The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced
that the third edition of the Singapore FinTech Festival will be held from 12
to 16 November 2018 in Singapore. With Singapore’s Chairmanship of ASEAN in
2018, the Festival will highlight FinTech developments and opportunities in
ASEAN.
The week-long Singapore FinTech Festival is organised by MAS
in partnership with The Association of Banks in Singapore and in collaboration
with SingEx Holdings, with strong support by the industry. It provides a
platform for connection, collaboration and cocreation on FinTech in Singapore
and beyond.
According to Mr Sopnendu Mohanty, MAS’ Chief FinTech Officer,
MAS, the Singapore FinTech Festival has grown in scale and scope over the past
two editions and has contributed to the growth of the FinTech ecosystem in
Singapore and the region.
“We look forward to welcoming FinTech players and
stakeholders from all over the world to Singapore, and to work with them to
create new value and promote financial inclusion through innovation,
digitalisation, and connectivity,” he said.
Last year, the Festival drew more than 30,000 participants
and more than 5,000 companies from over 100 countries, comprising FinTech
players, technopreneurs, policy makers, financial industry leaders, investors
including private equity players and venture capitalists, and academics.
According to the press release, this year’s FinTech Festival
will include the following:
FinTech Conference
& Exhibition (12-14 November 2018)
The three-day programme will cover 9 broad topics – Future
of Banking, InsurTech, Capital Markets, Infrastructure Financing, Blockchain
and Distributed Ledger Technology, Payments, Cyber Security, RegTech, and
Financial Inclusion. This year, early bird ticket holders will be given special
access to distinguished speakers in special “behind the scenes” sessions.
The FinTech Exhibition will have an “ASEAN Zone” to showcase
the FinTech Awards finalists and ASEAN PitchFest winners. The 2018 edition of
the FinTech conference will see an expanded range of topics with more keynote
sessions and discussions on current issues in FinTech.
ASEAN FinTech Showcaseto showcase innovative solutions from ASEAN countries. In support of
Singapore’s chairmanship of ASEAN, delegates from ASEAN countries will enjoy
special rates for tickets to the Festival.
Global FinTech
Hackcelerator (12 November 2018)
From
now to 15 June 2018, the event is calling
for submissions for Fintech solutions in 4 areas: Financial Inclusion, InsurTech,
RegTech/SupTech, and General. A panel of judges, with representation from the
private and public sector, will evaluate the submissions based on the following
criteria: relevance to problem statement, business potential, innovativeness of
idea, company profile and ability to execute. During the 12-week programme, the 20 finalist
teams will be matched with industry mentors and corporate clients to customise
their market-ready solutions into contextualised prototypes ready for adoption.
The finalist teams will also receive a cash stipend of S$20,000, mentorship and
business guidance from the industry, development infrastructure and technology
support, as well as industry and network connections.
Artificial
Intelligence (AI) in Finance Summit (13-14 November 2018)
The Summit will explore emerging AI solutions in trading,
investment management, customer service, and risk management. It will also
include discussions on quantum computing as well as governance and ethics in
the application of AI.
FinTech Investor
Summit (14 November 2018)
The Summit will feature: (1) FinTech Deal Day to facilitate
FinTech investment deals, supported by customised research reports on the
participating FinTech companies, and (2) Meet ASEAN’s Talents and Champions
(MATCH) to facilitate deal-making by showcasing next-generation ASEAN startups
and enterprises across all sectors, and connecting them with potential
investors.
FinTech Awards
(14 November 2018)
The award categories have been revised to allow for more
participation from ASEAN countries. A PitchFest component will be held across
ASEAN countries, where promising FinTech companies will pitch their implemented
solutions. Up to 5 winners from each country will get free tickets to the
Singapore FinTech Festival.
The FinTech Awards, comprising the MAS FinTech Awards and
ABS Global FinTech Award, recognises
innovative financial technology solutions that have been implemented/deployed
by FinTech companies, financial institutions, and technology companies.
To qualify, the projects must have already been
implemented/deployed. A panel of judges representing a cross-section of experts
from the private and public sector, such as venture capital, accelerators,
consultancies, industry associations, and government, will evaluate entries on
the following parameters: (1) impact which includes productivity,
profitability, user experience, risk management, knowledge-transfer, and
applicability beyond the financial sector, (2) practicality which includes ease
of implementation, scalability, and cost-effectiveness, (3) interoperability, (4)
uniqueness and creativity.
Examples include, but are not limited to APIs, big data,
biometrics, blockchain, virtual reality, internet of things, machine learning,
artificial intelligence, credit scoring, predictive analytics, quantum
processing, risk profiling, and smart contracts.
Award recipients will each receive between S$50,000 and
S$150,000. The total quantum for the MAS FinTech Awards is up to S$1.2 million.
Innovation Lab Crawl (15
-16 November 2018)
The island-wide event will be extended to 2 days to allow
visitors to spend more time at the innovation labs across more than 20
financial institutions to discover the latest FinTech creations. It offers a
good opportunity for participants to network with start-ups and key innovation
executives
More information on the Festival can be found here.
