Strong Swiss presence at the upcoming Singapore Fintech Festival 2022
Switzerland is well represented at the Singapore Fintech Festival 2022 with a delegation composed of 18 fintechs and leading financial institutions.
In addition to that, Swiss Finance Minister Ueli Maurer will also present Switzerland’s advantages as a location for fintech companies at the festival.
The Singapore Fintech Festival, whose first edition was held in 2015, has quickly developed into the world’s largest fintech festival.
This year’s personal edition will be held between 2.-4. November and is excited by the participants after two consecutive digital editions.
Angela DiRosa
“It’s a golden opportunity for Swiss fintechs to get a taste of the Asian market, meet industry players from around the world, and showcase their brand and fintech solutions face-to-face to potential customers or partners,”
said Angela Di Rosa, senior consultant Southeast Asia at Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE).
Switzerland to set up its own national pavilion
Several countries, including Switzerland, will set up their own national pavilions during the festival.
The Swiss pavilion is jointly organized by S-GE (Switzerland’s export and investment promotion agency) and Swiss Business Hub ASEAN (part of the Swiss Embassy in Singapore), which enables an optimal network of local contacts.
“Being under the Swiss umbrella gives more visibility. Switzerland’s strong image draws further traffic to our pavilion. It attracts and interests many Asian and American fintech players, in fact from all over the world, emphasizes Di Rosa.
The Singapore Fintech Festival enables players to build on their brand recognition and network
Polixis is among the Swiss fintechs present with a stand there, for the second time. The Geneva-based firm provides compliance data and technology solutions to leading global banks and financial regulators.
Its key software products perform complex automatic anti-money laundering monitoring, as well as research for politically exposed persons, individuals or firms under sanctions, know-your-customer (KYC) and other risk-relevant searches.
“We found the last event quite useful in terms of networking, building new connections with potential customers and increasing our brand recognition,”
said Diana Babayan, Chief Operating Officer of Polixis.
Another fintech to be present at the Swiss pavilion is Swissquote Singapore, which offers a multi-asset trading and custody platform aimed at institutional partners such as external asset managers, banks, family offices and funds.
The company is already present in Asia, but this is the first time Swissquote is participating in the Singapore Fintech Festival.
Mathias Dalla Valeria
“We look forward to connecting with some new partners. The event also helps to strengthen the reputation and recognition of Swissquote among the end customers of our institutional partners,”
said Mathias Dalla Valeria, CEO of Swissquote Singapore.
The other 16 Swiss fintechs that will be present at the upcoming event are Adviscent, Altoo, Cardano Foundation, Eri Bancaire, Eternyze, F10, Fiat24, Netcetera, Noumena Digital, Securosys, Six, SwissCham, Sygnum, UBS, Vestr and Algo Traders.
One of the fintechs, Algo Traders, had set up a branch in Singapore shortly after attending the 2016 edition of the Singapore Fintech Festival.
“There was great interest and demand for the trading platform of Algo Traders, a true success story,” recalls Di Rosa.
Point Zero Forum Night
On 4 November, finance.swiss has invited a number of guests to an evening event in Singapore.
On this “Point Zero Forum Night”, in the presence of the Swiss Minister of Finance Ueli Maurer, the event will be an introduction to the 2nd Point Zero Forum, which will take place in Zurich from 26-28. June 2023.
This conference attended by fintech entrepreneurs, high-level representatives from the financial industry as well as regulatory authorities from Europe and Asia will be jointly hosted by Switzerland and Singapore.
Vibrant Swiss fintech sector
Source: Unsplash
The Swiss fintech sector has witnessed rapid expansion over the past six years, growing from around 150 fintechs at the end of 2015 to nearly 400 companies by the end of 2021, according to the IFZ Fintech Study 2022 published by the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts .
“The Swiss fintech sector is booming. We see new startups emerging with the goal of shaping the future of banking and finance on a global scale.
In the current global geopolitical context, and the mass imposition of sanctions worldwide, the need for intelligent next-generation risk detection is paramount.”
Babayan added.
In terms of venture capital activity in the Swiss fintech sector, it reached record levels in 2021 both in terms of funding rounds and increased volumes.
“The Swiss fintech sector benefits from a stable and solid regulatory framework that helps it develop its offering and expand into other markets. Switzerland was and is the world’s wealth management center and fintech helps the country defend this position.
Swiss companies are generally more conservative in their risk behaviour. In a negative market environment, this conservative approach can provide more stability to the sector.”
Dalla Valeria said.
