After a year waiting, Singapore’s central bank has finally revealed which four companies will be allowed to open digital banks in the country.
FinTech Global already reported back in the summer of 2019 that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) was planning to offer five new digital banking licences to businesses that were able to complete the strenuous due diligence process.
In the end, only four companies were selected from the 14 applicants that were deemed fit enough to open for business in Singapore.
The four companies were a consortium comprising Grab Holding and Singapore Telecommunications; an entity wholly-owned by Sea, a consortium comprising Greenland Financial Holdings Group, Linklogis Hong Kong and Beijing Co-operative Equity Investment Fund Management; and an entity wholly-owned by Chinese FinTech giant Ant Group.
“MAS applied a rigorous, merit-based process to select a strong slate of digital banks,” said Ravi Menon, managing director of MAS. “We expect them to thrive alongside the incumbent banks and raise the industry’s bar in delivering quality financial services, particularly for currently underserved businesses and individuals. They will further strengthen Singapore’s financial sector for the digital economy of the future.”
The new digital licence holders are expected to open for business in 2022.
The news comes as the challenger banking segment of the FinTech industry is expected to grow tremendously in the Asia Pacific in the years to come as a report from Backbase and IDC demonstrated that 63% of customers are interested in switching from traditional lenders to neobanks within the next five years.
The same report showed that 100 new financial institutions are estimated to launch in the region during by 2025.
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