Digital era will force Singapore banks to be more transparent with customers

IF THE Singapore banks had missed the memo before, they will have no excuse now. Recent regulatory nudges have reiterated the message in plainer terms: the regulators want them to shape up on promoting financial literacy and planning here.

The latest signal comes as Singapore banks have been discussing among themselves ways to make it easier for consumers to have a full, aggregated view of their finances and enable consumers to switch easily between competing offers, be they in deposits, loans or investments.

The move comes as the Personal Data Protection Commission of Singapore and the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore set out a fresh discussion paper last week on data portability, putting on record that Singapore is studying the introduction of a data portability requirement.