A competition to develop tech solutions to a variety of regulatory compliance and supervisory challenges was launched today by the fintech unit of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Singapore.
The initiative, known as G20 TechSprint, invites private firms to develop innovative solutions to challenges in several areas, including regulatory reporting, analytics, and monitoring and supervision.
“TechSprint encapsulates one of the core principles of the BIS Innovation Hub, which is to develop public goods in the technology space to enhance the functioning of the global financial system,” said Benoît Cœuré, head of the BIS Innovation Hub.
Competing firms will develop solutions on a cloud-based platform that facilitates prototype-building and online judging.
Certain participants will be invited to present their proposals in a virtual workshop in July.
The winners, who will be announced in October, are to receive US$50,000 cash prizes.
The event is also being sponsored by the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the Saudi G20 presidency, and various other organizations.
“Alongside the BIS Innovation Hub, we look to the global fintech community to help mobilize effective solutions to pressing financial regulatory and supervisory challenges, including by supporting regulatory and supervisory responses against the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Ahmed Alkholifey, governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority.
“The G20 TechSprint initiative will support the efforts of supervisors and regulators in reaping the benefits of technology to ensure that the global financial system continues to support households and businesses,” he added.
In 2016, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) hosted the first hackathon by a securities regulator in Canada, RegHackTO, which tackled a variety of regulatory problems including know-your-client/identity authentication, financial literacy and market transparency.