Singapore’s central bank and regulator is getting serious about AI and quantum computing — and it is putting money where its mouth is. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) says it will provide an additional $100 million in funding support to help financial institutions (FIs) in their pursuit of artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum projects and capabilities.
Leong Sing Chiong, deputy managing director of the markets and development group at MAS, says this sum will come from MAS’s Financial Sector Development Fund. “We are earmarking additional funds to support both quantum and AI initiatives,” says Leong at a July 18 media biefing.
The $100 million falls under MAS’s Financial Sector Technology and Innovation Grant Scheme (FTSI 3.0), launched in 2023, which had an initial commitment sum of $150 million. FTSI 3.0 aims to fund FIs and their projects in the space of AI, regulatory tech and environmental, social and governance fintech.
FIs can now receive financial support for quantum technology under FSTI 3.0. MAS will co-fund quantum projects in three areas: technology centre grants, technology innovation grants and security grants.
Firstly, under the technology centre grant, MAS will co-fund up to 50% of manpower and other qualifying expenses, such as hardware and software infrastructure, subscriptions and licences for 24 months.
Secondly, on technological innovations, MAS will similarly fund up to 50% of institutional use cases and support strategic endeavours to solve industry-wide problem statements.
Finally, on security, MAS will fund up to 30% of expenses for security experiments and the development of quantum-related pilots to enhance cyber security readiness and to safeguard firms’ critical data.
MAS’s investment into quantum technology follows Singapore’s ambitions in the field. At the ATxSummit on May 30, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat announced $300 million in investments under the National Quantum Strategy.
MAS will also invest in developing talent by working with institutions of higher learning and institute of banking and finance on talent development initiatives.
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MAS is also further enhancing the existing AI and data grant scheme under the FSTI 3.0, in which it will support FIs in AI model-building and training, deploying AI models for high-impact use cases, governance and risk management, and testing and monitoring.
It will also support projects that accelerate the development of industry-wide AI solutions, and high-impact use cases. Scam and fraud detection have been identified as a use case for the first pilot project, and MAS says it will work with banks, technology solution providers and public agencies on this.
MAS says more details on the enhanced support for AI will be announced in the coming months.
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