Bank of China launches first global fintech innovation lab in Singapore

BANK of China (BOC) has launched on Nov 14 its first global fintech innovation lab in Singapore to spearhead its worldwide research and development  (R&D) activities as well showcase its latest technologies.

The BOC Innovation Lab (Singapore) will also showcase artificial intelligence, blockchain, big data and cloud technologies. The facility housed in BOC Building in Battery Road is staffed by a robotic customer service officer, which can quickly identify individual clients and recall their preferences with its facial recognition capabilities. 

Also, customers visiting the lab can experience viewing a car or an apartment via virtual reality(VR). BOC is offering its customers in China such VR service, which enables them to buy the car or apartment that they have viewed in the comfort of their own home or wherever they are. However, this offering is not yet available to customers in Singapore.

BOC Innovation Lab (Singapore) will also establish a training structure to build a pipeline of talents and foster financial innovation and research collaborations with partners such as fintech firms, institutes of higher learning and the government. The R&D and collaboration space is located at BOC Plaza in Middle Road.

Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information and Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, Sim Ann said at the launch: "I understand that the BOC innovation lab will focus on artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain and cloud technology. These are exciting projects that have the potential to transform the way BOC delivers financial services and interacts with its clients, and the types of products and services BOC offers to its clients ... The opening of the BOC innovation lab in Singapore today also marks an important milestone in Singapore's financial cooperation with China."

BOC president Liu Liange said: "The Bank of China Innovation Lab (Singapore) marks a new milestone in our journey in South-east Asia as we lead the future with technology from Asia's fintech hub, Singapore. We will combine our banking expertise with the culture of innovation that permeates our bank and adroitly apply fintech to deliver relevant financial services in an ever-changing and volatile world. With Bank of China Innovation Labs around the world, we will enable accelerated innovation of financial products and technologies, and respond faster to market trends."