In its latest innovation push, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will invest S$220 million over the next three years in the fourth edition of its Financial Sector Technology and Innovation Scheme, FSTI 4.0, a programme aimed at broadening the country's FinTech base and accelerating technology adoption across the financial sector. MAS set out the commitment in a media release published on 31 August 2026.
The backdrop is a fast-growing local sector that has swelled to more than 1,800 FinTech firms employing close to 10,000 people across technical and commercial roles, and drew S$2.9 billion of investment during 2025. FSTI 4.0 is the latest iteration of a grant scheme MAS has used for years to co-fund technology projects and build market infrastructure.
The four goals behind the scheme
MAS says FSTI 4.0 is organised around four objectives: expanding and anchoring local innovation activity; speeding the development and adoption of frontier financial technologies; building the technology infrastructure the sector needs; and cultivating and attracting talent. MAS frames the four, collectively, as a single ambition: a financial centre that keeps innovating and stays competitive against rival hubs.
Six delivery tracks
The money will be disbursed through six funding tracks, ranging from institution-led projects and AI take-up to shared market infrastructure and workforce development:
- Manpower track: internship stipends for early-career talent, plus a new SFA-run portal (fintechinternships.sg) matching students to hiring firms; MAS is aiming for at least 1,000 placements over three years.
- Institution Project track: co-funds local financial institutions and FinTechs building tools on frontier tech such as AI, distributed ledger and quantum.
- AI Pathfinder track: scales commercially-ready AI tools through MAS’s PathFin.ai matchmaking platform, with an emphasis on responsible deployment.
- Infrastructure & Platform track: funds shared-sector infrastructure and standards work to improve efficiency and cross-border interoperability.
- Centre of Excellence track: draws global institutions and FinTechs to base innovation and R&D teams in Singapore, spanning AI, quantum and digital assets.
- MAS FinTech Awards track: sustains the FinTech Excellence Awards and Global FinTech Hackcelerator, adding a Scale-up Grant for finalists.
Why it matters for compliance and technology teams
For RegTech and compliance functions, the notable feature of FSTI 4.0 is how squarely it points public co-funding at frontier technology and its governance. By naming AI, distributed ledger, and quantum technology as focus areas, and building the AI Pathfinder track around responsible adoption through PathFin.ai, MAS signals that innovation and control should advance together rather than treating oversight as an afterthought. Firms weighing AI-driven compliance, monitoring or client-facing tools now have a clearer route to state co-funding, but also a clearer expectation that adoption is disciplined.
The scheme's reach across every stage of growth, from early solution development to regional and global scaling, also matters for smaller vendors that supply the compliance stack. The Manpower track and the internship portal address a persistent constraint in the sector, the supply of specialised technology, data and compliance talent, while the Centre of Excellence and Infrastructure tracks lean toward the shared platforms and standards work that RegTech tools depend on. Read alongside MAS's other recent moves on information-sharing and AI safeguards, FSTI 4.0 reads less as a one-off grant and more as continued investment in the plumbing of a compliance-heavy financial centre. Further detail on the scheme is published on the MAS FSTI scheme page.
