Ant Financial Services Group, China’s largest online financial services provider, is seeking to tap the digital banking sector in Singapore in its latest foray into an overseas market.

Ant Financial, backed by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, said Thursday it has submitted an application to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for a digital wholesale banking license.

“We look forward to contributing to the development of the digital banking landscape in Singapore,” the company said in a statement.

The Singaporean monetary authority has said it will issue as many as five digital banking licenses to further liberalize the country’s banking sector. There will be as many as two licenses on offer for full digital banks, which can serve all kinds of customers, requiring S$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion) in capital as well as local control. Three more would be for wholesale banks, which foreign enterprises can run, having a capital threshold of S$100 million, according to the MAS.

Other applicants include a consortium led by gaming company Razer Inc. and a partnership between Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. and Southeast Asian ride hailing provider Grab.

Last year, Ant Financial obtained a digital banking license in Hong Kong through its unit Ant SME Services (Hong Kong) Ltd.

Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com)