JAKARTA, Indonesia: Southeast Asian ride hailing app Grab is expanding into financial services in partnership with a Japanese credit card company, hoping to offer credit to millions of people without bank accounts.
Grab, founded by Malaysian businessman Anthony Tan, said Tuesday it will use its “huge cache” of customer data from the app to provide ways to measure creditworthiness of people outside the formal banking system.
The ride-hailing app says it has over a billion transactions a year including food deliveries and other services.
It said the joint venture with Japan’s Credit Saison will initially focus on providing loans to Grab drivers and merchants for purchasing smartphones or working capital.
The World Bank estimates that more than 260 million people in Southeast Asia lack bank accounts, which restricts their access to credit.
“Many in our region have no access to loans that they can use to purchase a new home or grow their small business,” Grab said in a statement. It said its lending business would “accelerate financial inclusion.”
Grab dominates car and motorbike-hailing in much of Southeast Asia. The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported last week that Uber has agreed in principle to sell its Southeast Asian operations to Grab, which would end the US company’s costly fight for market share in the region.
In Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and most populous nation, Grab is in a fierce battle for customers with local operator Go-Jek.
Southeast Asian ride-hailing app Grab expands into lending
Southeast Asian ride-hailing app Grab expands into lending
Saudi Arabia approves over 1k chemical permits, awards 172 mining licenses
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia processed more than 1,000 chemical permit requests in November and awarded exploration rights for 172 mining sites in what the government described as its largest licensing round on record.
The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources said it handled 1,095 chemical clearance requests during the month, including 1,041 approvals for non-restricted chemicals and 54 for restricted substances, covering 2,081 product classifications, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
It forms part of ongoing efforts to accelerate the discovery and development of mineral resources valued at over SR9.4 trillion ($2.51 trillion), aligning with Vision 2030’s objective to position mining as the third pillar of the national industrial sector.
Ministry spokesperson Jarrah Al-Jarrah explained that the chemical clearance service enables industrial investors to obtain import or export permits for chemicals used in manufacturing through the “Sanaei” digital platform.
“He clarified that the service aims to ensure that chemical clearances for industrial facilities are granted through streamlined procedures and in a timely manner, thus serving investors and facilitating the entry of their materials through ports of entry,” the SPA report stated.
Al-Jarrah explained that the service plays a critical role in enhancing industrial output by developing and automating permit procedures for production-related chemicals as part of the ministry’s digital services.
In a separate development, the ministry announced that 24 domestic and international companies and consortiums won exploration licenses across 172 mining sites in Saudi Arabia, with 76 of those sites awarded through a multi-round public auction.
These sites span three mineral belts in the Riyadh, Madinah, and Qassim regions, with committed exploration spending exceeding SR671 million during the first two years of project implementation.
The ministry described this licensing round as the largest mining tender in the Kingdom’s history.
The competition covered more than 24,000 sq. km across regions known for strategic minerals including gold, copper, silver, zinc, and nickel.
Additionally, the ministry noted that 26 qualified companies participated through the electronic bidding platform, progressing through a transparent process that began with prequalification and culminated in competitive multi-round auctions.
The ministry confirmed that these investments aim to develop untapped exploration zones and enhance the utilization of Saudi Arabia’s mineral wealth, strengthening global supply chains.
It also announced plans to launch further exploration license tenders covering 13,000 sq. km across Madinah, Makkah, Riyadh, Qassim, and Hail, with additional opportunities to be revealed at the 5th Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh from Jan. 13 to 15.
These efforts, the ministry stated, reflect a broader mining strategy focused on maximizing resource potential, attracting foreign investment, creating employment opportunities, and integrating value chains to establish Saudi Arabia as a global mining hub.
