Portcullis Founder Receives Approval For Labuan-Based Bank

Tom Burroughes

2 June 2021

The founder and president of the to receive a licence as a full deposit-taking digital bank in the Southeast Asian jurisdiction.

“Our recent licence approval by LFSA marks the dawn of a new era for our existing family office clients, who continue to face tedious and lengthy processes when facing off with their traditional banking providers, especially with respect to new account opening and transaction approval. As a bank created by families, for families, we intend to deliver a seamless financial services proposition to ultra-high net worth families in the region, supported by best-in-class technology solutions,” Chong said.

Initially, Baxian intends to concentrate on private banking but the new licence will allow it to offer a full suite of services to its UHNW clients, including corporate advisory, asset and wealth management, sales and trading, and working capital solutions, as well as lending, project finance, and trade finance.

A Shariah-compliant bank, Baxian is well placed to tap into Malaysia’s important Sukuk issuance market, the organisation said, adding that Malaysia has almost 40 per cent of the Sukuk market with RM791 billion ($191.7 billion) in Islamic deposits.

“With the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Labuan International Business and Financial Centre and the Qatar Financial Centre Authority to facilitate the mutual recognition of financial entities, we intend to re-define the delivery of cross-border digital Islamic banking services for UHNW families in the Middle East,” Chong said.

Baxian also said that it intends to list its shares on the Fusang Exchange by the end of 2021. (Chong and his family also own Fusang Exchange.)