MAS outlines banking digitisation initiatives
(16 November 2017 – Singapore) The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has launched a number of initiatives as part of efforts to establish itself as a regional leader of fintech.
Presenting at the 2017 Singapore Fintech Festival, Managing Director of MAS Ravi Menon said that the central bank will sign 16 cooperation agreements with other governments, with the aim of facilitating information on fintech trends and issues.
The central bank revealed that it and the Bank of Thailand will link Singapore's PayNow with Thailand's PromptPay. With the deal, Singaporeans would be able to send money securely to someone in Thailand and vice versa with just their mobile numbers.
Outside of retail-focussed innovation, several initiatives were aimed at helping financial institutions become more efficient.
MAS said it was investigating ways to make compliance requirements less painful for banks and financial institutions, especially in the area of data collection. Mr Menon said regulators sometimes request for the same data more than once under different data collection exercises.
"We'll aim to achieve zero duplication in our data requests to financial institutions. If we ask for the same data twice to any banks, you will be allowed to gently turn us down," he added. "All data requests from MAS will eventually be in machine-readable templates."
Menon unveiled plans to make Know-Your-Customer (KYC) processes less costly and laborious for financial institutions. These are processes to verify the identity of clients, such as when opening an account, which can take weeks. This would, in turn, better help the industry crack down on money laundering incidents.
MAS said it is working with domestic foreign banks to explore a KYC shared-services utility that aims to streamline the process.
Additionally, he highlighted trade finance as another that can be positively impacted by digitisation, saying blockchain technology has the potential to make trade finance safer and more efficient. Using blockchain technology, MAS and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority will develop a cross-border platform for trade finance.
In addition to that partnership, Singapore’s central bank will be working alongside the Bank of Canada on cross-border payments using blockchain technology.
As for Singapore's goal to be a regional fintech hub, MAS will be working with the International Finance Corporation to establish the ASEAN Financial Innovation Network, which will allow banks to search for innovative fintech solutions.
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