FinTech Landscape in Singapore

Business and Tech Talent Pool

Access to sufficiently skilled tech and business talents within the market; Relative attractiveness of the Fintech value proposition for those talents;

MAS: API Exchange (APIX) Platform

An API Exchange and Marketplace for API Ecosystem Partners; Enables FinTechs to monetize their services via an API Exchange; Enables digital bank license holders to "assemble" a complete digital bank by connecting to FinTech service providers via an API Exchange

MAS: Project Ubin - Use Cases of DLT

Trade Finance; Cross-border payments; Digital Identity; Clearing and Settlements; Provenance; Multi-party Aggregation; Record-Keeping; Re-insurance

Project Ubin: Benefits of DLT

1. Disintermediate: Enables the facilitation of transactions without a central, priviledged 3P even in the absence of trust. 2. Secured by cryptography: Allows for increased security and protection of data and identity in the system. 3. Smart Contracts and Oracles: Enables the secure automation of complex, logical agreement 4. Immutable: Creates a more secure, transparent network and creates new avenues for regulators; 5. Real-time Settlement: Enables transaction to be made in near real-time between users on the network. 6. Trustless: Allow two or moew trustless parties to transact directly with each other.

SGFinDex

A data aggregator app (like an AISP defined under PSD2); Consolidates personal financial data across seven banks - Citibank, DBS, HSBC, Maybank, OCBC, SCB, and UOB - and three government agencies: CPF Board, HDB, and Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore; Does not initiate payment instructions (like a PISP defined under PSD2); Launched 7 Dec 2020

Retail CBDC

A retail CBDC can be used by members of the public which can potentially increase payments efficiencies, allows for financial inclusion, support digitalization drive in the economy.

MAS: API Exchange (APIX)

APIX was jointly formed by by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), IFC and ABA; It is a global, open-architecture platform that supports financial innovation and inclusion in ASEAN and around the world; Define: A platform which allows Financial Institutions (FI's) and FinTechs to define their opportunities or challenges; Discover: On the global APIX marketplace, Financial Institutions (FI's) and FinTechs can discover and connect with one another easily and cost-effectively; Dry-run: The APIX sandbox allows FI's and FinTechs to collaboratively design experiments to validate digital solutions in different scenarios via APIs. Decide: •FI's and FinTechs can decide who to partner with after using the tools in APIX; Deploy: APIX facilitates FIs' adoption of APIs and enables them to rapidly deploy new digital solutions to underserved markets in ASEAN and beyond

Startup-focused investor ecosystem

Access to Capital: sufficient access to capital to enable Fintech Growth across funding stages; Access to network of investors: sufficient localised investors with networks and local market understanding

ACH Payments via Selected Non-Bank FI's (NFI's)

Automated Clearing House (ACH) opens up API to selected NFI's; Selected NFI's include - Grab Financial Group, which operates mobile wallet GrabPay; Razer FinTech, the financial technology arm of gaming firm Razer; and e-wallet Singtel Dash; Allows users of NFI wallets to make real-time funds transfers between their bank accounts and e-wallets, as well as between various e-wallets.; Launched 8 Feb 2021

4 Licenses Awarded in Dec 2020

Digital Full Bank (DFB) •Grab & Singtel •Sea Digital Wholesale Bank (DWB) •Ant Financial •Greenland Financial-led consortium Licensees are expected to open for business within 1 year. This has implications on their technology selection - forcing them to select legacy core banking systems which are proven but inflexible to change.

MAS: Project Ubin

Explores the use of Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) for clearing and settlement of payments and securities; Motivation: to develop an understanding of the technology and the potential benefits it may bring through practical experimentation; Objective: to develop more efficient alternatives to today's interbank payment systems, based on central bank issued digital tokens

Project Dunbar

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub, the Reserve Bank of Australia, Bank Negara Malaysia, and South African Reserve Bank; Aims to develop prototype shared platforms for cross-border transactions using multiple CBDCs. To test the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for international settlements; This will allow financial institutions to transact directly with each other in the CBDCs, eliminating the need for intermediaries and cutting the time and cost of transactions. Explore different designs that enable central banks, in different jurisdiction, to share CBDC infrastructures

Cross-border access to customers and partners

Number of customers accessible; Number of partners accessible and their attitudes to Fintech collaboration; Cross-border alliances to support innovation and expansion

Progressive Regulatory Support

Regulations support innovation; Established networks and ecosystems to support hub establishment; Legal and regulated frameworks creating a level playing field for Fintechs

Success Factors for Singapore as a FinTech Hub

Startup-focused investor ecosystem; Progressive Regulatory Support; Cross-border access to customers and partners; Business and tech talent Pool

MAS: Digital Banking Licenses

•Motivation: ability to reach more customers, at a lower cost via automation; •Objective: to better serve the underserved SME segment; 7 Key Points: 1.June 2019 - MAS announced 5 licenses to be issued. 2.Existing banks don't need additional licenses. Instead, they will compete directly with the new digital banks. 3.Two types of licenses: 2 full digital banking licenses to serve retail customers, and 3 digital wholesale banking licenses to serve SMEs. 4.Full banking licenses will be granted in stages based on performance. 5.Applicants may include non-bank entities / consortiums. 6.New digital banks need to be headquartered in Singapore. 7. Disruptive business models may not get approved.

Partior

•To create a blockchain-based platform that will enable participants around the world to transact with one another in real time using different currencies. •Aims to disrupt the traditional cross-border payments 'hub and spoke' model to achieve more efficient digital clearing and settlement solutions across the banking industry. •To provide 24/7 infrastructure that will enable financial institutions and developers to co-create applications •Will start with facilitating flows between Singapore-based banks in USD and SGD. It will be based on commercial bank money rather than Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC). •The platform was conceived during Project Ubin.