More groups said they submitted bids for digital banking licenses in Singapore as companies, ranging from a property giant to Chinese financial technology (fintech) firms, joined forces to go for the sought-after permits.
Beyond Consortium, led by one of Asia’s largest massage chair makers, V3 Group Ltd and stored-value card company EZ-Link Pte, submitted a bid to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for a digital full bank license, according to a statement on Sunday.
Singapore-listed fintech firm iFast Corp (奕豐) said on Friday that a bid was submitted at the end of last month together with a consortium of Chinese partners.
Yesterday, another Singapore-based fintech, Advance.AI (領創智信), confirmed that it has applied for a wholesale license with Sheng Ye Capital Ltd (盛業資本), a Hong Kong-listed financial services firm, and Singapore-based PhillipCapital.
MAS last year unveiled plans to grant as many as five virtual bank licenses to boost competition and innovation, and is set to announce the winners by the middle of this year.
Southeast Asia’s digital lending market is expected to more than quadruple to US$110 billion by 2025, according to a report by Bain & Co, Google and Temasek Holdings Pte.
The groups join companies such as Razer Inc and Grab Holdings Inc in the race for such licenses in the city-state.
Beyond Consortium also includes the Singapore Business Federation; Temasek unit Heliconia Capital Management Pte; MSIG Insurance (Singapore) Pte, a subsidiary of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co; and property giant Far East Organization Pte.
The group intends to promote connectivity and support local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in extending their footprint in Asia, the statement said.
iFast’s Chinese partners are Yillion Group (億聯集團) and Hande Group (瀚德集團). Yillion operates one of four digital banks in China and counts Hong Kong-listed Internet firm Meituan Dianping (美團點評) as a shareholder.
Hande is a Chinese fintech company founded by Cao Tong (曹彤), the former president of Webank (微眾銀行), China’s first digital bank that is also backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊).
BALANCING
iFast is tapping the unique strengths and experiences of each consortium member to better address some of the inefficiencies, and assist the under-served market segments in Singapore’s banking industry, chief executive officer Lim Chung Chun (林長征) said in an exchange filing.
Grab, one of Southeast Asia’s largest operators of online businesses from finance to ride-hailing, is partnering with Singapore Telecommunications Ltd to apply for a full digital banking license.
Razer has teamed up with homegrown Singaporean entrepreneurs and Asian billionaires.
For the Advance.AI consortium, the license bid is “an opportunity for us to impact an under-served segment,” the company’s chief marketing officer Mi Li said, confirming an earlier report in the Business Times.
“Singapore SMEs often find it impossible to get the credit they need to grow their business,” he said.
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