Licensing process is anticipated to take around three months, with the bank expected to launch next year. Credit: Bench Accounting on Unsplash

Maldives’ State Trading Organization (STO) has submitted an application for a digital banking licence to the country’s central bank.

The company’s managing director Hussain Amr made the announcement in a press conference in front of the headquarters of the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) in Male’ City.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Premium Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

Licensing process is anticipated to take around three months, with the bank expected to launch next year.

Apart from the licence, the company will be required be register with the Economic Ministry before becoming operational.

The new banking service of STO will be fully digital, enabling account opening in five minutes and loan application submission in 60 seconds, noted Amr.

The firm is currently hiring digital banking experts from overseas banks for its new venture, stated Amr, adding that digital banking is the backbone of the project to digitalise Maldives.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

Other digital banking moves

Recently, several countries are jostling for space in the digital banking scene.

Among them is Singapore, who awarded digital banking licences to several entities last year. The licence recipients included Grab-Singtel consortium, tech giant Sea, as well as Ant Financial, among others.

Recently, Standard Chartered reached an agreement with Singapore’s National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) to launch a digital bank in the city-state.

Philippines too jumped on the digital banking bandwagon, awarding licences to DigibankASIA, GOtyme, among others.

The country’s central bank decided not to accept digital banking licence application from 1 September 2021. The applications before the closing date will reportedly be processed on a first-come, first-served basis and the number of digital lenders will be capped at seven for the next three years.

Malaysia too followed in these countries’ foosteps, receiving 29 applications for digital banking licences.