Asia is becoming a hot bed for fintech with surges in investments and growing interest from foreign investors. Things are moving fast in the fintech world and it gets harder and harder to keep up with the burgeoning industry. What are the emerging trends? Who are the new kids on the block? How are governments responding to new financial disruptors?
Thankfully, an increasing number of events and conferences are being held in Asia to stimulate discussion and development.
Earlier this week, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) hosted the Financial World: Application Programming Interfaces Conference 2016 which was dedicated to “pave the way for financial technology innovation in Singapore.”
Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer of MAS, said that the central bank encourages financial institutions to tap on emerging and innovative financial technology, noting that APIs enabled them to “leverage on external talent by enabling seamless and secure third party software integration.”
The two-day event gathered more than 100 decision-makers across business, operations, technology, architecture, infrastructure, compliance and information security to discuss API strategy, implementation experience and key insights on information security and data governance.
But for now, here is a list of 27 of the most important upcoming “FinTech” events in the region for this year:
In case you ask us the recommend 3 events out of this list for May we would choose: Finnovasia in Hong Kong, BankTech in Manila and Fintech Agent, the 1st Fintech conference in Mynamar. The reason is simple, we will also be there.
Tech in Asia Singapore 2016
April 12-13, 2016, Singapore
Tech in Asia’s 12th edition conference will be held in Singapore. This year, it will introduce six stages to the conference: Main Stage, Bootstrap Alley, Arena, Night Crawl, Startup Investor Speed Dating, and Meet the Media. Tech in Asia Singapore 2016 expects to showcase over 300 exciting startups.
Future Bank Asia 2016
April 20-21,2016 , Singapore
The conference format has been designed to enable you to learn from the best case studies from across Asia and then dive deeper and discuss topics in depth in roundtable focused groups.
The conference will tackle many issues, including:
- How to develop an effective omni-channel strategy
- How digital disruption will change the customer experience
- Building a branch-less and less branch strategy
- Building a brand for the future
- New mobile banking opportunities
- Creating personalised products and experience
- How to become data and insight driven
- Opportunities for Neo banks and Challenger Banks
Card and Payment Asia 2016
The Card and Payment Asia 2016 conference format has been designed to enable participants to learn from the best in Asia and the leaders in the payments industry.
There will be keynotes from visionaries followed by in-depth discussions in the roundtable sessions and 20-minute case study presentations from those at the forefront of change.
The conference will tackle many issues, including payment disruption and innovation, payments and the customer experience, digital currencies and wallets, improving customer experience with mobile wallet, bitcoin and digital currencies, opportunities in carrier billing for Asia, and many others.
Smart Award 2016
April 19-22, 2016, Singapore
Each year the SMART Awards Asia honours companies and individuals who have transformed their respective industry and provided real value back to their customers. Voted on by our community, and by a panel of andpicked experts, the awards are an opportunity to reflect on the best of the last year.
On April 20th those who have demonstrated unparalleled excellence in the cards, payments,retail, e-commerce and banking industry will get awarded.
2016 Fintech Law in Asia
April 27-29, 2016, Nagoya, Japan
This conference is trying to show the primary result of a research team focus on peer-to-peer lending by interdisciplinary and cross-border members in the following issues – Economics and Finance Law in China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
Next Bank Singapore Meetup Femtech
May 05, 2016, Singapore
Next Bank Singapore is a regular meetup group dedicated to discussing the intersection of banking, design and technology in creative spaces, with inspiring people, talking about really interesting and global topics, with a few drinks to boot.
On May 05, Next Bank Singapore will be hosting a special event dedicated to FemTech leaders.
China Fintech Tour
May 10 – 11, 2016, Beijing & Shanghai, China
In a series of Industrial Tours, China FinTech Tour takes guests to the typical Chinese FinTech Companies, including: Yeepay, GlobeBill, Ren Ren Dai, Yirendai, Pai Pai Dai, etc. In the tour, the guests have an opportunity to hear the pitches from these companies. This provides an insight of FinTech in China.
The Asian Banker Summit
May 10-12, 2016, Hanoi, Vietnam
The Asian Banker will hold its flagship Summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2016. The region, through its rapid structural reforms, and home to untapped natural and human resource, is poised to become the next hub of financial investment, trade inflows, supply-chain networks and infrastructure development.
The Asian Banker Summit 2016 will continue to include several conferences and workshops in one, catering to bankers, corporates, broker-dealers, treasurers and regulators.
Fintech & Agent Banking Myanmar Summit (OUR PICK)
May 17-18, 2016, Yangon, Myanmar
The inaugural Emerging Asia FinTech & Agent Banking Summit 2016 is set to deliver first-hand insights and robust opinions from industry experts to help you better strategize your FinTech and Agent Banking blueprints. It is the first Fintech conference in the country.
Network with key industry players and seize the opportunity to benefit from the only authoritative platform that showcases and dissects real issues, providing you with a practical assessment of emerging opportunities from the region’s financial transformation.
