GXS Bank, the virtual bank joint initiative of ride-hailing company Grab Holdings and Singapore Telecommunications, have reportedly introduced a digital bank in Singapore.
Nasdaq-listed Grab’s financial services have become a vital part of its business expansion strategy as it aims to provide banking, virtual payments, financing, insurance, food delivery and wealth management solutions.
As reported by Reuters, Grab and technology company Sea acquired a “digital full bank” permit in December 2020, enabling the Singapore-based firms to accept deposits and provide services locally to retail and corporate clients.
GXS Singapore Chief Executive Charles Wong commented:
“GXS is a homegrown bank on a mission to support the needs of entrepreneurs, gig economy workers and early-jobbers in our community.”
GXS has a potential addressable market of about 3 million users in Singapore under the Grab and Singtel ecosystem, Wong has claimed at the launch.
Singapore currently has many digital-focused banking platforms like DBS Group Holdings, OCBC. However, Grab intends to appeal to the gig workers (or freelancers) who are part of the mainstay of the firm’s businesses.
China’s Ant Group and a consortium including Greenland Financial Holdings and others obtained digital wholesale banking permits, allowing them to serve major clients like financial institutions as well as corporates.
GXS and Sea are also focused on further expanding operations into other Southeast Asia-based nations.
In April 2022, a GXS-led consortium was awarded a virtual banking permit in Malaysia, which was notably three months after Grab Holdings and Singapore Telecommunications acquired a 16.3% stake each in PT Bank Fama International. This was done to pursue banking deals in Indonesia.
GXS Savings Account should become available via Apple’s app store and Google Play Store starting from September 5 2022, and may be introduced gradually — starting with certain company workers and underbanked consumers under GXS, Grab and Singtel.
GXS will aim to provide daily interest deposits of up to 1.58% per annum and may have no special requirement for minimum deposits, Wong revealed.