New proofs of concepts have emerged in blockchain as the industry tackles various impediments to its successful adoption. The technology initiatives would need to be complemented with stronger collaborative efforts and interoperability for future growth.

Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, talks about the general principles guiding the regulator towards the creation of a Smart Financial Centre during the Singapore Fintech Festival - Fintech Conference 2016

Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, has announced the demonitisation of high currency notes as part of a revolutionary move to curb the proliferation of illegal money in the local market. The action aims to improve tax collections and economic growth in the country.

Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore's deputy prime minister and chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the launch of LATTICE80, spoke about how the country is developing a fintech ecosystem, including the venture capital sector that will allow start-ups to thrive.

Piyush Gupta, chief executive officer of DBS Singapore, received the highest remuneration among bank CEOs in the Asia Pacific region in 2016, while top executives of many Chinese banks had high reductions in their compensations.

Increasing adoption of digital payments has resulted in stiff competition within the industry. Non-bank payment players have become more aggressive, aiming to grow into full scale financial service providers.

Wide discontent with conventional banks have led to the emergence of mobile-only fintech banks. However, these challenger banks are struggling to expand their customer reach, putting doubts whether they can stand against bigger traditional banks.

As the financial services industry embraces digital transformation, it faces new cyber security challenges that require banks to adopt a holistic cyber security framework.

Competition is forcing banks to improve the digital experience of their customers. Banks are focused on investing in mobile technologies, data analytics, security and cloud computing.

Wells Fargo is under scrutiny for unauthorised cross-selling and the creation of fake accounts. But was the controversy overblown?

Emerging new competition, changing customer expectations, and reduced profitability are forcing banks in India to revisit their strategic business and operating models as well as their digital transformation and technology innovation strategies.

As the search for efficiency intensifies amid a slowdown in economic growth, banks continue to leverage technology to relieve cost pressures and provide increasingly complex working capital solutions that their clients demand.

Shashank Luthra, director of digital transformation, and James Cronk, director of financial services of Cisco, discuss how banks can evolve their customer service with digital enablement to create a seamless omni-channel experience.

De-risking has proved to be more than the exiting of businesses for Asia Pacific’s trade finance industry. A strategic shift is underway which might just change the nature of trade finance for years to come.

The advent of new technologies is driving rapid upgrading of national payment systems around the world that are enabled with rich data and real-time capabilities.