Real estate market players threatened while DBS comes after their clients

Small startups seeking to tap into Singapore's profitable e-commerce scene may need to hurry up as more and more heavy banks are making their way through the scene, sealing their domination on verticals.

DBS recently unveiled its third consumer portal in the form of an online real estate market designed to connect buyers and renters to potential homes and allow for purchase, lease and rental transactions. ready.

OCBC beat DBS after launching a similar online consulting service a few months earlier with OCBC OneAdvisor, which provides access to more than 135,000 real estate listings, policy details, regulations and affordability advice. to potential buyers and investors.

read : OCBC launches site for moms

However, small players who offer similar services run the risk of being crushed by marketplaces run by banks that have no only from a formidable technological infrastructure but at their hands.

"Banks are well funded, so naturally this is not fair competition," observed Paul Ho, chief mortgage consultant at the icompareloan online mortgage platform. "Smaller platforms will certainly be at a disadvantage in terms of capital that they have to make things work."

Nevertheless, non-bank platforms can still benefit from their independence from the bank. the assessment of their financial needs, regardless of the bank providing the service.

"You'll always need a market where opinions are not dominated by a big boy," said Ho.

Security Concerns
Data Platforms Exploited by a single entity also face an increased risk of cyber security. the recent data breach at SingHealth where the personal information of 1.5 million people, even the Prime Minister's records, were illegally accessed.

In response to these concerns, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) de facto urges financial institutions to tighten customer verification processes and avoid using stolen information (including names, NRICs). , address, gender, race and date of birth) to verify the identity of the clients.

"We have put in place a rigorous set of authentication measures for the client's identity before proceeding with the request. However, to combat the risks associated with the SingHealth incident, we have further improved our customer verification process to prevent unauthorized financial transactions, "said Koh Ching Ching, chief communications officer of the company. group at OCBC Bank

. it is simply part of the territory and banks and startups need to improve their cybersecurity to stay ahead of the game.

"Whether we like it or not, more and more data is being offered, explored or sold across multiple platforms, such as Big Data and AI, so there's no real privacy to talk about. "