Sea joins Singapore’s digital banking race

Southeast Asian consumer internet company Sea Limited announced that it has applied for a digital full bank license in Singapore.

Sea said its digital bank will focus on addressing the unmet needs of millennials as well as small and medium-sized enterprises in Singapore – the traditionally underserved segments of the market. To do so, it intends to build on its success in developing digital businesses, technology, and data and corporate governance infrastructure.

Sea operates ecommerce platform Shopee, online gaming arm Garena, and digital financial services provider SeaMoney.

“Through Garena, Shopee, and SeaMoney, we have unrivalled insight into the needs and wants of millennials and SMEs across the region,” said Forrest Li, chairman and CEO of Sea, in a statement. “We have also developed exceptional capabilities in addressing these unmet needs, and have the technology, infrastructure, data analytics capabilities, and management experience to design and scale Singapore’s first full digital bank.”

SeaMoney’s offerings include e-wallet services, payments processing, and microlending, among others. These are available in various markets in Southeast Asia under AirPay, ShopeePay, Shopee PayLater, and other related brands, according to a statement. SeaMoney was first established as AirPay in 2014, then was later rebranded in 2019 as it expanded its services.

In 2017, Sea listed on the New York Stock Exchange, which was understood to be the largest US initial public offering by a Southeast Asian firm. The company reached a market capitalization of more than S$25 billion (US$18.5 billion) as of December 31, 2019, according to a statement.

Apart from Sea, a Grab and Singapore Telecommunications-led group, Razer Fintech, and Beyond, a consortium headed by V3 Group, have also applied for the digital full bank license. Meanwhile, Ant Financial, an iFast Corporation-led consortium, AMTD Group’s consortium, and AI startup Advance.AI’s group have submitted their application for a digital wholesale bank license. TikTok owner Bytedance is reportedly also pursuing the same thing.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore today said it has received a total of 21 applications for digital bank licenses. Results will be announced in June, and new digital banks may start operations by mid-2021.

Currency converted from Singapore dollar to US dollar: US$1 = S$1.35.