The Singaporean and Swiss financial regulators have recently been busy cooperating on punishing miscreants. Now the two have agreed to expand their cooperation – on a more positive topic.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma) have signed a cooperation agreement to foster greater cooperation on fintech.

The agreement will help to create opportunities for fintech businesses from Singapore and Switzerland to expand into each other’s markets.

Finma and MAS have also committed to share information about emerging fintech trends and regulatory issues pertaining to innovation.

High-Level Dialogue

This initiative was launched at the second Financial Dialogue between the MAS and the State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF). The annual Dialogue aims to deepen bilateral cooperation and exchange views on domestic and international financial market developments and policies.

The Dialogue was led by Ambassador Rene Weber, Head of the Markets Division in SIF, with representatives from Finma and the Swiss National Bank, and Jacqueline Loh, Deputy Managing Director of MAS, heading the Singapore delegation.

Framework For Innovative Fintech Companies

Talks centered on current trends in the global economic and financial markets, international financial regulatory reforms, and financial industry developments.

The cooperation agreement between MAS and Finma provides a framework for innovative fintech companies in Singapore and Switzerland to expedite initial discussions on introducing new solutions in each other’s market and understand regulatory requirements.

The aim is reduce regulatory uncertainty and time-to-market for new fintech solutions.