Singapura Finance, a financial firm based in Singapore, reportedly has partnered with digital payments startup MatchMove Pay and applied for a full-bank digital licence, Finews Asia has learned.
The two entities are the latest ones to join Grab, Chinese Ant Financial, Razer, and more, adding to a tally of 21 applicants received by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) so far.
The full-bank licence eyed by the companies is said to allow them to collect deposits from retail customers. However, besides MatchMove Pay, there is no information on other members in the consortium.
The digital full-bank licence requires US$1.2 billion in capital for the holders. It will also require the entities to be controlled by Singaporeans.
Singapura Finance reportedly had stated in the past that this was part of its strategic positioning into the fintech industry. The move itself is an opportunity for the group to acquire a stake in a business with long-term growth potential.
Also Read: MatchMove acquires stake in P2P lender MoolahSense to strengthen its SME financing capabilities
MAS earlier said that it has received a total of 21 digital bank applications – 14 of them wholesale, and seven for the full-bank licence. Only less than half of those applications have been made public.
Singapura Finance is one of the three listed finance companies in the city-state with a minority stake of about 1.6 per cent in MatchMove, valued at US$5 million, as stated in Singapore Exchange filing in October 2019.
The finance company arrived at a US$295 million pre-money valuation of MatchMove based on the startup’s current and future sales pipeline.
The finance company’s market capitalisation stands at about US$105 million, compared to its peers Sing Investments & Finance at USS$166 million and Hong Leong Finance at US$891 million. Both Sing Investments & Finance and Hong Leong Finance had said that they did not submit an application for a digital bank licence.
MatchMove, on the other hand, has a recorded net loss of about US$15.2 million for the financial year ended in December 2017. Headquartered in Singapore with offices in India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, MatchMove offers a digital wallet service that allows businesses to make online and offline payments via prepaid cards issued instantly.
Also Read: Singapore’s MatchMove Pay raises funding from Japan’s Credit Saison
Back in September last year, MatchMove acquired a stake of up to 20 per cent in Singapore-based peer-to-peer lending platform MoolahSense as a way to boost its SME lending capabilities in the region. It also stated plans to raise that to a majority stake over the next 12 months.
–
Image Credit: Aditya Chinchure on Unsplash
The post Singapura Finance is the latest to join digital license race, partnering digital payment startup MatchMove appeared first on e27.