Held round-the-clock from December 7 to 11, this year's event drew 60,000 participants from over 160 countries, with 3.5 million views during the week.

The Singapore Fintech Festival will return next year from 8–12 November, organizers the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Enterprise Singapore (ESG) said on Thursday in an announcement.

The Singapore Fintech Festival 2020 and the Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH), which took place last week, was held virtually, given travel bans and social gathering restrictions amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

This limitation, however, allowed organizers to put together its most high-profile lineup so far, and saw more than 40 global satellite events taking place during the festival. The key post-pandemic themes discussed were inclusion and sustainability – areas in which fintech has the potential to be part of the solution, MAS managing director Ravi Menon highlighted.

Industry Initiatives

Among the industry initiatives announced during the festival were for the Asian Institute of Digital Finance to develop capabilities for digital financial services in Asia, a S$12-million Singapore Blockchain Innovation Program to strengthen Singapore’s blockchain ecosystem, and the Singapore Financial Data Exchange, which serves as infrastructure for public data.

MAS also announced a pilot for a technology platform by MAS for data sharing in hospitalization claims, and Project Greenprint – a technology platform aimed at promoting a green financial ecosystem.

International Cooperation

MAS also announced that Singapore and Thailand will link their national payments infrastructures in 2021, and will work with the Bank of Ghana to adopt the Business sans Borders open hub of platforms between Singapore and Ghana as well as work on a complementary Financial Trust Corridor.

MAS signed agreements with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to help SMEs leverage data and more effectively access financing solutions, and with Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB) to strengthen cooperation in FinTech innovation between Singapore and Hungary, and facilitate joint innovation projects.