On Friday, in a statement South Korea’s SK Group said, it will invest up to $100 million in the fintech unit of AirAsia Group Bhd.

BigPay, a unit of AirAsia’s digital arm, offers a prepaid debit card, local and international money transfers, micro-insurance, bill payments and a budgeting tool.

“Our ambition has always been to establish BigPay as one of the largest challenger banks in Southeast Asia,” said BigPay’s CEO Salim Dhanani, while adding, BigPay plans on expanding into Southeast Asia, including Thailand with personal loans and short-term lending offerings.

“Closing this financing round gives us the ability to build out our offerings, accelerate product development and scale,” said Dhanani.

Incidentally, BigPay has applied for a digital banking license in Malaysia as part of a consortium with Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Berhad and private equity firm Ikhlas Capital.

In a statement SK Group said, it would “make a significant contribution to BigPay in both technical and consumer service aspects”.