The ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN) has enlisted Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) to support its projects to accelerate financial services innovation in Singapore and the global FinTech ecosystem.

Under the cooperation, the two will provide a dedicated on-premise API Exchange (APIX) sandbox platform on Platform Equinix for financial institutions (FIs).

Furthermore, the two parties will offer FinTechs a “fast-provisioning and affordable, enterprise-grade, cloud-like, single tenanted hardware for production services”, including Equinix Metal to streamline and facilitate infrastructure connectivity and integration.

The AFIN was established as a non-profit organisation in 2018 by the ASEAN Bankers Association (ABA), International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). AMTD Foundation and Mastercard are AFIN’s Corporate Founding Members.

Pieter Franken, special advisor to the AFIN Board said, “The future of financial services is going to be open, instant, and everywhere. For greater financial innovation and inclusion to take place, co-creation needs to happen.

“Through our partnership with Equinix, AFIN believes that we will further reduce barriers to entry and time-to-market for FIs and FinTechs in Southeast Asia, paving the way for regional and global financial inclusivity in the future.”

Also commenting, Sopnendu Mohanty, chief fintech officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, added: : “Such a partnership will further strengthen the growing Fintech ecosystem in Singapore and the broader global community. In addition, Equinix’s commitment to reaching climate-neutral globally by 2030 strengthens AFIN’s shared sustainability agenda.”

Sophie Ben Sadia, Vice President of Partner Account Management, Equinix Asia-Pacific, said the company is seeing an acceleration of partnerships between FIs and FinTechs with digital trend and open banking development.

“This is pivotal to collaborate, innovate and transact with partners and investors. Our strategic partnership with AFIN will be the opportunity to offer a powerful platform that partners can tap into to innovate and grow the Digital Finance ecosystems in Southeast Asia and beyond,” she commented.