Exclusive | It pays to digitise, as shown by Didi’s challenge remitting Latin America funds to Singapore amid the coronavirus outbreak
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Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing hit a snag as it tried to route money from a new Latin American market to Asia as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted traditional ways of banking.
Didi, which is backed by Japan’s SoftBank, wanted to move the money to its treasury hub for international operations in Singapore. To do this, Didi needed to open a bank account quickly in the Lion City for the proceeds from that market to land in and from where it could pay drivers. Traditionally, opening a corporate bank account needs face-to-face meetings and documents couriered to a bank branch.
That is where the problems started. Staff at Beijing-headquartered Didi who needed to sign and stamp the paperwork with chops were working from home mid-February to limit the chance of getting infected with Covid-19.
The spread of the new coronavirus is exposing the vulnerabilities of some of the more antiquated corners of banking.