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StanChart to boost presence in Singapore as first 'significantly rooted foreign bank' here
MON, AUG 03, 2020 - 9:31 AM
UPDATED MON, AUG 03, 2020 - 8:12 PM
JAMIE LEE
Standard Chartered Bank Singapore has been granted additional privileges as the first bank to qualify as a Significantly Rooted Foreign Bank (SRFB) in the Republic, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Monday.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
A RECENT free trade agreement between the European Union and Singapore has paved the way for Standard Chartered Bank Singapore (StanChart Singapore) to raise its presence in the Republic.
StanChart Singapore has been freshly labelled as the country’s first Significantly Rooted Foreign Bank (SRFB) here, with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) looking to further boost the SRFB framework to possibly offer an additional full bank licence, 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, in the same way the three Singapore banks can do so here.
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. It currently uses just 18 POBs, 16 of which are branches, a spokesperson said.
The SRFB framework was announced in 2012, with SRFBs only awarded as part of an overall package negotiated under FTAs with these QFBs’ home countries, and to QFBs that are “significantly rooted” here.