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Whampoa Group’s family office based in Singapore will open a digital bank in Bahrain, the Kingdom’s Economic Development Board announced on May 18. The group expects to open the bank by the end of the year and is aiming for a global customer base.
The bank will offer digital asset trading, custody and management of digital banking services. According to Bloomberg, the Central Bank of Bahrain has granted the bank “principle approval” until all requirements are met.
The Whampoa Group is associated with two prominent Singaporean Lee families, including Amy Lee, niece of Singaporean statesman Lee Kuan Yew, and Lee Han Shih of Singapore-based multimedia conglomerate Potato Productions.
#Singapore‘s Whampoa Group #investment firm with stakes in global #tech firms, will set up the headquarters of its new digital #bank in #Bahrain, the Gulf state’s Economic Development Board (EDB) said on Thursday. The bank aims to launch at the end of this year, the EDB said. pic.twitter.com/GEJtUPAlzb
— kuwaitnews.masaha (@MasahaKWT) May 18, 2023
According to the LinkedIn page, Whampoa Digital was created in 2021. She participated in a $500 million investment fund set up by Binance Labs, the venture arm of the cryptocurrency exchange, in June 2022. In September, she announced the creation of her own $100 million venture. capital fund to support Web3 startups. He is also an investor in TikTok’s parent company ByteDance.
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A Chainalysis report published in October showed that the Middle East and North Africa region has the fastest growing cryptocurrency market in the world. Whampoa Group CEO Sean Chan said the firm chose the kingdom for the initiative because of Bahrain’s “strong reputation in the financial services sector, transparent regulatory framework and ongoing commitment to collaborate and innovate.”
Binance was licensed to operate in Bahrain in March 2022, and local payment platform EazyPay partnered with Binance Pay in October to enable the use of cryptocurrencies at over 5,000 points of sale in the country. Bahrain is also home to Sharia-compliant cryptocurrency exchange CoinMENA.