PUBLISHED ONAugust 31, 2026 8:30 AMUPDATEDSeptember 05, 2026 5:28 PMBYDana LeongTo support innovation in Singapore's financial sector, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will commit $220 million in funding over the next three years, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong announced on Monday (Aug 31).
The funding will come under the fourth iteration of MAS' Financial Sector Technology and Innovation Scheme (FSTI), DPM Gan said.
"With AI and other frontier technologies emerging, we want to capture new growth opportunities," he said, adding that the latest edition of FSTI will focus on four thrusts, including deepening Singapore's base of innovation capabilities and helping fintech firms move promising solutions from experimentation into commercial deployment.
FSTI 4.0 will also aim to help the financial sector lower development costs, speed up technology adoption, and lift productivity while strengthening the talent pipeline.
In particular, FSTI 4.0 will support 1,000 fintech internships over the next three years, announced DPM Gan.
FSTI 4.0 will particularly be implemented through six tracks:
The manpower track in FSTI 4.0 is particularly important, considering how fintech is a new and emerging industry that "is also evolving very rapidly with the emergence of AI and frontier technologies", said DPM Gan.
"You can imagine that the talent that we need, the capability we need to build, is going to be very critical for the growth of this sector," he said.
AI is another key focus for FSTI 4.0, said DPM Gan, adding that developing the financial sector is one of the key AI missions under Prime Minister Lawrence Wong's refreshed National AI Strategy.
When asked which frontier technologies MAS will be prioritising under FSTI 4.0, DPM Gan said that MAS will keep the scope "quite open", "because AI is horizontal, so it provides a baseline to support many of the transformation of our financial industries, including fintech industries".
Reflecting on previous editions of the scheme, which was first launched in 2015, DPM Gan said that the FSTI has helped to build a very strong ecosystem for Singapore's fintech and financial sectors.
@asiaone $220 million in funding will be committed to supporting innovation in Singapore's finance sector, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong announced to media on Aug 31. #sgnews #Singapore #Technology #Innovation #Finance ♬ original sound - AsiaOne
DPM Gan, who is also Minister for Trade and Industry and Chairman of MAS, said that there are currently over 1,800 fintech companies operating in Singapore, with many of them already venturing out into the region and serving global markets.
He said: "I think the momentum will continue, and we hope that this FSTI 4.0 will continue to provide a boost to the fintech industry."
"As we implement this new scheme, we will continue to engage and consult the industry to get feedback to continue to refine and improve the scheme to support our industry," said DPM Gan.
[[nid:743014]]
