IMF Conference
Global Financial Markets Confront the War in the Middle East and Amplification Risks
Date: Monday, April 16
Time: 9: 15 ~ 17: 20
Toranomon Hills Forum, Tokyo, Japan
IMF’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (OAP), the Financial Services Agency of Japan (JFSA), and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) co-hosted a conference on FinTech in Asia in Tokyo, Japan on April 16, 2018.
The conference provided a unique opportunity to take stock of Asia’s frontrunner role in FinTech, highlighted opportunities of its applications (in particular for financial inclusion), and identified risks and regulatory challenges. For details, please see below.
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Time |
Program |
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9:15 - 9:30AM |
Opening Remarks Mr. Chikahisa Sumi, Director, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, International Monetary Fund (IMF) |
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9:30 - 9:40AM |
Mr. Hideki Murai, Parliamentary Vice-Minister, Financial Services Agency of Japan (JFSA) |
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9:40 - 10:00AM |
Landscape of FinTech Developments An initial overview presentation touched on the broader context in which FinTech innovations are taking place, their potential for un-bundling financial services and re-bundling them with non-financial ones, and their potential benefits (financial inclusion, more secure transactions in an aging society, better risk management) and risks (privacy, cyber, stability).
[Speaker] Mr. Masafumi Miya, Director, Head of Payments Innovation and FinTech Group, Payment and Settlement Systems Department, Bank of Japan |
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10:00 -10:15AM |
Coffee Break |
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10:15 - 12:45PM |
Session 1: Key FinTech Applications (1) Payments – Developments of Asian Payment Systems Sub-session 1-1 on payment system demonstrated FinTech payment landscapes in Thailand, China, and Japan. Panelists explained how service providers can propagate new payment solutions and offer broader access to financial services through FinTech. The panelists also pointed out the importance of building institutional trust for such new payment services by taking the right balance between convenience and security, for further improvement in this field.
[Moderator] Mr. Takashi Kondo, Deputy Director, FinTech Center, Payment and Settlement Systems Department, Bank of Japan [Speakers] Mr. Buncha Manoonkunchai, Senior Director, Bank of Thailand Mr. Tao Sun, Senior Director, Ant Financial (Alipay), China Mr. Shinichi Takatori, CEO, Kyash, Japan
(2) Remittances –Applications of Blockchain/DLT and Current Limitation of Technologies Sub-session 1-2 on remittances centered around virtues and limitations of DLT and blockchain in the payments/remittances space. Presentations gave an overview about the history, current usage, and potential future applications of DLT, such as for retail cross-border remittances, KYC, interbank settlement, central bank digital currency, trade finance, document management, and capital raising by SMEs.
[Moderator] Mr. Takahiro Yamasaki, Director, FinTech Center, Payment and Settlement Systems Department, Bank of Japan [Speakers] Mr. Tatsuto Fujii, Principal Analyst, Digital Transformation Division, MUFG, Japan Mr. Boon-Hiong Chan, Director, Head of Market Advocacy Asia Pacific, Deutsche Bank AG Singapore
(3) New Types of Lending – P2P, Big Data (Transaction Lending) Sub-session 1-3 on new types of lending demonstrated how lending decisions based on big data and AI can increase access to finance. Presenters demonstrated that the new types of lending can be especially beneficial for SMEs, and that credit risk analysis and loan formation process can be simplified through machine learning.
[Moderator] Mr. Shuji Kobayakawa, Associate Professor, Meiji University [Speakers] Mr. Richie Zhang, Chief Product Officer, China Securities Credit Investment (CSCI), China Mr. Akira Shibata, Chief Data Scientist, DataRobot, Inc., Japan |
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12:45 - 2:00PM |
Lunch Break |
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2:00 - 3:20PM |
Session 2: Implication of FinTech Developments in Asia (1) – the Perspective of Financial Inclusion Session 2 probed into the benefits of FinTech for financial inclusion. Based on the IMF Asia Pacific Department’s forthcoming departmental paper, it was stressed that FinTech can create potential for successful leapfrogging - including via social experimentation and private-public partnerships - provided that regulation and supervision, technological infrastructure, and financial literacy are upgraded in sync. These were common themes also in the presented country cases on Cambodia, Philippines and Bangladesh and subsequent discussions.
[Moderator] Mr. Alfred Schipke, Senior Resident Representative in China, IMF [Speakers] Mr. Kenneth Henry Kang, Deputy Director, Asia and Pacific Department, IMF Ms. Serey Chea, Director General, National Bank of Cambodia Ms. Ma Theresa S. Habitan, Assistant Secretary, Department of Finance, Philippines Ms. Lila Rashid, General Manager of Payment Systems Department, Bangladesh Bank |
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3:20 - 3:40PM |
Coffee Break |
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3:40 - 5:10PM |
Session 3: Implication of FinTech Developments in Asia (2) – the Perspective of Financial Industry Session 3 examined the FinTech implications for the financial industry. Large-scale “disruption” of traditional financial service provision might be more likely in Asia’s emerging markets - as already exemplified by China where large players moved first from e-commerce into payment services and then into broader financial services. In contrast, in Japan, FinTech will likely have a more collaborative or complementary role to financial sector incumbents. There were discussions on related regulatory questions, such as entity vs. activity-based, rules- vs. principle-based, and self-regulation. An overview of JFSA’s FinTech initiatives and regulations was also showcased.
[Moderator] Mr. Toshitake Inoue, Director for Credit System, Planning and Coordination Bureau, Financial Services Agency, Japan [Speakers] Mr. Danny Gilligan, Co-founder, Reinventure, Australia Mr. Tomofumi Watanabe, Head of Silicon Valley Digital Innovation Lab., Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Mr. Ashraf Khan, Senior Financial Sector Expert, Central Bank Operations Division, Monetary and Capital Markets Department, IMF |
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5:10 - 5:20 PM |
Mr. Masayoshi Amamiya, Deputy Governor, Bank of Japan |
