Singapore, 13 November 2023… The eighth edition of the Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) will kick off this week from 14 to 17 November 2023, convening leaders and experts from around the world in finance, technology and public policy. Besides focusing on Artificial Intelligence (AI), SFF 2023 will facilitate dialogues on re-architecting the financial system, preparing for future risks in technology and climate, and powering entrepreneurs and the future tech workforce.

SFF 2023’s central theme will revolve around “AI for good. AI for good?” Some projections indicate that Generative AI alone could boost global GDP by nearly US$7 trillion in the coming decade, alongside widespread adoption of AI in enterprise operations. At the same time, there is considerable caution around some inherent risks in AI. SFF 2023 will delve into AI’s promise as well as pitfalls, providing a platform to explore a unified vision for the future, harnessing its benefits while mitigating its risks. 

SFF 2023 will build on earlier discussions around driving low-carbon transitions, expanding financial access for underserved populations, bolstering digital economic resilience, and scaling promising AI and Web3 solutions regionally and globally.

Curtain Raiser: Elevandi Insights

Preceding the SFF 2023 main conference is the by-invitation-only Elevandi Insights on 14 November, bringing together regulators, policymakers, industry leaders and investors in a full-day programme comprising two key components: 

  • The Capital Meets Policy Dialogue will assemble influential policymakers and investors to debate pressing challenges in capital investment, value creation, and policymaking relevant to AI. 
  • The Public-Private Roundtables will feature open public-private sector leadership dialogues to produce actionable outcomes, ranging from whitepapers to announcements of new commitments.

 

The Signature SFF Conference

The SFF Conference, which will run from 15 to 17 November, will feature over 800+ speakers across 300+ hours of content, covering eight themes:

  • Responsible Tokenisation
  • Beneficial AI
  • Accelerating ESG
  • Efficient Payments
  • Scaling Insurances and Pension
  • Digitising Inclusion
  • Advancing Talent
  • Empowering Entrepreneurship

Headline speakers at the Conference include:

  • Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
  • Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank
  • Tharman Shanmugaratnam, President of the Republic of Singapore

Other notable speakers are as follows (longer list in the Annex):

  • Jeremy Allaire, Co-founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Circle
  • Manu Chopra, Chief Executive Officer, Karya
  • Dr Deng Yaping, Olympic Champion & Table Tennis Grand Slam Winner, DYP Sports Investment Fund
  • Thomas Dohmke, Chief Executive Officer, GitHub
  • Datuk Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour, Governor, Central Bank of Malaysia
  • Eric Jing, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Ant Group
  • Shekhar Kapur, Film, TV, Theatre Director & Producer
  • Jeff Lawson, Co-founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Twilio
  • Nadiem Makarim, Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Republic of Indonesia 
  • H.E. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., President of the Republic of the Philippines* 
  • Mairead McGuinness, Commissioner Financial Services, Financial Stability & Capital Markets Union, European Commission
  • Ravi Menon, Managing Director, Monetary Authority of Singapore
  • Dr Margaret Mitchell, Chief Ethics Scientist, Hugging Face
  • John Rwangombwa, Governor, National Bank of Rwanda
  • Jack Selby, Managing Director, Thiel Capital LLC
  • Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme*
  • François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor, Banque de France*
  • Anil Wadhwani, Chief Executive Officer, Prudential plc
  • Perry Warjiyo, Governor, Bank Indonesia
  • Bill Winters, Group Chief Executive, Standard Chartered

*attending virtually

 

Festival Highlights

The SFF Exhibition will host a record number of close to 700 exhibitors and 36 international pavilions across five thematic zones – Technology, ESG, Founders, Regulation and Talent. There will be personalised meeting opportunities for attendees to connect with top-level investors in the Founders Zone, industry leaders and mentors in the Talent Zone, and regulators and central bankers from over 30 jurisdictions in the Regulation Zone.

The Innovation Lab Crawl will take place during 14 to 17 November. With 25 participating organisations, attendees will be able to explore innovation labs across the island and witness up-and-coming projects and innovations in the FinTech industry.

Continuing its emphasis on skills and knowledge development, SFF 2023 will offer Certificate Programmes delivered in partnership with top universities in Singapore. These courses include upskilling opportunities on ChatGPT and AI in Finance with the Asian Institute of Digital Finance, National University of Singapore, and Green and Sustainable Finance 101 with SMU Academy, Singapore Management University. 

SFF 2023 will also see the launch of The Big Spark, a new business television show produced by Mediacorp in partnership with SFF and TiE Global Summit. The eight-episode series will spotlight Southeast Asia startups – throughout the series, pre-seed to Series-A startups will gain real-world business advice from industry mentors and experts as they pitch to seasoned investors who have committed to invest more than S$1 million in these emerging enterprises. The filming for the show will start at the SFF, and the show is set to air on Channel NewsAsia in 2024.

Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer of MAS and Chairman of Elevandi Board, said, “The FinTech industry is poised for another major transformation, thanks to recent advances in artificial intelligence. This will usher in a new era of financial innovation and transformation. SFF 2023 will continue to be at the forefront of this global conversation, bringing together visionary leaders from civil society, technology, financial institutions, government, investment, and entrepreneurship to drive meaningful change and create a secure future for all.”

Paul Lee, Chief Executive (Markets) at Constellar, said, “The continued growth of SFF year-on-year is a testament to the innovation and resilience of the global FinTech community. This drives us to continue evolving the festival experience, building a safe space for curating meaningful conversations to create and unlock value for our industry stakeholders. We look forward to bolstering the FinTech ecosystem by bringing together emerging technologies and fostering impactful connections at this edition of SFF, accelerating partnerships and catalysing collaborations that will redefine the future of financial services.”

SFF 2023 is organised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Elevandi and Constellar, in partnership with The Association of Banks in Singapore. For more details and SFF 2023 registration, visit www.fintechfestival.sg. 

 

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Annex: SFF 2023 Featured Speakers List

 

Financial sector leaders

  • Kfir Godrich, Chief Innovation Officer, BlackRock
  • Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President & Chief Executive Officer, Women's World Banking
  • Dato’ Khairussaleh Ramli, Group President & Chief Executive Officer, Maybank
  • Kristo Käärmann, Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer, Wise
  • Sigal Mandelker, Ribbit Capital
  • Sheel Mohnot, Managing Partner, Better Tomorrow Ventures
  • Kunal Shah, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, CRED

Technology and civil society leaders

  • Geoff Allott, Former New Zealand Cricketer
  • Dr Krishna Murthy Ella, Executive Chairman, Bharat Biotech International Limited
  • Stephen Fleming, Former New Zealand Cricket Captain & Head Coach, Chennai Super Kings
  • Dr Jennifer Holmgren, Chief Executive Officer, LanzaTech
  • Julian Teicke, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, wefox
  • Chris Young, Executive Vice President, Business Development, Strategy, & Ventures, Microsoft

 

About the Singapore FinTech Festival

The Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) is organised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Elevandi and Constellar and in collaboration with The Association of Banks in Singapore. Since its inception in 2016, SFF has become the premier platform for the global FinTech community to engage, connect, and collaborate on issues relating to the confluence of financial services, public policy, and technology. Last year’s edition brought together more than 62,000 participants from over 115 countries.

This year’s Singapore FinTech Festival will be held from 14-17 November 2023 and is poised to be the most consequential event charting a new path for tech, policy and finance worldwide. 

 

About the Monetary Authority of Singapore

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is Singapore’s central bank and integrated financial regulator. As a central bank, MAS promotes sustained, non-inflationary economic growth through the conduct of monetary policy and close macroeconomic surveillance and analysis. It manages Singapore’s exchange rate, official foreign reserves, and liquidity in the banking sector. As an integrated financial supervisor, MAS fosters a sound financial services sector through its prudential oversight of all financial institutions in Singapore – banks, insurers, capital market intermediaries, financial advisors and financial market infrastructures. It is also responsible for well-functioning financial markets, sound conduct, and investor education. MAS also works with the financial industry to promote Singapore as a dynamic international financial centre. It facilitates the development of infrastructures, adoption of technology, and upgrading of skills in the financial industry. 

 

About Elevandi

Elevandi is a not-for-profit entity set up by the MAS to foster an open dialogue between the public and private sectors to advance FinTech globally, but with Singapore as the centre of gravity. The organisation works closely with governments, founders, investors, and corporate leaders to drive collaboration, education, and new sources of value at the industry and national levels.

Elevandi’s initiatives have convened over 350,000 people since 2016 through events, closed-door roundtables, investor programmes, educational initiatives, and research. ​​SFF is the organisation’s flagship product; other known platforms under its wing include the Point Zero Forum and the Elevandi Insights Forum. 

 

About Constellar

Constellar connects a global eco-system of event partners and consumers through a holistic portfolio of intellectual property (IP) in the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) industry. As Asia's partner of reference for curating the innovative event and venue experiences, Constellar activates impactful networks to bring global markets, businesses and consumers together for sustainable growth. With our expertise and dedication, we are invested in helping you build trusted relationships with stakeholders for the long term and enabling cross-industry collaboration through world-class audience engagement solutions. Visit constellar.co for more information. 

 

About The Association of Banks in Singapore

ABS is a non-profit organisation that represents the interests of the banking community in Singapore. In doing so, ABS works closely with the relevant government authorities towards the development of a sound financial system in Singapore. Since its establishment in 1973, ABS has promoted a unifying voice on banking issues. It has brought its members closer together through various guidelines and banking practices as well as the support of projects of mutual benefit to face the challenges of the financial and banking community in Singapore. Today ABS has a membership of 155 local and foreign banks. More information on ABS is available at www.abs.org.sg.