#AMTD x SFF Vol.4 | Heng Swee Keat, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of Singapore, Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore and Ravi Menon, Managing Director of MAS met Calvin Choi

2019 Singapore Fintech Festival, a global fintech event organized by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), in partnership with the Association of Banks in Singapore, and sponsored by AMTD Group, Deloitte and Prudential, was successfully held from November 11th to November 15th. This Fintech Festival attracted over 60,000 government officials, representatives of regulatory agencies, representatives of financial institutions, technology innovation companies, and institutional investors from more than 100 countries around the world to gather in Singapore, and to discuss technological innovation and development. Singapore Fintech Festival is the largest and most attended global fintech event in the world. AMTD Group has been the biggest supporter and grand sponsor to the Singapore Fintech Festival for three consecutive years.

Recently, Heng Swee Keat, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of Singapore and the fourth-generation successor, Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore, Ravi Menon, Managing Director of Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and other officials met Calvin Choi, Chairman and CEO of AMTD Group and visited AMTD Singapore Innovation Lab, briefed by Calvin Choi on AMTD's continuous expansion of investment layout in Singapore and Southeast Asia and promotion of innovative technology and development of capital market.

Heng Swee Keat, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of Singapore and the fourth-generation successor, Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore, Ravi Menon, Managing Director of MAS, Jacqueline Loh, Deputy Managing Director of MAS, Vincent Loy, Assistant Managing Director of MAS, Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer of MAS and other officials were invited to visit AMTD Singapore Innovation Lab respectively and had friendly communication with Calvin Choi, Chairman and CEO of AMTD Group. On behalf of AMTD Group, Calvin Choi welcomed Heng Swee Keat, Vivian Balakrishnan, Ravi Menon, Jacqueline Loh, Vincent Loy and Sopnendu Mohanty. Calvin Choi said it is a great honor for AMTD Group to co-host the Singapore Fintech Festival with the Singapore government for three consecutive year to bring more leading Chinese technology companies to Singapore and expand Singaporean and Asean markets. Calvin Choi also reported especially to Heng Swee Keat, Vivian Balakrishnan, Ravi Menon, Jacqueline Loh, Vincent Loy and Sopnendu Mohanty about the achievements of AMTD Group. In the past year, AMTD has devoted resources to different areas in Singapore. Prior to that, AMTD co-launched and co-founded Asean Financial Innovation Network (AFIN), through a partnership with MAS, the ASEAN Bankers Association and the World Bank International Finance Corporation (IFC). And as the first corporate founding member, AMTD co-launched and co-founded the world's first cross-border open-architecture API marketplace, API Exchange (APIX) platform. Moreover, jointly with Far East Consortium (HKEX: 35), the world's leading diversified development group and the real estate developers, AMTD Group bought out the hotel and serviced residence building Oakwood Premier OUE Singapore for a S$290 million (approximately US$210 million). The building is a landmark in Singapore located in the urban business district OUE Downtown and officially renamed to “Oakwood Premier AMTD Singapore”. AMTD group is highly optimistic about the development potential and market space in Singapore and Southeast Asia, hoping to continuously increase resource allocation in Singapore and the Asean region and promote communication and win-win results among Asean partners by taking innovation as the driving force and taking science and technology as the link.

Heng Swee Keat, Deputy Prime Minister, congratulated on the development of AMTD Group in recent years and expressed his appreciation and gratitude to AMTD Group for the support to Singapore government and the investment in Singapore. Meanwhile, Heng Swee Keat exchanged views with Calvin Choi on topics that how to develop economic innovation and FinTech in Singapore better and how to promote cooperation among enterprises in Singapore, Hong Kong and Mainland China. He said that Singapore's future economic development must be driven by innovation and technology, and Singaporean government welcomes and strongly supports AMTD Group's coming to Singapore for more investments and layout, hoping AMTD Group to bring more outstanding technology enterprises to Singapore and Asean markets and to promote the economic cooperation between Singapore and the Greater China. Heng Swee Keat recalled the meeting with Calvin Choi during World Economy Forum’s annual meeting in Davos and the great memory visiting AMTD Davos Innovation Lab. He hopes AMTD Group to be an example of new-generation financial institutions in Hong Kong, expecting AMTD group to expand strategic layout in Singapore and even in the Asean region and develope more and better investment opportunities, by taking Singapore as the headquarter of Southeast Asia growing with Singapore.

Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore, Ravi Menon, Managing Director of MAS, Jacqueline Loh, Deputy Managing Director of MAS and Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer of MAS, expressed gratitude to AMTD’s efforts that promoting the innovation development of science and technology in Singapore. They are also grateful to see AMTD’s more resource allocation and layout in Singapore and Southeast Asia. Looking forward to the future, they hopes AMTD Group to make persistent efforts to become the bridge and the link between China and Singapore, promoting China-Singapore economic and trade cooperation, as well as Singapore's FinTech and Economic innovation.