MAS to help financial sector get ready for the Future Economy

The central bank of Singapore, MAS, has published a number of specific measures to build technology infrastructure to drive innovation. The goal is to position the financial services industry, including the insurance sector, for the “Future Economy”. Within insurance MAS has said it will build data infrastructure for natural catastrophe and cyber risk insurance. The Natural Catastrophe Data Analytics Exchange is looking to widen the availability of high-quality data on catastrophes in Asia by pooling industry loss data and collecting economic data through remote sensing technologies. This improved data will ensure catastrophe insurance penetration in the region is increased. The Cyber Risk Management Project aims to develop industry-wide cyber risk definitions, databases and models to better quantify cyber risks. This will speed up the growth of cyber risk insurance in Singapore and across Asia. Developing an industry Know-Your-Customer (KYC) utility is another area of exploration. This is a critical process for the financial services industry worldwide, but has become increasingly costly and resource intensive.