The Asian Institute of Digital Finance (AIDF) is a new initiative from three Singaporean authorities to speed up the development of digital financial services in Asia.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) will launch the research institute later this year to provide thought leadership and strengthen synergies between education, research and entrepreneurship in the thriving area of digital finance.
Hosted at NUS, AIDF will offer a master’s programme and award scholarships to outstanding students to pursue research at the doctoral level, as well as train post-doctoral fellows in digital finance and FinTech.
Moreover, AIDF will pursue foundational and inter-disciplinary research projects covering fundamental digital infrastructure, performance optimisation of business processes, and advanced application development research on cyber, fraud and anti-money laundering challenges.
Additionally, it will develop services within a range of key technologies such as digital assets and ledger technology, artificial intelligence and machine learning, digital finance platforms, green finance technology, and next-gen financial services on 5G networks.
The AIDF will also an incubator programme that will promote and support FinTech entrepreneurship.
“AIDF will be an important addition to Singapore’s rich and vibrant FinTech ecosystem,” said Ravi Menon, managing director at MAS. “Through applied research and active collaboration with industry, AIDF will help to build strong capabilities in digital finance and FinTech.
“Located in the heart of the fastest-growing digital finance market in the world, the Institute will facilitate the expansion of knowledge and skills among FinTech leaders in the region and support the digitalisation of economies in ASEAN and beyond.”
Professor Low Teck Seng, CEO of NRF, added, “AIDF will help build strong FinTech research capabilities in Singapore, and commercialise high-impact research ideas to deliver practical and innovative solutions for the market.
“It will leverage on NUS’ regional and global networks involving local and foreign universities and research institutes to generate and testbed FinTech solutions for the Asian markets. More importantly, AIDF will also groom next-generation FinTech leaders that will strengthen Singapore’s Smart Nation core.”
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