The Singaporean central bank said the licences have attracted strong interest from a diverse group of applicants that include e-commerce firms, technology and telecommunications companies, FinTechs and financial institutions. — AFP photo
SINGAPORE: The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has received 21 applications for digital bank licences as of the closing date for the application, Dec 31, 2019.
“This comprises 7 applications for the digital full bank (DFB) licences, and 14 applications for the digital wholesale bank (DWB) licences,” it said in a statement here.
The central bank said the licences have attracted strong interest from a diverse group of applicants that include e-commerce firms, technology and telecommunications companies, FinTechs (such as crowd-funding platforms and payment services providers) and financial institutions.
The majority of applicants said MAS are consortiums, with entities seeking to combine their individual strengths to enhance the digital bank’s value proposition.
MAS will evaluate all eligible applications based on their value propositions and will announce the successful applicants in June 2020.
“Successful applicants are expected to commence business by mid-2021,” it said.
The issuance of the new digital bank licences, comprising up to two DFB licences and three DWB licences, is a significant initiative aimed at enabling non-bank players with strong value propositions and innovative digital business models to offer banking services.
DFBs would be allowed to take retail deposits, while DWBs will focus on serving SMEs and other non-retail segments.
These new digital banks are in addition to any qualifying subsidiaries that Singapore bank groups may already establish under MAS’ existing regulatory framework for the purposes of operating new business models, including partnerships with non-bank players to conduct digital banking.— Bernama