Companies looking to adopt FinTech may soon have more leeway

Companies looking to adopt FinTech may soon have more leeway
The Monetary Authority of Singapore on Monday issued a consultation paper on proposed guidelines for a regulatory sandbox for experiments for new financial services.

Posted 06 Jun 2016 10:14

SINGAPORE: It might be easier for financial institutions and other companies here to experiment with financial technology (FinTech) offerings in the future, with regulator Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issuing guidelines for a regulatory sandbox for such services on Monday (May 6).

The central bank said in its press release that while the fast-evolving FinTech landscape encourages financial institutions to test and introduce such innovations, there are circumstances where it is less clear whether the FinTech offering complies with regulatory requirements or poses unacceptable risks.

"The uncertainty may stifle promising innovations, and may result in missed opportunities." MAS added.

With the regulatory sandbox, companies can test these new financial services in a more relaxed regulatory environment but within a well-defined space and duration, it said.

The FinTech services can then be assessed on criteria such as its innovativeness, whether the company intends to deploy the solution on a broader scale and whether the service brings benefits to consumers and the industry, MAS elaborated.

Ms Jacqueline Loh, Deputy Managing Director of MAS, said: “The sandbox will help reduce regulatory friction and provide a safer environment for FinTech experiments. We believe this will give innovations a better chance to take root.”

The public consultation will be open from Jun 6 to Jul 8, MAS said.

- CNA/kk


- wong chee tat :)