Singapore reinvents itself as Asia's fintech hub

REMITTANCES to developing nations by migrants working abroad have long been an important lifeline for these countries. In Asean, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, remittances have contributed to the ongoing economic development and alleviation of poverty in the regional group. With four out of 10 Asean members in the World Bank's top 30 remittance-receiving countries, the importance of this cross-border flow of money within South-east Asia cannot be understated.

While the global remittance market has been traditionally dominated by banks and money transfer operators, the financial technology revolution is now creating newer, more convenient and economical methods of cross-border money transfers. According to the Medici Report, Moving With the Money, by Let's Talk Payments, fintech companies such as InstaReM are disrupting the traditional cross-border money transfer market by exploiting new technologies and processes. This results in time and monetary savings for the businesses and private individuals that use them, by providing fund transfers at costs that are well below traditional remittance rates. These lowered remittance costs are in line with the United Nation's sustainable development target, which seeks to reduce inequality between and among countries.

Singapore, in particular, is on its way to reinvent itself as Asia's fintech hub. Backed by solid government support, better-quality private funding and forward-thinking regulatory bodies that promote innovation and sandboxing, the country has leveraged its well-developed infrastructure to create a controlled, yet thriving, fintech ecosystem. This strong fintech ecosystem, coupled with Singapore's huge Asean migrant population, is transforming the country into a regional remittance hub, and has put the nation in a unique position to propel and facilitate the intra-bloc redistribution of wealth, and contribute to the economic development of its regional neighbours.