MAS-SFA-AMTD​

FINTECH SOLIDARITY GRANT

Introduction

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) and AMTD Foundation (AMTD) have established a S$6 million MAS-SFA-AMTD FinTech Solidarity Grant to support Singapore-based FinTech companies amid the challenging business climate caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Grant will help the FinTechs manage their cashflow better, support them in generating new businesses, and provide greater support for FinTechs to pursue growth strategies.

SFA is the grant administrator and will review and assess the applications.

Grant Objectives: To provide support for FinTech projects / proof-of-concepts (“POCs”) on the APIX Platform, and subsequent commercialisation of successful projects / POCs.

Eligibility Requirements
  • Be registered and in operation in Singapore for at least 3 months before the date of grant application.
  • Have at least 2 or more core activities in Singapore (e.g not just a sales representative office).
  • Be an SFA member with a valid SFA FinTech Certification.
  • FinTechs must register and complete their profile on APIX platform and ChekFIN account, as well as carry out their POC or commercialisation (of a successful POC) project with any Financial Institution or Technology company on APIX to be eligible for this grant.
  • Only 1 application per POC is allowed per company or Group of related companies. For the purposes of this grant, a parent company and its subsidiaries shall be considered a single FinTech firm.
  • Each Company or Group of related companies is allowed to submit up to 3 BGG applications for 3 different POCs.
  • Applicants must use the SFA Jobs Portal to advertise the internship opportunities, but are free to use other advertising channels as well.
  • All Qualifying expenses for the application must be related to the POC on APIX.
  • Company should have at least 30% local shareholding to be eligible to apply for the BGG Grant
Qualifying Projects
Projects must showcase:
  • Testing/integration of APIs on APIX platform; and
  • FinTech firm’s collaboration with any Financial Institution or a Technology Company (not necessarily from Singapore) on the APIX sandbox.
  • Completed projects/POCs applying for commercialisation support must showcase:
    • Deployment of POC into production environment and scaling up of solution. Production environment refers to the set up where the POC is released and pushed live to its intended users to experience and interact with it.
  • Duration of qualifying project: Maximum of 1 year.
Grants & Funding Level

To provide support for FinTech projects / proof-of-concepts (POCs) on the APIX platform, and subsequent commercialisation of successful projects / POCS.

FinTechs must register and complete their profile on APIX platform and ChekFIN account, as well as carry out their POCs with any Financial Institution or Technology Company on APIX to be eligible for this grant.

1st Application: 70% of qualifying expenses, capped at S$40,000 per FinTech firm

Subsequent applications (maximum of 2 subsequent applications in total, and firms can only apply for commercialisation support once for each successfully completed POC on APIX)

2nd to 3rd Application: 70% of qualifying expenses, capped at S$25,000 and S$15,000 for the 1st and 2nd subsequent applications respective per FinTech firm per application

The grant is on a reimbursement basis (proof of payment must be submitted)

Qualifying Expenses Includes*
Professional Service

Related to the POC (including consultancy, cybersecurity testing, IT audit, training, change management)

Wage Support

Including salaries of staff (including Foreign Nationals) and Singaporean/PR undergraduate interns involved in the development and implementation of the project (excluding employer CPF and bonuses)

Hardware & Software

Including licences, maintenance and subscription costs, related to the project

70% of Internship Funding for Salaries of Singaporean/PR Undergraduate Interns (capped at S$1,000/month per intern)

Overall internship salary cap of S$20,000 for FinTechs with more than 30 staff

or

Overall internship salary cap of S$10,000 for FinTechs with 30 staff or less

Total cap per FinTech firm (excluding the funding for internship) is S$80,000.

Thank you for your interest. Application has been closed as of 28th February 2023. We will provide more updates if there are more grants available under SFA Administration.

Grant KPIs and Governance
KPI Requirements

12 months after disbursement of grant:

  • Remain registered and operating in Singapore
  • No reduction in headcount at the end of the project period, but if necessary and inevitable, not more than 20% headcount reduction (excluding Interns)
  • SFA member with a valid SFA FinTech Certification throughout the period
  • POC must be successfully completed on the APIX platform and receive a certificate of completion from APIX
Governance
Utilisation and KPI Report

Applicant to submit their utilisation report to SFA, including supporting documents for proof of payment (e.g. invoices, pay slips to interns) and to show that project KPIs have been met, at the end of the funding period. Un-utilised grant amounts on the qualifying expenses categories and internship salaries will be clawed back by SFA. Applicants that do not meet KPI would have their grant clawed back

Audit

Random audits would be conducted by SFA or their appointed external auditor on applicants' use of the grant. If the audit report indicates misuse of Grants or fraudulent activities, the full grant amount will be clawed back and reported to the authorities

Duplicate Funding

No duplicate funding between the MAS-SFA-AMTD FinTech Solidarity Grant programme and other Government Grants.

