SINGAPORE, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's financial sector is doing exceedingly well and prospects remain bright for the years ahead, said Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), at Singapore Financial Forum 2022 on Thursday.
The Singapore economy remains on track to grow by 3 percent to 5 percent in 2022 barring a further worsening in the external environment, but the ongoing recovery of the global economy from the COVID-19 epidemic and associated restrictions will provide support to economic activity, he said, adding that the financial sector should grow at least as fast as the overall economy.
Singapore's financial sector performed strongly throughout the COVID-19 epidemic, registering an annual average growth of 7.2 percent during 2020-2021 period, four times faster than the overall economy, he said. The last two years also saw 5,800 net jobs created in financial services, he noted.
The Asian growth story remains intact, and Singapore's financial sector is well positioned to support and grow with Asia, said Menon.
Other engines to trigger the development of the financial sector include the development of new capabilities in private markets, wealth management and insurance, and the increasingly pervasive use of technology in the financial sector, he said.
Financial institutions in Singapore are making significant investments in technology, said Menon. Major banks and insurers are accelerating their digital transformation and ramping up hiring in application development, data science and artificial intelligence, he added.
Singapore is also one of the world's most conducive environments for financial innovation, with the FinTech investment hitting a record high of 3.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, up from 2.5 billion dollars in 2020, said Menon.
To continue growing as a leading international financial center in Asia, Singapore needs a future-ready workforce, said Menon. The strategy to lure such workforce includes growing a strong local talent pool while attracting high quality global talent, he said. ■
