Last week, Downing Street saw the launch of a FinTech bridge between the UK and Singapore to assist the flow of operations between financial technology firms in each of the countries.

Dubbed as the first of its kind, and a major milestone for both countries, the bridge is the result of a signed regulatory cooperation agreement between the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The agreement outlines plans for the future sharing and usage of financial services innovation data in each respective market.

It is hoped that the bridge will attract Singaporean FinTech companies and investors into the UK market, as well as working to help UK FinTech firms and investors expand their reach into Singaporean, and the wider Asian markets.

Harriett Baldwin, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said:

“I am delighted to announce that we are launching the first “FinTech Bridge” with Singapore today. This is a great opportunity for the FinTech industry in both the UK and Singapore – and builds upon the deepened financial and economic cooperation between the two countries. Forging this bridge with Singapore is the next step on our journey to ensure that the UK and Singapore both remain outstanding FinTech centres.”

With a 60,000 strong workforce and significant government backing, the UK enjoys pushing for its status as the FinTech capital of the world. Last year, the sector generated more than £6.6 billion in revenues, and shows no signs of slowing. In fact, the bridge only signifies further that the sector is going from strength to strength.

Following suit, Singapore is working hard to overtake Hong Kong in promoting itself as the Asia’s new FinTech hub. Last month, dedicated office space to help startups get off of the ground, was announced as part of a S$225 million, five year commitment to build a dynamic ecosystem for innovation.

The FinTech bridge has been described by the UK government as a reflection of a shared view that there is opportunity to scale the use of technology for improving financial services between two major global hubs.

Christopher Woolard, Director of Strategy and Competition at the FCA, said:

“We are delighted to sign this co-operation agreement with the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Financial Technology and Innovation Group. This will help innovative firms from Singapore that want to bring new ideas to the UK, helping the FCA fulfil our objective of promoting competition in the interests of consumers. At the same time, this agreement will give those British firms with new ideas who want to expand into Singapore support, making them potentially more sustainable challengers in the UK”.