If you had to pick the worst time to launch the IPO of a digital bank in Asia, right now would be a decent candidate.
A year or so ago, Korea’s KakaoBank briefly became the most valuable bank in the country after a knockout listing; today it trades at barely a third of its launch price. The tech sector is in freefall and Asian fintechs – Paytm, Alibaba/Ant – have felt the worst of it.
Yet in July, the Japanese e-commerce group Rakuten – often dubbed Japan’s Amazon – chose this moment to announce the IPO of its own digital banking arm.
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