Yesterday, Peppermint Innovation Limited (ASX:PIL) requested a Trading Halt pending the release of an announcement “regarding the issue of an important licence for the Company in the Philippines.” This might relate to their critical application for an Electronic Money Institutions (EMI) license.

From the company’s website:

“Peppermint Innovation is a FinTech company focused on the commercialisation of the Peppermint Platform, a proprietary technology platform targeting four key business sectors – mobile payments, eCommerce, delivery and logistics, and mobile financial services.

The Peppermint Platform is an innovative financial technology solution aimed at delivering financial inclusion to the unbanked and underbanked, facilitating mobile micro business enterprise and providing consumer convenience.

Commercially deployed and proven in the Philippines, Peppermint is powering the company’s own Bizmoto non-bank mobile micro-enterprise platform and delivering white label mobile banking app solutions to the banking sector.”

In summary, this small Perth-based fintech enterprise has plans to take advantage of non-bank e-commerce and small loans opportunities, initially in the Phillipines.

The road has been extremely rocky for this group over the last few years, with an extended period of suspension from the ASX in the setting or reporting schedule defaults, but a somewhat smoother tracking over the last 12 months, with more recent quarterlies suggesting good growth in their network of smart-phone app-based agents.

The critical issue for PIL has been the success or otherwise of their application for an Electronic Money Institutions (EMI) license via Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas ("BSP").

This announcement may or may not herald a very positive move for the company, and might provide a significant speculative opportunity.

Disclosure: I have a small RL holding in PIL.