Advertisement
Ant Group wins Singapore digital wholesale banking licence
- A consortium comprising Greenland Financial Holdings Group was also awarded a digital wholesale bank licence by the Monetary Authority of Singapore
- Both banks are expected to start operations from early 2022, MAS said
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
Ant Group, controlled by China’s richest person, Jack Ma, on Friday won one of two licences awarded by Singapore to operate a digital wholesale bank in the city state.
A consortium comprising Greenland Financial Holdings Group, Linklogis Hong Kong, and Beijing Co-operative Equity Investment Fund Management bagged the other licence.
“The two selected digital wholesale bank applicants met [our] expectations and were assessed to be demonstrably stronger across the criteria notwithstanding the general high quality of the eligible applicants,” the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a statement.
The digital wholesale banks are expected to start operating from early 2022, MAS said.
The authority added that it may grant additional wholesale banking licences in the future, after reviewing the operations of the two licence winners in the pilot programme.
“We would like to thank the Monetary Authority of Singapore for awarding us a digital wholesale bank licence, and we are grateful for this opportunity to further contribute to accelerating digital financial innovation and inclusion in Singapore and the region,” Ant said in a statement on Friday.
Advertisement