The wait is finally over.
It has been nearly 21 months since the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) handed out four digital banking licences to successful bidders.
Two of the licences are digital full bank (DFB) licences and were clinched by a consortium made up of ride-hailing firm Grab (NASDAQ: GRAB) and blue-chip telco Singtel (SGX: Z74).
The other DFB licence was won by Sea Limited (NYSE: SE).
Just this week, the Grab-Singtel digital bank, GXS Bank, launched its first savings product to a limited customer base.
Not to be outdone, Standard Chartered Bank (LON: STAN) has partnered with Fairprice Group to launch their digital bank, Trust Bank, with savings accounts and credit card offerings for customers.
With these launches, should the trio of local banks, namely DBS Group (SGX: D05), United Overseas Bank Ltd (SGX: U11), or UOB, and OCBC Ltd (SGX: O39), get worried?
...