In focus: Singapore FinTech Association

The Singapore FinTech Association is supporting the rapidly expanding fintech sector in Singapore

Last week the Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) published its Fintech Talent Survey 2019. The results, compiled from direct discussions with those in Singapore’s growing fintech sector, gave further evidence of the growing appetite for all things fintech in the country.

Specifically, it was revealed that more than 90% of fintech companies in Singapore intend on expanding their workforce over the next 12 months and that the volume of businesses and employees in Singapore’s fintech sector will “increase substantially” over the same period (see graphic below).

The findings were hardly surprising. Recent years has seen a flurry of fintech-related activity in the country, including a range of initiatives to promote and aid the sector’s growth – the result is a hive of activity in the island nation comprising small, disruptive startups and large, more established financial institutions.

Guiding the growth – the Singapore FinTech Association

Of course, with growth comes complexity. And while the latest survey from the SFA found potential talent shortages to be minimal for the foreseeable future – positive news when considering the speed at which the market is expanding – support for that burgeoning market will be crucial.

This is where the SFA comes in.

The cross-industry and non-profit organisation aims to support the development of Singapore’s fintech sector and to facilitate collaboration among market participants and stakeholders so as to assist the development of the country’s fintech ‘ecosystem’. The SFA is a member-based organisation with more than 350 corporate members covering the full spectrum of Singapore’s fintech industry.

Breaking it down

The SFA provides its services across three key themes:

• Collaboration: Here it acts as a platform that encourages collaboration between market participants – the idea being that they engage, work together and develop solutions to key issues relevant to the sector.
• Co-create: A relatively simple one – develop a “connected fintech ecosystem, chanelling effective and relevant information among members and externally”. This achieved by educating, informing and communicating; by accelerating the development opportunities for those companies entering the sector, as well as those already operating; and supporting common interests.
• Connect: In short, this is all about building effective relationships for the benefit of the market as a whole. In this area, the SFA also encourages and leads on building international collaboration networks – it has signed close to 50 international memorandum of understandings in more than 30 countries worldwide, for example.

FinTech Foundation Programme

Training is a key focus of the SFA, largely through its FinTech Foundation Programme. The 20-hour training programme, says the organisation, allows students to “learn more about fintech and become future ready”.

You can find out more about what the course offers in this video, courtesy of the SFA, but in short, the programme is led by 10 leading fintech industry practitioners and covers a host of areas, ranging from introductory lessons (fintech, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies) through to design thinking in financial services, bringing new fintech ventures to market and more.