E-Payments Summit Philippines
May 16 – 19, 2016, Makati, the Philippines
E-Payments Summit Philippines aims at building competitiveness through mobile and digital payments for future growth opportunities in the country.
Top-managers and directors of the leading Southeast Asian enterprises across Banking, FinTech, eCommerce, Retail and Telcos industries will gather at the E-Payments Summit to present practical cases and share their in-depth experiences on a range of topics, including: Usability and Customer Adoption, Cyber-security, E-Payments Infrastructure & Regulation, Technological disruption and Innovation in the payment landscape.
InnovFest unBound
May 17 – 18, 2016, Singapore
Hosted by NUS Enterprise and unBound Media together with the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, InnovFest unBound aims at being a place where brands connect with disruptive innovation and explore Asian opportunities.
InnovFest unBound will leverage its network of partners and deliver a platform for the unBound community of startups, investors, brands, corporates and media to meet with the National University of Singapore (NUS) Enterprise community of government agencies and leading researchers in a unique environment to forge new relationships, share knowledge and create business opportunities in Asia.
BankTech Asia 2016 Manila Series (OUR PICK)
May 24-25, 2016, Manila, the Philippines
BankTech Asia 2016 Manila Series will be hitting the Philippines market with its annual banking technology conference. The retail banking technology conference has been designed to help the retail banking industry advance and reposition their strategic responses to the ever-changing technological environment within the Philippines.
Finnovasia Hong Kong 2016 (OUR PICK)
May 30, 2016, Hong Kong
Finnovasia is one of the leading fintech events in the region with over 500 attendees and 25 speakers from 18 countries. The conference aims at creating a “unique chemistry between fintech entrepreneurs, investors, bankers and governments” in Asia and internationally.
The conference will cover areas and issues such as partnerships between banks and fintech startups, venture capital and fundraising, the future of alternative finance in Asia, insurtech, regtech, and many more.
Speakers will include Vitalik Buterin of Ethereum Foundation, Chris Gledhill of Secco Bank, Susanne Chishti of Fintech Circle and The Fintech Book, Markus Gnirck of tryb and Startupbootcamp Fintech Singapore, among many other big names in the industry.
Get 15% Discount with Code “FTNSG15”
RISE Conference
May 31 – June 02, 2016, Hong Kong
In May 2016, people from the world’s biggest companies and most exciting startups will come to Hong Kong to share their stories and experiences at RISE. They’ll be joined by major global media, hundreds of investors and thousands of attendees for three days of legendary networking.
RISE is produced by the team behind Web Summit. In 5 years, Web Summit has become Europe’s largest tech conference which this year attracted 42,000 attendees from 134 countries around the world.
CommunicAsia 2016
May 31 – June 03, 2016, Singapore
Bringing together global leaders as well as emergent players providing the technology and innovations that are enabling digital transformation of businesses and cities all around Asia, CommunicAsia2016, EntepriseIT2016 and BroadcastAsia2016 will be held from 31 May – 3 June 2016 at Marina Bay Sands Singapore.
The key trending technologies that will be covered during the event include the Internet of Things, converged connected services, borderless broadband, security and cybersecurity, and satcomm.
World FinTech Forum 2016
The ‘World Fintech Forum 2016 Seoul’ will be held at the Korea Exchange (KRX), Seoul, Korea, during June 2nd & 3rd, 2016, with the main theme of “The Future of Money: From Analog Money to Digital Money” with a subtitle of “The shapes and the flows of money”.
‘Money’ has been used by mankind as a means to store value as well as a means to exchange goods for thousands of years and it will continue to stay around mankind. However, as time changes and the technology advances, the shapes of the currency and how the currencies are exchanged – the infrastructure – has been evolving continuously.
The first of its kind, ‘World Fintech Forum 2016 Seoul’ will gather experts of FinTech from more than 16 countries around the globe in the capital of Korea and will share the latest knowledge, business model and the regulations and support policies of different governments around the world on how the existing analog money has been transforming into the digital money, and how the infrastructure of the money exchange is going through an innovation and how the shapes of the money will look in the future.
The Forum will provide an in-depth knowledge for the FinTech industry participants, and intriguing information on the latest ‘currency economy’ for the general public and the consumers of money.
The Forum is Officially Supported by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MISP) and the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of the government of the Republic of Korea as well as Korea Exchange (KRX), Korea’s leading public stock exchange. The event also is driven by its Official Partners; Korea FinTech Forum, Silicon Valley Forum, Korea Mobile Finance Forum, Korea CFO School, Open Source Promotion Association, Finance ICT Convergence Society, K-OTC Business Association and The Blockchain Forum.
20:20 Customer Experience in Financial Services: Asia Pacific
June 07-08, 2016, Singapore
Marketforce willhost the inaugural 20:20 Customer Experience in Financial Services Asia Pacific conference. Providing a platform for industry leaders to explore, discuss and debate the current and future trends in customer experience.
