SINGAPORE (Jan 3): Singapore-based wealth management platform iFAST Corporation has confirmed its bid for one of the digital wholesale banking license to be given out in Singapore.
iFast is leading a consortium comprising of China’s Yillion Group and Hande Group that put in their bid towards the end of last year.
Yillion Group operates one of the four digital banks in China and has Hong Kong-listed Meituan Dianping as one of its key shareholders. Hande Group, on the other hand, is described by iFast as leading fintech company in China, founded by Dr Cao Tong, the former president of Webank, China’s first digital bank.
“By tapping on the unique strengths and experiences of each consortium member, we are confident that an iFAST-led digital bank will be well-equipped with the technological expertise, digital banking and wealth management capabilities to better address some of the inefficiencies, and assist the underserved market segments in Singapore’s banking industry,” says Lim Chung Chun, chairman and CEO of iFAST Corp.
In addition, iFast announced that its total assets under administration as at Dec 31 2019 increased by 25% on year to cross the $10 billion mark.
“We attribute this milestone to our continuous efforts in improving the range and depth of our products and services. This has enabled our platform businesses to achieve robust growth despite volatilities in the Asian financial markets in 2019,” says Lim.
From its early years as a pioneering online unit trust distributor, iFast has expanded into several other new markets ranging from family offices to equities trading and bonds distribution.
For the three months to Sept 30 2019, iFast reported earnings of $2.46 million, down 5.5% y-o-y; revenue in the same period was $33.77 million, up 7.6% y-o-y.
Besides iFast, several companies have earlier confirmed that they are bidding for the digital banking license. They include a Grab-Singtel joint venture, a Razer-led consortium. MAS will announce which are the winners of the licenses sometime in the middle of the year.
Shares in iFast were up two cents to $1.06 as at 10.12am.
