GXS sheds 10% of staff as focus moves from ‘build’ to ‘run’

For Southeast Asia’s digital banks, the era of exuberant building is over. The era of operational discipline has begun.

In the lexicon of startups, the transition from “building” to “running” is often celebrated as a graduation. For the employees of GXS, a digital bank backed by the ride-hailing giant Grab and the telecommunications group Singtel, that transition has proved sharper and more painful. On December 3rd, it emerged that GXS is cutting 82 jobs—roughly 10% of its workforce—across its operations in Singapore and India.

The restructuring is a signal event for the region’s fintech ambitions. It marks the moment when the theoretical promise of digital banking collides with the hard arithmetic of profitability.

The logic presented by GXS management is one of structural evolution. Lai Pei-Si, the group chief executive, framed the decision as a necessary pivot from a “build phase” to “running full banking operations”. In the early days, a digital bank needs architects: developers to build the core ledger, product designers to map the user journey, and strategists to navigate the licensing labyrinth. Once the app is live and the deposits are flowing, the need for such heavy lifting diminishes.

Ms. Lai noted that the bank had attempted to achieve this reshaping organically over the past 18 months, relying on natural attrition and selective hiring. Yet, “the pace of organic reshaping has been slower than expected,” necessitating a sharper cut. The redundancies, which affect GXS Bank in Singapore, and a technology hub in India, are role-based rather than performance-based.

This is a classic industrial lifecycle played out at digital speed. Just as a factory needs fewer engineers once the assembly line is humming, a digital bank needs fewer builders once its code is deployed.

The financial context for these cuts is stark. While GXS has shown growth—net interest income doubled to S$30.2 million in the 2024 financial year—it remains deeply in the red. Losses widened slightly to S$214.3 million from S$208.2 million the previous year. This financial profile highlights the stubborn reality of digital banking: building a bank from scratch burns cash.

The “build to run” narrative, while valid, also serves as a euphemism for cost rationalization. Losses persist because the scale of the customer base does not yet cover the high fixed costs of technology and compliance. For backers like Grab and Singtel, the investment is becoming harder to justify without a clear path to breakeven. The layoffs are likely an attempt to demonstrate fiscal discipline to investors who are no longer charmed by growth at any cost.

GXS is not operating in a vacuum. The pressure it faces is shared by its peers across the causeway. Malaysia has licensed five digital banks—including GXS’s own unit, GXBank—which are currently operating under a “foundational phase” with asset caps set by the central bank. As newer entrants like KAF Digital Bank and Ryt Bank move from regulatory approval to live operations, they too will face the “scaling hurdles” that are currently tripping up GXS.

For the broader ecosystem, this signals a shift in opportunity. The next boom may not be in consumer acquisition, but in efficiency. There is now a clear market for “RegTech” and operational tools that can lower unit costs for these banks while maintaining strict compliance with liquidity and capital adequacy rules. Vendors selling risk management and cost optimization tools should be looking hungrily at the nine major digital license holders across Singapore and Malaysia.

For the 82 departing employees, the macroeconomic rationale offers little comfort. GXS has offered a standard package of support: severance, goodwill payments, and extended medical coverage for three months. Notably, the bank is placing affected staff on “garden leave,” granting them paid time to search for new roles.

Ultimately, the GXS layoffs are a maturation point. The initial euphoria of winning licenses and launching apps has faded. The digital banks of Southeast Asia are now legitimate businesses, subject to the same cold, hard laws of economics as the incumbents they sought to disrupt.

• This article was amended on 4 December 2025. The GXS layoffs affected employees in Singapore and India only, and did not impact GXBank in Malaysia, as stated in an earlier version.