 AMTD Group, a financial services group founded by CK Hutchison, is planning to list its digital assets in Singapore and the US later this year to help fund its plans to develop a regional financial technology platform, according to people familiar with the plan.The privately held group led by former UBS banker Calvin Choi is spinning off a clutch of services spanning virtual banking, insurance broking, digital asset exchange and payment systems under a fintech unit called AMTD Digital, they said, declining to be identified because discussions are private and ongoing.The Hong Kong-based groups idea is to weave together an Asia-wide virtual-banking platform to serve small and medium-sized businesses as well as retail banking customers. Only a handful of other fintech players have the makings of such a platform, including Ant Financial, an affiliate of Alibaba Group which owns the South China Morning Post. Ant Financial and Xiaomi among 21 applicants for Singapore digital bank licenceWhile AMTD Digital has already raised over US100 million through a pre-IPO round of funding, details of its IPO are not yet public, specifically regarding the valuation it is seeking or which companies will be its major backers.The group is making a push into the virtual banking business in Southeast Asia, where it is competing for one of the five licences being offered by the Malaysian government. In Singapore, AMTD and Xiaomi are teaming up with utility provider SP Group to bid for a similar licence to be handed out in June by capitalising on the latters extensive data on electricity and gas distribution business in the city state.List of holders of Hong Kong virtual banking licences. SCMP altList of holders of Hong Kong virtual banking licences. SCMPUnder the leadership of entrepreneur Choi, AMTD Group has harnessed its relationships with regional banks in China, particularly Shandong-based Bank of Qingdao in which AMTD Group is a major shareholder and Choi is a director. Its fintech partner Xiaomi separately owns a stake in Xinwang Bank, an internet bank in China that has links to agribusiness tycoon Liu Yonghao. Singapore Exchange brings dual-class IPO battle to Hong Kong, offers better listing termsAMTD Digital has been carved out of the group over the past two years, since a plan in 2017 to list its insurance brokerage unit in Hong Kong failed to take off. The management team is already in place. Its chief executive is Michelle Li, another former UBS banker.If the listings go according to plan, AMTD Digital will be one of the first companies to hold dual listings in Singapore and the US. Singapores exchange has been encouraging co-listing idea with other bourses including Nasdaq to compete more aggressively regional rivals such as Hong Kong.AMTD Group listed AMTD International on the New York Stock Exchange in August last year, creating an investment banking business with a market capitalisation of US2 billion. AMTD International plans a secondary listing in Singapore in the first half of this year without initially issuing new shares. It plans to raise capital later this year in Singapore, the people said. AMTD Group has also been building out its SpiderNet ecosystem block by block, offering services from asset management to property investment to its clients.This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post SCMP, the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMPs Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright 2020 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright c 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. 