Singapore-based Whampoa Group will be setting up the headquarters of its new digital bank in Bahrain. The Gulf state’s Economic Development Board [EDB] announced the same on Thursday, May 18. Whampoa Group is a well-known multi-family office with investments in global tech firms.
According to the latest development, the digital bank intends to provide secure and integrated financial solutions to serve institutions, innovators, and investors. The same includes digital banking services, trading, custody, and digital asset management. By doing so, the group is looking to foster the adoption of digital assets like crypto. Khalid Humaidan, Chief Executive of the Bahrain Economic Development Board, said in the official statement,
“The establishment of these types of institutions are vital to further strengthen the existing digital assets industry and this milestone opportunity directly aligns with Bahrain’s Economic Recovery Plan, which prioritizes digitization across the financial services sector.”
A government spokesperson for Bahrain told Bloomberg that the central bank has “granted an in-principle approval” to Whampoa Group for the venture. The representative, however, made it clear that the “approval is tentative and a full license will only be granted after all regulatory requirements have been met.”
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Long-term outlook for digital assets is bright: Chan
Shawn Chan, Group Chief Executive Officer of Whampoa, went on to assert how the group is “impressed” by Bahrain’s solid reputation in the financial services sector. He also lauded the Gulf state’s transparent regulatory system, and its ongoing pledge to collaborate and innovate.
EDB Bahrain’s official statement noted that the state’s financial services sector contributed 17.5% to the GDP. Notably, this is the highest contributor to the economy, surpassing oil. In fact, Chan said that the “long-term outlook for digital assets remains bright. More so, because blockchain and other Web 3.0 technologies continue to drive the next evolution of the Internet.
In fact, the number of crypto users globally is also slated to grow to 1 billion by 2030. They’re currently estimated to be at 320 million. Parallelly, 75% of merchants are expected to accept crypto payments within the next two years.
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