Monetary Authority of Singapore has announced it will issue five digital bank licenses to non-bank company to strengthen competition in financial services.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will invite applications from non-banks in August 2019 for the five digital banking licenses.
„Application for digital full bank licences is open to companies headquartered in Singapore and controlled by Singaporeans. Foreign companies are eligible for these full bank licences if they form a joint venture with a Singapore company, and the joint venture meets the headquarter and control requirements. Application for digital wholesale bank licences is open to all companies.”, according to the press release.
The five new digital bank licences will comprise up to two digital full bank licences, which allow licensees to provide a wide range of financial services and take deposits from retail customers; and up to three digital wholesale bank licences, which allow licensees to serve SMEs and other non-retail segments.
“We welcome firms with innovative value propositions to apply for the new digital bank licenses, even if they have not yet established a track record in banking,” Monetary Authority of Singapore Chairman Tharman Shanmugaratnam said in a speech, according to Bloomberg. At the same time, the regulator “will not allow value-destructive competition to the detriment of long-term financial system stability,” he said.
Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Grab and Razer Inc. said they would consider this opportunity. Gaming company Razer already processes digital payments and has an e-wallet service in Malaysia with a Singapore app coming soon.
“We will definitely consider applying for the digital bank license and are keen to help spur innovation in Singapore’s financial sector, ” Limeng Lee, chief strategy officer at Razer, said in a statement.
Razer also recently announced a partnership with Visa that will transform payments in the gaming industry. Razer Fintech and Visa will develop a virtual Visa prepaid solution to be embedded in the Razer Pay e-wallet, that will allow up to 60 million Razer users to make payments.
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„So many people are coming here to Bucharest, people that I see and interact on linkedin and now I get the change to meet them in person. It was like being to the Football World Cup but this was the World Cup on linkedin in payments and open banking.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
