German direct bank Fidor is opening an Asia-Pacific base in Singapore with a pledge to spend EUR500,000 on training students and lecturers at the island state's five local polytechnics on the development of fintech applications for its digital banking platform.
Supported by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the Fidor Student Academy Singapore programme will be incorporated into the curricula of banking or IT-related diploma courses offered by the five polytechnics, starting with Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP).
At NP, a pilot run of the programme, using Fidor's Amazon Cloud-hosted API sandbox and banking O/S to test and develop new applications, has commenced with 38 final-year students from the Diploma in Financial Informatics.
Fidor says it will also offer the most promising students the opportunity to take part in an internship at its home base in Munich.
In its full rollout, the programme stands to benefit some 500 students across the curriculum.
Visa launched a similar programme in April as part of a MAS-sponsored initiative to build a steady pipeline of talent in the fintech space and provide a gateway for students to make their first foray into the industry.