
COVID-19 related initiatives
In April 2020, FSDF launched a S$125 million support package to sustain and strengthen capabilities in the financial services sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. The support package comprised new schemes to support digitalisation in smaller financial institutions and FinTech firms, as well as enhancements to existing training and talent development programmes. These initiatives supported financial institutions, FinTech firms and individuals within the financial services sector in navigating the economic downturn, to enable Singapore to emerge stronger as a global financial centre in Asia.
- Enhance Employability and Maximise Opportunities of Local Workforce
The S$125m support package allowed the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) to increase training subsidies, introduce a training allowance grant and provide training support to FinTech firms. With these enhancements, training participation has increased by at least 60% on a year-on-year basis. This represents an increase from about 75,000 courses taken up in 2019 to about 120,000 in 2020.
The Finance Associate Management Scheme (FAMS) was also enhanced. FAMS aims to train Singaporeans for future specialist and management roles in the financial sector through structured programmes offered by FIs. With changes to the assessment criteria to facilitate participation by smaller firms, and increased monthly salary funding, close to 400 Singaporeans benefitted from FAMS in 2020.
- Strengthening Digitalisation and Operational Resilience
The support package also included a new Digital Acceleration Grant (DAG) scheme to help smaller financial and fintech firms adopt and collaborate on digital solutions, in order to strengthen the firms’ operational resilience amid the pandemic as well as enhance their process efficiency, risk management and customer service. More than 500 DAG projects were supported during the year.