SINGAPORE, Aug 31 (Reuters) – Singapore will deploy S$220 million ($172.83 million) over three years to strengthen its fintech ecosystem and boost innovation and the adoption of technology across the financial sector, the city-state’s central bank announced on Monday.
Here are some details:
• The new financial commitment falls under the fourth iteration of Singapore’s Financial Sector Technology and Innovation Scheme (FSTI 4.0), which was first launched in 2015 to scale innovation in the nation’s financial sector.
• Fintech investments in Singapore hit S$2.9 billion last year. The country is currently home to more than 1,800 fintech firms, employing close to 10,000 individuals.
• FSTI 4.0 aims to accelerate the development, adoption, and deployment of financial technologies, especially frontier technologies, and develop technology infrastructure, nurture talent in the fintech industry and grow innovation activities in Singapore.
• “With AI and other frontier technologies emerging, we want to capture new growth opportunities,” Gan Kim Yong, chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, told reporters on Monday.
• “(The) financial sector is always very competitive. Singapore competes not just with Hong Kong but with the rest of the world too. But I must also say that financial industry is not a zero-sum game. I think as we get better, Hong Kong and other financial centres will also get better. And as they get better, we want to make sure that we get even better,” he added.
($1 = 1.2729 Singapore dollars)
(Reporting by Rae Wee; Editing by David Stanway)
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