Ping An's OneConnect partners V3-led digital bank consortium

PING An Insurance's OneConnect, which bowed out of the digital banking race in Singapore, has emerged as the technology partner for one of the consortia gunning for a licence here.

Digital banking consortium Beyond announced in a joint statement on Tuesday that it has selected OneConnect Financial Technology (Singapore) Co as a strategic technology partner.

OneConnect is an associate company of Ping An Insurance Group and a member of New York Exchange-listed OneConnect Financial Technology Co.

Together, OneConnect and Beyond will develop digital banking products and services for Singapore's small and medium enterprises and their workforce.

Ron Sim's V3 Group leads the Beyond consortium through its fintech arm V3 Fintech, along with stored-card operator EZ-Link. It also consists of the Singapore Business Federation, Far East Organization, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance and Heliconia Capital Management.

Gan Chee Yen, chairman-designate of Beyond, said OneConnect has extensive implementation experience in South-east Asia and China.

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Ping An OneConnect Bank was granted a virtual banking licence by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in 2019. This will enhance and deepen OneConnect's capabilities and know-how in virtual banking technologies, the statement added.

On Jan 16, Tan Bin Ru, OneConnect's chief executive for Asia-Pacific and the United Arab Emirates, told The Business Times that the fintech decided not to apply for a digital banking licence in Singapore.

Instead, it sees more potential in serving digital bank aspirants with its "digital bank-in-a-box" suite of solutions, which includes mobile banking, smart lending, supply chain finance and cloud banking tools.

OneConnect provides technology solutions in artificial intelligence, Big Data analytics and blockchain. It has served more than 3,700 customers, which include over 600 banks comprising China's major banks.

In South-east Asia, OneConnect provides digital solutions to financial institutions in the Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines markets.