Grab’s two side projects suggest Malaysia beats Singapore for fintech jobs

$14bn Singaporean fintech Grab does a lot more in the fintech space than just payments. Not all projects, however, are equal.

In partnership with telecommunications firm Singtel, Grab launched GXS Bank in 2022, the first digibank in Singapore to receive a banking license. More than a year later it launched GXBank, a subsidiary in Malaysia. While jobs have been somewhat stagnant at the former, GXBank has been growing tremendously, and employees there seem to like the experience a lot more.

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According to social media data, GXS Bank has around 345 employees, and has been floating around that number for the past year. GXBank, meanwhile, has just under 300 employees but has doubled in size in that same time frame. Both teams have roughly the same number of technical and engineering staff.

Both teams are run by ex-investment bank managing directors. GXBank’s CEO is Pei Si La, who spent over two decades at Standard Chartered and had been an MD across Singapore and Malaysia since 2014. Prior to joining, GXBank, she was Malaysia’s country head for consumer, private and business banking. The CEO of GXS Bank, meanwhile, is Charles Wong. He joined Grab back in 2020 after 20 years at Citi, where he was most recently head of retail banking in Singapore.

Headcount may be stagnant for now, but GXS Bank has still made some recent senior hires. Vishal Shah, a former Standard Chartered MD, joined last month as head of SME banking. This month, it also hired Jeffrey Chan as head of technology and cyber risk governance; he was most recently head of cloud services, AI innovation and transformation at sovereign wealth fund GIC. GXBank’s most senior hire in 2024 was head of data management Laxman Damodar, a data architecture director from CIMB.

Both banks are continuing to hire in 2024, albeit at different paces. GXBank has 64 open jobs, while GXS Bank has 24. The most senior position available right now is also at GXBank; it’s currently recruiting for a chief financial officer.

At GXBank, jobs seem enjoyable, as well as abundant. Glassdoor reviews average 4.2 stars, higher than Grab’s company-wide average of 4. Reviews praise its fast-paced startup environment, its approach to working from home, the meaningful mission of being Malaysia’s first digibank, and the availability of stock pay. It’s far from perfect, however; there are complaints that GXBank has top-heavy management, and that processes can sometimes feel rushed.

Reviews for GXS Bank are significantly less favorable: Glassdoor reviews there average just 2.7 stars. Reviews note a “dramatic [political] culture shift” from mid-management, and “unmotivated employees.” Like GXBank, however, there’s a lot of praise for the flexibility of work, and there’s a lot of praise for the pay. 

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