Ravi Menon: Enabling FinTech for good Opening remarks by Mr Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the Leaders' Session at Inclusive FinTech Forum, Kigali, 21 June 2023. *** His Excellency Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, His Excellency Hakainde Hichilema, President of the Republic of Zambia, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. I am delighted to be part of this remarkable session bringing Africa and Asia together on the theme of Enabling FinTech for Good. There is much we can do together, and Singapore is proud to be part of this effort. Since coming here a couple of days ago, my colleagues and I have been struck by the energy and vitality of this place. Technology is transforming the world of finance. FinTech presents both opportunity and risk. We want to harness these opportunities while managing the risks. In Singapore, when we began our FinTech journey 8 years ago, we set four guiding principles for the use of FinTech: to increase efficiency; to manage risks better; to create new opportunities; and most important to improve people's lives. Eight years later, these principles continue to guide us. As we walked our FinTech journey, we learnt along the way. Two critical enablers have proven decisive in getting us to where we are: first, building foundational digital infrastructure second, fostering connectivity and collaboration Let me say a few quick words about each of them.
First, foundational digital infrastructure – systems that allow different users, different solutions, and different devices to seamlessly interact with one another. Just as physical infrastructure like roads and railways helped to connect and advance the industrial economy, we need digital infrastructures to enable a vibrant digital economy. What are these digital infrastructures? One, a digital identity, so that we can interact with one another digitally, with trust and confidence, knowing who is on the other side of the transaction. In Singapore, we introduced Singpass as a digital identity to facilitate secure, consent-based verification for residents to digitally access more than 700 different government services. 1/3  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  Two, interoperable electronic payments. We need not only digital payment solutions but common payment rails or networks for these different payment solutions to be interoperable. In Singapore, we built PayNow, an instant payment service. Residents can move money to one another's bank account in real-time at zero cost, with just three clicks on their mobile phones, regardless of which bank app they use. Three, a trusted data exchange so that individuals and corporates can access all their relevant data in digital form for purposes of carrying out digital transactions. In Singapore, we established MyInfo, a platform which allows residents to access via their mobile devices more than 100 of their personal particulars and share them with third party service providers through open, secure APIs. Second critical enabler - connectivity and collaboration.