DBS and Visa have tied for top spot in a new R3 ranking of top fintech innovation labs in Singapore, thanks to their “dynamic environment" and interactive tools.
R3 based its ranking on a ‘lab crawl’ of eight different innovation labs at financial firms in the city state during the Fintech Festival in November 2016 at the invitation of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Singapore is looking to become a fintech innovation hub, after overtaking Hong Kong in a 2016 Ernst & Young study.
R3 evaluated the labs according to their physical space, staff, content and presentations. The firm credits the Microsoft and Mastercard labs for their real case studies and live demonstrations.
Mastercard, for instance, displayed its voice-enabled ‘Pepper Robot’ that was given a payments function to allow restaurants to take orders or for airlines to check-in passengers.
The consultancy also stresses the importance for these labs to partner with brands and startups, leveraging incubator programs to start new enterprises.
“This report is targeted to help companies understand how they they stand vis-à-vis the competition and guide them on how they can be more effective,” said R3 principal and co-founder, Shufen Goh.
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