COPENHAGEN: The financial regulators of Singapore and Denmark have entered an agreement to promote innovation financial technology services and encourage FinTech companies in both countries to enter each other’s markets.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country’s central bank and financial regulator, has pointed to Denmark as its latest ally in the FinTech sector with the announcement of a new mutually beneficial pact. Signed in Copenhagen at this year’s Money 20/20 Europe conference, the agreement will see the Singapore regulator join forces with its Danish counterpart – the Financial Supervisory Authority (Danish FSA).
“We look forward to close interactions between our respective FinTech ecosystems and more opportunities for our businesses to grow, expand and serve customers in each other’s markets,” stated MAS FinTech chief Sopnendu Mohanty.
Terms of the agreement will also see the two regulators refer FinTech companies to each other, as a way to help pave the path for FinTech companies and startups to enter each other’s jurisdictions. Furthermore, the two regulators will also commit to exploring joint innovation projects together.
Singapore, commonly among the world’s busiest hubs for both trade and travelers, has traditionally adopted a technology-forward agenda and is unsurprisingly among the leading drivers of innovation in financial technologies. That agenda is spearheaded by the MAS, which is among the earliest central banks to have tested a blockchain inter-bank payments platform using its own digital currency. After successfully completing a pilot earlier in March 2017, a recently published report revealed the authority digitizing the Singapore dollar using an Ethereum-based blockchain.
Denmark is certain to benefit from the mutual FinTech partnership and joins a growing list of regulators, authorities and even governments cooperating with Singapore’s central bank. The likes of South Korea, India, Abu Dhabi, Japan, France, Switzerland, Australia and Latin America, among others, have all entered similar pacts with Singapore’s financial regulator.
