Incumbents across the region have ramped up their digitization efforts by partnering with fintechs.
In Singapore, Icelandic financial software company Meniga has been strengthening its position by signing partnerships with the likes of Visa and the United Overseas Bank (UOB). Having opened its 7th international office in Singapore last summer, “an exciting place to be right now, with clear and huge demand for digital banking and financial innovation,” according to Meniga CEO and co-founder Georg Ludviksson. Founded in 2009, award-winning Meniga provides white-labelled digital banking solutions that help financial institutions improve their online and mobile digital environment, and enrich customer experience.
Meniga’s partnership with UOB, its first with a traditional financial institution in Southeast Asia, was inked in late-2018 and involved providing the bank with tools to help UOB Digital Bank customers keep track of their savings and expenses in real time. In February 2019, UOB eventually launched a digital bank in Thailand, called TMRW, which makes use of Meniga’s banking innovation platform. Following the success of its digital bank in Thailand, UOB said in February that it plans to enter the Indonesian market by the end of 2020. Most recently, Meniga announced a partnership with Visa that will seek to bring Meniga’s AI-driven digital banking solutions to Visa’s Singapore-based clients.