The Monetary Authority of Singapore said it would proceed with issuing digital banking licenses as planned, underlining that regulatory tightening in China would have no impact.
Despite a high-profile IPO pullout by Ant Group, reportedly instructed by the head of state Xi Jinping himself, that set ripples into the fintech market, the MAS underlined that this would play no role in the city-state’s timeline for digital banking license issuances by the end of the year.
«Regulatory tightening that’s happening in China will not have an impact on the digital banks here,» said Ravi Menon, MAS managing director, according to a «Bloomberg» report.
«It’s not our job to try to guess what the geopolitical situation might be like, what actions might be taken by other countries with respect to some of these entities.»
«Level Playing Field»
According to Menon, China’s market is different in that «initially it did not regulate many of these fintech entities to the full extent».
«And now the authorities are converging to the same position as most of the rest of the world,» he said. «I think that’s the right thing to do, and it creates a level playing field.»
«Strictly Merit-Based»
When asked about political considerations on decisions regarding license issuance, Menon underlined that the process would be «strictly merit-based».
«We will not penalize banks from any country because of sanctions it might be under,» he said. «We also don’t give favorable treatment to banks from any country on account of good relations.»
«Some of this Change is Really Permanent»
On broader digitalization, Menon noted that the pandemic has created permanent changes in the future of financial services, especially with regards to the perception of physical meetings.
«The digitalization agenda has been given a real shot in the arm by Covid-19, and some of this change is really permanent,» Menon explained. «Face-to-face interactions will be based on much higher-value activities and transactions.»
