Singapore leads APAC in open banking

Its robust fintech ecosystem and API adoption propels its leading position.

Singapore will continue to lead its Asia-Pacific peers as the pacesetter of open banking implementation in region, according to a survey report released by Emerging Payments Association Asia (EPAA).

This is backed by its vibrant fintech-API ecosystem as well as its proactive initiatives to push open banking.

The country ranked #1 in Finastra’s open banking readiness index in 2018, with the high adoption of APIs sighted as a reason for its rank. In the same year Singapore ranked third in EY’s open banking opportunity index.

From the beginning, Singapore has been the leader of open banking and APIs in the region, with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) being the first to provide guidelines and a framework for open banking, noted EPAA.

On 2018, MAS launched APIs dealing with data regulations and operates a Financial Industry API Register, which tracks APIs by functional category.

Further, many banks such as the big three--DBS, OCBC, and UOB--have partnered with fintechs to launch applications that use their APIs.

Several improvements in its open banking journey could still be improved, however. Chief amongst this is the adoption of a set legislative framework, according to EPAA.

“A legislative framework that lays out a common liability and complaints framework would be an important step in enabling adoption. Other measures include continuing to provide avenues for standardisation of APIs and enabling the evolution of common infrastructure and processes,” the report noted.

EPAA added that a non-standardized API ecosystem may give rise to aggregators, a new type of technical service provider which have emerged to meet the same need in markets such as the US and the UK.