Singapore FinTech Festival highlights Asia’s rapid innovation pace amid New Zealand’s cautious growth
Last week, the Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) gathered an impressive global assembly of over 65,000 participants from 136 countries, showcasing fintech's status as the fastest-growing technology sector worldwide and within New Zealand. Despite the country's burgeoning fintech scene, New Zealand's presence at this pivotal event was notably sparse, a point emphasised by Graeme Muller, CEO of NZTech, following his attendance. The festival, held at the Singapore EXPO, brought together more than 600 exhibitors and over a thousand global leaders from finance, technology, and policy sectors, focusing on the transformative potential of AI, tokenisation, and quantum computing to enhance global financial security and efficiency.
The SFF's agenda featured insightful discussions and presentations from pioneers who have driven the digital transformation of the financial sector, alongside innovators crafting the technologies expected to redefine global financial architecture over the coming decade. This includes significant initiatives such as Singapore’s Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announcing plans to trial tokenised MAS bills and implement stablecoin regulations in 2026. MAS is also advancing its BLOOM initiative, which includes trials involving tokenised bank liabilities and regulated stablecoins to support seamless settlements. Notably, local banks DBS, OCBC, and UOB have completed a live interbank overnight lending trial using a wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), with further expansions planned to integrate tokenised MAS bills in settlements.
Within this fast-evolving fintech landscape, DBS and Ant International announced an expanded partnership to enhance cross-border payments, enabling DBS PayLah! users to make QR code payments at over 150 million merchants worldwide through Ant’s Alipay+ network. The partnership aims to facilitate near-instant remittances and foster blockchain-based tokenised deposits to boost inclusive growth and regional innovation. These developments underscore the region’s commitment to harnessing new technologies to create a secure, scalable, and efficient financial ecosystem.
In contrast to these rapid advancements in Asia, New Zealand faces challenges in scaling its contributions to the fintech sector and broader technology ecosystem. Muller highlighted at the Asia Pacific Digital Summit in Taiwan the importance of long-term strategic planning, noting how countries around the region have made significant strides in AI education, digital infrastructure, and emerging technologies, with sustainability and resilient data processing as focal points. He positioned New Zealand as a potential partner, referencing recent data centre research that could support regional growth, but underscored the need for consistent, non-partisan technology policies in New Zealand to avoid setbacks caused by political changes every election cycle.
As New Zealand grapples with issues of productivity and technology execution, a recent government investment of up to $70 million over seven years for the NZIAT Artificial Intelligence Research Platform aims to elevate the country’s AI research and commercialisation capabilities. The first phase applications for this landmark initiative close imminently. Additionally, internal collaboration is expected to increase between entities such as the AI Forum, FinTechNZ, and KiwiSaaS, recognising that the evolution of software-as-a-service (SaaS) will be deeply intertwined with agentic AI technologies.
Upcoming industry events in New Zealand reflect a growing focus on SaaS scale-up and AI opportunities, including sessions featuring successful local founders like Alliv Samson of Kami, who recently won EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2025. Industry leaders are also preparing for the launch of the AWS Asia Pacific (New Zealand) Region, which promises to unlock cloud innovation and generative AI opportunities for the public sector. These activities signify growing momentum but also highlight the need for a coordinated and enduring approach to technology policy and ecosystem growth.
The clear message from the frontline of Asia-Pacific fintech and AI innovation is the imperative for New Zealand to more boldly engage with these global trends. New Zealand’s ability to leverage technology to drive exports, enhance productivity, and foster inclusion across its economy will depend on consistent strategic frameworks supported by collaborative industry engagement. The Singapore FinTech Festival demonstrated what is possible on the global stage and serves as a call to action for New Zealand’s tech ecosystem to strengthen its voice and presence in future international forums.