SINGAPORE (Jan 2): A consortium spearheaded by Razer Fintech, the financial technology arm of gaming hardware manufacturer Razer, has submitted its application for a digital full bank licence in Singapore.
Through the licence, Razer Fintech is planning to extend its current fintech offerings to digital banking services by building the world’s first global youth bank, Razer Youth Bank.
Headquartered in Singapore, the bank aims to progressively build a global banking network both regionally and globally.
In a statement on Monday, Razer Fintech says that it will hold a 60% majority stake in Razer Youth Bank, while other strategic partners in the consortium will take up the remaining equity interest.
Other partners include insurance business FWD, privately-owned Internet company LinkSure Global, tech venture fund Insignia Ventures Partners, vehicle wholesale marketplace Carro, and Sheng Siong Holdings -- the private vehicle of supermarket chain operator Sheng Siong Group's Lim brothers. The Lim brothers are partnering the consortium in their personal capacities, and the mainboard-listed Sheng Siong Group is not involved.
In addition to the strategic equity consortium partners, Razer Fintech has also gathered service providers such as global payments tech company Visa, cash management network SoCash, co-working space provider JustCo, and global travel company SkyScanner.
Razer Fintech says that it will be focusing mainly on the underserved youth and millennials segment for the bid by leveraging on the strength of its lifestyle brand that is synonymous with the segment.
“Razer Fintech believes that its application achieves the objectives as laid out by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in the released framework through a differentiated strategy and value proposition, targeting the needs of the underserved youth and millennials segment of Singapore through innovative use of technology,” it adds.
Apart from millennials, Razer Youth Bank is also looking to target budding entrepreneurs and small and micro enterprises which face challenges in gaining access to capital to fund growth and digital transformation strategies.
Chief Strategy Officer of Razer Lee Li Meng says, “Addressing the unmet financial needs of the large, yet underserved, segment of the population through an innovative digital-first banking platform is a natural extension of our payments business.”
“We hope to be able to contribute to the growth of Singapore as a global financial centre to deliver a new-age and clearly differentiated digital banking proposition for Singaporeans and youth and millennials globally,” adds Lee.
The MAS had announced in June that it will issue up to five new digital bank licences for both full and wholesale banks to entities, including non-bank players, to conduct digital banking businesses in Singapore.
Two of these licences are digital full bank licences which will allow companies to take deposits from and provide banking services to retail and non-retail customer segments. The remaining three licences are digital wholesale banking licences, which will enable companies to take deposits from and provide banking services to SMEs and other non-retail customer segments.
The applications for digital banking licences had closed on Tuesday, and MAS is expected to announce the successful applicants by mid-2020.
