After Chinese tech firms showed their interest in joining Singapore's banking sector, several tech companies have thrown their bids to acquire digital wholesale bank licenses. One of the fintech firms that took cognizance was iFast Corporation who announced its consortium with two other Chinese partners.
Chinese firms Yillion Group and Hande Group were fintech entities who showed their interest in teaming up with iFast Corporation to apply for a Singapore digital wholesale bank license last Friday. The report claimed that Yillion Group already operates in four digital banks in China.
According to iFast chairman and CEO Lim Chung Chun, if their partnership would be offered the Singapore digital banking license, Singapore's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) would be benefited. He claimed that banks have underserved SMEs in Singapore and that their partnership would serve as a solution to said problem.
He also stated the companies believe that engaging business with Singapore is a big opportunity for the parties. He shared that their venture could become the leading bank of choice for SMEs and that they could offer better loan plans to them.
Lim also added that if Singapore would allow the license, iFast-led digital banks could improve Singapore's role as a leading wealth management center in Asia.
The report also revealed that one of iFast's shareholders is Singapore Press Holdings (SPH). The company's subsidiary holds about 15.21 percent of shares in iFast. The said shares were valued last March 8, 2019. Within the last 24 hours, the report claimed that iFast shares had been traded at 1.9 percent or two Singapore cents higher at $1.06 Singaporean dollars.
The entry of the partnership between the Chinese partners and iFast Corporation is not the first venture to tackle the digitization of Singapore's banking system. The report claimed that Jack Ma's Ant Financial and Tiktok's ByteDance Technology have also shown interest in the same market.
Last Thursday, Bloomberg reported that Ant Financial was planning on getting in on the wholesale digital banking license in Singapore as well. The Chinese firm had announced that it wanted to contribute to the development of the digital banking landscape in the country.
Moreover, ByteDance, one of the world's largest tech startup, had also shown signs in joining the market. It was reported that it had been eyeing the provision of financial services to its clients such as insurance and financial services. However, the company has refused to confirm its interest in the matter.
