asean summit, it will not be the most important story for asean. of greater importance is the fact that asean leaders will sign a politically - binding declaration to establish an asean economic community by 2015. asean will evolve into a single market and production base with free flow of goods, services, investment and skilled labour. asean, with its half a billion people and a combined gdp of more than us $ 1 trillion, will then be a competitive investment proposition. asean leaders will also sign the landmark asean charter which will transform asean into a more cohesive, effective and rules - based organisation. singapore : remaking itself as asia rises, singapore will not content itself with being lifted by the rising tide. it will continuously remake itself – strengthening the hull, refitting with a more powerful engine, refurbishing the interior, acquiring new knowledge and learning new skills. to reduce dependence on the global electronics cycle, we have built strong growth momentum in areas such as financial services, tourism and biomedical sciences. our growth will increasingly stem from knowledge - and innovation - intensive activities. this necessitates more investment in human resource development and the creation of a workforce capable of keeping up with the demands of new economic activities. singapore is therefore planning to build a fourth publicly funded university. concurrently, we are enhancing our connectivity with our major economic partners and increasing our economic space through ftas. we have ftas with 11 countries, including the us, india, japan, south korea, australia and new zealand. negotiations are underway for 11 more, including agreements with china and the gulf cooperation council ( gcc ). these ftas will enable investors and businesses to leverage on singapore to reach out to our fta partners. we will press on to develop the financial sector. we are already an important centre for asset management and the trading of financial products like foreign exchange and derivatives. we have made good progress in developing as the regional hub for innovative equity products, business trusts, exchange - traded funds ( etfs ) and project finance. we envision singapore as a centre of excellence for financial training, education and research. hence, we are deepening specialist capabilities in fields such as risk management, financial engineering and actuarial science. in growing our financial sector, we are mindful of industry concerns over the sharp increase in office and housing rentals and the growing waitlists for places at international schools. we are actively addressing these concerns. finally, singapore is sprucing up its image as a vibrant, eclectic city with

– deliver more functional and customised solutions faster and cheaper. mas aims to establish singapore as a centre of excellence for apis on financial services. we are actively pushing fis to develop and adopt apis, and to offer as many of them as possible to the broader community. apis are the essential ‘ plumbing ’ – the pipes – that enable the connections and collaborations that foster innovation. the financial industry has come together, in partnership with mas and the association of banks in singapore, to develop guidance on apis. i am pleased to announce that we will publish today what we call the “ finance - as - a - service api playbook ”. the api playbook provides guidance on common and useful apis that fis could make available. for instance : many of us struggle today to track and use our rewards points on our credit cards issued by various banks before they expire. imagine if the banks publish their ‘ rewards points ’ suite of apis, a single aggregator app could be developed that allows us to enquire and redeem points directly with merchants and service providers. the playbook also provides guidance for the standardisation of apis. the industry has come up with standards for information security, data exchange, and governance mechanisms. having common standards will help promote greater data sharing and interoperability. the api playbook is an important milestone in our fintech journey. some of our fis are announcing their api initiatives over the course of this week. so watch this space. not to be outdone, mas published last week 12 apis for its most heavily used data sets. we will progressively expand the list. conclusion let me conclude by saying a few words about the larger picture behind what we are trying to do 8 / 9 bis central bankers'speeches in fintech. we talk a lot about technology but it is really about fostering a culture of innovation. in an industry facing the headwinds of lower economic growth and heavier regulatory burdens, innovation must be the way to refresh and re - energise the business model. and innovation is not always about high - tech. it is about seeking newer and better ways to do things, about a spirit of enterprise. it is about hope in the future. the financial industry needs that. and let us not forget the purpose of innovation. we want to create a smart financial centre : because we want to increase efficiency – to do things cheaper, better, faster ; because we want to manage our risks better – to