ByteDance, the Beijing-based multinational tech group behind TikTok, is seeking a virtual banking license in Singapore to enter digital finance.
On June 15, it has been reported by Financial Times that ByteDance is likely to compete with a few other Asian tech giants including Alibaba’s Ant Financial and electronic leader Xiaomi to obtain one of the five virtual banking licenses that the Monetary Authority of Singapore is about to issue later this year.
However, the report said that the company has applied for one of the three wholesale bank licenses, as it could indicate that the license can be limited to serving corporate clients and small and medium enterprises.
Though ByteDance is valued at $75 billion and performs even higher in the secondary market, the company has reportedly considered joining forces with the Lees, one of Singapore’s most influential corporate families and the owners of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation.
TikTok’s Chinese tech group wants to get into finance and puts a bid on a virtual banking licence in Singapore https://t.co/2Km8cK91vt — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) June 16, 2020
The report also said that it hopes that the partnership would increase its chance of winning the bid.
As per the report, ByteDance does not offer a digital bank in mainland China, as most virtual financial services are dominated by Tencent’s WeChat and Alibaba’s Alipay.
ByteDance considered applying for a digital bank license in Hong Kong previously.
Thus, it has also indicated in the past that it might be tapping into e-commerce services.
Source: Cointelegraph | Image: Magzter