Singapore has managed to attract the highest total funding amount (at 42%) in the ASEAN region – which includes other major Southeast Asian economies such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, among others.
Overall investor interest in Singapore’s Fintech companies continues to remain quite strong. The city-state has attracted substantial financial technology investments according to the Fintech in ASEAN: Get up, Reset, Go! Report by UOB, Big Four auditing firm PwC Singapore, and the Singapore Fintech Association (SFA).
Singapore reportedly secured two-thirds of the 95 Fintech deals that were finalized between Q1 and Q3 2020 in the ASEAN region.
The report stated:
“[The substantial Fintech investments] could be [due to] investors placing faith in Singapore’s favorable regulatory and business environment and its good track record of mitigating the impact of crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Funding for Singapore’s Fintechs has been fairly diversified when compared to other ASEAN region countries, with alternative lending, digital payments and banking tech being the most active segments.
Wong Wanyi, PwC Singapore Fintech leader, remarked:
“A key contributor to the strong performance in Singapore is the conducive, collaborative and supportive ecosystem. For example, incentives coming from regulators and key industry associations like the SFA and the strong startup culture of knowledge sharing helps to accelerate the industry’s growth.”
As reported recently, Singapore has developed a new platform that allows residents to consolidate their financial data.
Singapore’s UOB recently claimed that its AI enabled AML technology has been quite effective at identifying potentially fraudulent transactions.
Reuben Lai, Senior Managing Director at Grab Financial Group, has said that he’s really excited and honored to confirm that Grab’s consortium with Singtel has acquired the digital full bank license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
As reported recently, the MAS revealed the 4 selected firms that will become the first completely digital banks providing services to consumers and businesses.
Notably, the digital full bank license was only awarded to a consortium comprising Grab Holding Inc. and Singapore Telecommunications Ltd and an entity that is wholly-owned by Sea Ltd.