Covering Disruptive Technology Powering Business in The Digital Age

A global survey by Finastra shows financial institutions in Singapore are supportive of the Open Banking movement and fintech collaboration, with 86% either committed to or considering opening their APIs in the next 12 months. Nearly all respondents (98%) said Open Banking is important to their organisation, with 89% believing that collaboration has made their business more efficient.

The research was conducted prior to the Coronavirus outbreak amongst 774 financial institutions and banks across the US, UK, Singapore, France, Germany, Hong Kong and UAE. 110 organisations in Singapore were included.

The survey however, also found that a number of financial institutions believe regulation is currently limiting progress. While 90% called for greater global harmonisation of regulation on innovation, more than half of Singapore participants agreed that ‘regulations are too tight’ (56%). Two thirds of respondents (66%) also want to see regulators create standardised best practices across the industry to help foster collaboration.

Wissam Khoury, Senior Vice President and General Manager, APAC and MEA at Finastra said, “It’s encouraging to see that financial institutions are embracing the Open Banking model enabled by open APIs, and that collaboration is already helping so many become more efficient. It’s clear, however, that regulation needs become a facilitator rather than a barrier going forward. I’m excited to see the industry make further strides towards enabling a truly collaborative model to drive the industry forward and enable true open finance.”

As Singapore gears up to announce the successful applicants for its new digital banking licenses in the second half of 2020, the research also reveals mobile banking as the top technology to be deployed by financial institutions in the next twelve months, followed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and open APIs.

Wissam added, “Financial institutions are looking to seize new opportunities in spaces such as mobile banking and AI, particularly as digital banking continues to accelerate in Singapore. Combined with increasing appetite for collaboration and Open Banking, this bodes well for the future of the industry as financial institutions here – incumbents and disruptors alike – race to provide seamless, digitally-enabled customer experiences.”

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