MAS Announces Extra Funding for Quantum and AI Development in Finance
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The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has announced it will invest an extra SGD 100 million (about $74 million) through the Innovation Grant Scheme (FSTI 3.0) and Financial Sector Technology. This funding will help banks and financial institutions develop their skills in quantum and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and support the progress and use of these technologies in the financial sector.
MAS Says The Quantum Technology Is Growing Rapidly
MAS said quantum technology is growing quickly and could greatly change the financial world and the whole economy. The entity has been working with the National Quantum Office since May 2024, when Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat shared the National Quantum Strategy.
MAS will start a Quantum section under FSTI 3.0 to help financial institutions in Singapore develop quantum technology. This Quantum section will include three types of grants: Technology Innovation, Technology Centers, and Security.
The Technology Centers grant helps set up quantum computing and security research in Singapore. It allows tech companies and banks to discover and take advantage of new opportunities created by quantum technologies.
This grant will cover up to 50 percent of costs for staff and other eligible expenses, like hardware, licenses, subscriptions, and software, for 24 months. The Technology Innovation grant has two parts to help financial institutions start using quantum technology solutions.
The first part aims to spark important uses of quantum technology that will greatly affect businesses. The second part will help with key efforts to solve big problems across the industry.
Up to 50 percent of the costs will be covered to help explore and use these quantum solutions. At the same time, the security grant is meant to improve cyber security and prepare financial systems for the quantum era.
MAS Wants To Partner With Top Institutions To Develop Talents
Up to 30 percent of the costs will be covered to help test and develop projects using quantum technology. This includes exploring Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and Post-quantum Cryptography (PQC) to protect important data for companies.
MAS said it will also partner with the Institute of Banking and Finance and Institutes of Higher Learning to develop talent for quantum technology in the financial sector. While financial institutions have been gradually adopting AI, MAS revealed that recent tech advancements have made these tools more accessible, speeding up their adoption.
With the rise of generative AI, MAS noted that financial institutions have started projects to explore its risks and opportunities. The entity has also begun testing it in various use cases.
