• Residents in Singapore can now pull their financial information from various bank accounts onto one single platform
• The data can only be retrieved with their consent
• The authorities said the technology enabling this keeps the data encrypted and does not store it
• The purpose of launching this is to help people plan their finances more effectively

SINGAPORE — From Monday (Dec 7), residents in Singapore can view all their financial information, pulled from the accounts they have with different banks, on one single platform. 

That is because the authorities here launched an underlying technological infrastructure called the Singapore Financial Data Exchange (SGFinDex). 

It uses SingPass — the national passcode system for e-government services — and a centrally managed online consent system that helps individuals access their financial information across different government agencies and participating financial institutions. 

Speaking at the launch of the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF) and Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (Switch) event on Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said that the process to consolidate finances is often onerous. 

But with this new underlying technology that allows data from each source, which is encrypted, to be transmitted through SGFinDex without being stored, Singaporeans and foreign residents with a SingPass will be able to view their consolidated financial information.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group and the Association of Banks in Singapore said in a joint media statement on the same day that the aim of creating SGFinDex is to enable people to plan their finances more effectively.

The seven participating banks are:

• DBS/POSB

• OCBC

• United Overseas Bank 

• Maybank

• Standard Chartered Bank

• Citibank 

• HSBC  

Besides being able to extract one’s own personal information from any of these seven banks, consumers will also be able to retrieve information from government agencies such as the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) and the Central Provident Fund (CPF) and view them on one single platform. 

Banks have their own versions of this platform as an option for users. For example, DBS customers may choose to view their consolidated financial information on the bank’s DBS Nav Planner, while those with OCBC accounts may choose the bank’s Your Financial OneView platform. 

Regardless of which platform the consumer uses, they would be able to view information about all their funds and investments with both banks. So, a customer using DBS Nav Planner, for example, can retrieve information about his bank balances at OCBC to view on the Nav Planner application after giving his consent. 

They could then also retrieve information on their CPF monies or HDB loans and view them on the Nav Planner application as well. 

Aside from the banks, the Ministry of Manpower and the Government Technology Agency (GovTech) have also developed a digital financial planning service called MyMoneySense.

By using SGFinDex, the platform helps provide users with an overview of their finances. 

The financial data can be retrieved only through explicit consent of the individual, whose identity must be verified through SingPass, the statement said.

Consumers can:

1. Go either to MyMoneySense website or any of the seven banks’ financial planning platforms as their central platform on which to view their consolidated finances

2. Login with their SingPass and be directed to the SGFinDex page

3. Click on “Connect Financial Institution” to select the bank from which they want to extract the data

4. Log in to this other bank’s portal to give consent for that bank to facilitate the transfer of their personal financial information to the customer’s chosen platform

In a survey conducted by OCBC in 2020, the bank found that 37 per cent of respondents did not know how to grow their wealth. 

For an earlier survey in 2017 by the MoneySense Council, which oversees a national financial education programme under MAS, it found that Singapore residents needed to be more proactive in working towards their financial goals, because only 60 per cent of them have started planning for their future financial needs. 

Among those who have not started planning, slightly more than 25 per cent said that they did not know where or how to start. 

In a statement on Monday, DBS' Singapore country head Shee Tse Koon said that the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed an acute need for financial planning among Singaporeans, because many were unprepared for the sudden disruption in income. 

“The launch of SGFinDex is therefore timely — our customers are now empowered with a helicopter view of their finances, which brings us closer to reaching our aim of providing personalised financial planning to every person in Singapore regardless of their income level,” he said. 

Since DBS launched NAV Planner in April, Mr Shee said that 400,000 customers have managed to increase their savings.