StanChart keeping option open on Singapore digital bank licence

Singapore

STANDARD Chartered Bank - one of the four foreign banks with a significant retail presence in Singapore - has left the door open on whether it would apply for the digital banking licence in Singapore, its second-largest market after Hong Kong.

If it does take the plunge, it would take a page out of its playbook in Hong Kong, where it joined hands with non-banking partners to target the millennial market, and defend its standing as an incumbent by taking on a new digital skin.

The bank is also part of a consortium whic…