEs registering their interest.
GXS is targeting a full launch of its business banking services in the third quarter of 2025, with offerings for SMEs of all sizes.
“Through Validus Capital we can offer short-term and medium-term working capital loans, and (more) importantly, trade finance; so we are pretty complete when it comes to lending,” said Shah.
The right one
In discussing the strategy to accelerate the growth of GXS business banking, the argument for building versus buying an existing platform came up, he recalled. There was a criterion to consider if GXS was to acquire: it had to be a platform or a business with “the right synergy, reputation on the market, and already serving the segment” which GXS was looking to target and scale up.
The digital bank was not actively looking at acquisition targets, but what it was building was complementary to what Validus had to offer.
GXS is not eyeing more acquisition targets for its business banking growth, but is open to partnerships with fintechs serving SMEs in Singapore and Malaysia. The digital bank is building out its offerings to become an embedded bank, which integrates financial services into platforms of non-financial services.
It is more about adjacencies as opposed to competing with existing GXS offerings, noted Shah. “Equipment finance and property-backed loans are two examples where we’ll be potentially open to partnerships.”
