NRI-led fintech startup starts online transaction platform in Singapore

It allows cheap transfer of funds to India; to expand transfers to Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia

A financial technology start-up of a non-resident Indian (NRI) in Singapore on Thursday launched an online platform which the company said allows consumers to transfer funds to India cheaply.

SingX Pte plans to expand the service from Singapore to allow money transfers to Malaysia, Hong Kong, Australia where it also holds licenses, and other countries, company officials said.

Launched since mid-January 2017, the service allows Singapore-based consumers to transfer funds to India at fraction of charges to consumers, they said.

It is a fraction of what they typically pay for overseas money transfers through regular banking charges, they claimed.

Backed by some of the region's most experienced bankers, SingX's foreign exchange platform can help consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises save up to 90 per cent of typical remittance charges.

SingX's Principal Founder and Chief Executive Officer Atul Garg said: "SingX wants to create the Airbnb of global payments with Singapore's first peer-to-peer foreign exchange platform."

"We are targeting consumers and SMEs, the segments we believe are underserved and are paying the highest rates for remittances. SingX's technology can provide them with a smarter way of moving their funds, swiftly, smoothly and cheaply. They will no longer need to queue up at bank branches or fill up forms," said Garg, a Singaporean of Indian-origin with over 25 years of banking and payments experience.

2016 report by the Boston Consulting Group commissioned by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, estimates cross-border payments at $30 trillion and growing at 10 per cent. The estimated revenues from cross-border payments are $300 billion.