Day 4 had a strong international focus at the start of the World Fintech Festival with speakers and specialist forums dealing with market and regulatory developments across the world, including sessions on developments in Australia, Japan, China, Cambodia, India, Nigeria and various Nordic countries.
The role of FinTech in facilitating green financing and sustainability remained a key topic in discussions on Day 4, including in the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s presentation on its Project Greenprint. This project is a collection of initiatives to use Fintech to enable the development of a transparent and efficient ESG ecosystem. The MAS will be partnering with industry stakeholders to pilot common data platforms to aggregate sustainability data from different sources and for different industry sectors. Project Greenprint will facilitate sharing of this data and assist stakeholders in making decisions on green finance initiatives and monitoring compliance with ESG commitments.
A number of speakers on Day 4 also addressed the potentials of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and the impact that they may have on traditional financial services, infrastructure and practices. According to the Bank for International Settlement, 86% of central banks are researching the use of CBDCs in 2021. CBDCs have the potential to revolutionise payment services by allowing secure digital transfers without the volatility experienced by other digital currencies. CBDCs could streamline domestic and international trade and enable more effective monitoring and regulation of economic activity. However, realising these potentials will require cooperation and consensus across various stakeholders and the Fintech Festival had speakers from technology providers and central banks.
Continue reading: Final day – Themes of the Singapore FinTech Festival