Highlights of the Singapore Fintech Festival 2018

More than 40,000 participants from more than 100 countries gathered in the largest meeting of the world's financial technology community in history at the Singapore fintech festival, which took place from November 12 to 16, 2018.

This year's agenda was rich in content, focusing on the ASEAN market, financial inclusiveness, artificial intelligence (AI) at Fintech, insurtech and others.

Rafi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), began the event by sharing the organizer's ambitions for a smart financial center and Singapore's technology trip since 2015.

6 key areas of focus

In order to achieve its ambition to become a leader in biotechnology technology, MAS has six components in the technological technology of FINTECH:

People: Adopt a multi-pronged approach to address the lack of technological skills and train future generations of advanced technology specialists.

Identity: Through the launch of NDI and a powerful component, MyInfo, a digital service that allows citizens to authorize third parties to access their personal data in various government agencies.

Payments: Upon completion of the national e-payment infrastructure, including FAST, 24-hour real-time money transfer infrastructure; PayNow, which allows immediate transfer of funds using an email or mobile phone number; UPOS, Standard is based on open standards around the world; SGQR, the first of its kind in the world uses a standard QR code in Singapore.

Data Governance: Development of principles to guide responsible use of data in financial services and dissemination of a set of principles to promote integrity, ethics, responsibility and transparency or FEAT, in the use of artificial intelligence and analysis of data.

Applied research: Launching initiatives as $ 27 million support scheme to support research and development in artificial intelligence and data analysis for the financial sector and to partner with MIT Media Research and Development Laboratory at FINTECH. This year, the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore established the Fintech Fast Track Patent Initiative.

Innovation Platforms: Link people and ideas, particularly through initiatives such as AFIN, the ASEAN Financial Innovation Network. AFIN combines banks and financial companies to develop solutions that improve financial inclusion in the region. AFIN API Exchange, or APIX, launched the first open platform for open architecture in the world to improve financial integration. MAS and InfoComm Media Development (IMDA) are working together to create a cross-border innovation platform for small and medium businesses called Business Sans Borders.

Banking in the digital age

Many topics were discussed during the Singapore fintech festival this year, including how banks respond to the revolution of financial technology.

In Europe, according to Accenture, 30% of new revenue is already coming from non-banking entities, and large banks are reviewing their strategies. However, only 7% of banking operations are digitized.

Bill Winters, chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank Group, said the digital transformation of banks is still in its early stages. However, there is a lot of innovation in financial services from banks or insurance companies. For example, innovations in trade finance, such as cross-border wholesale payments, have emerged from the banking industry. Fintechs supported these efforts, because they were partners in this regard.

AI in finance

With millions of dollars spent on advanced artificial intelligence technologies and applications in industries ranging from finance to agriculture and transformation, it is no wonder that artificial intelligence is one of the main focus areas of the Fintech Singapore Festival in 2018.

While artificial intelligence can help reduce poverty, increase productivity, save time and reduce human error, it also poses many risks, the most important of which is job impact, data transparency, and algorithms. Experts said addressing these risks would be critical to the spread of artificial intelligence in the financial sector.

Best singapore festival In the financial services sector, the impact of artificial intelligence is expected to be deep and holistic. Samuel Tessin, Chief Executive Officer of OCBC Bank commented, "Amnesty International provides the ability to integrate internal banking data with the huge external data data to explore and deliver a much more valuable vision than before. Access to external data allows banks to understand and analyze the expected behavior of the consumer, giving them the opportunity to customize the journey of the client experience according to their interests. Anti-money laundering control can also be improved through artificial intelligence by learning consumer behavior and identifying patterns.

Jessica Tan, deputy executive director and chief executive officer of Ping An Insurance Group, China Corporation, said her company puts technology, especially Amnesty International, in the lead.

In addition to the use of artificial intelligence in claims and loans, Ping An has also implemented voice robotics programs in call centers and robotic training years to acquire knowledge of its powerful products and the myriad types of customer questions.

