Grab and Singtel will bid for a digital-banking licence in Singapore
A ride-hailing firm and a telecoms group take on South-East Asia’s banks
IN 2014 SINGTEL, a Singaporean telecoms group, teamed up with Standard Chartered, an Asia-focused bank, to create Dash, a mobile-money unit it claimed would “revolutionise mobile commerce and banking”. But red tape meant it went nowhere fast. It refocused on mobile payments, but still struggled. Insiders liked to quip, says one, that “the only place that accepted Dash was Singtel’s canteen”.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Up for Grab”
Finance & economics January 4th 2020
- The causes of a booming stockmarket are unlikely to last through 2020
- Trade negotiators have missed a deadline to help protect fish stocks
- Grab and Singtel will bid for a digital-banking licence in Singapore
- A study suggests that higher minimum wages hit poorer bosses’ pockets
- Why the most important hedge is against unexpected inflation
- China’s industrial policy has worked better than critics think
From the January 4th 2020 edition
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