(L-R) Tan Su Shan, Group Chief Executive Officer, DBS Bank; Kenneth Gay, Chief FinTech Officer, Monetary Authority of Singapore; Jessica Rusu, Chief Data, Information & Intelligence Officer, Financial Conduct Authority; Wendy Wang, Chief Information Officer, Asia & Middle East, HSBC
Image by Monetary Authority of Singapore
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) launched a new partnership to drive responsible AI innovation in finance, while key leaders discussed interoperability, digital assets, and global economic trends at the opening day of the Singapore FinTech Festival
The Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) 2025 opened with a major announcement from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), unveiling the UK-Singapore AI-in-Finance Partnership. This strategic initiative will support safe and responsible AI innovation, enabling solution providers and financial institutions in both countries to collaborate, scale, and adopt cutting-edge AI solutions more effectively. The partnership also aims to facilitate regulatory insights, joint testing of AI applications, and exchanges on responsible AI practices through key programmes such as MAS’ PathFin.ai and the FCA’s AI Spotlight.
Kenneth Gay, Chief FinTech Officer at MAS, emphasised the importance of this cross-border collaboration, saying, “AI is redefining the future of finance — moving from experiments to enterprise use, and from individual models to connected, agentic systems. As this shift accelerates, MAS’ priority is to ensure that adoption is both safe and scalable.” He added that the partnership “creates an important bridge for our financial institutions, innovators and regulators to collaborate on trustworthy AI.” Jessica Rusu, Chief Data, Information and Intelligence Officer at the FCA, highlighted the global significance of the partnership, noting that it “will help raise our global influence in a strategically competitive space.”
In his welcome remarks at the Layer One Summit, MAS Deputy Managing Director (Markets & Development) Mr Leong Sing Chiong shared Singapore’s vision of building “trusted, open and interoperable networks.” He outlined three focus areas for achieving seamless connectivity: expanding cross-border applications under Project Guardian, developing tokenised deposits and stablecoins through Project BLOOM, and strengthening cross-border wholesale settlement infrastructure. “Trusted, open and interoperable networks will not emerge by chance. Hard work and heavy lifting are required,” he stated, calling for close collaboration between public and private stakeholders to establish global standards and frameworks.
Mr Leong also shared updates on the Global Layer One (GL1) initiative, which MAS supports alongside international policymakers such as the Bank of England and Banque de France. The initiative seeks to develop interoperable financial infrastructures and toolkits for consistent compliance and settlement frameworks across jurisdictions. These efforts, he noted, are vital to ensuring that the financial ecosystem grows “as connected and interoperable as the world’s best airports.”
Image by Singapore FinTech Festival
The opening day concluded with a fireside chat featuring Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Gan Kim Yong, who also serves as Minister for Trade and Industry and Chairman of MAS. Moderated by Ms Tan Su Shan, Group CEO of DBS Bank, the discussion explored pressing global topics including economic realignments, the impact of technology on society, and the evolving role of central banks in shaping a resilient, innovation-driven financial future. Following the dialogue, DPM Gan toured the SFF exhibition, visiting booths from key industry players such as Ant Group, UOB, NETS, Ripple, ST Engineering, Liquid Group, Moomoo, BondBloX, and ADVANCE AI.
SFF2025 | DPM VIP Tour
Image by Singapore FinTech Festival
The first day of SFF 2025 highlighted Singapore’s pivotal role as a global hub for financial innovation, collaboration, and trust-based technology development, reinforcing its position at the forefront of shaping the digital finance landscape.
