The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) signed a FinTech Co-operation Agreement to facilitate regulatory collaboration and partnership in FinTech technology.

The agreement is expected to leverage existing regulatory sandboxes in their respective jurisdictions to support experimentation of technology innovations. It will include the referral of companies to each other’s regulatory sandboxes and enable innovative cross-border experiments in both jurisdictions.

The agreement will also allow both organisations to evaluate the suitability of use cases which could benefit from collaboration across multiple jurisdictions, and invite relevant jurisdictions to participate in a Global Regulatory Sandbox.

Further, sharing of information will be a vital aspect of the agreement.

The two will share non-supervisory related information and developments on innovation in financial products and services, facilitate discussions on emerging FinTech issues and participate in joint innovation projects.

The agreement was signed by the Chief FinTech Officer of MAS, Sopnendu Mohanty, and Chief Technology Officer of IFSCA, Joseph Joshy, and witnessed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, and Deputy Chairman of MAS, Lawrence Wong, and Finance Minister of Gujarat, Kanubhai Desai, Chairperson of IFSCA, Injeti Srinivas, Chairman of GIFT Company Ltd., Sudhir Mankad, and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of GIFT Company Ltd., Tapan Ray.

“This co-operation agreement builds on the Memorandum of Understanding on Supervisory Co-operation signed between MAS and IFSCA in July 2022. The cross-border testing of use cases between Singapore and India will pave the way for operationalising a broader collaboration framework for FinTech use cases involving multiple jurisdictions,” Chief FinTech Officer of MAS Mohanty said.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is Singapore’s central bank and integrated financial regulator.

Welcoming the partnership with MAS, Chief Technology Officer of IFSCA Joshy, said: “This agreement is a watershed moment that ushers in a FinTech Bridge to serve as a launch pad for Indian FinTechs to Singapore and landing pad for Singapore FinTechs to India, leveraging the Regulatory Sandboxes. The possibility of global collaboration on suitable use cases through a Global Regulatory Sandbox is an exciting opportunity for the FinTech Ecosystem.”

The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) is a unified authority developing and regulating financial products, financial services and financial institutions in the International Financial Services Centres in India.

Housed in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) in Gandhinagar (Gujarat), GIFT-IFSC is the maiden International Financial Services Centre in India (IFSC).