DBS announced on Tuesday the launch of Southeast Asia’s largest bank-led property marketplace. DBS claims it is also the first bank in the region to launch an online property marketplace that offers listings from both agents and owners.
According to DBS, the DBS Property Marketplace has partnered major online property listing platforms EdgeProp and Averspace to provide some 100,000 listings and will soon include listings from SoReal. The marketplace will also be able to facilitate end-to-end paperless transactions, from cheque-free payments to digital documentation. In addition, the site will provide all the essential services buyers need to settle into their new homes by partnering with service providers, including utilities; digital home solutions such as internet and TV services; renovation; cleaning and moving services. DBS also revealed:
“Following the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) announcement in June 2017 proposing to allow banks to operate digital platforms that match buyers and sellers of consumer goods or services, DBS became the first bank in Singapore to launch an online consumer marketplace with DBS Car Marketplace in August 2017, followed by DBS Electricity Marketplace in March 2018. The bank is uniquely well-placed in the marketplaces space as it banks most of Singapore – five million retail customers and six in 10 SMEs bank with DBS. This enables DBS to build marketplaces with robust ecosystems in partnership with SMEs and with the aid of consumer insights.”
While sharing more details about the marketplace, Jeremy Soo, Head of DBS Consumer Banking Group (Singapore), stated:
“While it is still early days, we believe this represents a paradigm shift for financial services in the future. As the largest bank in Singapore for both consumers and SMEs, we can effectively work in each sector’s ecosystem to partner SMEs and build data-driven customer research and benchmarking tools. This allows us to provide one-stop solutions that effectively anticipate our customers’ needs across their purchase journey.”
Soo then added:
“Singaporeans are extremely savvy online shoppers – 96% of Singaporeans use their digital devices for research and information, and 66% for goods and services consumption at least once a week – so we aim to provide holistic, thoughtful, and comprehensive propositions unique to the market, and become a meaningful part of their purchase journey.”