Why Grab’s Superbank is in the black

Find out how a wallet-to-bank upgrade helped Grab’s smallest digital bank turn profitable despite Indonesia’s tight financial rules.

Read from your browser Daily Newsletter Welcome to Tech in Asia's daily newsletter, your essential dose of Asia's tech and startup buzz. Subscribe to this newsletter or send story tips to editors@techinasia.com. Ensure our articles appear in your Google searches: IN FOCUS Grab's only profitable digital bank, for now Soundbytes on AI OpenAI's big spender era Hello Betamax, When I spoke with Tonik Bank founder Greg Krasnov earlier this year, he pointed out that a lot of digital banks in the Philippines have focused heavily on acquiring users to amass deposits. But for some players like Maya, building a huge user base is a natural step. After all, the company's e-wallet offering, PayMaya, already had millions of users before it opened Maya Bank. The Maya app is now the company's "all-in-one money app," as it includes its e-wallet and digital bank services. Grab did something similar with its Superbank subsidiary in Indonesia. Ovo, the e-wallet in which Grab has a 90% stake, allowed eligible users to automatically move their wallet balance into a Superbank savings account. Roughly 60% of Superbank's customers already had a Grab or Ovo account, so upgrading into a savings account with no admin fees and a 5% interest rate was so easy, it barely registered as a decision. This played a significant role in making Superbank the only profitable digital bank under Grab, as David Jimenez Maireles points out in today's featured story. Superbank's profitability is notable as it is newer and smaller than Grab's two other digital banks, GXS in Singapore and GXBank in Malaysia. Maireles, a digital banking advisor who co-founded Vietnam's TNEX, goes into detail with his Insights piece, including the reasons why Grab's Superbank playbook may not work outside of Indonesia. Miguel Cordon, journalist TOP STORY The one Grab digital bank that's actually profitable Maireles says that the central banks of Singapore and Malaysia are keeping an eye on GXS and GXBank, so their paths to profitability are likely bound by regulatory restrictions. To build lasting value, GXS and GXBank must move beyond relying on promotional interest rates, he adds. The next few quarters will show if Grab can pull off a shift, and we're keen to find out as well. TL;DL No time to listen to podcasts? We've got you covered. TL;DL (Too Long; Didn't Listen) is a series that summarizes insights from the top thinkers and doers in tech. Why physical AI could outgrow the digital AI boom Inside the AI bankruptcy trap (and how open-weight models help) Why Netflix ties AI freedom to strict ownership TRENDING NEWS 1️⃣ OpenAI raises compute spending forecast to $750b The ChatGPT maker is investing US$20 billion into a 3.2-gigawatt data center in Georgia. This facility will feature flexible demand response capabilities to manage peak power grid loads as well as utility contracts designed to protect other ratepayers. 2️⃣ Intel, AMD seek long-term China CPU deals, sources say The China push is driven by surging AI data center demand and foundry constraints. Prices for some server CPUs in the country have jumped over 40% since the start of the year, with lead times stretching up to 10 weeks. 3️⃣ South Korea fines TikTok $7m for ad data violations TikTok had allegedly collected behavioral data from over 9 million users via third-party sites for targeted ads without proper notification. In a separate ruling, the Personal Information Protection Commission fined two Apple subsidiaries for collecting Siri users' voice recordings and text transcripts without consent. 4️⃣ Uber cuts 10% of customer service operations jobs Some of the company's remote staff were also asked to relocate to hub offices to streamline operations and enhance in-person AI collaboration. The restructuring comes after Uber shrank its people division by 23% in June. 5️⃣ AMD to invest up to $5b in Anthropic partnership The capital will be used to deploy up to 2 gigawatts of AMD Instinct MI450 GPUs within its new Helios rack-scale systems by early 2027. RUPIAH RAILS FOR INDONESIA'S BLOCKCHAIN FUTURE In partnership with Blockchain-based finance unlocks a lot of opportunities for Indonesia, especially in services like remittance and cross-border transactions. However, most blockchain solutions run on US dollar-denominated stablecoins, creating a mismatch with local use cases that are deeply rooted in the rupiah. IDRX is addressing this mismatch through its rupiah-linked stablecoin. This allows financial products to be built around Indonesia's currency, connecting the country's familiar financial system with emerging blockchain infrastructure. Learn how IDRX is bringing rupiah-denominated settlement to blockchain-based finance. PRESS PEEKS The following press releases were published as they were received, without any editing from the Tech in Asia team. You, too, can publish your own press release on our site by simply filling out this form. Our team will get back to you by the next business day. Kisti - Kisti Wants to Become Asia's Default "Pay Later" Button, Starting in Bangladesh: Kisti is preparing to launch zero-interest Buy Now, Pay Later in Bangladesh in 2026, with a vision to expand across Asia. 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