The Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) and the Singapore Week of Innovation and TeCHnology (SWITCH) concluded its combined week-long event on 15 November 2019, which attracted more than 60,000 participants from 140 countries. The event also saw a record 569 speakers, close to 1,000 exhibitors and 41 international pavilions.
SFF x SWITCH will return next year from 9 to 13 November 2020. It will build on the energy, ideas and partnerships established this year, to further strengthen the ecosystem for FinTech and deep tech in Singapore and the region.
Key Announcements
In line with the theme of Sustainability and Climate Change, Minister Ong Ye Kung unveiled the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’s green finance action plan to strengthen green financing capabilities in Singapore and announced the launch of a US$2 billion Green Investments Programme, among other initiatives under the action plan.
DPM Heng Swee Keat unveiled Singapore’s National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy in his keynote speech, and highlighted a new framework, Veritas, introduced by MAS to promote the responsible adoption of AI in the financial sector. He also announced the expansion of the Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) network to include London, and the launch of the Open Innovation Network (OIN)2 by Enterprise Singapore and Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to promote open innovation across sectors.
Under the GIA, Enterprise Singapore signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with UK-based accelerator IoT Tribe, to facilitate two-way innovation and business partnerships.
It also inked MOUs with three new partners – DayDayUp (Beijing), Plug and Play Asia Pacific (Jakarta) and Leave a Nest (Tokyo) – to run GIA programmes in their respective markets.
MAS and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) jointly launched the BIS Innovation Hub Centre in Singapore, to foster innovation and greater collaboration among the central banking community globally. The opening of the BIS Innovation Hub Centre in Singapore marks BIS’ first expansion of its global footprint in 17 years.
MAS also established partnerships with financial authorities in Canada and France, to strengthen cooperation in FinTech and cybersecurity respectively, and welcomed Banque de France (BDF)’s opening of an overseas office in Singapore in early 2020.
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