Several Chinese fintech firms have submitted a bid to the Monetary Authority of Singapore to operate a digital bank in the city-state.
By the application deadline on Tuesday, Chinese firms that submitted bids for a digital banking license in Singapore included Bytedance (behind paywall), which operates viral video sharing application TikTok, Yillion Group and Hande Group, which applied as part of a consortium with Singapore wealth management fintech platform iFast Corporation, and the country's largest online financial platform Ant Financial.
All three are applying for a digital wholesale bank license, according to several media reports this week. There are up to five licenses on offer – two for full digital banks, and three for digital wholesale banks, in which foreign firms can hold majority stakes and the capital commitment is S$100 million.
Race Heats Up
«We look forward to contributing to the development of the digital banking landscape in Singapore,» Ant said, «Bloomberg» reported, citing an emailed statement.
For iFast, a license in Singapore would allow it to «bring solutions to the small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) market that has been underserved by bank,» CEO and chairman Lim Chung Chun told «The Business Times» reported on Thursday (behind paywall).
Other firms that have entered the fray include a consortium led by Singapore gaming firm Razer and Grab, which submitted a joint bid with Singtel.
