tryb hosted a Perspectives event around the Singapore FinTech Festival 2017 on 16 November 2017, focusing on the potential leapfrog of ASEAN financial services and technology infrastructure.

The speakers included Hal Bosher (CEO of Yoma Bank), Rachel Freeman (Advisory Manager Asia – Financial Institutions Group of International Finance Corporation) and Girija Pande (Chairman of Apex Avalon Consulting Pte Ltd).

Markus Gnirck, Co-founder & CEO of tryb Group, welcomes participants to the Perspectives event in Singapore

Key insights from the session:

• The convergence of financial markets into larger platforms is inevitable due to the relentless flow of capital and presence of global technology platforms such as Facebook, Amazon and Google
• Regulators seek to provide digital inclusion as there is political capital to be gained
• The lack of basic infrastructure in developing countries is still a significant barrier to inclusion and convergence
• Digital identity has to be established to solve the AML concerns to enable credit financing and inclusion
• There are incentives for governments to support SMEs, as they create the majority of jobs in the economy. Although lending services are vital in supporting SMEs, innovation in this space is still in its infancy. For example, typical loan services fail to cater to pig farming businesses in China due to its unique lending requirements

Rachel Freeman, Advisory Manager Asia – Financial Institutions Group of International Finance Corporation shares her insights on how the low level of literacy acts as a barrier to financial inclusion