Speakers
Dr. Veerathai Santiprabhob
Former Governor
Bank of Thailand
Veerathai Santiprabhob is a distinguished macroeconomist and financial professional with over 30 years of experience spanning economic policy design, commercial banking, and capital markets. He served as the 23rd Governor of the Bank of Thailand (2015–2020), where he led the digital transformation of Thailand’s financial system and steered the country’s macroeconomic and financial stability through a period of global uncertainty.
Prior to his governorship, he held senior executive roles at the Stock Exchange of Thailand and Siam Commercial Bank, and contributed to national economic and financial policy as a member of several high-level committees.
Internationally, he served on the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) of the IMF and chaired key groups including the BIS Central Bank Governance Group, the BIS Asian Consultative Council, and the SEACEN Board of Governors.
Currently, Veerathai serves as an independent director of leading listed corporations, including SCBX, Bangkok Dusit Medical Services, Minor International, and Thai Airways International.
Deeply committed to social impact, he focuses his efforts on sustainability, education, and Buddhism. He chairs the Independent Oversight Advisory Committee of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the board of Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI). He also serves on the board of Chiang Mai University as well as on the International Advisory Board of Global Finance and Technology Network (GFTN).
Veerathai holds a Ph.D. and A.M. in Economics from Harvard University, and a B.A. in Economics (First Class Honors) from Thammasat University. He is a recipient of the Anandamahidol Foundation Scholarship and the Eisenhower Fellowship.
Speaking at SFF 2026
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4:40–5:10pmThu 19 NovPolicy StageHall 3, Singapore EXPOOpen
Technology Rewiring
Financing Financial Infrastructure in Emerging Markets
Policy StageHall 3, Singapore EXPOOpen
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Hortense MudengeChief Executive OfficerKigali International Financial Centre
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Dr. Shaji Krishnan VChairmanNABARD
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Dr. Veerathai SantiprabhobFormer GovernorBank of Thailand
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Hon. Ebson UangutaGovernorBank of Namibia
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Robert KaranjaBoard MemberMojaloop FoundationModerator
About this session
Building the infrastructure for financial inclusion and cross-border connectivity is one challenge. Financing it is another, and it's the one that usually gets skipped over in the excitement about what could be built. Is the binding constraint on financial inclusion the technology, or the capital to build and sustain it?
This panel brings together leaders from a small economy building its own digital public infrastructure, a hub positioning itself to draw global capital into a fast-growing regional market, and a development bank whose entire mandate is getting credit to populations mainstream finance still doesn't reach. The dialogue will focus on where the funding for this actually comes from, state budgets, development finance, or private capital drawn in by the right market positioning, and what it takes for a smaller or developing market to make itself genuinely investable. -

