MAS Enhances Financial Cooperation with Various Authorities
MAS is working on enhancing financial cooperation with China, Ghana, and Hungary. MAS also announced partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to provide small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) with innovative financial and digital tools to help them better leverage data and more effectively access financing solutions. It will also create new opportunities for SMEs, including fintech firms, to expand to developing countries within the UNDP’s global network of 170 offices. UNDP and MAS will explore country-specific use cases in Africa to accelerate the adoption of digital finance by SMEs. "We are thrilled to partner with MAS to help prototype and scale innovative financial solutions across the developing world,” said Bradley Busetto, Director of the UNDP Global Center Singapore.
The following are the key highlights of developments in this area:
- MAS will work with Chinese central and provincial counterparts to broaden cooperation in green finance. In addition, MAS announced the award of a qualifying full bank license to China Construction Bank, under the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement Upgrade Protocol.
- MAS and BOG, the central bank of Ghana, commenced discussions to adopt the Business sans Borders (BSB) open hub of platforms between Singapore and Ghana. These discussions on close cooperation will benefit the small and SMEs and micro-SMEs (MSMEs) in both countries by expanding their connectivity with their counterpart economy, while introducing innovative fintech and digital tools for SMEs. The SME Financial Trust Corridor (FTC), to be led by MAS and BOG, comprises a governance framework and a digital infrastructure, which banks and fintech companies in both countries could refer to and utilize when sharing key information relevant for credit assessment, while abiding by domestic and international regulations, such as data protection and anti-money laundering requirements.
- The cooperation agreement with Hungary sets out a framework for fintech collaboration between both countries. It will put in place a referral mechanism to help fintech firms access each other’s markets. MAS and MNB have also committed to exchange views on emerging market trends and developments in FinTech, as well as regulatory issues on financial services innovation.
Keywords: Europe, Asia Pacific, Hungary, Singapore, China, Ghana, Banking, SME, UNDP, Fintech, API Exchange, COVID-19, MNB, MAS
Featured Experts

Victor Calanog, Ph.D.
Leading economist; commercial real estate; performance forecasting, econometric infrastructure; data modeling; credit risk modeling; portfolio assessment; custom commercial real estate analysis; thought leader.
Previous Article
BDE Updates Reporting Instructions for Banks in November 2020Related Articles
BOE Sets Out Its Thinking on Regulatory Capital and Climate Risks
The Bank of England (BOE) published a working paper that aims to understand the climate-related disclosures of UK financial institutions.
OSFI Finalizes on Climate Risk Guideline, Issues Other Updates
The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) is seeking comments, until May 31, 2023, on the draft guideline on culture and behavior risk, with final guideline expected by the end of 2023.
BIS Paper Examines Impact of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on Lending
BIS issued a paper that investigates the effect of the greenhouse gas, or GHG, emissions of firms on bank loans using bank–firm matched data of Japanese listed firms from 2006 to 2018.
HMT Mulls Alignment of Ring-Fencing and Resolution Regimes for Banks
The HM Treasury (HMT) is seeking evidence, until May 07, 2023, on practicalities of aligning the ring-fencing and the banking resolution regimes for banks.
BCBS Report Examines Impact of Basel III Framework for Banks
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) published results of the Basel III monitoring exercise based on the June 30, 2022 data.
PRA Consults on Prudential Rules for "Simpler-Regime" Firms
Among the recent regulatory updates from UK authorities, a key development is the first-phase consultation, from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), on simplifications to the prudential framework that would apply to the simpler-regime firms.
DNB Publishes Multiple Reporting Updates for Banks
DNB, the central bank of Netherlands, updated the list of additional reporting requests and published additional data quality checks and XBRL-Formula linkbase documents for the first quarter of 2023.
NBB Sets Out Climate Risk Expectations, Issues Reporting Updates
The National Bank of Belgium (NBB) published a communication on climate-related and environmental risks, issued an update on XBRL reporting
EBA Updates Address Securitization Standards and DGS Guidelines
The European Banking Authority (EBA) published the final draft of the regulatory technical standards that set out conditions for assessment of homogeneity of the underlying exposures in simple, transparent, and standardized (STS) securitizations.
FSB Publishes Letter to G20, Sets Out Work Priorities for 2023
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a letter intended for the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, highlighting the work that FSB will take forward under the Indian G20 Presidency in 2023