Singapore: Grab’s Financial Services Arm Turns Its First Profit as Loans Triple
Grab’s banking and lending business has made money for the first time. In its third-quarter 2026 results, the Singapore-based super app said its financial services segment posted positive adjusted EBITDA of US$12 million, turning around from a US$28 million loss a year earlier, as lending through its digital banks across Southeast Asia grew quickly.
The milestone matters because Grab has spent years and large sums building a financial arm alongside rides and food delivery. It now runs three digital banks: GXS Bank in Singapore, GXBank in Malaysia and Superbank in Indonesia.
Key facts
- Financial services revenue rose 124% year-on-year to US$201 million in the quarter ended 30 September 2026.
- The segment’s adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, excluding some one-off items) was US$12 million, against a US$28 million loss a year earlier.
- Grab disbursed US$1.9 billion in loans in the quarter, up 115%, and its gross loan book reached about US$2.7 billion, up 200%.
- Customer deposits at GXS Bank, GXBank and Superbank together reached US$2.7 billion.
- Non-performing loans (90 days or more overdue) stood at 2.6% of the loan book.
What drove the turnaround
Most of the growth came from lending. Grab offers loans to its drivers, delivery riders, merchants and consumers through its GrabFin products and its digital banks. Because it can see how much a driver earns or how much a merchant sells on its platform, it can judge credit risk using data that traditional banks often do not have.
Part of the jump is also down to deal-making. Grab began consolidating Indonesia’s Superbank into its accounts in June, which means Superbank’s loans and revenue are now counted in Grab’s own figures. Without Superbank, the loan portfolio grew 115% instead of 200%. Grab also started counting revenue from Stash, a US investment and wealth platform it acquired this year.
At group level, Grab’s total revenue rose 27% to US$1.11 billion and adjusted EBITDA climbed 73% to US$237 million. The group reported a profit of US$18 million for the quarter, compared with US$17 million a year earlier. Monthly transacting users reached 57.2 million, up 20%.
Why it matters
Digital banks across the region have faced a simple question from investors and regulators: can a bank with no branches, built mainly to serve people that big banks overlook, become profitable? Grab’s result offers a partial answer. Its financial services arm is now covering its operating costs, helped by a large and fast-growing loan book.
The flip side is credit risk. Lending to gig workers and small merchants can turn sour quickly when the economy slows. Grab says it holds expected credit loss reserves equal to 6.5% of its gross loan book, about 2.4 times its non-performing loans. That buffer will be watched closely as the loan book keeps growing.
There is a direct Malaysia link. GXBank, licensed by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM, the central bank) as one of the country’s five digital banks, is part of this business, and its deposits are counted in the US$2.7 billion total. Grab’s results do not break out each bank’s profit, so it is not possible to say how GXBank itself is performing. Still, a profitable parent business gives the Malaysian unit more room to keep investing.
For the wider market, the numbers show how platform companies are moving deeper into banking. Rivals such as Sea Group, which runs Shopee and its own digital banking arm, follow a similar playbook of lending to users already active on their apps.
What to watch
- Whether the financial services segment stays profitable in the fourth quarter, without new acquisitions doing most of the lifting.
- The non-performing loan ratio as the loan book grows, especially in Indonesia after the Superbank consolidation.
- Any separate disclosures on GXS Bank and GXBank, which would show how each digital bank is doing on its own.
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Sources: Grab Holdings Q3 2026 earnings release (SEC Form 6-K), November 2026 · Fintech News Singapore, November 2026
