Trust Bank reaches 1m customers, launches investment solution

Lender is second digital bank here to offer investment product; it comprises five funds managed by abrdn

- Chor Khieng Yuit

The digital lender Trust Bank is now the fourth-largest retail bank by customer numbers here, with around a million customers on its books.

Trust Bank started operations in Singapore in September 2022 and had 411,000 retail customers by the end of that year.

Customer numbers rose steadily over the past two years to hit the one million mark "sometime last week," said chief executive Dwaipayan Sadhu at a briefing on Feb 21.

The digital bank, which is 60 per cent owned by Standard Chartered Bank and 40 per cent by the enterprise arm of NTUC, had a total deposit base of $3.8 billion as at the end of 2024.

About 14 per cent of its customers - 140,000 - are under 25, while about 26 per cent are over 55.

Trust booked a net loss of $60 million in the 12 months to Dec 31, 2024, well down on the loss of $128.4 million in 2023, while revenue more than doubled to $97 million and costs rose approximately 5 per cent to $157 million.

It is one of three digital banks serving retail customers here, alongside GXS Bank, which is backed by Grab Holdings and telco Singtel, and MariBank, which is wholly owned by gaming and e-commerce firm Sea Group.

Hitting the one million customer mark is "just the beginning," said Mr Sadhu, adding that "the journey continues".

He added that Trust will be giving back to the community by contributing $100,000 to 1,000 families in need in the form of $100 FairPrice vouchers and helping them improve their digital and financial literacy.

The bank also officially launched TrustInvest, its first investment solution, on Feb 21.