Acknowledging the disconnect between available credit and the underserved small and medium enterprise (SME) market, the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) ventured into serving highly risky market segments through its Sustainable Enterprises for Economic Development (SEED) programme.

Hans Brown, head of client technology solutions - Asia Pacific, BNY Mellon, talks about the bank’s approach on innovation and how its newest Singapore lab helps solve real institutional problems

Banks can do more to provide global solutions to facilitate standardisation and automation of routine cash and treasury management processes, and enable collaboration across business units to increase corporates’ finance performance

A strong rise of robo-advisors is often predicted within the next few years. But, looking at the current situation, the offerings typically use limited possibilities to managing assets and can potentially only satisfy specific needs.

FINTQ addresses the gap in financial access for Filipinos without credit qualifications and those in the rural areas through its cloud-based lending platform Lendr, approved by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Lendr also fosters collaboration among banks, financial technology companies and other key stakeholders in the industry

Vivek Batra, MUFG’s new general manager and regional head of transaction banking sales for the Asia & Oceania region, discusses how the bank intends to capitalise on its position as a latecomer to the global transaction banking business.

Matthias Kröner, founder and chief executive officer of Fidor Bank, shares its plans for growth in Asia as the bank enters Singapore, after building a successful business in Europe

Network for Electronic Transfers (Singapore) (NETS) looks to “take out as much cash as possible” as the company partners with seven banks in the country in launching a unified digital payment platform for NETS Quick Response (QR) code payments.

As open banking becomes a reality for European consumers in early 2018, Chris Skinner, author and financial technology commentator, theFinanser.com, highlights the results of a number of reports and researches on open banking, especially noting how banks are ready to implement it.

A renewed push to provide end-to-end supply chain financing solutions is driving trade finance across Asia Pacific.

China Merchants Bank utilised emerging new technologies - artificial intelligence, biometrics and big data, integrated with social media channels, with the aim to improve customer experience and boost its credit card business growth.

Catherine Flax, chief executive officer of Pefin (US), a financial advisory firm that has built an enterprise wide artificial intelligence (AI) platform in the last six years, discusses the future of wealth advisory and why AI will beat robos and experienced relationship managers, without replacing the latter.

The emergence of the so-called “platform economy” has brought a new trend to the financial services industry. Vipin Kalra, chief executive officer of BankBazaar International, discusses how financial brands can leverage the move to platforms to further market their products and strengthen their brands.

The third day of the Fintech Festival saw a speech from the UN secretary-general’s special advocate, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation director of financial services for the poor, and other industry experts all discuss financial inclusion.

The Fintech Festival’s second day saw panellists plunge into discussions regarding the future of banking, digitisation, technology, and preparations for the changes that lie ahead.