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Yasuto Watanabe
Director & Chief Executive Officer
ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO)
Mr. Yasuto Watanabe assumed office as Director of AMRO in May 2025, bringing 30 years’ experience in international finance, development finance, financial regulation, and regional financial cooperation.
Under his leadership, AMRO has worked to strengthen the quality, timeliness, and responsiveness of its surveillance. He has led the expansion of AMRO’s research to address economic and financial challenges and evolving priorities of ASEAN+3 members.
Previously, Mr. Watanabe served as Senior Deputy Vice Minister at Japan’s Ministry of Finance. His leadership experience spans institutional management, budgeting, and organizational operations.
He held positions across international financial institutions, including Director General at the Asian Development Bank and Deputy Director at AMRO, and served as Vice Chair of Committee Six at the International Organization of Securities Commissions.
Mr. Watanabe holds a Master of Arts in International and Development Economics from Yale University and bachelor’s degrees in economics and business administration from the University of Tokyo.
Speaking at SFF 2026
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2:45–3:15pmWed 18 NovPolicy StageHall 3, Singapore EXPOOpen
Policy Rewiring
Cross-Border Connectivity: How Regional Blocs are Building Their Own Financial Integration
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Clara B. ArthurChief ExecutiveGhana Interbank Payment & Settlement Systems (GhIPSS)
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José BeltránBoard ChairNexus Global Payments Ltd
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Yasuto WatanabeDirector & Chief Executive OfficerASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO)
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Maha El DimachkiChief Executive Officer, GFTN SolutionsGlobal Finance & Technology Network (GFTN)Moderator
About this session
Not every country can build global-scale financial infrastructure alone. Across the world, groups of countries are pooling resources, coordinating oversight, and interlinking systems regionally, choosing collective action over waiting for a single global standard or going it alone.
This panel brings together three different models of that regional playbook. The discussion works through what it takes to build financial cooperation at the bloc level: how these regional mechanisms actually got built, what kept smaller or newer members willing to join in, and where this collective model succeeds — or strains — compared to a single institution building alone. Attendees leave with a practical view of when banding together beats going it alone, and what it costs to make that work. -