Documents Required for Submission
  1. Completed Grant Application Form with all the necessary supporting documents*
  2. Screenshot of 100% APIX Profile Completion
  3. Screenshot of IDE on APIX
  4. Screenshot of a registered ChekFIN Account
  5. Signed POC agreement or email thread confirmation with Financial Institution (FI) or Technology Company stating the project title, dates [start & end] and scope of work. If you are developing multiple POCs with the same Financial Institution (FI) or Technology Company, you are required to submit either 1 signed MOU/Agreement for each POC, or have 1 Master signed MOU/agreement which states the different POCs in the collaboration.
  6. Project Progress Report to show proof of project completion and pushed live to its intended users to experience and interact with it.
  7. ACRA Business Profile for applicant company and corporate shareholder (if applicable), dated within last 3 months.
  8. For Wage Support:
    Mandatory to indicate and provide the following:

    • Total Salary Amount of each Staff
    • Total Number of Months Claimed and Claim period for each staff
    • Payslip of all the months that you are claiming for Full-time Staff
    • Payroll listing for Full-time Staff and Intern (Latest 3 Months)
    • Employer's CPF Contribution Statements (Latest 3 Months) for Singapore Citizen/PR claiming up to SGD 6,000 per month
    • Latest Copy of IRAS Notice of Assessment of the Full-time Staff – mandatory for non-Singapore Citizen/PR and for Singapore Citizen/PR claiming more than SGD 6,000 per month
  9. For Internship Support:
    Mandatory to indicate and provide the following:

    • Total Salary Amount of each intern
    • Total Number of Months Claimed and Claim Period for each intern
    • Payslip for all the months that applicant is claiming for each intern
    • Signed Intern Agreement
    • Copy of NRIC (front and back) of each intern
    • Copy of Student card of each intern
    • Screenshots of SFA Jobs Portal's internship position advertisement
  10. For Hardware & Software, Professional Services, and Other Expenses:
    Mandatory to indicate and provide the following:

    • Total Amount of Professional Services for every vendor / Hardware and Software or Other Costs for every claim
    • Total Number of Months Claimed and Claim Period for every claim
    • Invoices/signed Vendor Contracts for every claim/vendor
    • For Professional Services – ACRA Business Profile (Local) or Equivalent Official Business Registration Document (Overseas) of the vendor dated within last 3 months from date of application
    • Proof of Payment for every Vendor / Hardware and Software claimed (e.g. bank statements, receipt)

* If the necessary documents are not submitted, the processing of your application may be delayed, or your application may be refused.

Application Process
Step 1

Download the infographic and the ChekFin Brochure before you fill up the Grant Application Form* (Form Linked below), and ensure you fill out all the required details. The grant is on a reimbursement basis (proof of payment must be submitted in order for the grant to be approved and disbursed).

Step 2

Submit the completed Google Form and all supporting Documents through the Google Form Submit Button and ensure all required fields are filled. If you encounter error 502, please press F5 to refresh your page and re-submit again. If the error message persists, please contact the SFA grant team immediately via the email address below.

Step 3

SFA will review your application, including all required Documents. If more information is required, you will be contacted directly.

Please note that your application will take more than 6 weeks to process. For companies with multiple applications, processing time may take longer.

Step 4

Successful applicants will receive further instructions from SFA.

For further enquires on the MAS-SFA-AMTD FinTech Solidarity Grant, please email [email protected].

Frequently Asked Questions
SFA FinTech Certification
Where can I apply for the SFA FinTech Certificate?
It says that to qualify for the grant, I will need to have a valid SFA FinTech Certification at the time of application and maintain its validity throughout and at the end of the project period However, my SFA FinTech Certification has less than 12 months of validity. Can SFA extend my FinTech Certification before I apply?
My application for the SFA FinTech certification has not been approved. Can I submit my application for the grant concurrently?
Grant Application
What is considered a core activity?
How many times can I apply for the Business Growth Grant?
Why do I need to provide so many documentations for my application?
Fund Disbursement
How do I know if an expense qualifies under the grant?
Post-Disbursement (KPI & Governance)
What do I need to submit to SFA at the end of 12 months, to show that we have achieved the KPI?
What happens if my company does not achieve the KPIs?
Why am I subjected to random audit?
My POC with a FI has been delayed, can I ask for an extension?
What is ChekFIN?