The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has received applications from 167 smaller financial institutions and fintech firms for a grant that offsets their expenses for adopting digital solutions.

The digital acceleration grant applies to firms with fewer than 200 employees. Some 87 fintechs and 78 financial institutions have applied under the Institution Project track to offset up to 80 percent of expenses in areas such as virtual-conferencing systems, cloud technology services and online collaboration tools, according to a «Straits Times» report on Thursday.

Another two institutions have applied under the Industry Pilot track, which supports collaboration among at least three smaller financial institutions to customize digital solutions for internal use.

The S$125 million ($87.7 million) support package, which was announced in April by MAS, is targeted at boutique asset managers and fintechs that are struggling with raising capital for digital upgrades and strengthening operational resilience. Three-quarters of the funds, or S$90 million, has been set aside for supporting workforce training and manpower costs, with the remaining S$35 million to go towards strengthening digitalization and operational efforts.

Skills Upgrading

At the same time, 4,700 people have benefited from training subsidies to upgrade their skills during the downtime, MAS said, according to the report. The regulator is offering S$10 per training hour to individuals paying for courses accredited by the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) and S$15 per training hour to financial institutions and fintech firms for each employee they send. Subsidies for relevant IBF courses have been increased to 90 percent for Singaporeans and permanent residents. 

Some 2,815 trainees from 36 financial institutions and 1,864 individuals are paying their own way are beneficiaries of the training grant.

MAS also said that 29 financial institutions have applied for salary support for more than 560 jobs under Finance Associate Management Scheme that encourages firms to hire Singaporean fresh graduates or Singaporean workers from other sectors and place them in talent development programs.