Digital banks have arrived but what does this mean for Singapore consumers?

Singapore's banking sector is unique in the region. It is well-developed and the existing banks have invested heavily to build digital versions of their extensive product offerings and traditional services.

- Dwaipayan Sadhu

Aside from being one of the world's leading financial hubs, Singapore also has strong foundations for a successful digital bank with close to 100% adoption of the national digital identity and best-in-class and real-time digital payment infrastructure in place.

It was under these conditions that Trust was born in September 2022, becoming the first of the country's digital banks to launch to the public with a range of retail products comprising a credit card, savings account, and family personal accident insurance.

Seven months later, Trust reached more than 500,000 customer sign-ups, equivalent to about 10% of the Singapore market, making it one of the fastest-growing digital banks anywhere in the world.

In doing so, Trust firmly placed a Singapore digital bank on the global map for digital banking whilst driving greater standards of customer experience and innovation.

Why was there such a strong response to Trust's launch, and what does the rise of digital banks mean for Singapore consumers?

Digitally-native versus traditional 

Let us first consider what’s different about the new wave of digital banks. Rather than transforming an existing business into a digital one, a digital bank is built from scratch, specifically to be digital. We call this digitally native. A modern, digitally-native bank uses the very latest and best technology to create a cutting-edge platform.