Monetary Authority of Singapore MD On Fostering Responsible AI Adoption

Monetary Authority of Singapore Managing Director Mr Chia Der Jiun opened Day Two of Singapore Fintech Festival 2025 with a speech that touched on the the idea of fostering AI adoption. He said, "We are seeing the momentum of AI adoption and experimentation build up across our financial sector. At a foundational level, FIs are using AI to empower and augment their workforce in general work processes – in information search, retrieval, summarisation, first draft generation, speech to text transcription and translation of multiple languages."

Chia said this in relevance to a number of AI co-pilots being piloted or deployed in a growing number of specialized functions, including software development, marketing, customer service, client advisory, analysis of financial markets, credit underwriting, and fraud detection.

There is also an emerging use of autonomous agents that are used to process credit applications from underwriting to approval, or to administer standard insurance claims end-to-end. On top of that, there are also projects underway to develop consumer agents capable of collecting information and executing transactions. Gan also stressed that these agentic autonomy must be accompanied by sufficient guardrails.

Advancing AI in Singapore's Financial Sector

Singapore is actively pursuing a four-pronged strategy to enhance the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in its financial sector, focusing on capability anchoring, collaborative development, governance, and workforce upskilling.

Separately, Chia said that over 30 financial institutions (FIs) have established AI competency centers in Singapore. These centers develop solutions for both the local market and the institutions' global operations, covering front, middle, and back-office functions. He is also encouraging more FIs to anchor their AI capabilities in Singapore.

Another new platform initiative, the BuildFin.ai, will help bring together technology providers and research institutes to collaborate with FIs on complex, shared industry problems. Chia said the goal is to create common resources and solutions that benefit the entire financial ecosystem.

One of the challenges that the partners have come together to solve is that existing Large Language Models (LLMs) struggle with Singlish (Singaporean English). To solve that, Gan said A*STAR and FIs will partner to develop a specific Voice-to-Text AI model for the financial industry. This model will accurately transcribe conversations in Singlish and a mix of common local languages and dialects, allowing institutions to better serve customers.

Gan also revealed a new platform, PathFin.ai for early adopters that helps FIs that are early in their AI adoption journey by providing shared resources. FIs and tech companies can then share successful use cases, creating a curated library of industry-validated solutions (e.g., AI for multi-currency cash management or end-to-end insurance claims). This initiative has grown rapidly, starting with 20 FIs and now involving over 100 participants, helping them reduce the time and effort needed to implement effective AI solutions.

Establishing Robust Governance and Safety

Following the introduction of the AI Risk Framework in early 2024, a set of draft Guidelines on AI Risk Management has been published for consultation, further detailing how to understand and manage key AI risks.

Gan expressed that these guidelines are principles-based (not prescriptive) and set flexible expectations for FIs to identify and control risks across the entire AI lifecycle, proportionate to the scale and risk of the AI application.

In parallel, the Project MindForge consortium is publishing an Executive Handbook detailing the key components of good AI risk management. This handbook provides practical examples and actionable insights, acting as a dynamic companion guide for FIs implementing the MAS Guidelines. Together, the Guidelines provide a flexible regulatory framework, while the Handbook provides evolving, industry-relevant guidance.

Upskilling the Financial Workforce

To close his speech, Gan stressed that success ultimately relies on people. The goal is to ensure finance professionals have the necessary skills to effectively use AI and manage its associated risks. To do so, MAS has published a Generative AI Jobs Transformation Map for the financial sector. This map identifies the impact of Gen AI on key job roles and outlines the necessary upskilling required as jobs are transformed and augmented by AI.

Guided by this map, MAS and the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) are partnering with FIs to equip their employees with the necessary AI literacy and skills.