With the popularity of embedded finance running deep in Singapore, KPMG has confirmed this week that it is to launch the island country’s first Embedded Finance Hub.
The professional services firm’s newly-announced hub will match enterprises and financial institutions from across the industry in a promotional effort to guide and provide knowledge in the required specific areas of embedded finance.
Set to run for at least two years, the initiative is expected to provide incubation support to over 120 non-financial enterprises and financial institutions looking to make inroads into financial areas such as payments, blockchain, lending, insurance and wealth.
Financial services experts from KPMG will provide participating companies with best practices and venture acceleration support, which could involve working to co-create digital assets to drive developments for payments, gamification of finance, decentralised finance and platforms.
Companies can also trial their embedded finance innovations at the Hub, gaining feedback from ecosystem participants on how to get these commercialised; as the Hub lays the foundations for future data-enabled innovations.
The initiative will also see collaborative efforts between non-financial service sector organisations, such as healthcare, agriculture, technology, media, telecom and retail companies, and financial services businesses as they test value propositions backed by digital technologies.
For instance, participants will gain access to an enablement programme designed to upskill organisations pursuing embedded finance initiatives and a global library of best practices curated by industry leaders.
They will also have access to a KPGM’s selection of premium API solutions that can be embedded in external channels and applications. Participants will be able to implement concepts and models to bring about new commercialisation avenues within embedded finance in Singapore and regionally.
As stated in the official announcement, the Hub’s launch seeks to ‘build capabilities and raise the standards of practice across the end-to-end embedded finance ecosystem for corporates and financial institutions’.
The Hub will work with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), along with others in the broader ecosystem, to accelerate the adoption of embedded finance in Singapore.
Explaining how the next phase of fintech disruption is moving beyond open banking to embedded finance, Anton Ruddenklau, partner, global head of innovation, financial services at KPMG, comments: “This unleashes new opportunities to create ecosystems for financial services to develop their as-a-service business and work with corporates to partner for new embedded finance initiatives; improving customer experience and creating a new source of revenue.”
“These partnerships drive the uptake of financial services across all industries,” Ruddenklau continues. “KPMG’s Embedded Finance Hub will be the epicentre of collaboration and knowledge for Singapore’s embedded finance industry.”
Sopnendu Mohanty, chief fintech officer at MAS, added: “Embedding relevant financial services in the user journey of non-financial services industries can enhance convenience and value to both customers and businesses.
“This requires partnerships between financial institutions and businesses, underpinned by trust and technology. We look forward to KPMG’s Embedded Finance Hub nurturing and accelerating growth in embedded finance across different industries.”
KPMG will be seeking interested organisations to participate in the inaugural phase of the Hub’s activities.
Image and article originally from thefintechtimes.com. Read the original article here.