The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) yesterday awarded 10 fintech companies a total of S$1.15 million at the FinTech Awards. Organised as part of the Singapore FinTech Festival, the FinTech Awards recognise innovative fintech solutions that have been implemented by fintech startups, financial institutions and technology companies. The FinTech Awards comprise the MAS FinTech Awards and ABS Global FinTech Award.
This year’s winning solutions reflect the growth of fintech in Singapore. They span multiple business areas, such as digital advisory, investment analytics, Blockchain-based biometrics, and e-payments. Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman, MAS, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and ABS Vice-Chairman, Samuel Tsien, Group CEO, OCBC Bank, presented the following awards:
ABS Global FinTech Award* - Blocko, S$150,000
Blocko won for its Lotte Card Blockchain-based authentication. Blocko set up a Blockchain-based biometric login and payment authorisation system for Lotte Card, which is one of the largest credit card companies in Korea. Through the system users were able to use their fingerprints as authentication in logging in and conducting transactions through the Lotte nationwide mobile app.
"Blockchain technology is not just a hype or technical buzzword, and we’ve successfully proven its utility in the local market as the front runner in enterprise Blockchain solutions. We are now planning on actively engaging with the global community to guide enterprises through a practical adoption of effective Blockchain solutions," said Won-Beom Kim, CEO, Blocko.
MAS FinTech Awards (Singapore Open)** -
1st place – FlyWire, S$250,000
2nd place – Silent Eight, S$100,000
3rd place – Instarem, S$50,000
Flywire is a provider of international payment solutions, connecting businesses and institutions with their customers around the world. Introduced six years ago as a way for international students to pay their tuition for studies abroad, Flywire is now used by over 1,400 organisations across 20 countries.
"We hope this will connect us to more Singaporean businesses, educational institution and healthcare providers to help support their growth. We also hope to build more awareness to attract local talent to help us grow the Flywire business here in Singapore and throughout the Asia Pacific (APAC) region," said Andrew Ong, MD, APAC, Flywire.
MAS FinTech Awards (Singapore SME)***
1st place – AGDELTA, S$150,000
2nd place – Fomopay, S$100,000
3rd place – HedgeSPA, S$50,000
AGDELTA’s digital wealth platform covers execution, compliance, and digital advisory. "AGDelta's journey in breaking new barriers in the digital wealth space since the financial crisis has been nothing short of phenomenal. We have crossed US$1.5 trillion in transactional turnover in our investments platform in over 15 countries, formed the largest regional B2B industry investments platform with leading global banks, resolved complex regulatory compliance challenges and used artificial intelligence/machine learning technologies to fuel our new digital advisory solutions for banks, licensed wealth advisors, and their clients," said AGDELTA's Andrew Au, CEO.
MAS FinTech Awards (Singapore Founder)****
1st place – Spark Systems, S$150,000
2nd place – Singx, S$100,000
3rd place – Aida Technologies, S$50,000
Joo Seng Wong, Founder and CEO, Spark Systems, acknowledged the Singapore ecosystem in contributing to the win for its Spark FX foreign exchange product. "The regulator MAS, the venture capitalists (VCs), the willingness of investors to back projects and the many mentors who freely share their invaluable experience and insights. Our win here will importantly open doors and bring new and exciting opportunities to our door step," he said.
This year, the FinTech Awards received over 300 global submissions, with the bulk coming from the Asia Pacific. Thirty finalists were shortlisted from these submissions. The winners were selected by a panel of 11 judges, representing a cross-section of international and local experts from the private and public sector. The entries were evaluated based on criteria such as impact, practicality, interoperability, and uniqueness and creativity.
Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer of MAS, said, “This year’s FinTech Awards shows how quickly the fintech industry has developed and evolved in the last year. The winners managed to apply fintech solutions to a wide range of sectors. We are excited to see more submissions coming from the Asia Pacific. It is an opportunity for Singapore to leverage and nurture a more vibrant fintech ecosystem.”
Mrs Ong-Ang Ai Boon, ABS Director, added, “We are glad to recognise the efforts of innovators who got out of the comfort zone, applied new ideas and created more effective and efficient solutions. The generation and incubation of new ideas and solutions for the financial industry play important roles in strengthening strategic competitiveness in this digital age. ABS hopes for such continual efforts, as Singapore strives towards innovation and excellence as an international financial hub.”
Hashtags: #SFF2017, #SGFintechFest
*Award eligibility: Fintech project implemented in any part of the world by any company.
** Award eligibility: Singapore-based companies of any size. The company must have a physical office registered in Singapore, and the solution must have been implemented in Singapore.
***Award eligibility: Singapore-based small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs, as defined by SPRING, are enterprises with an annual sales turnover of not more than S$100 million or an employment size of not more than 200 workers. Enterprises qualify as SMEs as long as they satisfy at least one of the two parameters.
****Singapore-based SMEs with at least one Singaporean founder are eligible for this award. The term ‘founder’ is defined as an individual who was instrumental in setting up the SME. There is no need for majority share-ownership. The SME must have a physical office registered in Singapore, and the solution must have been implemented in Singapore.
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