Five-year plan prioritizes digitalising financial infrastructure to boost efficiency, inclusion, and new business models.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore's Financial Services Industry Transformation Map 2025 projects annual value-added growth of 4.0%–5.0% during 2021–2025 and net job creation of 3,000–4,000 positions per year, with digital infrastructure modernisation as the central lever for achieving these targets. The ITM 2025, launched as the successor to the 2017 Financial Services ITM, is structured around five pillars: digitalising financial infrastructure, enhancing asset class strengths, catalysing Asia's net-zero transition, shaping the future of financial networks, and fostering a skilled and adaptable workforce. Of these, the digital infrastructure strategy is positioned as the key enabler for technology-driven transformation across the entire sector.

Digitalising Financial Infrastructure: Strategy Overview

The digitalise financial infrastructure pillar aims to "harness technology to encourage the development of new business models, enhance operational efficiencies, and enable financial access and inclusion," according to MAS's official ITM 2025 documentation. The strategy reflects MAS's assessment that technology can unlock new economic value for both businesses and individuals, and that platform-based solutions are necessary to maintain Singapore's competitive position as a leading international financial centre in Asia.

The five-pillar framework is designed to be mutually reinforcing. While digital infrastructure provides the technological backbone, the enhance asset class strengths pillar deepens capabilities in areas where Singapore already plays a significant regional or global role. The net-zero transition pillar leverages the financial sector's ability to deploy capital for greener outcomes in Asia. The financial networks pillar seeks to build an innovative yet regulated digital asset ecosystem. The workforce pillar ensures that talent development keeps pace with technological change.

Key Initiatives Under Digital Infrastructure

MAS has outlined several specific digital platforms and infrastructure projects under the ITM 2025, each targeting a distinct segment of the financial ecosystem.

Bond market infrastructure improvements focus on enhancing end-to-end efficiency in primary bond issuances, listing, and settlement processes. The objective is to strengthen Singapore's proposition as a bond issuance and listing venue of choice, reducing friction that currently exists across the issuance lifecycle.

A funds settlement utility is being developed to centralise subscription, redemption, and record-keeping workflows for investment funds. By facilitating the reconciliation of fund data flows, the utility aims to reduce settlement time and improve operational efficiency across the asset management value chain.

The SME trade discovery platform (Business-sans-Borders) is a digital platform designed to connect small and medium-sized enterprises across growth regions. The platform facilitates trade discovery and enables easier access to trade financing for participating SMEs, addressing a persistent gap in cross-border trade finance for smaller firms.

Digital currency connectivity is being explored through Project Orchid, which aims to build the technology infrastructure and capabilities necessary to issue a digital Singapore dollar, should MAS decide to do so in the future.

Existing digital payment infrastructure already in place includes SGQR (a unified QR code standard), FAST (fast and secure transfers), and PayNow (peer-to-peer funds transfer). Singapore was also the world's first jurisdiction to use a national digital ID (MyInfo) combined with an online consent system for secure financial data sharing, providing a foundational layer for digital financial services.

To support experimentation, MAS maintains a regulatory sandbox that relaxes regulatory requirements to enable live experiments of innovation, allowing firms to test new products and services in a controlled environment.

Growth Targets and Workforce Development

MAS projects the financial sector to grow by an average 4.0%–5.0% per annum during 2021–2025 and to create 3,000–4,000 net jobs on average each year, according to the agency's official projections. These targets are intended to serve as benchmarks for the industry's performance under the ITM 2025 framework.

Value (Varies)Source: Orionmano Industries

To support workforce development, the Financial Sector Development Fund provides $400 million in grant funding for the Talent and Leaders in Finance programme over 2021–2025. This funding is intended to enable industry professionals to take up good jobs and advance in their careers, ensuring the workforce adapts alongside technological change.

Past Performance and Regulatory Foundations

The Financial Services ITM was first launched in 2017 with a strong focus on innovation and technology adoption, and developing a world-class workforce. The 2025 iteration builds directly on this foundation.

Singapore's existing digital payments infrastructure—including SGQR, FAST, and PayNow—provides a mature base upon which the new initiatives can be layered. The MyInfo national digital ID system, already deployed for secure financial data sharing, represents a regulatory and technological asset that few other jurisdictions can replicate.

The regulatory sandbox mechanism, which relaxes requirements to enable live experiments, has been a consistent feature of MAS's approach to fostering innovation, allowing the regulator to balance consumer protection with the need to test novel financial services.

As MAS advances these digital infrastructure initiatives alongside workforce development and green finance, Singapore is positioned to strengthen its role as a leading international financial centre in Asia. The ITM 2025 provides a structured framework for achieving that outcome, with measurable targets and concrete project milestones across multiple segments of the financial ecosystem.