SINGAPORE, Nov. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Organised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), in partnership with The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) and in collaboration with SingEx Holdings, the second edition of the Singapore FinTech Festival kicked off today. The week-long event promises to provide a platform for connection, collaboration and co-creation for the FinTech community around the world.
More than 25,000 participants from over 100 countries will be attending this year's Festival[1]. A new feature this year is the Investor Summit or "Deal Day", which will provide an opportunity for Singapore-based FinTech start-ups to access funding from a variety of local and global investors. The highlights of last year's Festival, including the FinTech Conference, the Global FinTech Hackcelerator, the FinTech Awards, visits to innovation labs, as well as community and networking events, will take place again this year. The Festival has received strong support from key players in the FinTech ecosystem globally.
Mr Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer, MAS, said, "We are pleased that the Singapore FinTech Festival has grown this year, to become the world's largest FinTech Festival. It is a synergistic platform for the global FinTech community to spark new ideas and gain valuable insights. There will be many opportunities for financial institutions and FinTech companies to come together and collaborate on value-adding partnerships. We are excited to build on the success of the inaugural Festival last year, and continue in our efforts to foster a thriving global FinTech ecosystem. It is a key thrust of our efforts to establish Singapore as a Smart Financial Centre and a transformational FinTech hub."
Mrs Ong-Ang Ai Boon, ABS Director, said, "ABS is proud to partner MAS for the second Singapore FinTech Festival. This year, we saw not only more participants overall but also an increase in the number of countries represented. For ASEAN especially, we are pleased that registrations have doubled from last year. We are encouraged by the continued support and enthusiasm shown by the FinTech community as they join us in what will be a robust exchange of ideas and exhibition of innovative solutions at the Festival. We look forward to yet another exciting and memorable event."
Mr Aloysius Arlando, Chief Executive Officer, SingEx Holdings, added, "We are delighted to have co-curated and designed this prestigious event for the global FinTech community together with our partners MAS and ABS. We embodied the spirit of "Festivalisation" where delegates to the FinTech Conference and Exhibition will find themselves immersed in a multi-sensory and digital experience. They will journey through 10 theme-based zones which feature more than 300 exhibitors, starts-up and country pavilions showcasing their innovative solutions; four stages of topical conferences with a stellar line-up of international and authoritative speakers; and an eclectic array of culinary delights from Singapore's leading chefs and F&B rising stars."
Festival Highlights
The Festival begins with the island-wide Innovation Lab Crawl (13 November). Twenty-four FinTech innovation labs across Singapore will showcase their solutions and offer tours and exhibitions to demonstrate their latest solutions. There will also be an Open Banking Masterclass, where participants will get an in-depth understanding about the architecture and design of an open banking system and how collaboration between financial institutions and FinTech companies can enable innovative solutions for better customer experience.
The highlight of the Festival is the three-day FinTech Conference (14-16 November). More than 160 leaders from central banks and regulatory agencies, financial institutions, venture capital firms, and FinTech companies will be speaking at the conference. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands will be speaking on using inclusive technology to build a better future, in her capacity as UN Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development. Mr Arun Jaitley, India's Finance Minister and Minister of Corporate will give the opening address on the second day of the FinTech Conference.
The Conference will focus on nine key themes, including global market insights; data analytics; tech risk; sustainable FinTech; and the future of FinTech. Participants will also be able to visit the complementary FinTech Exhibition at the Singapore Expo. More than 300 exhibitors from financial institutions, technology, and FinTech companies, will showcase their respective innovative technological solutions. There will also be a Talent Pavilion that will showcase the exciting roles in FinTech and available FinTech courses for individuals interested to pursue a career in FinTech or pick up new skills in this area. Participants can also seek personal advice from career coaches present and attend specially curated panels on talent and skills development.
The Global FinTech Hackcelerator (16 November) will showcase 20 market-ready FinTech solutions that were shortlisted from amongst 580 global submissions. These solutions are intended to solve real-life industry problems in four areas, including customer-facing solutions, regulatory technology (RegTech), and financial inclusion.
The FinTech Awards (16 November) will recognise the most outstanding innovative FinTech solutions that have been implemented by FinTech companies, financial institutions, and technology companies. Deputy Prime Minister, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, will grace the occasion.
This year, an Investor Summit or "Deal Day" (17 November) has been introduced to the programme line-up. "Deal Day" will showcase investment-worthy start-ups and disruptive technologies to local and global investors. Some key features include demonstrations by start-ups and tech exhibitions.
About the Singapore FinTech Festival
Organised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in partnership with The Association of Banks in Singapore and in collaboration with SingEx Holdings, the Singapore FinTech Festival will provide a platform for collaborations, connections and co-creations within the FinTech ecosystem in Singapore and beyond. In keeping with this spirit, the Festival is supported by the industry. Festival Grand sponsors include AMTD, Deloitte, and Prudential. A series of back-to-back events that will take place from 13 – 17 November 2017, the Festival will comprise the Global FinTech Hackcelerator, Innovation Lab Crawl, FinTech Awards, FinTech Conference, and Investor Summit. For more information, please visit www.fintechfestival.sg.
About the Monetary Authority of Singapore
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is Singapore's central bank and integrated financial regulator. As 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 stock exchanges. 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 infrastructure, adoption of technology, and upgrading of skills in the financial industry.
About The Association of Banks in Singapore
The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) plays an active role in promoting and representing 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 common understanding among its members and projected 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 154 local and foreign banks. Further information on ABS is available on the website: www.abs.org.sg.
About SingEx Holdings
The SingEx Group comprises of four closely linked companies that collectively provide a comprehensive range of integrated solutions for venue management and consultancy, exhibition and conference organising services and international exhibition related ventures. The companies under the group are subsidiaries of SingEx Holdings and are wholly owned by Temasek Holdings, one of Singapore's largest investment holding companies.
Our event arm, SingEx Exhibitions owns, develops and manages a series of trade exhibitions and conferences in Singapore and key emerging markets. The events span across various industries including urban solutions, logistics, information technology, healthcare and commodities. We organise more than 20 new-to-market events yearly such as the world's largest Singapore Fintech Festival, IoT series, LMF series, Tyrexpo series and many more, across 10 cities and 7 countries including UK, China, India, Korea, South Africa, Indonesia and Singapore.
SingEx Venues specialises in the management of Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) venues and has been managing the Singapore EXPO Convention and Exhibition Centre since 1999, and its convention wing, MAX Atria since 2012. Our venues host over 600 events and attract more 6 million visitors annually. Some of the notable and recent events include Food&HotelAsia 2016, Singapore FinTech Festival 2016/17, International Furniture Fair Singapore 2017, inter airport South East Asia 2017, Manufacturing Solutions Expo 2017 and BuildTech Asia 2017.
[1] The inaugural edition of the Singapore FinTech Festival last year saw more than 13,000 participants from across 60 countries.
