2 new DWBs offer ‘incremental income’ to SGX-listed Credit Bureau

Digital wholesale banking businesses raise the count of bureau members to 36.

The two digital banking license awardees rolled out their digital wholesale banking businesses (DWBs), which could offer scope for incremental revenue contribution to Credit Bureau Singapore (CBS), capital market firm, CGS-CIMB, said. 

In its analysis on Credit Bureau Asia (CBA), CGS-CIMB said the two awardees—Greenland Financial consortium’s Green Link Digital Bank (GLDB) and ANEXT Bank by Ant Group—each launched their DWBs in the past week.

Specifically, GLDB will zoom in on integrating technological solutions to supply chain financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) whilst ANEXT seeks to serve local and regional micro and SMEs engaging in cross-border operations for global expansion. 

Including the two digital full banks (DFBs), such as Grab and Singtel’s GXS Bank and Sea Limited’s digital bank and Trust Bank, CBS’ number of bureau members will be up to 36 once these banks are approved to start operations by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

CGS-CIMB also said the additional bureau members’ incremental revenue contribution will be based on the “volume of credit enquiries from these banks and portfolio risk reviews the banks undertake” because CBS drives the lion’s share of CBA’s revenue.

But it added that DFBs will mostly offer incremental income due to their focus on retail banking compared to DWBs.

“Further, the ramp-up of operations will depend on the types of products offered such as credit cards garner larger volumes compared to unsecured retail loans or mortgages, and value proposition such as rates and user experiences,” CGS-CIMB also explained.

With this, it sees growth prospects for CBA but it will take time to happen with downside risks such as rising inflation and suppressing credit demand.