Huge names chase virtual bank licences

Five consortia validate interest as applications close, with winners to be selected next year (Photo: 123RF) Competition for brand-new virtual bank licences hasactually heightened, with 5 significant organization groups validating their intents previous to the duedate for submissions on Thursday. An undefined number of licences will be collectively provided by the Bank of Thailand and the Ministry of Finance. The main bank will reveal the winning bidders in the veryfirst half of next year and grant them one year to start operations. Rumours had swirled for weeks about significant Thai and local company groups teaming up to pursue the possibly rewarding company. As the application window closed on Thursday, brand-new light was shed on 3 of those groups: They are the consortium of Lighthub Asset-WeLab; a collaboration led by Singapore-based Sea Limited (Sea), the momsanddad of Shopee; and Ascend Money, a monetary innovation company backed by the Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group. Two other consortia verified their applications earlier. One consistsof Krungthai Bank (KTB), Gulf Energy Development and PTT group. The other is the collaboration of SCB X, KakaoBank, South Korea’s biggest digital bank, and WeBank, a worldwide digital bank recognized for its innovative innovation. Lighthub Asset, a Thai fintech business, and WeLab, a pan-Asian fintech platform, stated in a declaration that they intended to empower Thailand’s monetary future by changing banking services and providing an AI-powered smart. Lighthub Asset was co-founded by Chatchaval Jiaravanon and Lightnet Grou
Read More.