Digital banks are proliferating in Asia on the back of favorable regulatory changes, market liberalization pushes by governments, and enhanced digital penetration by consumers.
In Singapore’s digital banking race, the Monetary Authority of Singapore granted 4 digital banking licenses with SEA Group and the Grab-Singtel consortium securing the full digital banking license.
Just last month, Vietnamese ride-hailing company Be Group launched its digital banking offering Cake in partnership with VPBank. Integrated into the Be app, Cake provides products and services like a traditional bank, including a checking account and its accompanying debit card, money transfers, bill payments and savings accounts. With over 10 million customers, Be claims to account for nearly a third of the Vietnamese ride-hailing market.