FinTech Taipei 2023, an international forum guided by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) and jointly sponsored by the Taiwan Financial Services Roundtable (TFSR) and Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance (TABF), was held in Taipei on October 25th in the Elite Hall of TABF. This year, 18 expert practitioners from industry, government, and education, coming from Taiwan and six other countries, have been invited to share their knowledge and experiences. Their speeches and presentations will also be broadcast live online, bringing together global FinTech elites, and allowing both domestic and foreign countries to witness Taiwan’s FinTech strength and development potential.
FinTech Taipei 2023, an international forum guided by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) and jointly sponsored by the Taiwan Financial Services Roundtable (TFSR) and Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance (TABF), was held in Taipei on October 25th in the Elite Hall of TABF. This year, 18 expert practitioners from industry, government, and education, coming from Taiwan and six other countries, have been invited to share their knowledge and experiences. Their speeches and presentations will also be broadcast live online, bringing together global FinTech elites, and allowing both domestic and foreign countries to witness Taiwan’s FinTech strength and development potential.
FSC Chairperson Dr. Tien-mu Huang and Ms. Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas, gave speeches at the opening ceremony. Foreign embassies and offices in Taiwan of various countries, as well as financial associations, peripheral units, banks, and other VIP guests also delivered speeches in person at this diverse and vibrant forum.
In his speech, Su Jian-rong, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of TFSR and Chairman of TABF, said that FinTech development requires international cooperation and knowledge sharing. This event will help strengthen international exchange and promote cross-border cooperation, aiming to create opportunities for deeper FinTech cooperation between Taiwan and Lithuania.
FSC Chairperson Dr. Tien-mu Huang first thanked Lithuanian Speaker Čmilytė-Nielsen for leading a group about 40 representatives coming all the way from Lithuania to share their experience in FinTech development and innovation. Even though Lithuania was not the first to develop in this area, it can be said to be the best. At the same time, experts and representatives from Japan, Luxembourg, Australia, Poland, the U.S., and Israel also participated, making the forum diverse and vibrant. The speech emphasized that the global financial industry has demonstrated resilience in response to the challenge from FinTech. Eight years ago, The Economist wrote that the technology industry would severely challenge finance (“slings and arrows”). However, he emphasized five points from the financial supervisor’s perspective: responsible innovation, partnerships, trust, alignment, and international dialogue.
Responsible innovation means embracing innovation and technology without forgetting the possible impact on consumers and the financial system. Partnerships emphasize that the technology and financial industries do not have a zero-sum relationship. Trust, the most important capital in the financial industry, involves people, products, prudent regulation, professionalism, and passion. Partnerships emphasize the combination of digital technology and sustainability. Chairperson Dr. Huang expressed his hope that following hardships, challenges and hard work, Taiwan’s FinTech industry can move towards a “brave new world.”
The entire event will last from October 23rd-27th and will feature a variety of activities. Following the opening ceremony and international forum held at Elite Hall of TABF on the 25th, a FinTech Lecture will be held on October 26, and Campus FinTech Presentations will be held on the 27th. Meanwhile, demos for 50 new domestic and foreign companies were also held at FinTech Space on the 23rd and 24th.
The rapid development of AI has not only changed lifestyle patterns, but also transformed banking, creating novel challenges for financial supervision. The international forum on October 25th placed special emphasis on three themes: FinTech trends, digital supervision, and financial innovation. International experts such as Vincent Tran of the U.S. International Trade Administration, Vaida Markeviciene, Vice Minister of Finance of Lithuania, Lukas Jakubonis, Chief Business Development Officer of the Bank of Lithuania, Andrew Black, Advisor to the Digital Identity Ministerial Advisory Council of New South Wales, Australia, Keith Carter, director of DEC from Singapore, as well as Renny Thomas, a senior director of McKinsey from India, and Yong Juesheng, a global director of McKinsey from Hong Kong, gave speeches and discussions, also joined by representatives from Taiwan’s FSC and Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA).
The topics of each session of the forum were as follows:
- New Development for Twin Transformation: International Trends and Layout of FinTech
First, the FSC will introduce Taiwan’s recently announced Fintech Development Roadmap 2.0. Then, a representative from Lithuania will introduce Europe’s experience in sustainability, and a Singaporean representative will introduce Fintech business opportunities, as well as international development and trends of digital finance.
- Challenges in Financial Supervision: Current Status and Future of Digital Supervisory Mechanisms
Experts from the U.S., Taiwan, and Lithuania will discuss the current situation, challenges, and future trends of financial supervision, as well as how to use RegTech for financial governance to ensure stable growth.
- Enhancing Convenience in Technological Living: Diversified Financial Innovation Services in the Fintech Transformation
Industry, government, and education experts from McKinsey, Australia, Google, Microsoft, the Digital Development Agency of MODA, and Taiwan AI Academy introduce AI application trends in finance.
On October 26th, Fintech Lectures will be held in succession and streamed live online. Two seminars and six lectures will be held on fintech innovation and international unicorns. The plans for each session are as follows:
- The New Era of Smart Finance: AI and Key Trends in Financial Talent
Speech by Dr. Kai-jun Chang, Deputy Director of the Financial Research Institute of TABF, and panel moderated by Dennis Lin, Vice President of TABF
- Financial Sustainability for a Better Future: Exploring the Road to Green Finance
Speech by Dr. Chialin Chen, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at NTU’s College of Management, and panel moderated by Jerry Lin, Vice President of TABF.
- Six domestic financial institutions (Cathay Financial Holdings, First Bank, and Bank Sinopac), international unicorns (NordVPN, Fireblocks), and technology start-ups (Taiwan Appier) will announce their latest FinTech innovations cases and new technical knowledge.
According to a survey by TFSR, Taiwan’s financial industry invested NTD$29.3 billion (USD$905 million) in FinTech in 2022, with an annual growth rate of 85%. The report forecasts that investment this year will continued to grow at 26% to NT$36.9 billion (USD$1.14 billion), representing the importance of service innovation. FinTech Taipei was first held in 2018, becoming the largest exchange platform in Taiwan for the industry. The physical expo is held every two years, and a forum is organized every other year, promoting industrial exchange, cooperation and innovation.
Official link: https://www.fintechtaipei.tw/
Media contact: Claire Chang (02) 3365-3560 clairechang@tabf.org.tw