GXS Bank Grab Holdings Singapore’s largest telecommunications company, Singtel, has reported a sharp increase in losses for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2023. Deal Street Asia.
Despite this, the bank recorded a staggering six-fold increase in net interest income, according to a recent regulatory filing.
The bank’s losses widened to S$208.2 million in 2023 from S$131.1 million a year earlier.
Net interest income, which measures the difference between interest earned on loans and interest paid to depositors, increased to S$14.9 million from S$2.4 million. However, non-interest income fell to S$1.18 million in 2022 from S$2.6 million.
whole, GXS BankIts total revenue is expected to triple to S$16.13 million in 2023 from S$5.1 million last year.
This growth was overshadowed by a 57% increase in operating expenses, mainly due to a sharp increase in personnel costs, which rose to S$214.2 million from S$76.4 million to S$119.3 million.
DealStreetAsia reported earlier this year that Grab had injected S$145.1 million (US$109 million) into GXS Bank. In previous funding rounds, Grab injected S$137 million in July 2022 and about US$75.8 million in April 2022.
Targeting both consumers and businesses, GXS Bank has introduced a savings account with an annual interest rate of 2.68% and a main account with an annual interest rate of 2.38% since its launch in August 2022. Customers can open up to eight savings accounts.
The bank said in April that GXS FlexiLoan customers had saved a total of S$4 million in interest over the past 12 months, with more than 100,000 loans having been disbursed since the loan’s launch in April 2023.
In 2023, GXS Bank extended unsecured personal loans of S$95.4 million to individuals in Singapore. The bank maintains sufficient reserves to cover potential defaults, with non-performing loans of S$905,189 million, less than 1% of total loans. Customer deposits totaled S$492.98 million, making up the largest portion of liabilities.
The financial services division of GXS Bank’s parent company, Grab, reported revenue growth in the first quarter of 2024. Led by increased lending through GrabFin and DigiBankMonetization of payment services has also improved.
Grab reported a 53% year-on-year increase in financial services revenue in the first quarter of 2024, but the digibank’s total operating expenses increased 48% year-on-year due to the launch of GXBank.
Despite mounting losses, other banks also saw growth in Singapore’s digital banking sector. Ant Group-backed Anext Bank reported that loans will rise 434% to S$222 million and deposits will grow 368% to S$295 million in 2023.
Meanwhile, Maribank, which was set up by Sea Limited in 2021, saw customer deposits surge to S$503.8 million in 2023 from S$2 million a year earlier, while losses rose to S$52.17 million from S$40.4 million.
Trust Bank Singapore, which was incorporated in September 2022, saw its loans and advances to customers grow 261% to S$304.1 million in 2023, while its losses increased to S$128.37 million from S$124.7 million.
