The Monetary Authority of Singapore announced yesterday (December 4) the award of four digital bank licenses in Singapore.
Out of the four, Grab-Singtel consortium and Sea — the parent company of e-commerce giant Shopee — has won the bid for two digital full banking licenses.
Following this grant, Grab-Singtel consortium announced that it has already started hiring in Singapore for about 200 roles in the areas of product, data, technology, risk, finance and compliance.
It expects to fill these roles by the end of next year and so far, only about 10 to 15 per cent of them have been filled.
A quick check on Grab’s career page showed that 11 digital bank-related roles are available, while Singtel is currently hiring for four of such roles.
According to the consortium’s chief executive Charles Wong, most of the roles will be new hires. However, existing Singtel and Grab employees are also welcome to join the new entity.
The consortium will focus on serving consumers and small businesses, including young professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs), gig workers as well as micro-SMEs.
Mr Wong said that they aim to offer these groups with “personalised, accessible and trusted financial products”, although it has yet to finalise the services it intends to roll out.
He added that it is still “too early” to comment on this, but shared that they are definitely looking at “innovative financial products and services that will be embedded into customers’ daily lives and activities.”
The Grab-Singtel consortium aims to formally launch the digital bank in early 2022.
The two companies first formed the consortium in December last year, with Grab owning 60 per cent of it and Singtel owning the remaining 40 per cent.
Featured Image Credit: Reuters / Singtel
