MAS Sets Out Plan To Take Singapore's Financial Sector Up Another Notch

Tom Burroughes

31 October 2017

Singapore’s regulator and central bank has set out a strategy for the Asian city-state’s financial sector to grow its value-added firepower by 4.3 per cent and for productivity to rise 2.4 per cent a year, outpacing the broader economy.

The launched its Industry Transformation Map for financial services. Among the ITM’s objectives is creating 3,000 net new jobs in financial services and an additional 1,000 in net new jobs in the fintech area, already something of a hotspot in Singapore.

The ITM was drawn up by MAS in consultation with the financial industry, as well as other groups, MAS said.

Financial hubs such as Singapore are battling rivals such as Hong Kong for market share in Asia, as well as seeking to draw capital from further afield. A number of Singapore-headquartered banking groups, for example (DBS and OCBC) have snapped up private banking assets sold by non-domestic players such as Barclays, ABN AMRO and Societe Generale. However, Singapore faces pressures such as Indonesia’s recently-completed tax amnesty programme, seen as drawing significant sums parked offshore in Singapore.

MAS said it is looking to develop the following areas: An Asian centre for capital raising and enterprise financing, such as the build-out of private market funding platforms; full service Asian infrastructure financing hub; more moves to make Singapore an Asian fixed income hub, and a global capital for Asian insurance and risk transfer.

The organisation said it is working with firms on how to transform the insurance marketplace through centralised platforms to allow for more efficient risk placements, and create specialist insurance solutions to address emerging risks in the region.

The ITM will also step up efforts to encourage fintech innovation and collaboration in areas such as electronic payments, KYC developments, research and development, and cross-border collaboration.