Korea opens fintech support center in Singapore

Singapore's Downtown Core / gettyimagesbank

By Park Jae-hyuk

The government established a help desk in Singapore last month to support Korean fintech startups' expansion into Southeast Asia, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) said Tuesday.

The Singapore Venture Desk opened at the Korea Development Bank's (KDB) branch in the city-state, which many Korean firms use as a bridgehead for inroads into Southeast Asia.

KDB said the desk will help Korean startups meet with investors in the region.

“The desk is an overseas version of our KDB NextRound platform which enables startups to introduce themselves to investors,” a KDB official said.

“As Singapore is a mecca for the Southeast Asian startup industry, our employee there will connect Korean startups with Southeast Asian investors and help foreign startups attract investments from Korean investors.”

KDB sent one of its employees who was in charge of NextRound to its Singaporean branch to manage the Singapore Venture Desk.

The state-run bank will gradually expand the size of the desk, depending on its performance.

The FSC also said it will open at least two additional fintech labs overseas and hold investor roadshows in many countries for fintech startups.

The regulator plans to open a platform in the second quarter of this year for fintech firms to search for useful information needed for their overseas expansion.

In May, the Korea Fintech Week 2020 will take place at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, so that domestic and foreign fintech firms may form global networks.

The number of firms participating in the event will increase to 120 this year from 54 in 2019.

The FSC said it will go all out to nurture the fintech industry this year. This includes using an allocated budget of 19.8 billion won ($16 million) to support the fintech industry in 2020, up 96.1 percent from 10.1 billion won last year.