Tharman Shanmugaratnam: Enterprise and technological
innovation - improving lives in Singapore
Speech by Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at
the FinTech Awards, Singapore, 17 November 2016.
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Mr Wee Ee Cheong, Chairman, ABS and CEO, UOB
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
1 Thank you for joining us here at our inaugural FinTech Awards prize presentation ceremony.
2 Let me begin by thanking the participating teams, as well as the international cast of judges
who helped evaluate the entries, for their time and inspiring work.
3 This evening, we are honouring winners from two competitions organised as part of the
inaugural Singapore FinTech Festival: the Global FinTech Hackcelerator and the FinTech
Awards.
The Global FinTech Hackcelerator attracted a total of 655 submissions from more than 50
countries. They produced solutions to address some of the 100 problem statements that the
financial sector had put out.
The FinTech Awards recognises innovative FinTech solutions that have actually been
implemented by financial sector players and technology companies. We received 210
entries, running the gamut from cyber security to payments.
4 We celebrate the winning entries this evening. But equally, we are celebrating the spirit of
innovation that each of the participants in these competitions demonstrated.
They represent the passion to make things better, to create value for firms in a way that
gives customers value, and ultimately, to find innovative ways to improve everyday life.
That is the FinTech spirit.
5 These last four days of the FinTech Festival, there has been much discussion about
technology, regulation, infrastructure, markets, funding.
6 Tonight, I would like to speak briefly on the critical people factor - not just for success in
FinTech but more broadly in the innovation-driven economy of tomorrow:
people having that spirit of enterprise and a willingness to be different; and
people developing deep skills, skills relevant to the market, and a keenness to learn
continuously.
7 That's at the heart of what it takes for us to sustain and grow the FinTech movement - the
entrepreneurial desire to find new ways, even disruptive ways, and the deep skills and
continuous learning that we need to power innovation.
Enterprise and innovation
8 We are already seeing successes, and we want to provide a fertile ground for more new
ideas and solutions to keep cropping up. MAS has a regulatory sandbox framework to make it
easier for FinTech start-ups to test their business models. There are also various sources of
government funding available for start-ups:
MAS will provide strong support for 'proof of concept' trials. We will fund 50% of the
costs, up to a maximum of S$200,000 per project, for Singapore-based trials of
promising FinTech ideas. The grant scheme is aimed at ideas that can benefit not just
an individual financial institution or start-up, but the financial system at large, in
Singapore or abroad.
This is in addition to our other Government support schemes that FinTech players can
benefit from:
i) SPRING Singapore will provide Singaporean start-ups grants matching S$7 for every S$3
raised, up to a cap of S$50,000.
ii) The National Research Foundation will co-invest, together with a technology incubator, up
to 85% of an investment into a Singapore-based start-up.
Deep skills and continuous learning
9 Not all of us can be entrepreneurs. But we all have to build the skills and expertise necessary
to power the digital economy. The financial sector in particular has to build new capabilities.
10 We are often caught up in speculation as to which jobs technology will destroy and what
kinds of new jobs it will create. The likelihood is that many jobs will remain but most jobs will
be transformed, requiring new skills and capabilities to make the most of new
technologies.
11 In the financial sector, there is already growing need for skills in data analytics, in digital and
mobile user interfaces, and in application development, in addition to core finance skills.
Take for example bank relationship managers who provide wealth management advisory
services.
They are unlikely to be completely replaced by robo-advisers.
But relationship managers will increasingly use data analytics tools to analyse client profiles
and offer better, customised financial solutions.
12 We are working to build up the skills and competencies in needed in the new world of
finance, starting with the curriculum in our tertiary educational institutions, work placement
programmes, and extending through to mid-career retraining and life-long learning.
13 First, getting our students to be ready for FinTech.
14 MAS is working with the five local polytechnics to review and enhance their curricula, for
example to develop skillsets in agile software development, mobile application development,
cloud application deployment, and data analytics.
15 We are also working with the polytechnics to increase the number of FinTech internships
and joint projects with the FinTech community so that students can apply their skills and gain
hands-on experience.
In October, we embarked on the "PolyFinTech 100" initiative to secure 100 FinTech mentors
and 100 FinTech internships for 2017. I am pleased to announce that we have secured
these targets in the short span of a month.
More than 2,500 students in the banking and IT-related courses in the polytechnics each
year are expected to benefit from these initiatives.
16 MAS is also partnering with the universities and polytechnics to expose students to
perspectives from industry practitioners
Next year, we will launch the MAS Tech Talks, a series of talks by FinTech
professionals to share about their experiences in the industry. This will give students to
better understand job opportunities available in FinTech and define their career aspirations.
17 Second, as part of our broader SkillsFuture national initiative, MAS is partnering various other
players to enhance continuous learning. We must in particular equip financial professionals
with stronger digital skillsets:
The Financial IT Academy (FITA) is delivering a digital transformation programme for
midcareers that includes topics such as data analytics and agile development, to deliver
software faster and with high quality.
The Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) will be offering new learning modules on a set of
core capabilities covering data science, human-centric design, agile thinking, and cyber-risk
awareness.
To develop the cyber security talent pool in Singapore, the Info-comm & Media Development
Authority (IMDA) and the Cyber Security Agency (CSA) have introduced the Cyber Security
1
Associates and Technologists (CSAT) Programme .
The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School will also be launching a new
executive education programme in Singapore focused on financial innovation.
i) Called the Wharton FinTech Innovation Program for Financial Institutions, it is expected to
launch in the second quarter of next year.
ii) The Program aims to expose senior managers in incumbent financial institutions to
current topics in FinTech.
iii) Participants will learn to how to grapple with disruptive trends, and drive change and
innovation across their organisations to compete in the FinTech space.
We also want to ensure that professionals trained in ICT skills have good placement
outcomes in the financial sector. We are doing this through the recently-formed Finance
Committee of the Technology Skills Accelerator, or TeSA, programme.
i) TeSA aims to identify specific ICT skills in demand and work with training providers to
meet these demands.
ii) For example, the US-based Byte Academy has recently set up in Singapore, and
has come on board IMDA's Tech Immersion and Placement Programme (TIPP). Byte
will offer a series of intensive courses on FinTech and data science to 'convert'
nonICT professionals to meet the software and programming needs of the industry.
18 I encourage all companies, both start-ups and incumbents, and individuals, to tap on these
initiatives and invest in the skills of the future.
19 We cannot talk about expertise without talking about learning. And learning, unlearning and
re-learning is what the game is about in the economy that we are creating together.
20 We need to learn more about the things we do not know, and to constantly update our
knowledge in familiar areas. In every job, from the CEOs to the fresh entrant from school.
21 We never know where our learning journey will take us, but it usually takes us somewhere
better.
Take for example Vernon Heng, 32. After university, he worked overseas in a variety of fields,
including construction, sales and marketing and supply chain.
When he decided to return home to Singapore and explore new career options, his brother,
a user experience (UX) designer, encouraged him to consider the field.
He enrolled in a UX course at General Assembly under IMDA's TIP Programme, and found
himself enjoying every step of the process.
Today, he is a UX designer at the Decision Science Agency and is also developing an app to
help youths discover their talents and passions by picking up new skills through their peers.
As Vernon puts it: "Always be open to learning something new. You never know where it
might take you."
Conclusion
22 I would like to offer once again my heartfelt congratulations to tonight's winners, and my best
wishes to all participants of both the Awards and the Hackcelerator. Let's continue our journey
together.
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CSAT provides co-funding to organisations who wish to send their staff for specialised cyber security training in
areas such as threat intelligence analysis and digital forensics investigation.