Supporting Innovation in the Financial Sector

MAS committed S$250 million to accelerate technology and innovation-driven growth in the financial sector 

13 August 2020

MAS launched the enhanced Financial Sector Technology and Innovation Scheme (FSTI 2.0) to enhance support for early stage experimentation of technology, strengthen the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the financial industry and build a stronger talent pipeline of Singaporeans for FinTech.

MAS launched S$35 million grant to help small financial institutions adopt digital solutions for data reporting

9 November 2020

The Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) for the financial services sector was launched to help smaller financial institutions (FIs) adopt digital solutions for more streamlined and efficient data reporting to MAS. The grant, applicable to banks at launch, will be subsequently expanded to include insurers and capital market intermediaries.

MAS launched new Regulatory Technology (RegTech) grant scheme and enhancement of the Digital Acceleration Grant (DAG) scheme

30 April 2021

The new RegTech grant scheme is aimed at promoting the adoption and integration of technology solutions in the risk management and compliance functions of FIs, while the DAG, which helps smaller FIs and FinTech firms adopt digital solutions to better cope with the impact of COVID-19, has been enhanced to widen its eligibility criteria to cover life insurance and general insurance agencies that employ not more than 200 agents and employees. MAS has committed S$12 million for the RegTech grant scheme and an additional S$30 million to the enhanced DAG scheme, bringing the total grants available under the DAG scheme to S$65 million.

MAS worked with the Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) to set up a Compliance Readiness Framework and Self-Assessment Toolkit

10 June 2020

The framework and self-assessment toolkit helps FinTech firms familiarise themselves with MAS’ Outsourcing and Technology and Risk Management Guidelines, as well as allows them to measure the compliance readiness of their solutions against the minimum compliance requirements. It is aimed at raising overall standards of FinTech solutions and provide FIs greater confidence to adopt these solutions, so as to promote a safe and sustainable partnership.

MAS recognised 15 winning teams under the S$1.75 million Global FinTech Innovation Challenge

10 December 2020

Under the theme of “Building Resilience, Seizing Opportunities, Emerging Stronger”, the competition sought innovative solutions to help the financial industry respond to two critical global challenges: COVID-19 and climate change. The challenge received over 600 submissions from 50 countries. Three winners for the Global FinTech Hackcelerator and 12 winners for the FinTech Awards were recognised on 10 December 2020 for their innovative, high quality solutions that were able to address real needs in the financial industry.

Singapore FinTech sector registered a record-breaking S$1.4 billion in FinTech investments in 2020

Throughout 2020

According to a report by the Boston Consultancy Group’s FinTech Control Tower , FinTech investments in Singapore reached S$1.4 billion in 2020, driven by capital raising by technology platform firms, payment services companies and crowd-funding players. This represented a 34% year-on-year increase from the S$1 billion registered in 2019, and demonstrated the strong recognition from global investors of the potential of Singapore’s FinTech ecosystem. To support this investment momentum, MAS organised monthly deal making events - “Deal Fridays”, to connect investors and early stage FinTechs. 2020’s “Deal Fridays” connected 165 FinTechs with over 500 investors.

Asian Institute of Digital Finance set up to spearhead FinTech education, research and entrepreneurship in Asia

Ongoing

The Asian Institute of Digital Finance (AIDF) will offer a Master’s programme and award scholarships to outstanding students to pursue research at the doctoral level, as well as train post-doctoral fellows in Digital Finance and FinTech. The “Fincubator” programme by AIDF will provide support to drive transformation and commercialisation of ideas and projects by promising students and entrepreneurs.