Thunes acquires a majority stake in Tookitaki, allying for safe and secure payments

By Joy Dumasia

Thunes, a Singapore-based global payments company, announced that it had taken a majority stake in the anti-money laundering (AML) and compliance technology firm Tookitaki Holding Pte Ltd (‘Tookitaki’) by making an investment of over $20 million. The alliance of both firms empowers the banking and financial services industry to fight money laundering and offer safe and secure payments to customers.

Per the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates, between 2 to 5% of the global GDP, or US$800 billion to US$2 trillion, is laundered each year. This criminal activity threatens the good functioning and integrity of the banking and financial services marketplace. With the increase in cross-border payments, the risk of money laundering goes up significantly, and so do compliance costs. Moreover, a recent report by JP Morgan suggests total annual transaction costs for global cross-border payments have climbed to US$120 billion. Regulatory compliance forms a significant percentage of this amount, and any reduction will deliver crucial savings for Thunes’ customers.

Adding Tookitaki to Thunes’ global network addresses an urgent need for payments and other financial institutions to embed automated, streamlined compliance processes, decreasing risks and reducing overall costs. Thunes can extend Tookitaki’s industry-leading compliance and anti-money laundering (AML) capabilities to safeguard the businesses further and create more transparency around the payment flows of its global customers. Its customers include gig economy platforms Grab, Deliveroo, UberEats; Digital money transfer operators Moneygram, Western Union and Remitly; neobank Revolut; and FinTech and mobile wallets Paypal, Singtel Dash, M-PESA and Airtel. The company tracks over 180 million transactions annually.

Peter De Caluwe, CEO of Thunes, said: “We are very excited to have Tookitaki join us. This alliance will give all Thunes customers access to next-generation tech compliance systems, reducing the cost of transferring money across borders. 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.”

Abhishek Chatterjee, Founder and CEO of Tookitaki, said: “At Tookitaki, we have been passionate about fighting financial crime and expanding our AML capabilities 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.”

Thunes and Tookitaki businesses will continue to operate independently, with the alliance strengthening both companies and enabling them to accelerate their global business expansion. 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, using Big Data and machine learning (ML) technologies. The alliance with Thunes allows Tookitaki to deepen its presence in core APAC markets, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas. The alliance also sets the international benchmark for financial compliance and security and creates a safe and secure foundation for more inclusive global payments.

“Our approach to AML monitoring is highly adaptable to changing market needs and customer behaviour and fundamentally changes how machine learning is applied to detecting financial crime,” added Abhishek.