OCBC Reportedly Forming Digital Banking Consortium with Vertex, Validus and Keppel
by Fintech News Singapore November 5, 2019OCBC is reportedly in talks with venture capital fund Vertex, P2P lending operator Validus and conglomerate Keppel to form a digital banking consortium.
Earlier this year Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Chairman, Tharman Shanmugaratnam announced that Singapore will be issuing two full digital banking licenses and three whole licenses that will specifically cater to SMEs and non-retail segments in Singapore.
It is reported that the parties are aiming to secure one of the three wholesale banking license offered by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
OCBC seems to be serious in pursuing a digital banking license despite reports indicating that digital banks are unlikely to threaten Singapore’s big banks like OCBC, DBS, and UOB.
Prior to this, it was also reported that OCBC was exploring to jointly bid for a digital banking license with Singtel. There’s no official word on whether talks with Singtel has fell through or both parties are still actively exploring.
Given that the deadline for application set by the regulator is by 31 December 2019, we should be able to expect more clarity on the parties bidding for the license very soon. Nium, formerly known as InstaReM is the first to publicly announce that they have dropped out of the digital banking race.
Image Credit: Asian Development Bank via Flickr
