Virtue out of adversity

Singapore

THE Singapore FinTech Festival has always been centred around networking and collaboration, and safe-distancing measures in response to Covid-19 posed difficulties in hosting the world's largest fintech festival. But out of some hard work to innovate again comes a new round-the-clock format of having the festival hosted virtually in more than 40 satellite cities.

"We've probably made virtue out of adversity because now we have a hybrid model," said Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). "The amazing thing is that because of the new format, we've been able to get a lot more good speakers who otherwise might not have travelled all the way to Singapore, but now we've made it a lot easier for them to participate in the festival."

Such speakers include names synonymous with tech giants, including Bill Gates, Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella. The festival has also attracted top names in the financial sector, including Jane Fraser, the incoming CEO of Citi and first woman to run a major US bank, as well as CEO of BlackRock Larry Fink.

At a time of a global health crisis, the topic of globalisation continues to be revisited. But innovation rests on the very idea that it shouldn't be limited by physical boundaries.

"It truly demonstrates that innovation transcends borders. People can connect, even in the face of traditional restrictions, and that's a wonderful thing about digital platforms," Mr Menon said.

The Covid-19 crisis has spurred more demand for digitalisation services as well. For the first 10 months of the year, the Singapore fintech sector has surprisingly attracted S$1.2 billion of investments, up 30 per cent from a year ago, he said.

A pilot employment outlook survey by MAS showed that financial institutions here plan to offer 1,800 newly created jobs through to July 2021, with tech-related jobs making up about half of these new jobs.

"We read about how technology is threatening jobs, but the evidence is to the contrary," Mr Menon said.

Covid-19 has also spurred more interest in sustainable finance, and the festival will look at how fintech can also provide global, borderless, solutions to meet demand for such products.

"The other thing that a pandemic has taught us is that countries acting on their own are quite powerless against a virus that does not respect borders. The need for collaboration has really struck home, and to deal with climate change, you need a similar approach."