Jack Ma’s Ant Group unveils Singapore digital bank – ANEXT – in overseas expansion push
- ANEXT Bank will provide digital financial services to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises that have cross-border operations, it said in a statement on Monday
- Ant’s wholesale license allows it to serve small and mid-sized firms and other non-retail segments, and requires a capital commitment of US$73 million
The fintech giant is entering an arena dominated by traditional incumbents including DBS Group Holdings Ltd. and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. Using Singapore as a base for its business in Southeast Asia may offset slower growth prospects at home after government-ordered regulatory overhauls.
“Continuous innovation and new capabilities that digital banks are slated to bring will no doubt add more engines of growth to Singapore’s financial sector,” Monetary Authority of Singapore Chief Fintech Officer Sopnendu Mohanty said in the statement.
Ant’s digital banking service in Singapore to serve firms doing cross-trades
Toh Su Mei, a former executive at DBS, will take the reins of Ant’s digital bank, the company said. Toh, who has more than 20 years of experience in the banking industry, led DBS’s lending arm for small and medium-sized enterprises in the region before joining the fintech giant, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Ant’s digital bank, which received approval from the central bank to begin operations last Thursday, is starting by offering a preview of its dual-currency deposit account, which includes features including three-factor authentication verification, remote onboarding and daily interest, it said.
Ant’s wholesale license allows it to serve small and midsized firms and other non-retail segments, and requires a capital commitment of S$100 million (US$73 million). That compares with a full digital bank license, which can serve all kinds of customers and eventually requires S$1.5 billion (US$1.09 billion) in capital as well as local control.
Ant Group wins Singapore digital wholesale banking licence
Ant will also partner with Proxtera, a local entity that is part of a public initiative led by MAS and Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority, to create an open framework for collaboration with financial institutions.
Singapore’s efforts to open up the banking industry to technology companies come on the heels of a similar move in Hong Kong, where Ant and Chinese competitors including Tencent Holdings Ltd. obtained licenses in 2020.
Ant’s payments app Alipay had about a billion annual active users as of August 2020. The company has invested in 10 digital wallet operators outside China, including Paytm in India and Dana in Indonesia.
Additional reporting Associated Press
