Officials from HM Treasury and the Monetary Authority of Singapore met in Singapore on 20 October for the 11th UK-Singapore Financial Dialogue, joined by the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority. The joint statement announces no new agreement. Its value is as a map of where the two financial centres are coordinating: tokenised wholesale markets, AI agents in finance, quantum-safe security, capital markets reform and transition finance. It also sets up 2027, when the UK holds the G20 Presidency and Singapore chairs ASEAN.
Tokenisation is the most developed strand
The digital assets discussion focused on cross-border use cases for tokenisation and wholesale digital markets. On the Singapore side, the statement lists MAS’s Project Guardian, BLOOM and Global Layer One. On the UK side, it lists the Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy, the work of the UK Wholesale Digital Markets Champion, the Digital Securities Sandbox, and Bank of England and FCA work on tokenisation. The two sides also discussed crypto-assets, stablecoins and “the implications of digital money for wholesale markets and institutional settlements.”
Both centres are building infrastructure for tokenised securities and funds, and both face the same question of how such assets settle across borders and in what form of money. A UK fund manager issuing a tokenised fund through the Digital Securities Sandbox and a Singapore bank participating in Project Guardian would need their systems to interoperate for cross-border use cases to work. The dialogue does not commit to that, but it puts the two programmes in the same conversation.
AI cooperation runs through a standing partnership
On AI, the statement cites the UK’s AI Adoption Plan for Financial Services and Singapore’s Safeguards for Agentic Finance at Runtime (SAFR), which it says “sets out a framework on how AI agents may carry out financial tasks safely, securely, and reliably.”
The more concrete work sits in the UK-Singapore AI in Finance Partnership between MAS and the FCA. They reviewed progress on PathFin.ai, Spotlight, the FCA Supercharged Sandbox, the AI Observatory and an AI taxonomy. A common taxonomy is the item with practical consequences. MAS has just issued AI risk management guidelines that require firms to inventory their AI use, and a shared vocabulary between the two supervisors would make it easier for a firm operating in both markets to describe the same systems the same way.
The quantum session covered supervisory expectations for firms moving to quantum-safe technology, including the UK National Cyber Security Centre’s post-quantum cryptography migration guidance and lessons from the QKD sandbox MAS ran with industry partners.
Capital markets reform is on both agendas
HM Treasury briefed on the UK’s capital markets reforms and measures to broaden access to private capital, and on the British Business Bank’s venture and growth capital initiatives. MAS updated the UK on measures from its Equities Market Review Group to strengthen Singapore’s equities market, and on its Growth Capital Workgroup, which works on deal origination, capital raising and capital recycling.
Both sides described programmes aimed at deeper listings markets and more growth capital. The statement records an exchange of updates on that work and does not set out any joint programme.
The Dialogue affirmed the importance of safe and responsible AI adoption in financial services.
Joint statement, 11th UK-Singapore Financial Dialogue, 20 October 2026
Transition finance and adaptation
On sustainable finance, the UK presented its Transition Finance Pilot, the Transition Finance Council Guidelines and the Green Finance Institute’s Transition Finance Lab, plus lessons on climate adaptation through insurance markets, the FCA’s Climate Scenarios Sandbox and the Climate Financial Risk Forum run by the FCA and the Bank of England. Singapore outlined ongoing revisions to the Singapore-Asia Taxonomy 2.0 and its experience with the Financial Sector Carbon Market Grant.
The taxonomy revisions are the item for firms to follow. Lenders in Asia that classify loans against the Singapore-Asia Taxonomy will need to track how the revised version treats transition activities.
2027 gives both sides a platform
The UK takes the G20 Presidency in 2027 and Singapore holds the ASEAN Chairmanship. Both discussed their priorities and the FSB’s future work programme. The FSB is chaired by the Governor of the Bank of England. An industry-led business roundtable on 21 October was set to cover cooperation in that context.
The bilateral meeting before the dialogue was led by Gwyneth Nurse, Director General (Financial Services) at HM Treasury, and Leong Sing Chiong, Deputy Managing Director (Markets and Development) at MAS. The UK will host the 12th dialogue in 2027.
What to watch
- Any joint MAS-FCA output on the AI taxonomy.
- Cross-border tokenisation trials linking Project Guardian or GL1 with UK programmes.
- Publication of the revised Singapore-Asia Taxonomy.
- UK G20 and Singapore ASEAN priorities for financial regulation in 2027.
Primary sources
- MAS, The UK and Singapore Hold 11th UK-Singapore Financial Dialogue, Deepening Cooperation on Digital Finance, Capital Markets, and Sustainable Finance, 20 October 2026
- MAS, MAS sets out supervisory expectations on responsible AI adoption by financial institutions, 7 October 2026
Related: MAS gives financial institutions until October 2028 to put AI life cycle controls in place
Photo (cropped): Ray in Manila, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
