The Monetary Authority of Singapore announced yesterday (December 4th) that it has issued four licenses for digital banking in Singapore.
Of the four, the Grab-Singtel consortium and Sea – the parent company of the e-commerce giant Shopee – have been awarded two full digital banking licenses.
Following this grant, the Grab Singtel Consortium announced that it has already started hiring around 200 positions in Singapore in the areas of product, data, technology, risk, finance and compliance.
It is expected that these roles will be filled by the end of next year. So far only around 10 to 15 percent of them have been occupied.
Get Singapore's digital bank rolls / screenshot from Grab & # 39; s website
Singtel Digital Bank rolls / screenshot from the Singtel website
A quick look at Grab & # 39; s careers page revealed that there are 11 digital banking-related roles available, while Singtel is currently hiring four such roles.
According to Charles Wong, executive director of the consortium, most roles will be new hires. Existing employees of Singtel and Grab can, however, also join the new company.
The consortium will focus on consumers and small businesses, including young professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), gig workers and micro-businesses.
Mr. Wong said they want to offer these groups "personalized, accessible and trustworthy financial products" even though the planned services have not yet been completed.
He added that it was "too early" to comment, but said it was definitely "innovative financial products and services that will be embedded in the daily life and activities of customers".
The Grab-Singtel consortium intends to officially launch the digital bank in early 2022.
The two companies first formed the consortium in December last year, with Grab owning 60 percent and Singtel the remaining 40 percent.
Selected image source: Reuters / Singtel
