Singapore’s first digital bank for the retail sector was introduced by GXS Bank, a joint venture between Singapore Telecommunications and ride-hailing company Grab Holdings.
Nasdaq-listed bank works to provide banking, digital payments, lending, insurance, food delivery, and wealth management services, Grab’s quickly growing financial services have emerged as a critical component of its growth plan.
In December 2020, Singaporean businesses Grab and tech company Sea obtained “digital complete bank” licences, enabling them to immediately accept deposits and provide services locally to both retail and corporate customers.
“GXS is a homegrown bank on a mission to support the needs of entrepreneurs, gig economy workers and early-jobbers in our community,” said GXS Singapore CEO Charles Wong.
According to Wong at the launch, the Grab and Singtel ecosystem in Singapore offers a potential market for GXS of about 3 million customers.
Although there are already a number of tech-savvy banks on the tiny island, like DBS Group Holdings and OCBC, Grab wants to attract the gig workers who are the backbone of its operations.
Chin’s Ant Group and a group that included Greenland Financial Holdings and other parties were granted digital wholesale banking licences, allowing them to work with big clients like corporations and financial institutions.
Three months after Grab Holdings and Singapore Telecommunications each purchased a 16.3 per cent share in PT Bank Fama International to pursue banking prospects in Indonesia, a GXS-led consortium in April was granted a digital banking licence in Malaysia.
GXS Savings Account will be gradually introduced, starting with chosen employees and underbanked clients under GXS, Grab, and Singtel, it was announced. It will be made available in the Apple app store and Google Play Store starting on September 5.
According to Wong, GXS’s will not have a minimum deposit requirement and will offer daily interest deposits with a maximum annual rate of 1.58 per cent.
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