BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- To ensure future systemic risks can be promptly addressed, financial technology (FinTech) developments should be diligently monitored, senior government officials of Brunei said.
The World FinTech Festival in Brunei Darussalam is held here from Dec. 7 to Dec. 11, which is jointly organized by Brunei's Centre for Islamic Banking, Finance and Management and Monetary Authority of Singapore in partnership with the Singapore FinTech Festival, with the support from the Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam (AMBD), the country's central bank.
Haji Awang Abu Bakar, Brunei's Minister of Home Affairs and Deputy Chairman of AMBD's Board of Directors, said that AMBD has always been a proponent for FinTech development in Brunei and has embarked on a number of initiatives to nurture growth in this field.
One of these initiatives is the introduction of a FinTech Regulatory Sandbox, which provides participants, especially start-ups, a safe and secure environment to test and experiment with their FinTech solutions.
"I am happy to share that today AMBD has upgraded the current FinTech Regulatory Sandbox to the FinTech Regulatory Sandbox 2.0, where the application process has been streamlined to reduce the application assessment time," the minister said when giving his keynote speech on Wednesday.
Hajah Rokiah, Managing Director of AMBD said that the FinTech festival presents a unique opportunity to support FinTech initiatives and activities at large, and giving global exposure to Brunei's growing FinTech community as well as their development efforts.
"Development of the financial sector will continue to remain a key agenda for AMBD, particularly in the area of financial technology, which has been identified as a potential growth engine for the country in the Brunei Darussalam Financial Sector Blueprint 2016-2025," she said.
The World FinTech Festival 2020 is held with a combination of physical and virtual activities. More than 100 people including senior Brunei government officials, banking executives, and diplomatic delegates in Brunei attended the seminar session on Wednesday, while thousands from all over the world participated in the online activities of the festival. Enditem
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