#AMTD x SFF Vol.7 | Lee Hsien Loong and Heng Swee Keat Successively Visited AFIN and its APIX Platform Jointly Initiated by AMTD Group and the Monetary Authority of Singapore

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.

During Singapore Fintech Week, Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore and Heng Swee Keat, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Finance and the fourth generation successor, successively visited ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN) and its world’s first cross-border, open architecture platform -- API Exchange (APIX), accompanied by Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS); Jacqueline Loh, Deputy Managing Director of MAS; Vincent Loy, Assistant Managing Director of MAS; Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer of MAS, and Calvin Choi, Chairman and CEO of AMTD Group. AFIN was founded by AMTD Group, AMTD Foundation, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the ASEAN Bankers Association (ABA) and International Finance Corporation (IFC). They highly appraised the promotion of innovative finance and the achievements made in providing inclusive financial services to users by AFIN and APIX platform in Singapore, ASEAN countries, and other regions, showing their appreciation and gratitude to AMTD Group for its continuous support to the Singapore government and its investment and development in Singapore. The government of Singapore welcomes and will support AMTD Group for more investment opportunities and layout to the country, hoping that AMTD Group will continue as a role model of the new generation of financial institutions in Hong Kong to bring more superior science and technology enterprises to Singapore and the ASEAN market and to expand its strategic layout in Singapore and the ASEAN, with Singapore as the headquarter for southeast Asia. The Singapore government also expect that AMTD Group can expand and grasp more and better investment opportunities and develop with Singapore in order to promote the economic communication and cooperation between Singapore and greater China.

The ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN) was jointly established by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the ASEAN Bankers Association (ABA), International Finance Corporation (IFC), and AMTD Group in 2018, setting up API Exchange (APIX) which is the world’s first cross-border, open architecture platform in November 2018. Through this platform, financial institutions and fintech companies can cooperate to launch innovative financial solutions to provide inclusive financial services to users in ASEAN countries and beyond. AMTD Group is first founding member of AFIN, with Calvin Choi, Chairman and CEO of AMTD Group, Founder and Chairman of AMTD Foundation appointed as a member of AFIN’s board of directors. In October 2019, Mastercard (NYSE: MA), a leading global payment and technology company and fintech innovation giant, also joined AFIN as a corporate member and strategic partner to jointly promote the development of fintech innovation in Asia.

As the flagship platform of AFIN, the main functions of APIX include marketing and sandbox. Financial institutions and fintech companies can interact and collaborate with each other globally through it. Meanwhile, they can also collaborate, design, experiment, and deliver innovative fintech solutions in this virtual and secure sandbox environment.