SINGAPORE – Singapore must strengthen its position not only as a leading financial centre in Asia, but a trusted artificial intelligence (AI) financial hub, said Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong.
“Our goal should be to be the trusted AI financial hub – a place where financial institutions can innovate with confidence, where risks are managed seriously, and where clients know that technology is being used responsibly,” said DPM Gan, who was speaking at the launch of a new study by DBS Bank on May 20.
The study, titled The Trusted AI Financial Hub, ranked Singapore among the world’s most AI-ready financial hubs out of 15 cities.
The Republic topped the rankings for trust, scoring 19 out of 20, but lagged in terms of talent, scoring 15 out of 20 compared with perfect scores for New York and San Francisco.
Dr Vishal Kapoor, lead thematic researcher at DBS Group Research, said Singapore scores strongly on trust infrastructure because it has spent years building not just AI capabilities, but also coherent governance, digital identity infrastructure and industry-wide adoption in a “coordinated way”.
“The next phase for Singapore will be deepening the talent pipeline further – particularly in specialised AI research, fintech innovation and stronger industry-university collaboration – so we can continue scaling both capability and adoption,” said Dr Kapoor.
At the launch event at Shangri-La, DPM Gan said the Government will do its part to strengthen AI literacy across the workforce, as well as build sector-specific AI capabilities.
“We will work with industry to develop pathways into emerging roles in AI implementation, model validation, data governance, cyber risk management, digital operations and financial technology.”
The Government will also strengthen support for workers who face disruption, offering better job matching, more practical reskilling, and clearer pathways to new careers, said DPM Gan, also the Minister for Trade and Industry.
But employers also play an important role, he added.
In a dialogue session with DBS chief executive Tan Su Shan during the event, DPM Gan said that it is critical for employers to shift their mindset to embrace the training of employees as part of their competitive advantage.
“If your workers are not training and upgrading… the company will begin to fall behind. Train your people, be sure that they are ahead of the game, they keep pace with the technological environment and even the changing business environment,” said DPM Gan, adding that this will help Singapore remain competitive and relevant to the global economy.
DPM Gan also said that the full value of AI in finance will only be realised when it is embedded into workflows, risk systems, and operating models.
For financial institutions, this means identifying impactful use cases that improve outcomes. These include redesigning workflows, improving data quality, training teams and integrating AI into operations, rather than leaving it at the “edge of the organisation”.
But this will not be easy, as many institutions still face legacy systems, fragmented data, capability gaps and uncertainty over implementation risks, said DPM Gan.
Smaller firms may lack the resources to build these capabilities on their own, while larger institutions may need deep changes to operating models, risk controls and organisational culture to adopt AI.
“Our advantage is not scale – we will not outspend the largest economies, or build the biggest models,” said DPM Gan.
“But we can be the place where AI solutions are developed, tested and deployed against real-world financial use cases.”
