Jack Ma's Ant Financial Services may apply for a virtual banking license in Singapore, potentially making a splash in the regional banking landscape.
Ant Financial Services is the latest contender to enter the race for a digital banking license. Up to two licenses are on offer for full digital banks, while another three are on offer for wholesale banks. The firm did not disclose whether it will seek a retail or wholesale license.
«We are actively looking into this opportunity," said Ant Financial, who was quoted in a «Bloomberg»(behind paywall) report. Ant's payments app Alipay and its local e-wallet partners had about 900 million annual active users in China and 1.2 billion globally as of June, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.
Ant Already In Hong Kong
Singapore's move to open up the banking industry to technology companies follows in the footsteps of Hong Kong, where Ant has obtained a license. So far, OCBC has agreed to join peer-to-peer lender Validus Capital and Temasek Holdings' venture capital arm to apply for a wholesale license before the year-end application deadline.
South-east 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.
