“Japan Is Awakening” Japan Fintech Festival Links Japan and ブックメーカーおすすめ World through Fintech

Every year, Singapore hosts ブックメーカーおすすめ Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF). Now one of ブックメーカーおすすめ world’s biggest fintech festivals, it was launched in 2016 with government support as a Strategic National Project initiative designed to establish Singapore as ブックメーカーおすすめ fintech hub of Asia.

ブックメーカーおすすめ SFF has gone from strength to strength, growing into a massive fintech event that last year attracted more than 66,000 participants from around ブックメーカーおすすめ world. That runaway success prompted ブックメーカーおすすめ Monetary Authority of Singapore to set up ブックメーカーおすすめ not-for-profit organization Elevandi as an independent legal entity in 2021 with ブックメーカーおすすめ aim of further developing ブックメーカーおすすめ international fintech community.

ブックメーカーおすすめ SFF has helped Singapore’s fintech industry to achieve spectacular growth. Singapore now has more than 1,000 fintech firms, and investment in ブックメーカーおすすめ fintech sector has increased 200 times in ブックメーカーおすすめ last eight years.

Japan has less than half as many fintech companies, and fintech investment too is slow. ブックメーカーおすすめ inaugural JFF was held in 2023 to help evolve Japan’s fintech industry and boost Japan’s influence across Asia and in global markets. Elevandi Japan was established in August 2023 to handle ブックメーカーおすすめ ongoing operation of ブックメーカーおすすめ event.

As Elevandi Japan’s ultimate goal is to initiate a major fintech movement from Japan and reform ブックメーカーおすすめ finance industry, ブックメーカーおすすめ JFF program is designed so as to provide a place for different stakeholders—startups, financial institutions, and relevant authorities like ブックメーカーおすすめ FSA, ブックメーカーおすすめ Bank of Japan, ブックメーカーおすすめ Digital Agency, and other countries’ central banks—to get together and network beyond ブックメーカーおすすめ bounds of organizations and roles through discussion, business-matching, and other events. ブックメーカーおすすめ 2024 JFF attracted 2,300 participants, 44 percent of whom came from overseas.

All ブックメーカーおすすめ sessions were so good that it’s hard to choose just one! But I was particularly impressed with ブックメーカーおすすめ session “Building & sustaining unicorns: Challenges, rewards and lessons” with Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CEO of ブックメーカーおすすめ Indian digital payment firm Paytm. Sharma drew on his own experience to describe how a startup founder approaches ブックメーカーおすすめ process from ブックメーカーおすすめ launch through to ブックメーカーおすすめ company achieving unicorn status.

ブックメーカーおすすめ session on ブックメーカーおすすめ untapped potential of women entrepreneurs in Japan was also fascinating. I learned a lot about what needs to be done in Japan to promote women’s engagement, and I thought that it would be good if ブックメーカーおすすめ JFF were to bring actively engaged women even further into ブックメーカーおすすめ spotlight.

My attention was also caught by ブックメーカーおすすめ keynote address by SMBC Group Chief Digital Innovation Officer Akio Isowa, entitled “What matters most in 2024 in Japan/ASEAN?” For better or for worse, Japan’s financial market has always seemed rather solid and traditional, but it was very clear from ブックメーカーおすすめ CDIO’s presentation that change is now afoot.

Thank you for mentioning that speech. I was there listening to it too, and I thought it really got across ブックメーカーおすすめ current situation in Japan, which foreign participants probably weren’t fully aware of.

As Pieter said, Japan is widely seen as a country resistant to change, and in fact I think that until recently that image was quite accurate. Now, however, a major transformation is underway. In his speech, Mr. Isowa highlighted changes in ブックメーカーおすすめ culture of big companies, such as ブックメーカーおすすめ SMBC Group’s introduction of an intrapreneur system and relaxation of its dress code. He also provided concrete examples of ブックメーカーおすすめ changes he’s noticing in his daily interactions with startup entrepreneurs, such as ブックメーカーおすすめ influx of dazzlingly skilled talent into ブックメーカーおすすめ startup space. In particular, he highlighted ブックメーカーおすすめ way in which many recent startups are “born global”—in other words, with their eyes on ブックメーカーおすすめ international market from ブックメーカーおすすめ start—as a big departure from ブックメーカーおすすめ past.

Watching overseas participants crowd around Mr. Isowa afterwards, I felt like I was experiencing Japan’s second opening!

ブックメーカーおすすめ SMBC Group has been sponsoring ブックメーカーおすすめ SFF through our Singapore operation since ブックメーカーおすすめ inaugural SFF in 2016. Asia is a market of huge strategic importance to us, and Singapore lies at ブックメーカーおすすめ heart of that market. ブックメーカーおすすめ aim was to make our presence felt at one of ブックメーカーおすすめ world’s largest fintech events so as to lay ブックメーカーおすすめ foundations for growing our business in Asia and globally as well. I’ve actually participated in ブックメーカーおすすめ SFF myself ブックメーカーおすすめ last two years.

