Singapore, 8 November 2021 – The National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Programme in Finance  was launched today at the Singapore FinTech Festival x Singapore Week of Innovation and  TeChnology (SFF x SWITCH) 2021 by Mr Heng Swee Keat, Deputy Prime Minister. The  Programme is a joint initiative by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the National  AI Office (NAIO) at the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO). It aims to build  deep AI capabilities within Singapore’s financial sector to strengthen customer service, risk  management, and business competitiveness.

2 The Programme is part of Singapore’s broader National AI Strategy1 and seeks to enhance the ability of financial institutions (FIs) to research, develop and deploy AI solutions.  Its objectives are to:

• increase productivity through the adoption of AI;
• create new jobs through increased AI innovation activities and upskilling in AI related competencies; and
• improve societal acceptance of AI through sound AI governance

3 Under this Programme, MAS and SNDGO will provide funding, contribute government  data, and convene the necessary expert stakeholders to drive AI adoption in the financial  sector. The Programme currently comprises various initiatives:

Initiative	Description
NovA!	An AI technical platform to generate insights on financial risk. In  the initial phase, NovA! will help FIs harness AI to assess  companies’ environmental impact and identify emerging  environmental risks. NovA! will be developed by Aicadium, a  Temasek portfolio company, other local FinTech firms and  Singapore-based banks, and will include additional use cases in  subsequent phases.

1Launched in 2019, the National AI Strategy aims to establish Singapore as a leader in developing and  deploying scalable, impactful AI solutions, in key sectors of high value and relevance to our citizens and  businesses by 2030. National AI Projects were renamed National AI Programmes to better reflect the scope of  work under the initiative.

Veritas	An AI governance initiative to help FIs utilise AI and Data Analytics  (AIDA) responsibly based on MAS’ fairness, ethics, accountability,  and transparency (FEAT) principles. The initiative includes  developing the Veritas Assessment Methodology and Veritas  Toolkits, and the Veritas Ecosystem.
Anti-Money Laundering /  Countering Financing  of Terrorism  (AML/CFT) Surveillance and  Analytics Programme  (ASAP)	A programme which focuses on enhancing analytics for AML/CFT surveillance. One key initiative is COSMIC (Collaborative Sharing  of Money Laundering/Terrorism Financing Information and  Cases) to be rolled out in 2023. The secure data sharing platform  enables FIs to share and analyse information on customers or  transactions that cross material risk thresholds. Such information  will help FIs identify and disrupt illicit networks, and safeguard  Singapore as a financial centre
AIDA Grant	A grant support scheme that provides funding support of up to  S$1.5 million to help FIs adopt AIDA techniques for insights  generation, decision making or strategy formulation
Finance, AI and  Marketplace (FINAiM)	This comprises industry events and panel discussions to promote  knowledge sharing in AI adoption among researchers, solution  providers and FIs.

4 Mr Ravi Menon, Managing Director, MAS, said, “The National AI Programme in  Finance will help enhance our financial sector’s AI capabilities. Key to this Programme is  active collaboration – across financial institutions and relevant government agencies – to  build platforms, solutions, and capabilities that serve the financial sector as a whole.”

5 Mr Ng Chee Khern, Permanent Secretary (Smart Nation and Digital Government), said, “One of the aims of our National AI Strategy is to increase our productivity and create good  jobs. The National AI Programme in Finance will create good jobs for citizens and commercial  opportunities for businesses.”