Sopnendu Mohanty Reflects on Singapore's Transformation
Ten years ago, Sopnendu Mohanty spearheaded Singapore’s journey to becoming one of the world’s leading fintech hubs. As the driving force behind the launch of the Singapore Fintech Festival, he helped establish a global platform for innovation and collaboration. This November, the festival celebrates its tenth edition. In a guest contribution on finews.asia, he reflects on the milestone and the evolution of the event over the past decade.
When I first envisioned the Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF), we aimed to build something ambitious: a platform that would bring together policymakers, innovators, and industry to solve real problems in finance.
Ten years later, that mission has only grown more urgent and more global. This year, as Singapore celebrates its 60th year of independence, SFF marks a milestone of its own: our 10th edition.
Next Decade of Growth
Themed «Framing the Next Decade of Growth», this year’s Festival celebrates the last decade of progress: from real-time payments to digital public infrastructure. Innovations like Open Banking, super apps, and cross-border corridors such as PayNow-UPI have broadened access, while API-driven architectures and digital asset pilots are reshaping financial systems.
Against a backdrop of volatility, the resilience of this community showed the world what’s possible when public and private forces align.
Access to Finance for SMEs
As we build the future pathways for growth, AI, tokenization, and quantum computing will redefine how we interact with digital systems, unlock liquidity, and strengthen infrastructure. But how these technologies are deployed with trust, interoperability, and inclusion will determine whether we build resilient, more connected systems.
And while we’ve come a long way, we still need to address unresolved challenges. Access to finance for SMEs remains a major issue, with a global financing gap estimated at $5.2 trillion. Meanwhile, 1.4 billion people worldwide remain unbanked and lack essential financial services. Ageing populations add further demand for tailored retirement, healthcare, and wealth preservation solutions.
Focus on Pressing Challenges
At the same time, the rapid rise of digital finance brings new concerns around transparency, data privacy, cybercrime, and the urgent need to manage energy consumption.
The SFF 2025 will focus on these pressing challenges and the opportunities they create, calling for strengthened collaboration as we work towards building a more resilient, inclusive, and secure financial ecosystem.
From August 2015 to January 2025, Sopnendu Mohanty served as the first Chief Fintech Officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). In this capacity, he architected Singapore’s transformation into one of the world’s premier fintech hubs. He led or supported initiatives such as the Singapore Fintech Festival, Project Ubin, API Exchange (APIX), and PayNow, public goods that have helped fuel innovation and financial inclusion. This year in February, he became the co-founder and group CEO of the Global Finance & Technology Network (GFTN), a not-for-profit organization spun off from MAS to extend its reach in the global fintech sector.
