Digital bank backed by Ant targets smaller businesses with quick, easy financial services

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Digital bank says clients need better services, easier access to financing

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Anext Bank has made its name by providing digitised, cross-border financial services to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Photo: Anext Bank

Aileen Chuang

Published: 7:30am, 13 Nov 2024

A digital bank backed by Chinese fintech giant Ant Group is using its technological skills and global partnerships to provide financing and quick and easy financial services to start-ups and small business owners.

Anext Bank, a Singapore-licensed digital wholesale bank established two years ago, has made its name by providing digitised, cross-border financial services to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) that were impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Anext Bank CEO Toh Su Mei said MSMEs have a rising expectation of digitalisation, especially after the pandemic.

“By deploying our strategy of embedded finance, putting our financial services on regional and global platforms, unifying our financial services and breaking down borders, we make financial services a lot more accessible for regional and global MSMEs,” she said.

The bank currently serves MSME owners from 79 global locations, including Hong Kong and mainland China. As of June, its cross-border transactions surged six-fold from a year earlier, while its customer base grew two times, the bank said without disclosing the specific numbers.

It has a remote onboarding process that uses a proprietary tool developed by its parent Ant International – the global arm of Chinese fintech giant Ant Group – to verify customers electronically. Ant Group is an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the South China Morning Post.

MSMEs that are onboarded can open a business account with the bank that can hold funds in offshore yuan, Singapore dollars, US dollars and euros while supporting international payments.