In October, the Monetary Authority of Singapore launched the Industry Transformation Map (ITM) for Singapore's financial services sector, providing a blueprint for Singapore to maintain its leading position as an international financial centre, connect with global markets, and support economic development in Asia and Singapore.
The ITM aims to achieve real value-added growth of 4.3% per year in financial services, outpacing Singapore's economic growth. The ITM also plans to create a net 3,000 jobs in financial services and 1,000 fintech jobs each year. The ITM has three prominent areas of focus.
First, we will capitalise on global and regional opportunities.
• Foreign exchange (FX) - We want to become the global FX pricing and liquidity centre in the Asian time zone. MAS will encourage anchor FX traders to base their e-FX matching and pricing engines in Singapore.
• Fund management and domiciliation - Through our external fund management programme, MAS will engage leading fund managers to deepen Singapore's asset management capabilities, especially in specialised and alternative investment strategies.
• Infrastructure financing - MAS and the industry are working with multilateral development banks to improve the bankability of Asian infrastructure projects. We are working to bring in private capital through debt distribution platforms and to create investment benchmarks to help infrastructure financing become a mainstream asset class.
• Fundraising and corporate finance - MAS and the industry are jointly building private market financing platforms so that growth companies can better reach a wider range of investors.
• Insurance - MAS will work with the industry to transform the insurance market through a centralised blockchain platform, enabling more efficient risk underwriting, and to create specialty insurance products to address emerging regional risks.
Second, stimulating innovation in financial services.
MAS's regulatory stance will facilitate the adoption of effective technologies and promote innovation while addressing potential risks and maintaining confidence. This requires:
• closely monitoring the development of new things and their risks, and being ready to intervene or adjust at any time;
• bringing together all parties to drive the innovation ecosystem;
• promoting the development of infrastructure so that new services and ideas can flourish;
• suspending certain rules to facilitate experimentation with untested innovations.
Third, expanding and deepening the talent pool in the financial sector.
This requires a multi-pronged approach. MAS will continue to work with financial institutions and institutions of higher learning in a tripartite effort to:
• build a strong pipeline of local professional talent, especially in information technology;
• redeploy and reassign professionals into areas of employment growth through professional conversion programmes; and
• promote job placement by strengthening career advisory services.
Globally, Singapore's financial centre is in a leading position. We will consolidate this position while maintaining financial stability, ensuring that the financial industry continues to be an important pillar of Singapore's future economic growth.
Source: Monetary Authority of Singapore