Financial technology (fintech) company iFAST Corporation Limited (SGX: AIY) made a stunning announcement last week.
It announced that it had signed an agreement with its partner, Eagles Peak Holding Limited, to acquire an 85% stake in BFC Bank Limited (“BFC”), a UK bank.
The remaining 15% will be held by Mandeep Ahluwalia, who will also spearhead the team at BFC on behalf of iFAST.
BFC is a fully-licensed UK Bank and will enable iFAST to add a digital bank to its fintech ecosystem.
The acquisition amount will be £25 million or around S$45.9 million.
In addition, the group intends to inject an amount of £15 million (around S$27.5 million) as a capital injection to fund BFC’s operations.
The total investment amount will come up to S$73.4 million.
This move follows iFAST’s previous failed attempts at obtaining a digital banking licence in both Hong Kong and Singapore.
Here are four things you should know about the group’s bold move....