Ant soft launches SME-focused ANEXT digital bank in Singapore
Its ANEXT Business Account is a dual-currency deposit account with remote onboarding and daily interest
Sharanya Pillai
CHINESE fintech giant Ant Group on Monday (Jun 6) soft launched its digital wholesale bank in Singapore, called ANEXT Bank, to focus on serving regional micro, small and medium enterprises – especially those with cross-border operations.
This marks the latest digital bank to be unveiled in Singapore, following the launch of Green Link Digital Bank, by Greenland Financial and Linklogis Hong Kong, on Jun 3. Both Ant and the Greenland consortium were awarded digital wholesale bank licences in December 2020.
ANEXT is led by chief executive Toh Su Mei, a banking industry veteran of over 20 years, who was formerly regional head of SME loan product management and alternative lending at DBS, according to her LinkedIn profile. The digital bank received approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to commence business on Jun 2.
Toh said that ANEXT is well-positioned to leverage Ant’s technologies and know-how, and hopes to take a collaborative approach with other industry players.
Asked by The Business Times whether it will compete with other banks and fintechs on interest rates, she said: “We are not here to compete and definitely not here to try to create a price war. So the interest rates that we will be quoting will be of market rates.”
As part of the soft launch, the digital bank provided a preview of the ANEXT Business Account, a dual-currency deposit account with features such as remote onboarding and daily interest. It also comes with 3-factor authentication for security.
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Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can register their interest for an ANEXT Business Account and share feedback on what they hope to see in financial services via the website anext.com.sg. The account will be made available to SMEs from Q3 this year.
Speaking at the launch on Monday, MAS chief fintech officer Sopnendu Mohanty reiterated Singapore’s high regulatory standards. “We expect every bank to demonstrate high integrity, strong sense of consumer protection, strong focus on AML, KYC, sanction checks - these are non-negotiable expectations from MAS,” he said, noting that cybersecurity is another key element.
Mohanty also called on ANEXT to train local talent in digital banking. In response to queries, Toh declined to share the digital bank’s current and planned headcount.
ANEXT has also signed a 2-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Proxtera, which connects business-to-business marketplaces, service providers and trade associations digitally to facilitate trade for SMEs. The hub was launched in 2020 as the commercialisation of the Business sans Borders initiative by MAS and the Infocomm Media Development Authority.
Under the MOU, ANEXT and Proxtera will jointly create and establish an open framework for participating financial institutions in providing SMEs with financing and risk mitigation support in global trades.
ANEXT will also be the first digital wholesale bank in Singapore to provide financing solutions to the buyers and sellers on Proxtera’s network. Saurav Bhattacharyya, chief executive of Proxtera, said that his company’s mission is “closely aligned” with ANEXT’s focus on SMEs with cross-border operations.
“Together with ANEXT’s digital-born identity and digital-first capabilities and services, I’m confident that we can make trade easier, more seamless and efficient for SMEs,” he said.
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