The outlook for fintech in Asia continues to blossom and the latest memorandum of understanding signed by major players from multiple countries in the region is expected to further build the collaborative ecosystem between financiers and tech firms.
The Singapore Fintech Association (SFA) has signed the MoU with the ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN) to «collaborate and promote the APIX platform», an online market place for financial institutions to connect with innovative fintech solutions.
APIX was first launched by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam at Singapore Fintech Festival 2018. The platform will enable financial institutions and fintech companies to collaborate in a sandbox environment.
Major regional support
Fintech has been stealing the spotlight this year in Asia with major milestones achieved in areas such as digital banking across the region. S&P recently issued a report highlighting the serious threat that disruptors could pose to incumbent financial institutions in a matter of years.
Public support is a major driver of success in such disruptive pursuits and this signing signals such backing. The AFIN body is one such indicator, being comprised of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the ASEAN Bankers Association and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation.
I have a (digital) dream
The launch of APIX was first jointly announced by Modi in 2018 where he made a spirited speech about ensuring «no dream remains unfulfilled».
«We must bring the unbanked 1.7 billion people in the world into the formal financial market,» he said.
«We can use fintech to ensure that no dream remains unfulfilled, and no enterprise remains stillborn, because of lack of access to finance. We must make banks and financial institutions more resilient in managing risks, fighting frauds and dealing with disruption of traditional models.»
