Why Grab’s Superbank is in the black

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• ​​Grab’s only profitable digital bank, for now
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Hello reader,

When I spoke with Tonik Bank founder Greg Krasnov earlier this year, he pointed out that a lot of digital banks in the Philippines have focused heavily on acquiring users to amass deposits.

But for some players like Maya, building a huge user base is a natural step. After all, the company’s e-wallet offering, PayMaya, already had millions of users before it opened Maya Bank.

The Maya app is now the company’s “all-in-one money app,” as it includes its e-wallet and digital bank services.

Grab did something similar with its Superbank subsidiary in Indonesia. Ovo, the e-wallet in which Grab has a 90% stake, allowed eligible users to automatically move their wallet balance into a Superbank savings account. Roughly 60% of Superbank’s customers already had a Grab or Ovo account, so upgrading into a savings account with no admin fees and a 5% interest rate was so easy, it barely registered as a decision.

This played a significant role in making Superbank the only profitable digital bank under Grab, as David Jimenez Maireles points out in today’s featured story.

Superbank’s profitability is notable as it is newer and smaller than Grab’s two other digital banks, GXS in Singapore and GXBank in Malaysia.

Maireles, a digital banking advisor who co-founded Vietnam’s TNEX, goes into detail with his Insights piece, including the reasons why Grab’s Superbank playbook may not work outside of Indonesia.

Miguel Cordon, journalist

Top Story

The one Grab digital bank that’s actually profitable

Image credit: Ulla

Maireles says that the central banks of Singapore and Malaysia are keeping an eye on GXS and GXBank, so their paths to profitability are likely bound by regulatory restrictions.

TL;DL

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