SINGAPORE: Singapore has received 21 applications for digital bank licences, comprising seven applications for retail licences and the balance for wholesale bank licences, the island state’s central bank said in a statement on Tuesday.
Singapore’s biggest liberalisation of its banking sector in two decades seeks to enable online-only banks that can operate at lower costs and offer services that differ from incumbents, including DBS Group and OCBC.
The central bank said the digital bank application process had attracted strong interest from a diverse group of companies.
“These include e-commerce firms, technology and telecommunications companies, FinTechs (such as crowd-funding platforms and payment services providers) and financial institutions,” said the statement from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Alibaba Group affiliate Ant Financial, a venture of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd and Southeast Asian ride hailing firm Grab, and many Singapore firms are among the applicants for the licences. – Jan 7, 2020, Reuters
