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Maha El Dimachki
Chief Executive Officer, GFTN Solutions
Global Finance & Technology Network (GFTN)
View LinkedIn profileMaha is Chief Executive Officer, GFTN Solutions. GFTN (Global Finance and Technology Network) bridges policy, capital and technology to build resilient, efficient and inclusive ecosystems.
Prior to this Maha served as Centre Head, BIS Innovation Hub Singapore. The centre develops public goods in the technology space to support central banks in how they discharge their roles in a digital economy and improve the financial system using emerging technologies.
In the UK, Maha joined the Financial Conduct Authority to set up the first Payments Department and deliver Open Banking and PSD2. This followed by setting up Early and High Growth Oversight department, leading the FCA's response to the Kalifa review of Fintech. She served as Chief Payments Officer at Pay.UK on secondment from the FCA, responsible for running the payments operations of the UK’s payment operator.
Maha is the author of Fintech Regulation in Practice. A book that provides a clear, hands on guide to the practical considerations that fintechs, banks adopting fintech and other key players in the fintech ecosystem need to take into account when embedding regulation.
She serves as the independent reviewer of the Australian Regulatory Sandbox, appointed by the Australian Treasury.
Maha has a Degree in Commerce from Macquarie University and a Masters in Public Administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Speaking at SFF 2026
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1:45–2:15pmWed 18 NovCatalyst StageHall 3, Singapore EXPOOpenModerator
Talent Rewiring
MUFG Young Innovators Showcase
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Osamu AbeChief of Staff, Asia PacificMUFG Bank Ltd
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Maha El DimachkiChief Executive Officer, GFTN SolutionsGlobal Finance & Technology Network (GFTN)Moderator
About this session
Nine MUFG Young Innovators from Odisha step onto a global stage.
Made possible through MUFG's support, this session brings students from India's emerging FinTech ecosystem, who have undergone the Certificate in FinTech and InsurTech programme, before an international audience of industry leaders, investors and policymakers. The session features a live showcase from the cohort's winning team, presenting the work that earned them their place here.
A demonstration of what happens when talent is met with opportunity and a look at where the next generation of financial innovation is coming from. -
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2:15–5:00pmWed 18 NovCatalyst StageHall 3, Singapore EXPOOpen
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3:30–4:00pmWed 18 NovPolicy StageHall 3, Singapore EXPOOpenModerator
Policy Rewiring
Cross-Border Connectivity: How Regional Blocs are Building Their Own Financial Integration
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Clara B. ArthurChief Executive OfficerGhana Interbank Payment & Settlement Systems (GhIPSS)
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José BeltránBoard ChairNexus Global Payments Ltd
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Yasuto WatanabeChief Executive Officer & DirectorASEAN+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. -
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11:00–11:30amFri 20 NovFestival StageHall 1, Singapore EXPOPremiumModerator
Policy Rewiring
The Great Coordination: Managing Regulatory Multiplicity
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H.E. Chea SereyGovernorNational Bank of Cambodia
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Piero CipolloneMember of the Executive BoardEuropean Central Bank
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Maha El DimachkiChief Executive Officer, GFTN SolutionsGlobal Finance & Technology Network (GFTN)Moderator
About this session
Policy rewiring is about who moves fastest inside the gaps between rules. Regulatory strategy is now a competitive advantage, not just a compliance requirement, as sandboxes and new frameworks spread unevenly. This panel looks at how institutions manage that multiplicity, from cross-border cooperation to interoperable supervision. The key question it looks to answer: can regimes never designed to talk to each other coordinate fast enough to keep up with innovation?
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2:30–3:30pmFri 20 NovCatalyst StageHall 3, Singapore EXPOOpen
Technology Rewiring
C:\>DIR Agentic Regulator Showcase
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Bryan ZhangExecutive Director of Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance & Executive Chair of Financial Innovation for ImpactUniversity of Cambridge & Financial Innovation for Impact
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Maha El DimachkiChief Executive Officer, GFTN SolutionsGlobal Finance & Technology Network (GFTN)
About this session
AI agents are already executing workflows and making decisions at machine speed across financial systems and digital markets. Supervisors are being asked to oversee them with tools built for a slower world.
The Cambridge Digital Innovation and Regulation Initiative (C:\>DIR), hosted by Financial Innovation for Impact launched the Global 'Agentic Regulator' Hackathon in September this year.
The hackathon brought together multidisciplinary teams from the public and private sectors to work on that gap, building explainable, deployable prototypes across six priority areas:
- Agentic Financial and High Stakes AI Advice (supported by Moneybox)
- Agentic Payments, Commerce & their Oversight (supported by Ant International)
- Decentralised Market Infrastructure, Smart Contracts & AI Agents (supported by the Ethereum Foundation)
- AI-Driven Fraud and Scams
- Know Your Agent (KY-A), Digital Verification and Digital Public Infrastructure
- Market Manipulation, Agentic Herding & Stability
The winning teams now bring their work to the Catalyst Stage at the Singapore FinTech Festival. Come and see what the future of supervision could look like. -
