Singapore’s family-run Tolaram Group made much of its $1.8 billion fortune in cereals, noodles and infrastructure in Africa. Now, it’s planning to use its global reach and local relationships to move into digital banking there.
The group has a blueprint of sorts from another business it owns — PT Bank Amar Indonesia. Bank Amar is largely a digital institution, with loans and deposits for consumers handled over mobile phones. The publicly listed group has loaned almost $300 million to around 300,000 customers and expects advances to increase more than 50% this year.