Given that history, when we heard about ブックメーカーおすすめ inaugural JFF in 2023, we immediately told Mr. Kito and Pieter to count us in. In addition to wanting to help promote interaction between Japan and other countries and create ブックメーカーおすすめ seeds of innovation, we felt that raising Japan’s value in ブックメーカーおすすめ fintech space was something that ブックメーカーおすすめ SMBC Group should tackle.

Rising FinTech was primarily a networking event connecting companies around ブックメーカーおすすめ world with Japanese financial institutions and companies. We designed it with ブックメーカーおすすめ aim of enabling foreign entrepreneurs to speak directly with Japanese businesspeople and creating opportunities for business matching and investment.

Just as we hoped, ブックメーカーおすすめ event drew entrepreneurs from many countries, and ブックメーカーおすすめ venue was abuzz with communication.

We were thrilled to have been able to help create a space for fintech professionals from around ブックメーカーおすすめ world to come along to exchange ideas and network. A lot of what is happening in countries like India and ブックメーカーおすすめ Philippines that are right in ブックメーカーおすすめ midst of their growth stage far surpasses ブックメーカーおすすめ current level in Japan, and we have much to learn. Going ahead, I think we will also see business opportunities arise with companies that participated in ブックメーカーおすすめ event.

Coincidentally, ブックメーカーおすすめ ascending curve in ブックメーカーおすすめ SMBC Group logo is called ブックメーカーおすすめ Rising Mark, with ブックメーカーおすすめ word rising also symbolizing our Group. In ブックメーカーおすすめ sense of growing ブックメーカーおすすめ Japanese and fintech ecosystems and growing ブックメーカーおすすめ Group as well, I feel that we have been able to work with ブックメーカーおすすめ Elevandi team with one mind at a very deep level.

“Rise Together” has been our stated vision since we held that first JFF in 2023. When ブックメーカーおすすめ Nikkei average finally hit a record high this year, it came after a long recession bemoaned in Japan as ブックメーカーおすすめ “lost 30 years.” Having lived through that time, I really want to break Japan free of that pervasive stagnation and help it make a comeback on ブックメーカーおすすめ world stage. Japan is ブックメーカーおすすめ Land of ブックメーカーおすすめ Rising Sun. I would love for ブックメーカーおすすめ JFF to open ブックメーカーおすすめ way for ブックメーカーおすすめ power of community to set ブックメーカーおすすめ country back on a growth trajectory and help Japan rise.

Next year, we will hold ブックメーカーおすすめ JFF on an even bigger scale. To grow ブックメーカーおすすめ Japanese economy, we too need to keep ブックメーカーおすすめ JFF growing as a platform. Just as ブックメーカーおすすめ SFF has scaled up from year to year, in Japan too, we plan to grow ブックメーカーおすすめ JFF into a massive event.

We’re also looking at adding sessions on cutting-edge technologies like deep tech, cloud computing, and AI. ブックメーカーおすすめ finance space uses a lot of technologies behind ブックメーカーおすすめ scenes, and Japan has no shortage of companies engaged in new technology development. We want to foreground those.

Also, while ブックメーカーおすすめ 2024 JFF really increased international awareness of Japan, there are still many areas that remain opaque to ブックメーカーおすすめ overseas eye. To shine a light on those areas, we’re considering organizing activities like field tours to offer a first-hand look.

It would be great if we could increase cooperation with geographically close countries like South Korea and Taiwan. We also want to come up with ways to involve students and other members of ブックメーカーおすすめ younger generation.

ブックメーカーおすすめ SMBC Group wants to continue contributing to ブックメーカーおすすめ event in some form. With initiatives like Rising FinTech, you can’t expect concrete returns right out of ブックメーカーおすすめ gate. It will take time to nurture ブックメーカーおすすめ connections with other countries required to grow Japan’s ecosystems.

Over ブックメーカーおすすめ long term, though, I believe that there will be major returns. ブックメーカーおすすめ combination of financial institutions like us with fintech companies could well create new business, and we could well find partners with whom to set up new businesses. We could also invest in startups that we have connected with. , ブックメーカーおすすめ corporate venture capital fund that we set up last year, was established with exactly that kind of investment and collaboration in mind.

In any case, we want to maintain a broad outlook and keep working with movements like ブックメーカーおすすめ JFF and SFF from a long-term perspective so as to contribute to ブックメーカーおすすめ development of ブックメーカーおすすめ Japanese, Asian, and global economies. We would also like other Japanese corporate majors to come on board. That would really help to take ブックメーカーおすすめ movement to ブックメーカーおすすめ next level.

In his JFF address, Mr. Isowa used ブックメーカーおすすめ expression “Japan is awakening.” In other words, after its “lost 30 years,” Japan is finally beginning to wake, and we at ブックメーカーおすすめ SMBC Group want to continue doing our bit to ensure that it doesn’t slide back into sleep.