Leveraging change in financial services landscape for SMEs

THE inaugural Singapore FinTech Festival organised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in November last year was significant on multiple fronts, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) here would do well to take notice.

First, financial technology (fintech), along with innovation, is gaining momentum in Singapore as it is across the globe. In fact, the momentum is such that last year alone, more than US$20 billion was invested in fintech globally, according to research by consulting firm Deloitte, business school Insead and venture capitalist Life.Sreda.

Fintech is an umbrella term that covers companies that focus on a broad spectrum of new technologies such as blockchains and sandboxes, new forms of payments such as mobile and contactless, global and online commerce platforms, as well as social phenomena such as crowdsourcing and crowdfunding, all of which hold the allure of enhanced business security and productivity.