Financial services sector to get up to S$100 million in MAS grants to boost quantum, AI capabilities

Financial institutions in Singapore will be able to receive funding support of up to S$100 million to boost their capabilities in quantum and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on 18 July that the funds are an additional amount that will come under the Financial Sector Technology and Innovation grant scheme, or FSTI 3.0.

The money will also be used to advance quantum- and AI-related innovation and their adoption in financial services.

MAS managing director Chia Der Jiun, speaking on 18 July at a media conference on its annual report, noted that quantum computing has profound implications for cybersecurity, as it could eventually render current encryption techniques vulnerable to attack.

“We have to start building capabilities in the financial industry to be quantum-resilient,” he said.
 

MAS said it is establishing a quantum track under FSTI 3.0 to support financial institutions’ interests to build quantum capabilities in Singapore.

There are three types of grants under this track.

The first is the technology centres grant, which supports the establishment of quantum computing and security innovation functions in Singapore. It will provide funding support of up to 50 per cent on manpower and other qualifying expenses, such as hardware and software infrastructure, subscriptions and licences, for a period of 24 months.

The second is the technology innovation grant, which will provide up to 50 per cent co-funding support to help financial institutions in finding quantum solutions that can bring about significant impact to business or solve problems in the industry.

The third is the security grant, which aims to enhance cybersecurity readiness to better prepare Singapore’s financial infrastructure and services for the quantum era. MAS will provide funding support of up to 30 per cent to enable experimentation and development of quantum technology-related pilots to safeguard firms’ critical data.

MAS also said it will enhance the existing AI and data grant scheme under FSTI 3.0.

This is aimed at helping financial institutions establish AI innovation centres in Singapore for a range of functions, including AI model building and training, deployment of AI models for high- impact use cases, governance and risk management, as well as testing and monitoring.

The enhanced scheme will also help with the development of frameworks and platforms for policies and protocols that enable secure and privacy-protected data exchange, where financial institutions can collaborate on industry-wide use cases.

For example, MAS has identified scam and fraud detection as a use case for the first pilot project, said Mr Chia.

“By pooling data across banks, suspicious movement of money across bank accounts of multiple banks can be detected, and prompt action taken to investigate and stop these scams,” he said.

MAS will work with banks, technology solution providers and public agencies on the pilot.

FSTI 3.0 is the latest iteration of a scheme introduced by MAS in 2015 to support the creation of a vibrant ecosystem for innovation in the financial sector, as well as financial institutions’ projects in spaces including AI, regulatory tech, and environmental, social and governance fintech.

The latest funds are in addition to S$150 million already committed to the scheme.
 

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