The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau (SFRB) continue to strengthen financial ties including in the hot Fintech sector.
Jacqueline Loh, Deputy Managing Director of MAS, and Dr. Zheng Yang, Director General of the SFRB, highlighted the cooperation at the 4th Shanghai-Singapore Financial Forum (SSFF) held in Shanghai earlier this week.
MAS reports that 2018 saw multiple high-level exchanges and milestone agreements reached which are indicative of strong and consistent efforts by both countries to deepen financial cooperation.
Lo said the cooperation began with RMB internationalization and supervisory exchanges. This has since progressed to financial markets connectivity, and now working together on Fintech.
China is the largest Fintech market in Asia by far. It also dominates the rest of the world in several categories – including online lending. Singapore remains a prominent Fintech hub as the government views financial innovation as strategically important for their economy.
The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative is part of a global expansion of economic investment and influence as China seeks to become the leading global economy.
Dr. Zheng Yang stated:
“The relationship between China and Singapore has become closer over the past few years, following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s and Premier Li Keqiang’s official visits to Singapore in November 2015 and November 2018 respectively. Financial cooperation between Shanghai and Singapore achieved many fruitful outcomes with greater economic and trade linkages between China and Singapore. We hope to leverage on opportunities arising from the Belt and Road Initiative and FinTech developments to continually upgrade and strengthen financial cooperation between Shanghai and Singapore.”