Grab is moving deeper into consumer finance with its proposed acquisition of a controlling 60% stake in Atome Financial for $1.49 billion. Announced on 15 September 2026, the deal would bring Atome Financial’s buy now, pay later (BNPL), consumer cash loans, BNPL cards and digital lending products into Grab’s existing financial services business. The transaction is expected to close by the third quarter of 2027, subject to regulatory approval and other conditions. Grab has also agreed to acquire the remaining 40% roughly two years after completion of the first transaction, with the final price linked to Atome Financial’s performance.
The acquisition gives Grab a faster route to expand consumer lending across Southeast Asia. Atome Financial operates in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand and has served 25 million cumulative transacted users. It also has more than 30,000 brands on its merchant network and a gross loan portfolio of about $1 billion. Grab, meanwhile, has nearly 54 million Monthly Transacting Users and already operates payments, lending, insurance and digital banking businesses across the region.
Grab said Atome Financial’s AI-powered lending infrastructure can be combined with data and insights from its own ecosystem to improve credit assessment and help it expand lending while managing risk.
This could shorten the time needed for Grab to build consumer lending at scale. Reuters reported that Grab sees the acquisition as a way to accelerate its BNPL expansion into the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand, where it would otherwise need to spend more time developing products and credit models. Grab already offers BNPL products in Malaysia and Singapore.
A bigger role for financial services
The deal also changes the importance of financial services within Grab’s wider business model. The company has been looking beyond its core mobility and delivery businesses as it seeks additional sources of growth and profit. In February 2026, Grab said it was using AI and new services, including financial products, as part of its plan to increase profitability.
Following the Atome transaction, Grab expects its Financial Services segment to generate $500 million in adjusted EBITDA and have a gross loan portfolio of more than $6 billion by 2028. It has also raised its group target to $1.7 billion in adjusted EBITDA and more than 30% annual revenue growth between 2025 and 2028. These are company targets rather than guaranteed outcomes.
The deal is also notable because Grab plans to fund the initial acquisition entirely from its existing cash. Of the $1.49 billion consideration for the 60% stake, $260 million will be provided as primary growth capital. Grab said the transaction is expected to add to group adjusted EBITDA after completion.
Potential impact on customers and merchants
For customers, the combination could lead to more credit products being offered through a single digital ecosystem. Grab could potentially use its existing customer relationships and transaction data alongside Atome’s lending technology to offer credit at more points in the customer journey. This could include financing for purchases, cash loans and instalment payments.
The impact could be particularly relevant in markets where consumers have limited access to formal credit. Grab said that 68% of its driver-partner borrowers in 2025 accessed formal credit for the first time through Grab, while half said they did so to avoid predatory lenders. Atome Financial has also built its business around serving customers who may have limited conventional credit histories.
Merchants could gain another route to offer instalment payments and financing to customers. Atome Financial’s network of more than 30,000 brands would give Grab additional merchant relationships, while Grab’s ecosystem could provide Atome with new distribution channels. This creates the potential for cross-selling between the two businesses rather than treating BNPL and lending as separate products.
There are also risks. Combining a large consumer platform with a sizeable lending operation increases the importance of responsible lending, fraud controls, data privacy and credit risk management. Grab and Atome have said they intend to share risk-management practices, regulatory knowledge and collection strategies, while continuing to comply with local consumer protection and lending rules.
The transaction could strengthen Grab’s ability to compete in Southeast Asia’s increasingly integrated digital finance market. Instead of developing every lending capability internally, Grab would gain access to an established consumer credit business and could combine it with its mobility, delivery, payments and digital banking services.
Atome itself had been expanding before the transaction. In January 2026, it secured a $345 million syndicated debt facility, up from $200 million in 2024, to support its BNPL, lending and Pay Later Anywhere card businesses in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Are competitors doing something similar?
Grab is not alone in combining a large consumer platform with financial services. Sea Limited provides a particularly relevant comparison through Shopee and its Monee financial services business. Monee offers payments, digital wallets and credit products, allowing Sea to connect financial services with its large e-commerce ecosystem. In the second quarter of 2025, Monee revenue increased 70% year on year to $882.8 million, driven partly by demand for credit products from small and medium-sized businesses.
Sea has continued investing in Monee during 2026. Reuters reported in March that Sea’s sales and marketing spending for Monee increased 96.2% year on year in the fourth quarter of 2025, while its wider strategy continued to link financial services with its e-commerce ecosystem. By August 2026, Sea was reporting stronger demand for financial services alongside continued growth in Shopee.
GoTo provides another regional example. Its ecosystem brings together Gojek, Tokopedia and GoTo Financial, with financial services connected to the group’s wider commerce and mobility businesses. In the first quarter of 2026, GoTo reported its first quarterly net profit since the Gojek-Tokopedia merger, while revenue grew 26% year on year to 5.3 trillion rupiah. The company said growth across its services, including financial technology, and greater use of technology and AI contributed to the improvement.
The difference is that Grab is using a major acquisition to accelerate this model. Sea and GoTo have built their financial businesses alongside their wider platforms, while Grab is buying an established regional lender with its own customers, merchants, credit infrastructure and lending portfolio.
What the deal could mean for Southeast Asian digital finance
The competitive effect could extend beyond BNPL. As Grab, Sea and GoTo deepen their financial services businesses, competition may increasingly involve the wider ecosystem rather than individual financial products. Digital wallets, payments, lending, banking, e-commerce and mobility can reinforce each other by giving platforms more customer touchpoints and more opportunities to offer financial services
Grab has set ambitious targets for its Financial Services segment, but the transaction is not expected to close until 2027 and its ultimate impact will depend on regulatory approval, integration and the performance of the combined lending business.