Helen Liang, Managing Partner of FoundersX Ventures, believes face recognition is one of the most important applications of artificial intelligence today, as it is widely used in security customs, traffic control, and banking systems.

Stephen White, a professor at the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Department and the strategy of the School of Economics and Administration at Tsinghua University, said the education and health sectors had undergone a major change as Amnesty International arrived.

Focus on the ASEAN region

Other issues at the heart of the discussion were the ASEAN region and its many opportunities.

Experts highlighted the high prevalence of mobile phones in the region and youth with digital literacy. Denis Ku, head of digital banking and digital banking at UOB Bank, said at least 60 percent of ASEAN is under 35, which means 400 million customers. In 2017, it owns less than half of the smartphone population and will increase the figure to 65%.

Chartiri Sophonpanich, President of Bangkok Bank PCL, pointed out that Thailand and the ASEAN market are examples of globalization, regionalization and digitization of the platform. Digital banking has improved access in rural areas, experienced banking experience and changed lifestyle.

In the Philippines, the focus is on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), where FINTECH offers value proposition in the field of incorporation and credit, said Gusto Ortis, chairman of Union Bank of the Philippines. Alternative registration and limited funding.

John Libor, General Counsel for Policy and Defense at MasterCard, shared his experience in the MasterCard-Brough partnership in Southeast Asia in developing virtual cards and virtual cards. The cards have created opportunities for individuals who do not have bank accounts to use cash in a variety of ways that are easily accessible to recharge their accounts. The use of QR codes is also mentioned, which allows small traders to participate in digital transactions and reduce reliance on cash.

During the round table, ASEAN leaders in the financial technology of funding associations Modalku, Coins.ph and Ascend Money Co. And Jirnexu their expectations about the future of their industry.

Tanyapong Thamavaranukupt, president of Ascend Money Co. Ltd, to adopt digital payments further increase, but in any way will depend to a large extent on factors such as penetration of technologies such as smart phones and / or availability of data services. It is believed that as digital payments grow, digital loans will be produced organically as payment companies get more data to subscribe to.

Ron Hoss, CEO of Coins.ph, believes growth in biotechnology will explode. As the penetration of the smartphone, the financial services infrastructure to provide services to consumers will be at the forefront of this growth.

Insurtech

Speaking at a roundtable discussion on the future of the insurance industry, Chris Wei, Asia's chief executive officer and FPI and president of Aviva Asia Pte Ltd, said insurtech has a big role to play in improving and simplifying customer experience. The client's journey. The industry should not see technological giants as a threat, but an opportunity to generate ideas and create market gaps.

Experts pointed to the potential of smart contracts to create and implement an effective business logic, eliminating the complexity of the current recruitment process. Speakers agreed that the blockchain, in the end, will ideally work in the background to provide an excellent customer experience.

Deep techniques, including massive data, artificial intelligence, machine vision and unmanned aerial vehicles, have the potential to disrupt the industry. One area that has seen rapid growth is the use of drones to gather information such as weather, rain, farmland and construction sites. The data collected by these UAVs helps insurance companies improve their subscription and pricing policies.

MAS launches private market program / Global Investor Summit

During the Global Investor Summit, Peter Ong, Chairman of Enterprise Singapore and member of the MAS Board, introduced a new element at Singapore's Fintech Festival called the Meet ASEAN Talents and Champions (MATCH), a treatment platform linking global capital with the ASEAN business community.

Ong also announced the launch of the MAS program, where the regulator will allocate $ 5 billion of its own funds as part of its asset portfolio in private markets. The funds will be allocated to key infrastructure and private equity fund managers around the world committed to deepening their existing presence or seeking to create a large presence in Singapore. MATCH will be completed to build market-specific platforms that connect developing companies and investors.

Fintech Award winners

This year, again, the Fintech Awards celebrated the achievements of Fintech companies, but while previous years focused on companies in Singapore, the Best singapore festival saw the expansion of the awards to ASEAN countries..

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