Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) and ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN) today announced signing a Memorandum Of Understanding, to collaborate and promote the APIX platform to FinTech community, further contributing to the development of the industry.
The MOU between SFA and AFIN will entail greater collaboration between both parties, including sharing inputs and suggestions on both parties’ events, initiatives and efforts. The FinTech industry can expect to see more collaborative initiatives between SFA and AFIN, which will boost the ASEAN FinTech industry as a whole.
Launched by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam at Singapore Fintech Festival 2018, the APIX platform aims to connect financial technology service providers to financial institutions globally and promote inclusive finance to the two billion people without bank accounts worldwide. Leveraging on the extensive domestic and international network that SFA has established through the years, to promote the APIX initiative to Financial Technology companies worldwide.
Announcing the same, Chia Hock Lai, President, SFA said, “The FinTech ecosystem in the region has been on a positive outlook in recent years. According to Frost & Sullivan’s annual Fintech Outlook report in 2018, the Asia-Pacific FinTech market projected to reach US$72 billion in 2020. This puts SFA and AFIN in a very strategic and timely position, where our collaboration can fully leverage on the plethora of opportunities in the FinTech industry, ensuring that the ASEAN FinTech ecosystem will benefit.”
The APIX platform aims to improve financial inclusion through FinTech innovation. AFIN sets out to achieve this by connecting banks that need Digital Transformation with FinTechs that have built innovative solutions through the APIX platform. APIX provides a platform for financial institutions to discover and connect with multiple innovative FinTech solutions on its marketplace. It also enables financial institutions and FinTechs to collaborate and experiment to design unique solutions using a sandbox environment.
Manish Diwaan, Managing Director, AFIN commented, “Singapore has always played the role of a catalyst in the FinTech industry in ASEAN. With this partnership with SFA, we are excited to extend this to their vast domestic and global network.”