Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
License to bill
Banking | Digital
December 7, 2021 – Digital banks are popping up everywhere. But in this heavily regulated industry, the essential first step is for regulators to develop a licensing plan. From there, it takes about two years for the first digital banks to start accepting deposits, making loans, and processing payments.
To read the article, see “Lessons from the rapidly evolving regulation of digital banking,” October 1, 2021.
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Visual form
Step timeline chart with country examples.
Layout / body structure
The page is organized in two layers. A simplified milestone track across the top shows the generic path from regulatory announcement to bank launch, and a second layer below plots example timelines for South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia on a shared year axis from 2016 to 2023.
What is being compared
The chart compares the elapsed time between announcing a digital-banking regulatory framework and launching banks under that framework. It contrasts the generic process stages with three country-specific examples to show how long each phase can take in practice.
Measurement system
The chart measures time in calendar years. Milestone markers label regulators announcing a licensing plan, application submissions, awardees announced, and launch, while the lower timelines show when those steps occurred for each country and how many years elapsed between the first and last milestone.
Visible structure inside the graphic
Across the top, colored ticks mark the four main process points on a single horizontal line. Below, South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia each have their own horizontal bar with milestone ticks placed at different years, so the eye can compare how the spacing between announcement, submission, award, and launch expands or contracts by country.
Main takeaway from the visual
Once a framework is announced, digital banks do not go live immediately; the path to launch typically stretches across about two years. The long gaps between the first and last milestone in the country timelines make the regulatory and operational build-out look like a multi-step implementation cycle rather than a quick licensing event.
Key standout values or extremes
South Korea’s sequence begins in 2016 and reaches launch around 2017, while Singapore runs from about 2019 to 2022 and Malaysia extends from about 2020 to 2023. The headline reading of roughly two years is anchored most clearly by the Singapore and Malaysia examples, where the milestone spacing spans multiple calendar years.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.