What a trip to Singapore for the Singapore FinTech Festival 2023
One month later retrospective on an incredibly inspiring trip to the biggest and most innovative fintech hub in the World.
In November 2023, Alessandra Guion - Gambrill, our CEO, and Jean Louis Van Houwe, chairman of our board, had the opportunity to go to Singapore joining a Belgian delegation of 25-30 delegates organised by Flanders Investment & Trade (FIT) and Hub.Brussels for the Singapore Fintech Festival.
Here is a look back at what was a mindblowing week...
The week started with a global networking event organised by HSBC on 14th Nov in partnership with Elevandi at Marina Bay Sands. Alessandra brought two key take aways from this introductory speeches and welcome drink.
Surendra Rosha, Co-Chief Executive for Asia Pacific from the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation ( HSBC ) shared how before covid, they (banks) were wondering how they were going to compete with fintechs, maybe even "survive" them. Since then, he witnessed the creation of a very promising ecosystem where traditional players, fintechs and regulators collaborate, with full confidence that this is the way forward for FS to be more resilient.
Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) shared some fun facts and food promises as the organiser/host of the SFF, which was already a striking way of making this key authority accessible, with a very human touch. What was even more fascinating was his invitation to reach out to his 30 colleagues that were going to be present in the coming days during the conference, and explore with them how to collaborate with the MAS.
The tone was set for the week, and it was very promising...
Thank you to Shadab Taiyabi for inviting the Belgian delegation to this introduction session.
The evening went on for Alessandra with a super nice networking cocktail reception organised by Luxembourg for finance and the LHoFT on the rooftop of none other than The Fullerton Bay Hotel offering us all a breathtaking view of Marina Bay.
A big thank you to Alex Panican for the invitation and all the support during the week…
The Singapore FinTech Festival is the biggest fintech event in the World with more than 66K participants, +970 speakers, 150 countries represented, all continents were greatly represented... It could be seen as overwhelming but the event and the halls are so well organised that it was actually just mind-blowing!
Key moments of the #SFF23:
On Nov. 15th, the Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) and FINTECH BELGIUM renewed their MoU in the presence of Her Excellency Colette TAQUET, the Ambassador of Belgium to Singapore. The signature was done by Shadab Taiyabi and Shakeel Rashid for SFA, Jean Louis Van Houwe and Alessandra✨ Guion - Gambrill for FinTech Belgium. The renewed MoU represents an opportunity to deepen and redefine a more active collaboration between our two associations, paving the way for increased innovation and growth for our members.
On our Belgian country pavilion, beautifully and greatly organised by Flanders Investment & Trade (FIT) and hub.brussels , showcased great Belgian fintechs such as Intelli-Select, Intix, Monizze, Paynovate, Guardsquare, SettleMint, Unbox and partners DLA Piper and The Connector.
Kudos to our valued member, InvestSuite , for their impressive presence at the event! With their own dedicated booth, they showcased their expertise and innovative solutions in the fintech space. It's always exciting to see our members excel and make waves in the industry - way to go, InvestSuite!
The whole event was a great opportunity for Alessandra and Jean-Louis to connect with old friends and a lot of new ones from everywhere around the Globe… To name just a few: Fintech Association of Japan and ELEVANDI Japan), Taiwan fintech association, Korea FinTech Industry Association (KORFIN), Africa Fintech Network, Asia FinTech Alliance (AFA), Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), Bahrain FinTech Bay, Singapore FinTech Association (SFA), The British ecosystem, The LHoFT - Luxembourg House of Financial Technology , ...
A real serendipity moment for Alessandra… The Italian regulator Camilla Bignotti from Banca d'Italia visited our booth and started sharing their Fintech Innovation hub initiative with us when we were joined by both Joseph Joshy (IFSCA) the Indian regulator and two colleagues from the National Bank of Belgium, which led to a great insightful conversation sharing knowledge and perspectives on fintech innovation across their respective jurisdictions.
It was a pleasure to have Jean-Paul Servais, Chairman of the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA), stop by the booth after his SFF stage speech.
Another highlight of these few days was the honour of meeting Mairead McGuinness, the Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, who visited our booth together with the EU Ambassador to Singapore, Iwona Piórko.
At our Belgian booth, we gathered and connected over a delightful beer-tasting session. The good old Belgian camaraderie and shared passion for fintech were palpable among the visitors and our delegation. :)
Big thank you to SFA for organising the networking drink at the end of these incredible days, and to FIT for inviting us to this very relaxing way of closing the conference!
On Nov. 15th, Her Excellency Colette TAQUET Ambassador of Belgium gracioulsy invited us to celebrate King’s Day with the whole Belgian delegation of fintechers and also a very strong Belgian community of construction, trade and harbour management experts who have played a vital role in Singapore's rise to become the second busiest port in the world!
Conclusion of Alessandra:
"The scale of this conference, the dynamism of the whole Singaporian finance ecosystem, the openness and active support of the Singaporian Central Bank to innovation and fintechs, the high volume and vibrant quality of the visits paid to our stand, and the astonishingly rich and varied encounters during that week showed not only the importance of the fintech landscape but also the growing recognition of the fintech's role in our global economy."
Singapore is also a very beautiful city with a vision, with great architecture, reclaimed land, refreshing nightlife, kind people, amazing food and the marina bay with its gardens, the resort, the breathtaking view from different points, …
Special gratitude...
Alessandra shared she was really, oh so happy to have spent special moments with GAO Bo 🥘 , Patrycja Wisniewska 🍸 🛍️ , James Varga 🙂, Chris Hollifield 🍲 🌶️🌶️🌶️ , Natasha Deloge 🧘🏻♀️, Anil Kumar Saha 🍷, Robert Brezniak 🍻, Maxime Vanderhaeghe (thank you for the t-shirt) , Takeshi Kito ...
Thank you all.
Nasir Zubairi, Christophe Regnault, H.E. the Ambassador Patrick Hemmer, David Suetens, Pierre Nemeth, Steffie Froyen, Ewout Dhont, Robert Masse, Benjamin Beeckmans, Jade Hazard, Bart Coppens, Diane Nolan, Andreas Rudorfer, Tom Vandegehuchte, Johnny Kok and Matthew Van Niekerk, Lotte Van Dijck, Pierre Berger, Nicolas, Koen Vanderhoydonck, Wouter Bens, Cedric Laridon, Bart Vanhaeren, Siow Boon Chia, kim demeyer, Sara Deckmyn, Sébastien Hardy, Arne Aertbeliën, Suzy Al Zeerah, Bader Sater, Farrah Duff, Yasmeen Al-Sharaf, Rebekah O'Connor, Nezar Alhaidar, Dongpyo Hong, Reuben Lim, Stuart Keen, Federico Cristina, Benoît Tardy, Vova Golubin, Turki AlAhmed, Sarah Corley, Takafumi Ochiai, Patrick Saidu Conteh, Alex Syrytsa, Charlie Yi, Krishnavenee Krishnan, Jaclyn Tsai, Mona Zoet and Isabel Alvarez Fernandez
