Singapore, 17 November 2021… The sixth edition of the Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) with the  theme “Web 3.0 and its impact on financial services” concluded on 12 November 2021. The  week-long event attracted 60,000 attendees, representing a 33% year-on-year growth.

2 SFF 2021 drew over 2 million views. Viewership was extended with live broadcasts on  local and international television networks and social media. Of the more than 160 countries  represented, 52% of the registrations came from outside of Singapore – reflecting the global  appeal of the Web 3.0 theme, and the quality of the content.

3 SFF 2021, which comprised keynote speeches, panel discussions, meetings, online  learning, live events and innovation showcases saw participation from over 7,500 organisations and featured more than 700 speakers who shared insights across 240 hours of content. More  than 260 exhibitors set up virtual booths, including 14 International Pavilions and 11 World  FinTech Festival partners who hosted international satellite events. In keeping with the SFF’s  mission to promote dialogue, over 4,000 virtual meetings conducted through the business  matching platform.

4 22 innovation labs hosted physical and virtual tours and meetings for 3,800 participants1,  while side events including OXYGEN by APIX, SME Day, 11 World FinTech Festival events, SFF Mini  Symposium2, Elevandi Forum3 and Deal Fridays4, took place during the week.

1300 attended physically and 3,500 participated virtually.

2The SFF Mini Symposium took place physically on 11 November 2021 and was live streamed from Singapore. It  included the awards presentations and panel discussions with industry thought leaders on some of the most critical  themes in the industry.

3 Consisting five exclusive forums of innovative and impact topics across the spectrum of FinTech evolution which  took place over 11 to 12 November 2021.

4 Deal Fridays is a platform for deal-making opportunities and aims to deliver end-to-end support for global startups,  investors and corporates to maximise commercial success in forging investment deals, co-innovation opportunities  and business partnerships.

Key highlights 

The following are the key highlights of SFF 2021.

A platform for continued learning

5 In line with the theme of Web 3.0, SFF 2021 introduced a Web 3.0 certification  programme to support learning, development and upskilling in Web 3.0 focus areas. Over 5,000  knowledge certificates were awarded digitally via blockchain technology to participants from  over 80 countries. The certificates were issued by The Asian Institute of Digital Finance in  partnership with the National University of Singapore. More knowledge certificates are expected  to be awarded as the programme continues until 30 September 2022.

6 Also new this year was a dedicated SME Day where SME leaders and academics shared  practical learnings on building strong and resilient businesses for the future. SME Day participants  received a Digital Certificate of Knowledge. As of 14 November 2021, 84% of SME Day learners  successfully earned a knowledge certificate. In collaboration with Digital Pilipinas in the  Philippines, SFF supported the local community through the development of the I-ITERATE Digital Knowledge Certification. This programme focused on digital infrastructure to support Open  Finance, RegTech, Risk & Cybersecurity, and InsurTech & HealthTech.

7 A new initiative launched at SFF this year is ATOMS, a not-for-profit initiative which  provides a community where entrepreneurs connect and share meaningful insights. During SFF,  ATOMS featured more than 45 short form videos across Asia-Pacific, USA and Northern Europe,  that entrepreneurs can listen to and learn from in 120 second, bite-sized videos via a free mobile  app.

Launch of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’ tech and innovation initiatives 8 MAS and its partner agencies made the following announcements to bring about new  digital efficiencies and benefits to the financial sector:

• National Artificial Intelligence Programme in Finance – MAS and the National AI Office  (NAIO) launched the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Programme in Finance to build  deep AI capabilities within Singapore’s financial sector to strengthen customer service,  risk management, and business competitiveness;
• Phase two of SGFinDex – MAS and the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group  launched the second phase of the Singapore Financial Data Exchange (SGFinDex), allowing  individuals to now view information on their investment holdings at The Central  Depository as part of their consolidated financial position;
• Sandbox Plus – MAS announced Sandbox Plus, an enhancement to the MAS FinTech  Regulatory Sandbox framework, to further catalyse financial innovation and FinTech  adoption; and
• Retail Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) paper – MAS released a paper outlining MAS’  preliminary assessment of the economic case for a retail CBDC in Singapore, and its  potential implications for financial stability and monetary policy.

Industry collaboration and innovation initiatives

9 Several industry collaboration and initiatives were launched to drive innovation in the  future of finance:

• Digital platforms under Project Greenprint – MAS announced its partnership with the  industry to pilot four digital platforms under Project Greenprint, to address the financial  sector’s needs for good data on sustainability;
• ChekFin on APIX – ChekFin, a decentralised credentials platform to enable financial  institutions to obtain verified credentials of FinTech firms, such as business references,  awards obtained, and investor funding records. ChekFin is a partnership among the  ASEAN Financial Innovation Network, BCG FinTech Control Tower, and Affinidi, with MAS  as a founding partner;
• Cross-border digital payments – NETS announced integration of Alipay+ to enhance local  merchants’ cross-border digital payments capabilities, and Western Union announced  that it is supporting cross-border digital money movement with Singtel’s Dash; and
• Small business financing – Mastercard launched the world’s first “Buy Now, Pay Later”  commercial card solution for small business financing in APAC.

Innovation Awards

10 SFF 2021 also saw the launch of two new innovation challenges to solve industry problems  – the Global CBDC Challenge which seeks to identify and develop retail CBDC solutions that  increase payment efficiencies and improve financial inclusion and the Global Veritas Challenge  which aims to address key challenges in validating the fairness of AI solutions for specific banking  use cases. SFF 2021 also celebrated the winning solutions of the Global FinTech Hackcelerator,  the SFF Global FinTech Awards and the Most Innovative FinTech e-Gifting Award.

International co-operation

11 A number of important international cooperation initiatives were also announced at SFF  2021, such as:

MAS and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas signed an enhanced FinTech Cooperation  Agreement to facilitate interoperable payments between Singapore and the Philippines;

• Federal Councillor Ueli Maurer, in cooperation with finance.swiss, SFF and Elevandi  announced the Europe-Asia FinTech Forum in Switzerland. This Forum will build a bridge  between Asia and Europe and seek to bring together the very best technologists, with  investors and leaders to develop innovative ideas and inclusive solutions; and
• SFF 2021 added new partners such as the World Economic Forum and a continued  partnership with the Milken Institute.

12 SFF is organised by MAS and Elevandi, in partnership with The Association of Banks in  Singapore and in collaboration with Constellar Holdings. The SFF organising team thanks all our  sponsors, partners and participants for being a part of this year’s event. We look forward to  continued collaboration with the industry to bring together an exciting and impactful SFF 2022,  from 7 to 11 November 2022.