The city-state has announced plans to award as many as five digital banking licenses to non-bank firms as it seeks to shake up its financial-services industry and create competition for traditional lenders. Thresholds are higher for the two retail licenses available -- they require $1.5 billion in paid-up capital as well as local control.
A representative for V3 said the firm is committed to developing digital financial offerings for the underserved in Singapore and the region, but didn’t comment on its specific plans. EZ-Link declined to comment. Far East Organisation couldn’t immediately comment, and emails sent to Heliconia officials didn’t get an immediate reply.
V3, which owns massage-chair maker Osim and tea brand TWG, recently created a financial technology unit. It announced Thursday it hired Gan Chee Yen, formerly the chief executive officer of Fullerton Financial Holdings, another Temasek unit, as a senior adviser for the fintech unit.
EZ-Link, founded by Singapore’s Land Transport Authority in 2002, supplies a contactless payment system for the nation’s public transport services.
