JAKARTA Southeast Asian online lending platform Akulaku, which is backed by China's Alibaba, secured US$100 million of debt financing from London-based HSBC, Akulaku's chief executive officer (CEO) said, as it aims to make the company more profitable.

William Li told Reuters in an interview on Friday that the proceeds from the financing will be used to settle some of Akulaku's debts.

"The financials of the entire group are seemingly more and more healthier than before, so we are not in urgent (need) of raising money. We would like to see that the entire group is profitable and then we're considering whether [to] raise money or not," he said.

In 2022, Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and Thailand's Siam Commercial Bank invested US$200 million and US$100 million, respectively, in Akulaku.

Akulaku, which started operations in 2016, has a presence in the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand, plus Indonesia, the major market for the company, as it has a huge tech-savvy population.

The firm disbursed around US$3.5 billion of loans last year, 25% higher than the previous year, and saw "mild growth" of around 20% in revenue last year to around US$500 million, the CEO said.

This year, it is aiming to increase revenue by 16% to 25%, citing increasingly fierce competition in the online lending sector, but is hopeful that Indonesia's 2024 economic growth outlook of around 5% will support its target.

Li also said that the company planned to increase its physical presence in Indonesia, which contributed 90% of its total revenue. The firm will hire more local senior bankers to support its operations in Southeast Asia's largest economy.

Akulaku faced a temporary ban in Indonesia last year for its "buy now, pay later" service, with the country's financial services regulator saying it had failed to fulfil "mandatory actions". The ban was lifted last month, following Akulaku's corrective actions.

  - Reuters