As Singapore is set to be the world Smart Financial Center, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Difitek and several industry partners, are supporting the PolyFinTech 100 Application Programming Interfaces (API) Hackathon. MAS signed a memorandum of understanding with the five polytechnics of Singapore to nurture a pool of skilled young students for the Fintech industry and help new graduates to acquire and develop the new set of skills needed to access the emerging Fintech related job industry.

The market is changing and financial products and applications require a different set of skills, since legacy systems are being replaced with more open and flexible systems that interact through APIs, with the ultimate goal of benefitting the end consumers, as well as creating a flexible and agile ecosystem of innovators.

Armodio Luigi Corrado, Difitek's VP of Operations, at Polyfintech 100 in Singapore
Armodio Luigi Corrado, Difitek’s VP of Operations, at Polyfintech 100 API Hackathon in Singapore

Oracle, a key Difitek collaborator and one of the industrial partners alongside with MAS, have certainly taken into account those aspects and together with them we are contributing to create the needed balance among all the stakeholders in the industry. As a result, the PolyFinTech 100 API Hackathon has taken place in June and July 2018, hosted by the Ngee Ann Polytechnic. The participating teams came from the before mentioned polytechnic, as well as the Nanyang Polytechnic, the Republic Polytechnic, the Singapore Polytechnic and the Temasek Polytechnic, attracting over hundred participants.

The major tasks for the teams have been that of transforming ideas into proof-of-concept (POC) through the use of APIs that Difitek provides. The solutions included banking applications, social lending applications and peer to peer investment portfolio, as well as using functions to directly address some of the pain points in the industry (e.g. drastically reducing KYC checks length through the use of different APIs made available through the Difitek’s platform), the winners will stand to win cash prizes, potential internship opportunities with some of the partners, and the possibility to present their solutions at the Singapore FinTech Festival 2018 (Nov 12 to 16, 2018.)

Mr. Roy Teo - Executive Director at MAS speaking at Polyfintech 100
Mr. Roy Teo, Executive Director of MAS, presenting Singapore Fintech Ecosystem

The internet and the use of technology are undoubtedly changing the financial services industry and the way consumers get in touch with different applications. We are glad to be part of this change and fully support, through our technology and expertise, applications and ideas that could help spur newer and more sustainable financial models.