MAS Issues "Regulatory Sandbox" Guidelines for FinTech Experiments
MAS Issues Regulatory Sandbox Guidelines For Fintech Experiments
16 Nov 2016
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today published its “regulatory sandbox” guidelines to encourage and enable experimentation of solutions that utilise technology innovatively to deliver financial products or services. The guidelines incorporate feedback from the public consultation as well as learning points from actual sandbox applications.
The guidelines will improve the clarity, flexibility and transparency of the regulatory sandbox in the following ways:
a) Improved clarity
The guidelines includes examples and elaborations to illustrate MAS’ expectations on the sandbox such as the evaluation criteria for entry into the sandbox;
b) Greater flexibility
The guidelines have been refined to allow greater flexibility, including through relaxation of a number of evaluation criteria for firms looking to enter a sandbox, and allowing room for adjustments during experimentation as firms learn from market responses;
c) Increased transparency
MAS will work closely with sandbox applicants in the evaluation and experimentation process. Relevant information of approved sandbox applications will also be published on the MAS website.
Ms Jacqueline Loh, Deputy Managing Director of MAS, said, “Emerging financial products or services that utilise FinTech are becoming more sophisticated. The guidelines reflect MAS’ commitment to building a smart financial centre where innovation is pervasive and technology is used widely. The regulatory sandbox provides a conducive environment where regulatory requirements will be relaxed to enable firms to experiment with promising innovations within boundaries.”