国际英语新闻:Industrial leaders discuss strategies to grow Singapore's financial sector

SINGAPORE, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) Financial Center Advisory Panel (FCAP) discussed strategies to grow Singapore's financial sector, promote innovation and the use of technology, and build deep skills and capabilities, said MAS in a statement on Thursday.

The meeting was held on Tuesday, chairing by Ravi Menon, Managing Director of MAS, which was attended by 24 FCAP members from across Singapore's banking, insurance, and asset management industries, said MAS.

FCAP members had noted that Singapore's financial sector has made strong gains in asset and wealth management, reinsurance and specialty insurance, and foreign exchange (FX) and derivatives. And they hoped to see more institutional investors' participation in the capital market and greater innovation to drive growth in the insurance industry.

The panel suggested providing more seamless capital-raising across the spectrum from start-ups to global companies, and building up the FX electronic trading capabilities and enhancing liquidity in Asian bond markets.

On developing Singapore to be a smart financial center, the FCAP explored several areas in innovation and technology. Its suggestions included developing an open banking platform via application programming interfaces (APIs) to unlock faster innovation in financial services.

FCAP also suggested creating safe spaces to experiment and rolling out innovative products and solutions within controlled boundaries; applying blockchain technology and distributing databases to facilitate price discovery and smart contracts; as well as enhancing more timely and proactive sharing of cyber intelligence among financial institutions to strengthen situation awareness and build cyber resilience.

The FCAP plans to meet biannually and the next meeting will be held in January 2016.