It is heartening that Singapore remains a magnet for investments in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic (Singapore secures three of top five South-east Asia deals despite Covid-19 slowdown, July 9).

Chief among these should no doubt be fintech investments (Spike in investments into S'pore-based fintech firms, June 22) coming hot on the heels of the increasing infatuation with fintech (Coronavirus: More consumers, companies embracing tech, May 10) and last year's stellar growth in fintech investments (S'pore fintech investments more than doubled to $1.2b last year, Feb 21).

For this trajectory to continue sustainably, it is imperative we ensure that our regtech - the use of technology to deliver regulatory solutions for monitoring, reporting and compliance - is up to date.

Anything else and the equation will not balance, and this could potentially bring on another financial crisis because regulation cannot keep up with financial innovation.

Thought leaders suggest that achieving this balance involves calibrating the competing goals of supporting the growth of fintech with the regulatory goals of financial stability and consumer protection, and the key will be to adopt innovative and smarter digital regulatory systems.

This means going beyond mere adoption of technology to digitalise regulatory, compliance and reporting processes, to developing strong information technology capabilities - including in artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies.

This would allow for the analysis of relevant leading indicators such as those of financial instability and regulatory non-compliance, to provide regulators with greater predictive ex ante capabilities to pre-emptively fight fraud.

Regulators the world over are similarly grappling with these issues in both fintech and regtech. With the conclusion of the election and a fresh five-year mandate now secured, we can be confident of being able to mount a robust challenge to these issues, and further enhance Singapore's status as a global financial centre for investments and fintech.

Woon Wee Min