VMIL to roll out online lender Carilend in six months
Victoria Mutual Investments Limited, VMIL, will roll out its online lending platform Carilend in Jamaica within six months.
Carilend already offers a platform for lending in the region. The local arm will allow VMIL to issue loans to persons through the online platform in Jamaica.
“The strategic plan is to leverage Carilend’s unique and superior online lending customer experience across the Caribbean region starting with Jamaica where operations are currently scheduled to commence in 2020 – within the next six months,” said VMIL in response to Financial Gleaner queries.
Last September, VMIL paid some $106 million for a 30 per cent stake in fintech company Carilend, according to disclosures. The deal valued Carilend, a Barbados-based online loans provider, at around $353 million. VMIL stated that since the acquisition, the VM Group has been actively working with the Carilend team to enhance their overall financial performance starting with the existing Barbados operation.
During the financial year, Carilend reported a loss of $65 million. VMIL explained that the company still remains in its developmental stages since starting in February 2017 and losses were expected.
“This current loss-making position was known upfront and so the investment decision was made with a more medium to long-term strategic view. Based on the nature of the business model, the initial projections made back in September 2019 indicated achieving a sustained profitability position within a two-year period. However, we remain confident in our ability to accelerate this timeline primarily based on the successful results generated from growth strategies implemented to date,” added VMIL.
VMIL itself, a listed midsize financial company majority owned by the VM Group, generated net profit of just under $600 million on revenue of $1.7 billion. Profit improved 50 per cent for year ending December 2019.
The company signalled that it plans to do more acquisitions, saying it was “purposefully executing” its strategic plans, a component of which relates to mergers and acquisitions.
VMIL closed the year with assets of $25.4 billion, representing growth of 17.5 per cent due to increases in investments and disbursed loans; while its capital spiked from $2.8 billion to $4.3 billion.