Following the news that PayPal Holdings has agreed to acquire Paidy, a Japan-based two-sided payments platform and provider of buy now, pay later solutions, for approximately US$2.7bn:

Snigdha Parida, Senior Analyst for Thematic Research at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view:

“Paidy’s acquisition by PayPal will be the second largest mergers and acquisition (M&A) deal in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, after Square’s US$29bn acquisition of AfterPay in Q3 2021 in the buy now,  pay later (BNPL) segment, an increasingly prominent theme in the region. With the acquisition of Paidy, PayPal aims to strengthen its payments business in Japan.

“An analysis of GlobalData deals database reveals that, among all the regions, the APAC banking and payments sector witnessed a staggering 167% quarter-on-quarter growth, in terms of transaction value, to reach a total of US$44bn in Q2 2021. Deal activity was primarily driven by fintech themes including digital payments, online payments, and robo-advice.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has made remote banking vital for consumers. Banking and payments companies are engaging in M&A activity around fintech to add innovative services like BNPL to sharpen their competitive edge.

“The continued focus on innovation around fintech and related themes reflects the continuing boom in M&A activity in the banking & payments sector across the APAC region. The acquisition of Paidy will help PayPal to expand in APAC not only by adding in new payment features but also increasing customer base. GlobalData expects more of these high-value transactions in these themes in the second half of 2021 as competition increases and companies look to exploit changing consumer preferences.”