Investment service firm iFast partners Chinese firms to apply for digital wholesale bank licence
SINGAPORE — Singapore-listed investment service firm iFast has partnered with two Chinese firms to apply for a digital wholesale bank licence in Singapore.
SINGAPORE — Singapore-listed investment service firm iFast has partnered with two Chinese firms to apply for a digital wholesale bank licence in Singapore.
In a media statement on Friday (Jan 3), iFast said it will be leading the consortium with Yillion Group and Hande Group.
Yillion Group operates a digital bank in China, while Hande Group is a financial technology company headed by Dr Cao Tong, who was formerly the president of Webank, the first digital bank in China.
In June last year, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced that it will issue up to five new digital bank licences in a major move to liberalise the banking industry here, paving the way for fintech companies to become fully-fledged banks.
Up to two will be digital full bank licences and up to three will be digital wholesale bank licences.
Ant Financial announced on Thursday that it had also applied for a digital wholesale bank licence.
Meanwhile, a partnership between Singtel and Grab, and a consortium led by Razer Fintech have applied for the digital full bank licence.
iFast said it spent S$7.5 million between 2000 and 2004 before the Singapore business turned profitable in 2005.
Since then it has made a cumulative profit of more than S$100 million on its Singapore business.
iFast's chief executive officer, Mr Lim Chung Chun, said there are two areas where this consortium can make a positive difference.
One is to introduce digital wealth management solutions, and the other is to provide solutions for small companies that have been underserved by banks.