Singapore's rise as third-largest FX hub in the world matters for its people

Positive ripple effects - innovation, job creation and talent development - go beyond financial industry

- Kelvin Cen

When the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced in October that Singapore had strengthened its position as the third-largest foreign exchange (FX) centre in the world, just behind London and New York, many Singaporeans may have seen the headlines and moved on.

After all, people here are accustomed to being part of a small country used to punching well above its weight.

But from the perspective of one who sits at the intersection of technology and finance in this region, this is a significant achievement, well worth celebrating. Singapore's ascent in global FX is no accident. It is testament to decades of deliberate strategy, technological ambition and disciplined market development.

And its impact reaches beyond the trading floors of financial institutions into the broader economy. The positive ripple effects - innovation, job creation and talent development - shape the opportunities available to Singapore's workforce, strengthen the foundations of the local economy, and reinforce the city's position as a trusted financial hub in an increasingly uncertain world.

At the core of Singapore's FX leadership is an understanding that modern currency markets run on technology, and technology runs on data. In a landscape where trading owes more to algorithms competing in microseconds and to digitalisation than it does to human negotiation, it should come as no surprise that technology matters.