The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has proposed an expedited process for aspiring Fintechs participating in their regulatory Sandbox. First launched in 2016, the Singapore Fintech Sandbox seeks to foster a mutually beneficial relationship between innovator and regulator. In an industry with profound compliance requirements, the regulator is exposed to entrepreneurs seeking to disrupt existing financial services. For the innovators, the Sanbox helps them to navigate the labyrinth of regulations that guide financial services.
The Sandbox Express seeks to speed up the entire process without needing to go through the existing bespoke sandbox application and approval process.
MAS says the new Fintech express lane is suited for activities where the risk is low or, at a minimum, well understood.
Each individual sandbox will have its “boundaries, expectations and regulatory reliefs pre-determined.”
MAS says it will assess applications based only on two criteria:
- technological innovativeness of the financial service
- fitness and propriety of the applicant’s key stakeholders.
Approval (or refusal) can be expected in under 21 days.
Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer of MAS, says their current Sanbox has been well received by the industry but they want to make things even better:
“We have engaged with more than 150 Fintech players since the Sandbox was launched and a number of firms have experimented in the Sandbox. To facilitate quicker experimentation and faster introduction of innovative financial services to the market, we are now offering the option of Sandbox Express.”
Mas has kicked off a public consultation that will run from 14 November to 13 December 2018.
The consultation document is available here.
