Latvian FinTech frontrunners VIA SMS Group and TWINO announces plans to combine their experience and know-how to enter Asia-Pacific consumer lending market by launching their first joint consumer lending brand VAMO in Vietnam. The potential of emerging Asia-Pacific market is indicated by strong demand for consumer lending services. Partners are committed and determined to unlock the opportunities presented by this particular market.

Both VIA SMS Group and TWINO are well-known consumer lenders operating across Europe, Russia and Kazakhstan, and have also acquired significant market share in Latvia. Besides, both companies also operate peer to peer lending platforms VIAINVEST (www.viainvest.com) and TWINO (www.twino.eu ), respectively. Since consumer lending has been the core business for both partners for over 10 years, companies were able to find a common ground on sharing the know-how and resources to target less-explored Asia-Pacific market, while aiming to diversify consumer lending portfolio and expanding their global reach. JSC VIA SMS group and TWINO Ltd. have entered into joint venture on equal terms sharing 50% of business each.

Anastasija Oļeiņika, CEO of TWINO Group: “In FinTech, to be successful, your business should be constantly looking for ways of growth and development by means of innovation and change. At TWINO, our mission is to break the existing borders as we continue to expand our business in emerging markets with the aim to make FinTech products accessible to a range of borrowers and investors with a focus on speed and convenience. Our midterm strategy is to open at least 2 new markets in Asia-Pacific by the end of 2020 and our strategic partnership will allow us to significantly decrease the time to market.”

VAMO.vn, operating in Vietnam under the brand name VAMO, was launched in December, 2019 and closed the year of 2019 with the first loan issued shortly after the public launch. “Vietnam and Asia-Pacific region, in general, is a large and challenging market, but it also offers opportunities that cannot be found anywhere in Europe. VAMO essentially is a venture launched to test the waters and our capacity, as market differences between Asia and Europe are significant. By now we are happy with the first weeks of operations and we are really looking forward to expansion,” adds Deniss Šerstjukovs, Member of the Board at VIA SMS Group.

VIA SMS Group is an alternative financial services provider founded in 2009 and currently operating in 7 countries. Apart from consumer lending products offered by the company across European market, its product portfolio also includes such brands as peer-to-peer lending platform VIAINVEST, digital payments platform VIALET, deposits product VIASPAR, and payment card with a credit line SAVA.card. VIA SMS Group employs more than 220 professionals around the world and has closed the year of 2018 with a net loan portfolio of 22 493 015 EUR and revenue amounting to 24 585 120 EUR.

TWINO is an international financial technology company which has issued EUR 1 billion in loans since its inception in 2009. TWINO Investment Platform was launched in 2015 and since then the platform provides European investors a chance to earn premium returns by investing in consumer loans issued by TWINO Group subsidiaries in Poland, Russia, Latvia, Kazakhstan, and elsewhere. Already more than EUR 600 million worth of loans have been financed through the investment platform. TWINO LLC is the parent company of TWINO Group, competencies and fundraising center, which sells claims to loans issued by Group subsidiaries to TWINO Investment Platform investors, as well as provides Group subsidiaries with leading human resources competencies. TWINO Group worked with EUR 13 million profit before taxes (audited financials) in 2018.