Singapore to invest $20m in local fintech ecosystem

The program is part of the MAS’s Financial Sector Technology and Innovation scheme and will focus on fintech applications of artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics. It will co-fund up to 50% of project costs for local financial institutions that strategically leverage AI and data analytics.

Investments will be considered in areas including machine learning, natural language processing or text analytics, deep learning or neural networks, predictive and prescriptive analytics. Research projects in these fields will also be eligible for co-funding.

A key investment criterion will be candidates’ efforts around fintech skills training. MAS is working with the Institute of Banking and Finance on a study of the impact of data analytics and AI on the financial sector workforce.

“Data analytics can help to enhance processes, unlock stronger insights, and facilitate better decision making. People are at the crux of this transformation,” David Hardoon, chief data officer at MAS, said in a statement. “We must take proactive steps to equip our people with the skills they will need for new roles and tasks that they may have to take on.”

It supports recent government and corporate momentum around establishing Singapore as a fintech hub, including a boom in the local accelerator space. Paypal and Insurance Australia Group have both established programs in the country specifically aimed at backing fintech start-ups.

Earlier this week, Active, an AI-enabled fintech platform developer based in Singapore, received an $8 million investment co-led by Vertex Ventures, the VC arm of Temasek Holdings.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Financials
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