How Trust Bank Quietly Became Singapore’s 4th Largest Bank
Dwaipayan shares the mechanics behind Trust’s user engagement strategy, including how the bank’s credit cards are used almost daily, and why over 70% of its customers were acquired through word of mouth.
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“From onboarding to a working credit or debit card in under three minutes.”
That line from Dwaipayan Sadhu, CEO of Trust Bank, stuck with me.
Yes, getting a banking account set up in under three minutes is fast, no doubt. But in 2025, that kind of speed is more of a baseline expectation than a mind-blowing achievement.
However still, it’s still a compelling example of how Trust Bank used that start to win trust, and more importantly, daily engagement, winning over a million Singaporeans.
Plus, the bank launched in 2022, a time when many people were sceptical that Singapore even needed another bank, let alone a fully digital one.
Fast forward just a few years, and Trust Bank has emerged as the country’s fourth-largest retail bank.
How did they pull this off in a crowded market? We caught up with Sadhu at Money20/20 Asia to find out.
Challenging the “Do We Even Need a Digital Bank?” Narrative
Before launch, there was plenty of doubt.
Dwaipayan remembers that early scepticism clearly. Many wondered if digital banks had a place in Singapore, a market already dominated by established players.
Dwaipayan Sadhu
“We now have over a million clients. That’s about 20% of the Singapore population,” he observed.
But more than the number, it’s the level of activity that impressed him. Trust focused on modern infrastructure to unlock speed and experience.
Onboarding takes minutes, not hours. Customers can receive a working debit or credit card right away. Loan disbursement? Done in 60 seconds, according to Dwaipayan. Even financial tools are gamified to keep users engaged.
Built for Swipe-Happy, Deal-Loving Singaporeans
Growing the user base was one thing. Getting them to actually use the platform daily was another.
The appeal isn’t limited to daily spending. The bank’s credit cards also come with zero foreign exchange markup. It’s a feature that has made them a popular choice for Singaporeans travelling abroad, which they typically do four to six times a year.
What makes this stickier than most user acquisition stories is that a majority of customers (over 70%) came in through referrals. That kind of organic growth isn’t just a happy accident.
That kind of word-of-mouth growth is a clear sign that people genuinely enjoy using Trust Bank, or as Dwaipayan Sadhu calls it, being “delightfully different.”
Another major driver behind Trust Bank’s rapid adoption is its partnership with NTUC.
“Almost every Singaporean interacts with NTUC in some form or the other,” Dwaipayan mentioned.
And Trust is embedded in that ecosystem, from groceries and food discounts to exclusive privileges. If you want to save on daily essentials, it helps to have a Trust account.
It’s not the flashiest tech story, but it’s effective distribution. When a financial product becomes part of your everyday errands, that’s powerful.
Making Investing Less Scary
Trust also wants to be the one bank you stick with and not just for spending and saving, but for everything else in your financial life, too.
The latest step in that journey is Trust Invest, a product aimed at getting more Singaporeans to start investing without feeling overwhelmed. Many Singaporeans are aware of the importance of investing, but hesitate to begin due to the complexity.
Dwaipayan shifts the focus to how the team heard again and again from users who felt overwhelmed by choices and unfamiliar jargon, often defaulting to fixed deposits simply because they seemed easier.
Investing is too complex. Trust Bank CEO Dwaipayan Sadhu believes that they have cracked the problem by creating an investing product that takes only 5 taps and 5 minutes to get started on investing. @Trust Bank Singapore #fintech#digitalbanking#banking#innovation#investment#fyp#foryou
Instead of throwing customers into complex dashboards, Trust created five clear fund options in partnership with abrdn.
The onboarding process? Five minutes, five steps, and just S$100 to start. It’s a pitch to the many Singaporeans who know they should be investing but are paralysed by choice.
A Head Start from Hong Kong
One thing that separates Trust from other digital challengers is its regulatory setup. The bank holds a full banking license, thanks to Standard Chartered’s stake.
That comes with responsibilities.
“We’re held to the same risk and governance standards as any full-service bank,” said Dwaipayan.
While Trust is built on speed and agility, the foundation is still solid banking discipline.
Trust didn’t start completely from scratch. Its sister bank, Mox in Hong Kong, which launched earlier, provided helpful learnings. The two operate independently but share experiences and, more importantly, their missteps.
Dwaipayan Sadhu, CEO of Trust Bank, credits this openness with helping Trust avoid unnecessary setbacks and accelerate its growth.
“We all talk about what has worked well, but there are many things that have not gone well. And why would you want to repeat those mistakes?” underlined Dwaipayan.
Wanting to Become the Everyday Primary Bank
Dwaipayan also doesn’t see Trust as a success story just yet.
“We are still in the first lap of the marathon,” he pointed out.
Their next goal is to become the next local bank in Singapore. Not just the fourth largest, but the go-to provider for savings, payments, investing, borrowing, and everything in between.
He also pointed to data as their next frontier. As a digital-native bank, Trust has real-time insights into how customers behave, and plans to use that (with AI) to roll out more personalised, efficient features.
Looking back at his time at Standard Chartered, which is nearly two decades ago, Sadhu said he often imagined what it would be like to tear everything down and start fresh. Trust gave him that chance.
That experience gave the team at Trust a rare opportunity. A chance to build a new kind of bank from the ground up, one where customer experience wasn’t an afterthought but the foundation.
The ability to rethink everything from scratch meant the team could challenge legacy assumptions and craft a banking model that felt genuinely modern and useful.
“The only reason we exist as a new bank is to deliver an experience clients haven’t seen before. Otherwise, what’s the point?”
Dwaipayan’s challenge going forward is exactly that. Proving there is, indeed, a point and keeping Trust Bank interesting enough that people keep coming back.
Catch the interview “The Secret Behind Trust Bank’s Rise to Singapore’s 4th Largest Bank | ft CEO Dwaipayan Sadhu” and learn how Dwaipayan Sadhu took Trust Bank from a new entrant to becoming the 4th largest bank in Singapore.
