Thunes has purchased a majority stake in Tookitaki Holding Pte Ltd. According to a statement from Thunes, the company invested over $20 million
Thunes is a Singapore-based payments Fintech. Tookitaki is a compliance firm providing anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) services, as well as other Regtech offerings.
Thunes points to research that indicates between 2 to 5% of the global GDP, or USD $800 billion to USD $2 trillion, is laundered each year. As cross-border payments increase so does the risk of money laundering.
Another report by JP Morgan suggests total annual transaction costs for global cross-border payments have climbed to USD $120 billion. Regulatory compliance fees are said to be a significant percentage of this total and Thunes believes they can reduce this with Tookitaki while generating savings for their customers.
forms a significant percentage of this amount, and any reduction will deliver crucial savings for Thunes’ customers. Thunes will embed “automated, streamlined compliance processes, decreasing risks and reducing overall costs.”
Peter De Caluwe, CEO of Thunes, said the alliance with provide all Thunes customers with access to next gent tech compliance systems:
“At the same time, all Tookitaki’s banking and fintech clients will automatically gain access to Thunes’ network, unlocking pathways to scale globally. We’ve already identified multiple ways to grow faster together, increasing the value we provide to our customers. We’ll be working to accelerate our growth plans jointly.”
Thunes stated that Tookitaki will continue to operate independently.
Abhishek Chatterjee, Founder and CEO of Tookitaki, said they have been passionate about fighting financial crime and expanding their AML abilities globally:
“Thunes is recognised for its far-reaching global network, and the alliance provides us with an ‘unfair’ opportunity to offer our proven and powerful AML solution to banks and fintechs across the fastest growing economies as well as the biggest.”
Singapore-based Tookitaki was founded in November 2014, and employs over 100 people across Asia, Europe and the US. It delivers AML and compliance solutions to some of the world’s leading banks and financial institutions. The alliance with Thunes is expected to enable Tookitaki to deepen its presence in core APAC markets, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas.