{"id":4974,"date":"2017-02-03T03:46:27","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T03:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/?p=4974"},"modified":"2017-02-03T03:46:27","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T03:46:27","slug":"singapore-fintech-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/singapore-fintech-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Singapore&#039;s &quot;Disrupt Yourself First&quot; Strategy for Fintech Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fintech (short for \u2018financial technology\u2019) has seen massive growth in Singapore,<strong> rising from just 18 fintech startups in 2015 to more than 300 today. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>That\u2019s an increase of over 1600% over the last two years!<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hence, it is no surprise that Singapore is currently leading the fintech wave in Southeast Asia; which coincides well with the city-state\u2019s Smart Nation goals to create a society empowered by technological developments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Current circumstances are also well-suited for growing Singapore\u2019s fintech potential.\u00a0<strong>Singapore serves as the Asian headquarters for a variety of financial institutions, enabling it to host over 200 banks with total assets of US$2 trillion<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Regulatory support for fintech has also been strong with Singapore\u2019s de facto central bank, The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), launching a dedicated Fintech and Innovation Group in 2015. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>This has since spawned a few other initiatives: <\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">such as a partnership with the National Research Foundation to set up a one-stop point-of-contact office for all fintech matters,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a commitment to US$160 million over five years to support the development of the fintech scene under the Financial Sector Technology &amp; Innovation (FSTI) scheme,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the creation of a fintech regulatory sandbox for experimentation,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a shift towards an open-Application Programming Interface (API) architecture,<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fintechfestival.sg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/hackcelerator-problem-statements.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">100 Problem Statements<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for global fintech issues alongside the inaugural Singapore Fintech Festival<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the opening of MAS\u2019s own FinTech Innovation Lab &#8211; the \u201cLooking Glass @ MAS\u201d &#8211; to spur collaboration between MAS, financial institutions, start-ups and technologists.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_4980\" style=\"width: 470px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4980\" class=\"wp-image-4980 \" src=\"http:\/\/innovao.cluster030.hosting.ovh.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/1-MAS-Global-FinTech-Hackcelerator-FinTech-Problem-Statements-KYC-Identity-Authentication1-300x245.png\" alt=\"Fintech opportunities in the KYC space.\" width=\"460\" height=\"380\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-4980\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">MAS&rsquo;s List of 100 Problems to Solve for Singapore from the Global Fintech Hackcelerator.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With this favourable environment, Singapore has also seen the launch (or imminent launch) of over 20 innovation labs focused in the fintech space. Both global and regional financial institutions like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mastercard.com.sg\/en-sg\/about-mastercard\/corp-responsibility\/social-sustainability\/the-mastercard-labs-for-financial-inclusion.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mastercard<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.visa.com.sg\/aboutvisa\/innovation\/innovationcentre.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">VISA<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dbs.com\/innovation\/dbs-innovates\/dbs-asia-x.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DBS Bank<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theopenvaultatocbc.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">OCBC<\/a>\u00a0have chosen Singapore to develop this potential.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unfortunately, talent looks to be a limiting factor to the continued growth of the fintech industry. In a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imda.gov.sg\/~\/media\/imda\/files\/industry%20development\/fact%20and%20figures\/infocomm%20survey%20reports\/0201%20infocomm%20manpower%20survey%202015public%20reportfinal.pdf?la=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">survey conducted by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore in 2015<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, 5,100 job vacancies are expected to open up in the network and infrastructure sector from 2016 through 2018. A further 5,700 jobs in data analytics and cyber security is also expected, creating a gap in demand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However active steps are underway to meet the demands of the market. A new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was\u00a0signed between the Singapore Fintech Association (SFA) and the five local polytechnics in Singapore as part of efforts to deepen collaborations between educators and the fintech industry. To add to the fintech element, the MoU was signed via the <a href=\"https:\/\/attores.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Attores<\/a> smart contract platform. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>The programme presents opportunities by being at the intersection of start-ups, financial institutions and regulatory bodies. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>Key plans for 2017 include:<\/b><\/h3>\n<h4 style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><b>Innovation Lab Crawls <\/b><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">where students get to visit at least 10 innovation labs and experience tours and programmes which will help them understand the impact of innovation from established companies such as VISA, Mastercard, HSBC and OCBC.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4 style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><b>Internship Opportunities<\/b><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in fintech-related roles locally and across borders at start-ups, financial institutions and regulatory bodies within the fintech community. This is part of a strategy to expose students to both regional and global markets. Industry practitioners, venture capitalists and incubators will also share their expertise and enhance the knowledge of students.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4 style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><b>Workshops<\/b><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">will also present another avenue for further development in the fintech community. Domain experts from a company and\/or industry will update about new technological, regulatory and other associated advancements at different innovation labs. V-Key, a digital security startup, is set to host a workshop on how advanced mobile security can enable digital banking innovation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As mentioned by Ravi Menon, MAS Managing Director, at the inaugural Singapore Fintech Festival,<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>To be sure, many of these technologies are disruptive to existing jobs and existing business models\u2026 But if we do not disrupt ourselves \u2013 in a manner we choose \u2013 somebody else will \u2013 in a manner we will not like<\/em>.\u201d<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has demonstrated the viewpoint of Singapore in aiming for a collaborative environment for fintech. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>This focus, avoiding the perspective of\u00a0a zero-sum game, can offer opportunities for corporates to explore and experiment with new business models.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fintech (short for \u2018financial technology\u2019) has seen massive growth in Singapore, rising from just 18 fintech startups in 2015 to more than 300 today. That\u2019s an increase of over 1600% over the last two years! Hence, it is no surprise that Singapore is currently leading the fintech wave in Southeast Asia; which coincides well with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":4976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,442,48,487,464],"tags":[314,422,57,102],"class_list":["post-4974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-fintech","category-government-innovators","category-all","category-south-east-asia-singapore-indonesia","tag-ecosystem","tag-fintech","tag-singapore","tag-south-east-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}