Singapore incumbent banks should launch digital offensive in Asean

THERE was a scramble for non-bank players to speed-date the traditional lenders in Singapore, but thus far, none has made it to the altar with the final digital-bank consortia.

There is a simple explanation. The incumbents are entrenched, with the local trio holding a market share of more than 50 per cent here, and rules here have for years allowed them to set up digital entities separately.

Singapore is a small domestic market, and even as digital-banking consortia believe that this mature market has 38 per cent of consumers who are "underbanked", the Republic is more attractive as a base for these digital-banks to set up Asean operations, even as they go market by market to seek regulatory blessings.