Agreement with Singapore opens up new fintech market for UK businesses

by James · November 25, 2022

The fintech bridge builds on an agreement signed in 2016 – which will remove barriers to fintech trade by opening up new regular conversations between regulators and businesses, in addition to previous areas of cooperation

This will increase cooperation and the sharing of information about new trends in the fintech sector. It will also break down trade barriers for UK and Singaporean fintechs, boosting growth and investment opportunities.

Andrew Griffith MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury said: said:

The UK and Singapore are among the world’s leading jurisdictions for fintech investment – and today’s announcement will only accelerate growth and innovation in our respective sectors.

The agreement we have announced today is crucial – and I would like to thank the Monetary Authority of Singapore for their constructive engagement throughout the discussions.

CEO of Innovate Finance, Janine Hirt said:

Innovate Finance welcomes this announcement. A UK-Singapore MoU will deliver a strengthened framework for key regulatory and policy discussions between the two countries, enable innovation across financial services, and ensure that businesses based in both the UK and Singapore have the ongoing support to realize their growth ambitions . .

We look forward to supporting future economic dialogues and business to business activity between these markets. We are also delighted to be working with the key organizations engaged to promote the opportunities this FinTech bridge has to offer and to welcome FinTech businesses to IFGS and UK FinTech Week next year.

Miles Celic, Chief Executive, TheCityUK, said:

The UK and Singapore are two of the world’s most dynamic and innovative FinTech markets. The FinTech bridge will drive exciting new opportunities, and greater alignment of regulatory approaches will help with the expansion of FinTechs from the UK and Singapore into each other’s markets. Greater cooperation between authorities, regulators and industry will increase innovation and provide better results for customers.

This MoU will also further deepen the commitment and opportunities between two of the leading international financial and related professional service centers.

The existing Regulatory Cooperation Agreement signed in 2016 has enabled the UK and Singaporean fintech sectors to align closely at a regulatory level. Today’s commitment goes further in a number of areas, and clarifies the business support available to companies, highlights opportunities in each other’s markets and creates a clear link between challenges faced by companies and political discussions.

The agreement will come into effect next week when the formalities have been completed on both sides.

More information

Link to joint statement: UK and Singapore deepen cooperation in FinTech and strengthen financial cooperation – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The UK and Singapore are two of the world’s leading jurisdictions for fintech investment, as detailed in Innovate Finance’s 2022 Summer Investment Report.
For example, the report notes that in the first half of 2022, total capital invested in FinTech globally reached $59 billion – flat year-over-year. However, the UK FinTech sector continues to grow with investments of $9.1 billion – up 24% year-on-year from H1 2021, and more than the rest of Europe combined.
In the same period, Singapore was ranked as Southeast Asia’s leading jurisdiction for fintech investment, and sixth globally.
In Europe, $17.6 billion was invested in European FinTech across 708 deals, an increase of 10% compared to the same period in 2021.

However, such an increase has been driven by the positive growth in investment in UK FinTech. Excluding the UK, the rest of Europe was actually down 2% compared to the same period in 2021.