THE Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has set up a new firm to further strengthen Singapore’s position as a global fintech hub, with its board to be chaired by the central bank’s former managing director, Ravi Menon.
Called the Global Finance & Technology Network (GFTN), the not-for-profit firm will engage in four strategic business pillars. They are: organising forums, providing advisory services, supporting digital platform services and establishing an investment fund for tech startups.
GFTN will replace Elevandi, a not-for-profit entity set up by MAS in 2021 to organise the Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF). Elevandi has since grown to run several other forums globally with the aim of fostering dialogue between people and businesses in the fintech sector.
While Elevandi specialised in running forums, it had also begun to do other things over time, such as providing countries with advice on fintech infrastructure or financing said Menon at the launch of GFTN at Swissotel The Stamford Singapore on Wednesday (Oct 30).
These “adjacent” services that Elevandi was already providing informally was what helped the GFTN team decide on its four strategic businesses, explained Menon.
“So when you bring money, forums and collaboration, advice and platforms (together), they can make a very powerful, synergistic proposition to help us to advance our goals on a much bigger scale than Elevandi was doing,” he said.
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MAS added in a statement on Wednesday that the network will “enhance global connectivity for impactful innovation in financial services”. It will also support the central bank’s efforts to scale the SFF.
Board appointments
Menon said that his current appointment as Singapore’s ambassador for climate action and senior adviser at the National Climate Change Secretariat, will remain his “main job”.
“But as a retiree, I have a little bit of bandwidth so I can also do this,” he said of his new role.
He added that the issues covered under both roles, such as sustainability and innovation, are close to his heart. His experience and connections built as MAS’ managing director from 2011 to 2023 will also contribute to his role at GFTN, he said.
In other board appointments for GFTN, Sopnendu Mohanty will relinquish his role as MAS’ chief fintech officer (CFO) from Feb 1, 2025 and take on the role of group chief executive of GFTN.
Kenneth Gay – who has been with MAS for over 20 years and is currently heading the enterprise knowledge department as an executive director – will be appointed MAS’ CFO designate from Nov 6, 2024, until Jan 31, 2025. He will officially assume the role on Feb 1, 2025.
MAS’ deputy managing director Leong Sing Chiong as well as Neil Parekh, who is a nominated Member of Parliament and also a non-executive chairman at Tikehau Capital, have been both appointed deputy chairmen.
Four strategic businesses
Elaborating on the various business arms of GFTN, Menon said that the forums business will act as a global conference convenor dedicated to finance and technology. To this end, it will build on Elevandi’s five existing forums and expand them into new geographies. Besides SFF in Singapore, Elevandi’s other forums are in Japan, Switzerland, Rwanda and Ghana.
Meanwhile, GFTN’s advisory business will mainly provide the authorities in developing countries with consultancy and capacity-building services to develop digital infrastructures, formulate policies to harness technology in financial services, and create robust innovation ecosystems.
On the platforms front, the network will support a suite of digital platform services that include enhancing market access, analytics and information services, and sustainability reporting support. GFTN foresees such services to help small enterprises and fintech startups “innovate and thrive”.
Lastly, GFTN intends to use its capital business to invest in fintech and climate technology enterprises, while also providing them with access to a global network of potential partners, buyers and suppliers.
This will be done with a focus on promising early-stage and growth-stage enterprises with the potential for positive social or environmental impact.
Parekh said that the intention of the fund is to maximise returns for GFTN’s limited partner investors. He added that the network will begin to market the fund to investors once it applies and receives approval for a capital market services licence from MAS in a few months’ time.
Aiming to break even in five years
As a non-profit entity, GFTN will aim to be financially sustainable, with a target to break even within three to five years, said Menon.
The forums, advisory and platforms businesses will operate on a capped profit basis, meaning it will generate just enough revenue to cover its costs. The investment fund, however, will be run commercially to deliver returns for investors.
On MAS’ part, Leong said that the central bank will provide some grant funding to get GFTN “off the ground”, although he declined to disclose the amount.
As its next step, the newly formed board of directors will spend the next few months refining its strategies and translating them into specific goals for each year for the next five years, said Menon.
The network’s board of directors will be guided by an international advisory board, with more details to be announced at the upcoming SFF on Nov 6.
