Singapore's virtual bank account ownership to soar 30% by 2026

The figure is equivalent to 1,510,495 adults in Singapore.

The number of adults in Singapore with virtual bank accounts will rise to more than 1.5 million (30%) within a five-year period, a report showed.

Independent comparison platform, Finder.com, in its report, said only 18% or 900,478 adults have virtual bank accounts at present.

This number is expected to rise to 1,230,569 by 2022 and 1,510,495 by 2026.

Singapore’s projected growth rate in digital-only banking adoption — 12 percentage points —- is slightly above the global average of 11.

Finder’s global fintech editor, Elizabeth Barry, cited the local government efforts in facilitating “broader digital banking services.”

“Last year the government granted four digital banking licenses and more recently the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced plans to integrate a fast money transfer service with the Reserve Bank of India,” Barry said.

“We’re seeing this trend spill over into other areas of the financial services industry, with the MAS announcing 15 finalists for the global competition to develop a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC),” she added.

These efforts, according to Barry, played a “large part” in the growth of virtual banking in Singapore.

Currently, Singapore ranks 13th among 30 countries worldwide in terms of virtual baking adoption rate.