(Bloomberg) — Two more consortiums said they submitted bids for digital banking licenses in Singapore as companies, ranging from a massage chair maker to a property giant and Chinese fintech firms, joined forces to go for the sought-after permits.
Beyond Consortium, led by one of Asia’s largest massage chair makers, V3 Group Ltd. and stored-value card company EZ-Link Pte, submitted a bid to the Monetary Authority of Singapore for a digital full bank license, according to a statement Sunday.
Singapore-listed fintech firm iFast Corp. said on Friday that a bid was submitted at the end of December together with a consortium of Chinese partners. The groups join companies such as Razer Inc. and Grab Holdings Inc. in the race for such licenses in the Southeast Asian nation.
MAS unveiled plans last year to grant as many as five virtual bank licenses to boost competition and innovation, and is set to announce the winners in mid-2020. Southeast Asia’s digital lending market is expected to more than quadruple to $110 billion by 2025, according to a report by Bain & Co., Google and Temasek Holdings Pte.
Beyond Consortium also includes the Singapore Business Federation; Temasek unit Heliconia Capital Management Pte; MSIG Insurance (Singapore) Pte, a subsidiary of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co.; and property giant Far East Organization Pte.
The group intends to promote connectivity and support local small and medium-sized enterprises in extending their footprint in Asia, according to the statement.
iFast’s Chinese partners are Yillion Group and Hande Group. Yillion operates one of four digital banks in China and counts Hong Kong-listed Internet firm Meituan Dianping as a shareholder. Hande is a Chinese fintech company founded by Cao Tong, the former president of Webank, China’s first digital bank that’s also backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd.
iFast is tapping on the unique strengths and experiences of each consortium member to better address some of the inefficiencies, and assist the under-served market segments in Singapore’s banking industry, Chief Executive Officer Lim Chung Chun said in its exchange filing.
Grab, one of Southeast Asia’s largest operators of online businesses from finance to car-hailing, is partnering Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. to apply for a full digital banking license. Razer has teamed up with homegrown Singaporean entrepreneurs and Asian billionaires.
–With assistance from Chanyaporn Chanjaroen.
To contact the reporters on this story: Elffie Chew in Kuala Lumpur at [email protected];Ranjeetha Pakiam in Singapore at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at [email protected], Stanley James
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