MAS Launches AI Initiative to Tackle Complexity of Singlish
While large language models have been all the rage within the field of AI, Singaporean English remains a relatively uncharted territory. The city-state’s financial regulator has launched a new initiative to tackle this area.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) managing director Chia Der Jiun announced a new initiative called «BuildFin» during the Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) 2025 aimed at bringing together technology providers and research institutes to work with financial institutions (FI) on complex issues.
According to Chia, the first common problem statement identified by the regulator and financial firms has been about Singlish – a colloquial form of English popularly used in Singapore.
«It turns out Singlish presents a level of complexity that existing LLMs (large language models) are not fully ready to take on,» said Chia in a keynote address. «A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research) will partner FIs to develop a voice-to-text AI model for the financial industry to transcribe conversations in Singlish and a mix of our commonly spoken languages and dialects.»
Artificial Intelligence: Four Fronts
The initiative is part of the four fronts the MAS is focused on within AI, which it flagged as one of two major transformative themes in finance. The fronts include anchoring leading capabilities, such as the aforementioned initiative on LLMs for Singlish; broadening adoption; building strong AI governance; and upskilling an AI-ready workforce.
«We are seeing the momentum of AI adoption and experimentation build up across our financial sector,» Chia observed.
Tokenization: Three Critical Developments
The other transformative theme is tokenization and stablecoins, in which Chia highlighted three critical areas where development is required. First, asset-backed tokens need to be standardized and their networks need to be interoperable. Second, there needs to be a deep pool of safe and reliable settlement assets. Third, institutional-grade networks are necessary.
To support these developments, the MAS is preparing draft legislation on a stablecoin regulatory regime that will emphasize sound reserve backing and redemption reliability. Later this week, it will also publish a guide on the tokenization of capital markets products for regulatory clarity and applicable disclosures, as well as release details in 2026 on trialing the issuance of tokenized bills.
«Over time, if some regulated stablecoins become systemic, regulatory frameworks will need to be strengthened further, cross-border regulatory cooperation enhanced, and access to central bank facilities considered,» Chia added. «Eventually, there may be a space for different private settlement assets operating alongside each other, serving different market needs and use cases, with wholesale CBDCs (central bank digital currencies) anchoring the stability of the system.»
Mississippi River and Grand Canal
To conclude his speech, Chia likened the transformative themes to two bodies of water – the Mississippi River in the US and the Grand Canal in China.
He compared the Mississippi River with AI, noting that the two had the ability to bring benefits if managed properly but also harm if uncontrolled. And he compared the Grand Canal with tokenization, underlining the need for interconnectivity and standardization to minimize fragmentation and friction.
«As we build the future of finance with AI and tokenization, we can only progress by walking this journey of innovation and collaboration together,» said Chia.
finews.asia is the official media partner of SFF 2025.