Asia Banking Forum Digital Transformation in Retail Banking
June 15 – 16, 2016, Singapore
Asia Banking Forum will return to Singapore on 15th – 16th of June and bring together senior level representatives from the banking industry to discuss practical and innovative customer engagement strategies, network with peers and discover novel technologies and services that can enhance engagement with consumers.
The program will offer delegates valuable insight shared by retail banks from across Southeast Asia, with sessions delivered by banks in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Attendees will take away practical insight about how to overcome competition, increase wallet-share and reach the unbanked populations of the region.
Echelon Asia Summit 2016
June 15 – June 16, Singapore
Echelon Asia Summit 2016 is a two-day summit that attracts over 5,000 top-tier digital professionals and entrepreneurs set to create and amplify opportunities in the fields of technology, business and investments across Asia. It promises to deliver an event experience like no other! We don’t want to give it all away yet – but keep an eye out..
Digital Wealth Singapore
June 16, 2016, Singapore
Digital Wealth Asia aims to further deepen, refresh and enhance the coverage and engagement of technology in Asian wealth management.
The real disruptive potential of mobile, digital, social and cloud technologies and channels continued to re-shape the look and feel of wealth management today. This is across all aspects of the value chain, from client acquisition to advice to ongoing portfolio monitoring and decision-making.
Digital Disruption Asian Summit
June 20 – 23, 2016, Singapore
The 2nd Annual Digital Disruption Asia Summit presents this year’s theme, “Disruptive Innovation and Value Creation in the Digital Economy”, where they align pioneering methodologies and business case studies, to lead and demonstrate how to foster agile development and innovative enterprises that create value, for business continuity in the digital economy.
BankTech Asia Jakarta Series
August 24 – 25, 2016, Jakarta, Indonesia
Special Offer: Sign up now with code FNS10 to get 10% discount for event tickets!
BankTech Asia 2016 is now creating a presence in Indonesia with its signature banking technology conference with a specific focus on local issues within Indonesia.
BankTech Asia – Jakarta 2016 is the leading banking technology conference to network with key industry influencers and decision makers, recognize leading-edge products and solutions, and discuss best practice strategies for applying innovation within your organization.
Cards & Payments Asia Philippines 2016
September 06 – 07, 2016, Manila, the Philippines
Cards and Payments Asia is one of the region’s biggest events dedicated to payments innovation and technology.
C-level executives and heads of cards, payments, retail banking, prepaid, security, marketing, loyalty, transit and IT will attend the conference.
From major banks, government, telecoms, transport operators and retailers across Philippines and those looking to launch in this market.
Mobile Wallet 2016
September 27-30, 2016, Jakarta, Indonesia
4th Annual Mobile Wallet Conference addresses the key factors in implementing a successful business model and players’ collaboration to accelerate scale and adoption in mobile wallets in Asia Pacific.
Focusing on the latest initiatives for mobile wallets and insights on consumer and retailer’s adoption & awareness, IBC’s 4th Annual Mobile Wallets will continue to address the key factors in implementing a successful business model and players’ collaboration to accelerate scale and adoption in mobile wallets in Asia. The conference not only provides a single platform for market trends, insights and networking opportunities, it convenes international and regional key players to exchange ideas on innovative approaches driving mobile wallet initiatives in Asia.
Cards & Payments Asia Indonesia 2016
October 12 – 13, 2016, Jakarta, Indonesia
Following Cards and Payments Asia’s Filipino edition, another conference will be held in Indonesia.
The conference will tackle many issues, including:
- Payment disruption and innovation
- Payments and the customer experience
- Digital currencies and wallets
- Improving customer experience with mobile wallet
- Bitcoin and digital currencies
- Opportunities in carrier billing for Indonesia
- New opportunities created by data analytics
- Financial inclusion in Indonesia
- Impact of alternative currencies and payments
- Cyber security threats to payments and banks
BankTech Asia – Regional Series Kuala Lumpur
November 08 – 09, 2016, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Special Offer: Sign up now with code FNS10 to get 10% discount for event tickets!
BankTech Asia will be returning to Kuala Lumpur in 2016 with the 8th annual banking technology conference & exhibition with specific focus on regional issues.
The conference will bring the latest on what’s hot and what’s not from the industry, while displaying the state of the art banking technological elements that were utilized in creating new tools to boost customer’s banking experience.
Digital Wealth Hong Kong
November 16, 2016, Hong Kong
Five months after Digital Wealth Asia’s Singapore edition, the conference will head to Hong Kong for another event that will discuss the implication of technology on Asian wealth management.
Symbol, The Fintech Show Asia
November 28 – 30, 2016, Singapore
Symbol, The Fintech Show Asia is a two-day event made up of a conference featuring keynote presentations and on-floor demonstrations showcasing the best in Asian fintech innovation.
The event will bring together all the major fintech parties, from regional banks and insurers to VCs and the startups themselves.
Over two days, the conference will feature content from across the fintech offering including:
- Lending and funding
- Payments
- Personal finance
- Blockchain and digital currencies
- Insurance
- Investment, fund management & trading
- Credit scoring, risk and fraud
- Authentication and security