StanChart Singapore gets boost in presence with FTA backing

Privileges under EU-Singapore FTA give it more places of business as first Significantly Rooted Foreign Bank

Published Mon, Aug 3, 2020 · 09:50 PM

Singapore

A RECENT free trade agreement between the European Union and Singapore has paved the way for Standard Chartered Bank Singapore to raise its presence in the Republic - and possibly in time, on the digital front in the same way the Singapore banks can.

StanChart Singapore has been freshly labelled as the country's first Significantly Rooted Foreign Bank (SRFB) here, with the MAS considering to offer an additional full bank licence via an enhanced SRFB framework, the regulator said on Monday.

This would allow an SRFB to set up a digital-only bank as a separate unit and with a smaller paid-up capital, just as the three Singapore banks can.

For now, as an SRFB, StanChart is allowed 50 places of business (POBs), of which up to 35 may be branches. As a qualifying full bank (QFB), StanChart Singapore was allowed 25 POBs. As it is, it currently uses just 18 POBs, 1…