Bahrain’s Economic Development Board said on May 18 that Singapore-based family office, The Whampoa Group, will launch the digital bank.
By the end of the year, the Group plans to launch the digital bank, with an international clientele as its target.
The bank will provide digital banking services such as trading, custody, and management of digital assets.
Bloomberg reports that the Bahraini Central Bank has given the bank “in principle approval” pending the completion of all procedures.
Two famous Singaporean Lee families are linked to Whampoa Group, notably Lee Han Shih of Singaporean multimedia conglomerate Potato Productions and Amy Lee, niece of Singaporean politician Lee Kuan Yew.
The Whampoa Digital Bank
According to its LinkedIn page, Whampoa Digital was created in 2021. It participated in a $500 million investment fund created by Binance Labs, the cryptocurrency exchange’s venture capital arm, in June 2022.
In September, it announced the creation of its own $100 million venture capital fund to support Web3 startups. It is also an investor in TikTok parent company ByteDance.
Bahrain and Blockchain technology
According to a Chainalysis analysis published in October, the Middle East and North Africa area has the fastest-growing cryptocurrency sector globally.
According to Whampoa Group CEO Shawn Chan, Bahrain was selected for the digital bank because of “Bahrain’s solid reputation in the financial services sector, transparent regulatory framework, and ongoing pledge to collaborate and innovate.”
Bahrain granted Binance a license to conduct business there in March 2022, and in October the country’s EazyPay payment platform joined forces with Binance Pay to enable the usage of cryptocurrencies at more than 5,000 points of sale.
The Shariah-compliant CoinMENA cryptocurrency exchange is also based in Bahrain.
Bahrain might witness a rush of fintech innovation after the launch of the digital bank.
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