Monetary Authority of Singapore to establish ‘Global Finance & Technology Network’ –

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is establishing a ‘Global Finance & Technology Network’ to replace Elevandi – the non-profit entity that it set up just over three years ago to ‘foster an open dialogue between the public and private sectors to harness fintech for growth and development in the new digital economy’ – as it looks to ‘enhance the impact’ of its fintech activities.

The island city-state’s central bank and integrated financial regulator is already well regarded as a leading authority when it comes to developing fintech-related regulation and encouraging financial innovation – a reputation cemented by the Singapore FinTech Festival. Elevandi has had a key role in organising this globally renowned annual event, whose ninth edition will take place next week (6-8 November).

The decision to launch the new initiative, which has the initialism GFTN, has been taken to ‘further strengthen Singapore as a global fintech hub and enhance global connectivity for impactful innovation in financial services’, according to a MAS press release issued today (30 October). Details of its ‘functions, strategies and governance’ will, it states, be announced separately by GFTN.

‘GFTN will be established to catalyse the growth of the Singapore fintech ecosystem and drive greater synergies and networks with the global fintech community,’ MAS states. Those involved in the initiative will work alongside MAS to ‘advance industry and policy dialogues in payments, asset tokenisation and artificial intelligence/quantum’. They ‘will also support MAS’s efforts to develop and grow a vibrant fintech ecosystem, and scale SFF as the premier global fintech event.’

Two of the best-known names in global public sector fintech will have GFTN roles: Ravi Menon, who was MAS’s managing director from 2011 to 2023, will be chairman of GFTN’s board of directors. Sopnendu Mohanty will become GFTN group chief executive officer from 1 February 2025, relinquishing his current role as MAS’s chief fintech officer.

RELATED ARTICLE Monetary Authority of Singapore names new head as Menon steps down – a news story (5 September 2023) on MAS appointing Chia Der Jiun, who wat the time was permanent secretary (development) at Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower, to succeed Ravi Menon as MD

Four ‘strategic businesses’

Elevandi has been led by Pat Patel since 2022. In a post today on LinkedIn, he writes that ‘today [30 October] marks a very special day as the Global Finance & Technology Network is launched and builds on the great work that has been flawlessly executed by Elevandi.’

‘It only feels like yesterday that we were still at the MAS, building a team and securing our seed capital to launch Elevandi,’ Patel states in his post. ‘During those dark days of Covid in 2020-21, there were many moments that I lost belief that we would be able to make it happen. Somehow with perseverance, some lucky breaks and a great team, we not only launched Elevandi, we built a business that would go on to expand into Europe, Africa, Japan and Brazil.’

Patel, who formerly worked for MAS before moving across to Elevandi, states that he is ‘looking forward to working [with] and learning from our new leaders.’ As well as Menon – currently Singapore’s ambassador for climate action and senior advisor at the National Climate Change Secretariat – and Mohanty, Patel references two deputy chairmen: MAS deputy managing director Leong Sing Chiong and Neil Parekh, who is a nominated member of parliament and non-executive chairman at alternative asset management group Tikehau Capital.  

‘Our purpose is to harness technology and foster innovation through global partnerships for more efficient, resilient and inclusive financial ecosystems,’ Patel writes, stating that the new entity will have four ‘strategic businesses’: Forums, Advisory, Platforms and Capital.

Kenneth Gay, who has been with MAS for more than two decades in regulatory and technology roles and is currently executive director heading its ‘enterprise knowledge’ department, has been appointed as MAS’s chief fintech officer (designate) from 6 November until taking up the role for real when Mohanty shifts to GFTN. The latter will continue to act as an advisor to MAS’s ‘FinTech & Innovation Group’, which he has led since its formation nine years ago.

RELATED ARTICLE Singapore authority unveils next steps for digital money initiatives – a news story (18 November 2023) on MAS announcing updates and next steps on initiatives including the publication of a ‘blueprint’ setting out the infrastructure required for a digital Singapore dollar

‘Scaling up our fintech strategies’

“The establishment of GFTN, with Ravi as the chairman of GFTN’s board, marks a new phase in scaling up and enhancing the impact of our fintech strategies,” said MAS managing director Chia Der Jiun (in the authority’s press release).

He described Menon and Mohanty as “instrumental in the growth of Singapore’s fintech ecosystem”.

Menon gave a keynote speech at last year’s Singapore FinTech Festival during which he described MAS’s goal as “nothing short of audacious – to collaborate with the financial industry and international partners to shape the financial ecosystem of the future.”

He described “three key outcomes we want to collectively achieve”: instant payments – “making cross-border payments cheaper, faster and more efficient”; seamless financial transactions – “enabling financial assets to be transacted seamlessly across multiple trading venues through digital assets, digital money and interoperable digital networks”; and a ‘trusted sustainability ecosystem’ – “fostering a trusted data and disclosure ecosystem to support sustainable finance for the world’s transition to net-zero.”

With this year’s Singapore FinTech Festival imminent, MAS has also announced the finalists for the ‘Global FinTech Hackcelerator’ 2024. This is an annual competition which is this year focused on encouraging products and tools that can improve ‘financial health’. The 18 finalists comprise fintech firms and solution providers from Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and US.