Bridge
in collaboration with Maybank
An end-to-end financial service designed to provide a seamless transition for Malaysians relocating to Singapore. This project positions Maybank as the go-to cross-border partner, featuring a scalable framework built to adapt to the broader foreign diaspora. Our project earned one of three invitations to present directly to Maybank's top management.
Team
Ashley Tan
Anna Wong
Travis Tan
Scope
User Interviews
User Testing
Product Management
Time
2025
3 months
Singapore's largest diaspora
As of 2022, 1.13 million Malaysians live in Singapore, making up roughly 20% of the population. This demographic is growing rapidly: job applications from Malaysia doubled to 150,000 annually between 2023 and 2024.
With the 2026 launch of the RTS Link further lowering barriers for cross-border work and study, relocating Malaysians represent a massive and highly sustainable market.
Causeway connecting Singapore to Malaysia
Tedious and delayed account opening
Opening a local account is a top priority for relocating Malaysians to receive their salary or scholarship funds.
However, strict KYC and documentation requirements often cause severe delays. One interviewee even had to pay a $3,000 rental deposit in cash because her account wasn't ready.
Alienated from our payment systems
Without a local account, many interviewees expressed frustration at being unable to pay for simple meals at hawker centres.
As Singapore’s QR payment ecosystem matures, the number of F&B and retail stores accepting cash or foreign cards will only continue to shrink.
Choosing what's fast, not what's best
Driven by urgent needs like payroll and housing, new arrivals prioritise setup speed over long-term value, settling for whichever bank account opens fastest.
Only after settling down do they sit down to properly evaluate their options—often switching to banks that better serve their cross-border needs.
Solution
Bridging cross-border banking
Edited by Ashley, voiced by Anna
Leveraging on Maybank's dual market presence
Maybank’s strong presence in both Singapore and Malaysia allows us to leverage existing brand familiarity to seamlessly onboard new arrivals.
Not just Malaysians.
While our immediate focus is the Malaysian demographic, the underlying product framework is built for scale.
This cross-border ecosystem can be seamlessly adapted to support the broader foreign diaspora relocating to Singapore.
Process
Interviews, user testing, surveys
To drive our design decisions, we conducted 21 user interviews and testing sessions, supplemented by a quantitative survey of an additional 15 participants.
"It is a solution no other bank has come up with."
100% of users found Bridge useful, and 86% reported a high likelihood of adoption.
The remaining 14% expressed hesitation, citing the lack of physical Maybank branches and a perception that local Singaporean banks are more reliable.