Home sweet home? IFast eyes Singapore for digibank push

When iFast bought a UK-based bank in 2022, it had ambitions to build a “truly global business model” that serves customers around the world from a few key locations.

Two years later, the digital bank has narrowed its losses and is expected to turn profitable in the fourth quarter of its 2024 financial year.

And iFast CEO Lim Chung Chun expects more opportunities for the company to apply for licenses at “a couple more locations” to boost its global model. For starters, he has set his sights on the European Union (EU) and Singapore.

Lim Chung Chun, chairman and CEO of iFast / Photo credit: Lim Chung Chun

“We don’t need to go to get a license in too many countries, since the strength of the business model is being able to have customers from around the world by operating from just one or a few locations,” Lim tells The Business Times in an interview.

“Having said that, there are probably still one or two other locations that we will be looking into more closely so that we can tap into this global opportunity better.”

Lim notes that the EU is a big market and has close proximity to the UK, adding how iFast had seen “initial success and progress” in the country that indicated “the opportunity is real.”

See also: IFast could be Singapore’s most underrated public internet company

Meanwhile, Singapore is home base for the wealth management player. While it had unsuccessfully applied for digital banking licences in the city-state in 2021, Lim hopes it can take “a more active approach” in trying for a license again over the next few years.

The company’s banking business – known as iFast Global Bank (iGB) – is a key part of its three-year plan, which includes reaching assets under administration (AUA) of S$100 billion (US$73 billion) by 2028 to 2030.

Group AUA rose 23.6% year on year to reach US$17.2 billion as of the third quarter of 2024. This was amid a 49.7% rise in revenue to US$72.2 million in Q3 as net profit rose 53.4% to US$46.6 million.

Substantial untapped potential

Even though it is the oldest segment in the financial sector, banking is an area where Lim sees “very substantial untapped potential,” particularly in wealth management for retail and mass-affluent clients.

He notes that today’s banks do not need to be constrained by geography when acquiring clients due to global connectivity – a trend largely seen in the high-net-worth space, such as with global private banks.

Yet similar offerings are not yet available for retail or the mass-affluent market segment, Lim points out.

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