BC Card, a Republic of Korea-based credit card issuer, acquires 100 percent stake of Vietnamese POS terminal provider Wirecard Vietnam in a bid to expand its foothold in Southeast Asia. (Photo: FT)Wirecard Vietnam, the largest POS system supplier inVietnam, offers one-stop-shop payment solutions, from back-end software tofront-end hardware, to around 40 local banks and payment services firms.
The Hanoi-based company, a subsidiary of Germany’sWirecard Sales International Holding, has been present in Vietnam since 1999. Itsrevenue reached a record high 137.3 billion VND (close to 5.95 million USD) in2019, up 15.5 percent from the previous year. Its after-tax profit hit 12.4billion VND, a year-on-year increase of 2018.
The parent corporation last year filed for insolvencyafter it admitted 1.9 billion EUR in cash had gone missing from its balancesheet, forcing Wirecard Singapore to divest its entire holding from the Vietnamcompany to BC Card.
“Despite the challenging circumstances of theinternational sales processes amidst a pandemic, we succeeded in preservinganother Wirecard subsidiary in Asia,” said insolvency administrator MichaelJaffé.
BC Card, meanwhile, is the RoK's biggest paymentprocessing company and local brand network. It has been collaborating with anumber of major banking and payment services firms in Vietnam, such as NationalPayment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS), LienVietPostBank, and Sacombank.
“BC Card has decided to take over the stake of WirecardVietnam to directly run a business in the local market, and to increase itspresence there,” said BC Card CEO Choi Won-seok.
The transfer of the stake will be completed by the thirdquarter this year after the RoK firm pays for the acquisition./.
VNA
