SINGAPORE – Companies in the financial and fintech sectors will receive more support to accelerate innovation and grow their talent pipelines, following a $220 million boost announced by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Aug 31.
The amount will be committed over three years, and is part of a renewed scheme to build a resilient and competitive financial sector.
Launched in 2015, the Financial Sector Technology and Innovation Scheme has supported more than 350 projects, with the latest announcement marking its fourth edition.
Deputy Prime Minister and MAS chairman Gan Kim Yong told reporters on Aug 31: “With artificial intelligence and other frontier technologies emerging, we want to capture new growth opportunities.”
He added that the scheme has helped to build a strong fintech ecosystem in Singapore over the years. The industry now has more than 1,800 fintech firms employing close to 10,000 people.
DPM Gan, who is also Minister for Trade and Industry, said: “I think that the growth continues. I think the momentum will continue, and last year, in 2025, we have already seen a total investment of close to $3 billion in fintech alone.
“We hope that the Financial Sector Technology and Innovation Scheme 4.0 will continue to provide that boost.”
Detailing the four main thrusts that the $220 million will support, DPM Gan said the funding will deepen Singapore’s base of innovation capabilities and support firms to set up dedicated teams for research and product development, and anchor technology leadership in Singapore.
The scheme will also help fintechs to attract capital and scale into other markets.
It also aims to help companies move promising solutions from the experimentation stage into commercial deployment.
The scheme will support shared technology infrastructure and platforms to help the financial sector lower development costs, speed up technology adoption and lift productivity.
In addition, it aims to strengthen Singapore’s talent pipeline, DPM Gan said.
“Taken together, these efforts will help our financial institutions, fintech firms and workers innovate, scale and build the capabilities to seize the emerging opportunities.”
He added that MAS will continue to engage the industry to refine the scheme.
Six tracks under the scheme
The scheme will be implemented through six tracks.
Under the manpower track, fintech companies will be supported in building a pipeline of young talent for Singapore’s fintech ecosystem.
This includes companies getting co-funding for internship stipends – marking the first time MAS is co-funding internships for the fintech sector.
Also, a new fintech internship portal will be set up to help connect companies with students from Institutes of Higher Learning. Called fintechinternships.sg, it will be managed by the Singapore FinTech Association and provide opportunities across business, technology and other roles.
MAS aims to support at least 1,000 fintech internship opportunities over the next three years.
DPM Gan said: “It is always important for us to continue to invest in our people… This is particularly critical in the fintech industry because this is a new and emerging industry. It is also evolving very rapidly with the emergence of AI and frontier technologies.
“The talent that we need, the capability we need to build, are going to be very critical for the growth of this sector. That’s why we want to invest in building our people, in giving them the skills and knowledge so that they are able and well-positioned to seize the opportunities where they emerge.”
Meanwhile, the institution project track will support Singapore-based financial institutions and fintech companies in developing and deploying innovative solutions. It will focus on frontier technologies such as AI, distributed ledger technology and quantum technology.
Riding the AI wave, there will also be an AI pathfinder track that supports the scaling and adoption of market-ready AI fintech solutions. This track will help financial institutions to deploy AI solutions, as well as to foster collaboration between these institutions and AI solution providers.
This track applies to solutions listed on PathFin.ai, which is an MAS-led initiative to support AI adoption in the financial sector.
In addition, to strengthen Singapore’s role in shaping global financial standards, the scheme will include an infrastructure and platform track to support industry-wide infrastructure that can improve efficiency, productivity and innovation across the sector.
This fourth edition of the scheme will also retain its “centre of excellence” track, which aims to attract companies to set up such centres here to test-bed innovative solutions. This track will bring together specialised talent while supporting the growth of emerging technologies such as AI and quantum computing.
More than 30 centres of excellence have been set up in Singapore under the scheme over the years.
Finally, the scheme will feature an MAS fintech awards track to raise the Republic’s global profile as a fintech hub.
MAS will introduce a grant under this track to develop eligible solutions proposed by finalists at the Global FinTech Hackcelerator, an annual competition that culminates at the Singapore Fintech Festival. This will help the finalists to attract private investment, scale their business and strengthen their presence in Singapore.
Now in its 11th edition, the competition is organised by MAS and the Global Finance and Technology Network, a not-for-profit organisation by MAS.
Altogether, DPM Gan said the renewed scheme will help to spur innovation in the local financial and fintech sector, and keep Singapore’s industry competitive.
He also hopes the solutions will benefit financial industries in the region.
“The financial sector is always very competitive. Singapore competes not just with Hong Kong, but with the rest of the world too,” he said.
“But I must also say that the financial industry is not a zero-sum game. I think as we get better, Hong Kong and other financial centres will also get better. And as they get better, we want to make sure that we get even better.”
