GXS Bank acquires Validus Capital, leading digital lending platform for S’pore SMEs

SINGAPORE – GXS Bank, which is backed by Grab Holdings and telco Singtel, said on April 14 that it has received approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to acquire Validus Capital, the Singapore business of Validus Group.

Validus Capital, which is one of the largest digital lending platforms for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore, will become a wholly owned subsidiary of GXS from April 15.

This is the first such acquisition by a digital bank in Singapore.

Mr Vishal Shah, group head of business banking at GXS Bank, said the deal will be fully funded by cash, but exact details are confidential.

It comes in an uncertain economic environment, contributed by the tariff flip-flops of US President Donald Trump.

Mr Vishal said the bank’s management and board discussed the situation and concluded that the deal should go ahead as SMEs will still need financing regardless of the macroeconomic environment.

With the acquisition, GXS will be able to tap Validus’ existing SME customer base to serve different types of business entities, ranging from micro to small and medium-sized enterprises.

It will also broaden its suite of business services to include supply chain financing and working capital loans. 

Presently, GXS has a business banking solution, GXS Biz Account, but this is only for single ownership businesses, such as sole proprietorships.

Meanwhile, the GXS FlexiLoan Biz is an unsecured line of credit for these sole proprietors.

Working capital loans provide financing for daily business and cash flow needs.

And supply chain financing helps to ease cash flow problems along the supply chain as a financial intermediary.

Validus, in this instance, will provide funds to an SME supplier or distributor based on its invoices before the payment due date.

SMEs will be able to access cash in a more “timely manner”, said Mr Muthukrishnan Ramaswami, known widely as “Ramu”, group chief executive of GXS Bank.

They will not have to wait for payment for work done or goods supplied. Instead, they will be able to tap supply chain finance and working capital loans to ease their cash flow issues, he added.

“The sooner they receive capital, the faster they can invest in growth opportunities,” Mr Ramu said.

Mr Vishal noted that many large Singapore corporates, including public transport operator SMRT and offshore and marine company Seatrium Group, are existing partners of Validus.

These companies and the SME vendors who service them will move over to GXS.

There is absolutely no disruption to the existing business arrangements, he said, adding that GXS will leverage the Validus platform to grow its customer base of suppliers and distributors.

The micro businesses in the Grab-Singtel ecosystem will also stand to benefit from more financing options.

Until April 14, GXS FlexiLoan Biz was the only financing option available to them.

From April 15, they will be able to tap supplier financing for their business needs, Mr Vishal added.

The second quarter of 2025 will be about getting down to work to realise the synergies of the acquisition and ensuring a seamless transition, he said.

And if all goes as planned, GXS has bigger plans in the third quarter to extend its business banking solution, GXS Biz Account, to more SMEs.

Mr Vishal said: “For banking, GXS only started with sole proprietors. By the third quarter, GXS will be able to bring on board other corporate entities like private limited customers.”

They will get the same benefits, such as opening a business account in three minutes and earning daily interest on their business deposits, he added.

“Those will be the perfect synergies.

“We will be able to serve the entire needs – non-lending, as well as the lending and trade financing needs – for the micro, small and medium-sized businesses,” Mr Vishal noted.

GXS is one of the two digital full banks, the other one being MariBank, in Singapore. 

Digital full banks are allowed to take deposits from and provide banking services to retail and non-retail customer segments.

MariBank, which is wholly owned by gaming and e-commerce firm Sea Group, has a suite of business banking services for merchants on its Shopee ecosystem.

Mari Business Account is a deposit account, whereas Mari Business Credit Line is a standby credit line, and Mari Business Term Loan is a business loan with longer repayment terms of one to five years.

MariBank introduced the business account and short-term loan facility in June 2023 and followed up with the longer-term business loan offering in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Trust Bank, the third digital bank serving retail customers in Singapore, actually holds a full bank licence. 

This allows it to offer retail and business banking services similar to those of legacy banks DBS, OCBC and UOB.

However, Trust Bank does not have physical branches and operates fully online.

The joint venture between Standard Chartered Bank and the enterprise arm of NTUC also does not have business banking services for now.

The two digital wholesale banks in Singapore, Anext Bank and Green Link Digital Bank, are allowed only to take deposits and provide banking services to SMEs and other non-retail customer segments.

Anext Bank is the wholly owned subsidiary of Ant International, the overseas arm of Chinese fintech giant Ant Group, while Green Link Digital Bank is owned by Chinese developer Greenland Holdings and Hong Kong-listed supply chain financing platform Linklogis.