Imagine a world where financial services are built around us, insurance is intuitive - MD of Monetary Authority of Singapore

| 13 Nov 2018

"When we began our FinTech journey in 2015, we imagined a Smart Financial Centre where innovation and technology are pervasive," said Ravi Menon, Managing Director, Monetary Authority of Singapore, as he welcomed participants to the third edition of the Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF).

He added, “We said we want to increase efficiency, manage risks better, create new opportunities, and improve people’s lives. We didn’t know – we still don’t know – how the future will look like… but we imagined what we want it to look like, and set about trying to create it.”

In his presentation, he shared:

Imagine a world where financial services are built around us – around our life and our needs.


Imagine a world where identity is human.

Imagine a world with no identity cards, no passwords, no mothers’ maiden name. We are who we are, not just what we have or what we remember.

This is how we have always identified one another throughout history – by recognition, more human, more natural. But when we have large numbers of people and we don’t know one another, we had to resort to artificial means.

But advances in biometrics are now making identity human again. Many banks are already letting us use our face as our new banking password. Here in Singapore, OCBC Bank is already doing this.


Imagine a world where payments are invisible.

Our shopping experience will be transformed. Cameras and sensors identify us and the items that we place in and out of our shopping bag. And when we are done, we just walk out of the store!

No more checkouts, no more lines, no more fussing with cash and credit cards. Fantasy? Just visit Amazon Go – it is already happening.


Imagine a world where insurance is intuitive.

How many of us truly understand our insurance policies or are fully confident they will pay out when we need them?

Imagine a world where the payout is automatically triggered by events and is instantaneous. No more lengthy claims forms, no more waiting time, no more opaque processes.

Science fiction? Not quite. MetLife’s Lumenlab here in Singapore is already making this a reality for gestational diabetes insurance. They are testing this out in MAS’ regulatory sandbox.


Imagine a world where financial advice is integrated.

Imagine our own personal financial dashboard on our mobile devices, giving us a complete view of our finances - pulling in data from banks we have deposits with, insurance companies we have policies with, and broker-dealers we have investments with. Not to mention, our pension or social security funds, tax liabilities, and mortgages all in one place: a personal balance sheet – in real-time!

And where financial advice is customised for us, based on an integrated view of our unique situations, at important milestones in our life buying our first home, planning our children’s education, looking for investment opportunity to grow our retirement nest. Many FinTech firms are already developing apps and solutions to do this.

This is the financial sector we want to create – customised for our needs, invisible to our eyes, and an absolute delight.


SFF has become the biggest annual gathering of the global FinTech community. This year, it has attracted close to 40,000 participants from more than 100 countries.

READ: 
Singapore FinTech Festival:AIA to showcase its industry-leading digital services innovation

Singapore FinTech Festival kicks off today with 40,000 participants expected

(Main picture credit: Singapore FinTech Festival)
 

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