Ping An’s OneConnect has been selected as a strategic partner by Singapore based digital banking consortium BEYOND to jointly develop digital banking products and services for Singapore’s SME sector and their workforce.
OneConnect is among the 8 entities who was granted a license to operate a virtual bank in Hong Kong and BEYOND is among the 21 applicants pursuing Singapore’s digital banking license.
The BEYOND consortium is led by V3 Group through its fintech arm V3 Fintech and Singapore’s contactless payment pioneer EZ-Link, and comprises leaders in the Singapore business community including Singapore Business Federation, Far East Organization, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance and Heliconia Capital Management.
In Southeast Asia, OneConnect provides digital solutions to financial institutions in markets such as Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and The Philippines. OneConnect solutions have helped banks increase revenue, manage risks, improve efficiency, enhance service quality and reduce costs.
This development is in line with OneConnect’s strategy of using their Hong Kong virtual bank as a showcase to attract other banks to adopt OneConnect’s system. Its Co-CEO Jessica Tan revealed in an interview with SMCP that after showcasing their tech, OneConnect will sell these models and technology to other banks for a few and they can then create a platform for SME loans which will allow Ping An and other lenders to earn money together.
Commenting on the partnership, Mr Gan Chee Yen, Chairman-designate of BEYOND said,
“BEYOND is progressively building up a future-ready infrastructure that will position us to support and elevate Singapore SMEs and their workforce. The current economic difficulties experienced by many Singapore businesses and their employees have further reinforced BEYOND’s determination to support digital transformations in order for these businesses to be more sustainable and resilient.”
Ms Jessica Tan, Co-CEO of Ping An Group, said,
“In our pursuit of the “finance + technology” and “finance + ecosystem” strategies, Ping An provides financial products and services for 200 million retail customers and 516 million internet users. We are putting together the best Ping An’s technologies through OneConnect’s technology-as-a-service platform to work symbiotically with the larger banking community. We are excited to watch how BEYOND and OneConnect will rewrite the banking scene in Singapore.”
