“Singapore has established an enviable position as a leading Asian financial technology center with an exciting innovation ecosystem, a great talent pool and fantastic infrastructure. It also boasts a business-friendly environment so it was therefore an obvious winner when considering locations for new headquarters for our global operations,”said, Yoshio Tomiie, Head of Commerce atSenjō Group, a privately held investment firm, at the unveiling of the company’s new global HQ in Singapore.

Indeed,Singaporeis one of the gems of the global financial services industry ecosystem with ~200 banks with total assets of $2 trillion having operational headquarters in Singapore. Global financial institutions likeMastercard,UBS,DBS Bank,OCBC,Wells FargoandCitigroupare launching (or have already launched) theirinnovation labs and acceleratorsin Singapore along with significant investments in the ecosystem. Global financial services companies have their Asian satellites operating from Singapore includingAmEx, Citibank,JPMorgan Chase, HSBC and numerous other international financial organizations.

Singapore has one of the most forward-thinking governing authorities in the financial services industry internationally. To support the development of a vibrant FinTech ecosystem, MAS has taken steps to ensure Singapore’s leading position as a leading global FinTech hub: those includecommitting S$225 million under the Financial Sector Technology & Innovation (FSTI) scheme, the launch of the FinTech and Innovation Group (FTIG) and the FinTech Office, creation of aFinTech regulatory sandbox, a move towards an open-API architecture, the “Singapore Payment Roadmap” and the opening of the MAS’s FinTech innovation lab – the “Looking Glass @ MAS,” amongst other first of their kind initiatives.

Collective efforts of the vibrant FinTech ecosystem in Singapore, financial watchdogs, VCs and other stakeholders, ensured the leading position of Asian financial center: