Financial technology giant, Ant Group is expanding beyond the shores of China into Singapore as it has secured the approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to float a digital bank in the country.
Dubbed ANEXT, the digital bank received its license for operations on June 2nd and with this positive nod, it is poised to provide consumer banking services to small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore. Ant Group has previously nabbed a similar license from the MAS back in 2020 and it serves the larger institutional investor clients and corporate entities.
Singapore has been very welcoming to banking innovations in recent times, and as a result, has been more liberal with the granting of banking licenses to both indigenous and foreign companies alike.
“This marks yet another milestone in Singapore’s digital bank development journey, a strategic effort to ensure the banking sector remains progressive, globally competitive, and vibrant,” said MAS Chief Fintech Officer Sopnendu Mohanty.
Besides Ant Group, Sea, a technology firm and ride-hailing outfit, Grab have also secured licenses to establish a digital bank, with both firms expected to float theirs any moment from now.
Ant Group Joining the Financial Inclusion Push
Ant Group, majority-owned by Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group is the developer and administrator of Alipay, one of the most dominant payment apps in China. It is unsurprising that the company which has been under intense regulatory scrutiny over the past few years is exploiting opportunities to stir financial inclusion drives in Singapore with its ANEXT subsidiary.
Digital banking and cryptocurrencies remain amongst the most prominent avenues to drive financial inclusion, and with regulations preventing firms from exploring the latter, many have embraced the former across the board.
Besides Ant Group and its new ANEXT digital bank, Brazil’s Nubank is also amongst the startups pushing forth the frontiers of financial inclusion with unique technological integrations. Per the Reuters report, the ANEXT debut accounts for retail businesses and users will be out by the third quarter of this year.
ANEXT will be led by banking veteran, Toh Su Mei, and in collaboration with Proxtera, a local entity initiated by MAS and Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority, the new entity will be
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