Singapore’s financial regulator, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), is set to spend an additional S$100m ($74.5m) to help the financial institutions build their quantum and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies capabilities.
MAS is providing funding under its Financial Sector Technology and Innovation Grant Scheme (FSTI), announced in June 2015, to support innovation in the financial sector.
Its latest version, FSTI 3.0, was announced in 2022 to support projects that use advanced technologies, and MAS has committed S$150m under FSTI 3.0.
FSTI 3.0 currently comprises six tracks, Centre of Excellence (COE), Industry-Wide Projects, Innovation Acceleration, AIDA, RegTech and ESG FinTech.
According to the Singaporean central bank, quantum technology is rapidly advancing and has significant potential to transform the financial industry.
MAS has been collaborating with the National Quantum Office, after the announcement of the National Quantum Strategy by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat in May 2024.
Under FSTI 3.0, the agency will establish a Quantum track to help financial institutions build quantum capabilities in Singapore.
MAS established the FSTI Quantum Track within its FSTI 3.0 initiative and has committed S$60m to support the innovation under this track.
The Quantum track under FSTI 3.0 includes the Technology Centres grant, Technology Innovation grant, and Security grant.
Its Technology Centres grant supports building quantum computing and security innovation infrastructure in Singapore, to support financial institutions and technology companies.
The Technology Innovation grant comprises two sub-tracks, where the first sub-track aims to boost institutional use cases, and the second to help solve relevant industry-wide problems.
The Security grant aims to enhance cyber security readiness to better prepare the financial infrastructure and services for the quantum era.
Furthermore, MAS also intends to work with the Institutes of Higher Learning and the Institute of Banking and Finance to help build quantum capabilities in the financial services sector.
