Philippine FinTech Festival showcases ASEAN as a global powerhouse for innovators and start-ups

Collaboration between policymakers and thought leaders must improve if digital economies are to advance.

The first-ever Philippine Fintech Festival (PFF), also known as World FinTech Festival-Philippines, concluded successfully after a week-long run. It brought together key figures from the Philippine government, various industries, the technology sector, and other strategic partners from the Philippines, ASEAN, and other parts of the world.

The largest private sector-led movement promoting technology in the Philippines, Digital Pilipinas, organized the first PFF. Coins.ph, a leading proponent of blockchain and Web 3.0, also co-presented the event.

The PFF launched the ASEAN FinTech Month and was the first of several summits that eventually built up to the annual Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) in November. The BOT Digital Conference came after the PFF in Thailand. The ASEAN FinTech month promoted ASEAN as a hub for entrepreneurs and innovators on a global scale. It provided a forum for increased cooperation between regional players like the Philippines, Singapore, and Indonesia as well as other nations with robust digital agendas like Hungary, Israel, and Japan.

“These are countries that share ASEAN’s vision of innovation and unity born from a desire for mutual advancement. We are so grateful for their participation and they represent part of our larger imagination of the Philippines,”

says Amor Maclang, Convenor of the World FinTech Festival-Philippines and Digital Pilipinas, of the collaborating countries. “Not just as a nation that lifts itself to prosperity through technology, not just as a good sibling to our ASEAN brothers and sisters, but as a welcoming gateway to ASEAN for other countries who wish to do business in our region. And perhaps as a soft landing for innovators from other countries, who, in the face of adverse political or economic conditions, need to temporarily relocate to where their culture of innovation will be preserved.”

To really succeed in this, we need users, capital, and projects which will help our community to take off—and that's what we're seeing being built here in the Philippines, according to Coins.ph CEO Wei Zhou. Coins.ph's goal is to create an open financial system by giving everyone simple access to Web3 and digital assets.

In order to address enduring socioeconomic and infrastructure concerns with digital solutions and build a stronger, more resilient regional digital economy, more than 200 government, commercial, and educational leaders, as well as 5,000 tourists, attended the week-long festival.

Tech Pillars for Advancement

The PFF's main tenets centred on the potential of cooperatives in the digital age and how big data, automation, and cross-border cooperation might facilitate secure and convenient payments in the area. The improvement of the insurance process and its accessibility to Filipinos was also covered. Green Finance was created to boost the economy and industry. Thanks to Open Finance, customers can access secure financial services from reputable third-party providers.

The responsibilities of NFTs, e-wallets, and digital currencies in maximizing a nation's potential in Web 3.0 and the Metaverse were other discussion topics. To increase the competitiveness of the nation's educational system, EduTech can address the concomitant issues of learning disabilities and investments in the infrastructure of information technology. Filipinos have more options for riches because of WealthTech. Small businesses can increase their brand positioning and market reach with the help of MarkTech. AgriTech gives agricultural employees and farmers a platform for cooperation and customer discovery while enhancing food security.

Thought leaders also explored how real estate developers and cities are the beneficiaries of the innovations and promise of PropTech in addition to highlighting the challenges associated with making cities smarter. They also concurred that although the industry was late to accept technology, there is now recognition that automation and digitalization will play a larger role in the years to come, for instance in addressing transportation and environmental planning.

International Pacts and Partnerships

A number of agreements have been reached during the PFF in recognition of the importance of partnerships in fostering greater economic integration. The first focused on using technology to increase accessibility between the Philippines and Singapore and involved the Monetary Authority of Singapore's Proxtera and the Philippine Trade Training Center of the Department of Trade and Industry. Second, with the assistance of Titanilla Toth, the Hungarian ambassador to the Philippines, Digital Pilipinas and Hungary's Digitális Jólét Program will expand joint economic ventures using digital technology. Last but not least, the collaboration between Digital Pilipinas and Affindi and the Financial Services Authority of Indonesia, respectively, will lead to certification and knowledge sharing between the two and will be made accessible to Filipinos.

Regarding governance, in particular, Noel Bonoan, vice chairman and chief operating officer of KPMG in the Philippines, felt that the Philippines could learn from Hungary. From a KPMG viewpoint, we are looking at digitization from both a local and a national level, he claimed.

Ilan Fluss, Israel's ambassador to the Philippines, likely reflected the opinion of the other international partners when he said: "It's all about building bridges of innovation and technology between Israel and the Philippines.

David Almirol, Undersecretary, of the Department of Information and Communications Technology, said in a keynote presentation that "in DICT, we are not a disruptor but we are a facilitator for all of them," acknowledging the role of the government in facilitating integration more smoothly. We are here to make the procedure simpler. Our responsibility is to close the gaps and improve the procedures. Instead of constructing numerous integrations, we must develop an e-government gateway.