Individuals that use the Singapore Financial Data Exchange (SGFinDex) will now be able to digitally access and aggregate data on their life, accident and health insurance policies held across different participating insurers. SGFinDex is the world’s first public digital infrastructure that enables individuals to securely retrieve their financial information held across government agencies, banks, insurers, and the central securities depository.
The inclusion of insurance data adds to existing banking and investment data that individuals can retrieve via SGFinDex, making it easier for them to spot insurance protection gaps. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group (SNDGG) announced the addition of the consolidated information earlier this week. As per a press release, adding information on insurance policies allows users to get the information through financial planning applications or websites of participating insurers, banks, and the government’s free financial planning digital service, MyMoneySense.
There are currently more than 30,000 monthly active users of SGFinDex, with nearly 1.2 million data retrievals. SGFinDex offers data protection and privacy controls. Financial data can be accessed and updated only through the explicit consent of the individual through Singpass. The consent will last for one year from the first time an individual links an account to SGFinDex, the release noted.
An official explained that SGFinDex facilitates the consolidation, access, and viewing of an individual’s financial holdings. Now that users can access insurance data, the application’s comprehensiveness is enhanced. The initiative demonstrates the importance of public-private sector collaboration in creating an innovative solution that brings convenience to individuals and paves the way for further collaboration in open finance. An industry expert claimed that Singapore’s life insurance industry will continue efforts to enhance financial literacy amongst the community to help them bridge their underinsurance gap and better plan for their retirement.
The release noted that the enhancement was carried out through close collaboration with the Life Insurance Association (LIA Singapore), the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS), and government agencies. A representative from ABS noted that insurance is a vital component in an individual’s long-term financial planning. With insurance data now available in SGFinDex, users will have a more holistic view of their financial position and can make better decisions in building a comprehensive and robust financial portfolio.
MAS is Singapore’s central bank and integrated financial regulator. It promotes sustained, non-inflationary economic growth by executing monetary policy and close macroeconomic surveillance and analysis. It manages the country’s exchange rate, official foreign reserves, and liquidity in the banking sector. As an integrated financial supervisor, MAS fosters a sound financial services sector by monitoring all financial institutions, including banks, insurers, capital market intermediaries, financial advisors, and financial market infrastructures.
Set up in 2017, SNDGG intends to drive and coordinate Smart Nation and digitalisation efforts across the Singapore Government. It is made up of the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO) and the Government Technology Agency (GovTech). With GovTech – SNDGO’s implementing agency – SNDGG leads the digital transformation of the public sector and harnesses the best technologies to improve governance and administration.
The country is keen to grow its fintech sector as well as secure the overall national financial landscape. Recently, the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Cyber Security Advisory Panel outlined several solutions for financial institutions to implement to protect their services against cyber threats. It reached out to cybersecurity experts to explore ways to prepare the country’s financial sector for technology risks in increasingly hostile cyberspace.
