Recently, 25 elites from various financial and innovative technology industries successfully completed the five-day "AXSI Digital Finance Leadership Program" on the campus of Singapore Management University. This is the second batch of graduates after the first batch of 25 graduates during the Singapore Fintech Festival in December 2020, and a total of 50 digital finance talents have been trained . The program has been highly praised and appreciated by the Singapore and Asian markets in terms of course planning and content.

The AXSI Digital Finance Leadership Program focuses on cultivating digital finance leaders and learning to explore important topics related to industry development, such as the new financial ecosystem, financial innovation, sustainability and green finance, the latest financial technology solutions, and cybersecurity. In addition to topics related to financial technology, students will also learn and share discussions and practices on many major global issues in the "post-epidemic" era, including how to become a responsible and flexible leader.

 

 

 

The planning of the AXSI Digital Finance Leadership Program began at the World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Davos in January 2020. Witnessed by Singapore's Minister for Communications and Information and Minister in charge of Trade Relations Iswaran and Chairman of AMTD Group and Founder of AMTD Charitable Foundation Calvin Choi , the program was jointly announced by Dr. Timothy Tong, CEO of AMTD Charitable Foundation, Chow Shou-chi, Partner, Senior Vice President and President of International Department of Xiaomi Group, Professor Eng Chye Tan, President of the National University of Singapore, and Professor Yinnie Koh, Vice President of Business Development of Singapore Management University. The program is committed to providing in-depth digital business transformation and financial perspectives for Singapore and the entire ASEAN region, and cultivating a new generation of digital finance leaders.

 

[Left] Calvin Choi gave an opening speech to students at the first AXSI Digital Finance Leadership Course
[Right] Students of the first AXSI Digital Finance Leadership Course listened carefully to Calvin Choi’s speech

 

The programme aims to consolidate Singapore’s leadership as a fintech and innovation hub by deepening the knowledge and capabilities of senior financial and regulatory leaders and fintech entrepreneurs in Asia’s digital business transformation and digital finance sectors, and empowering a new generation of industry leaders to use digital and technology to provide solutions to the financial and industrial sectors and enhance the excellence of industry services and business.

A total of 50 participants, including the first and second batches, benefited from the five-day course, which included dialogues with regulators and industry leaders, sharing and reflections from thought leaders and startup founders, fireside chats with industry leaders, and a series of social activities with industry partners.

 

[Left] Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, attended the opening ceremony of the first day of the AXSI Digital Finance Leadership Program as a special guest and delivered a speech
[Right] From right to left, Khoong Chan Meng, CEO of the School of Systems Science at the National University of Singapore, Sopnendu Mohanty of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Professor Yinnie Xu, Vice President of Singapore Management University, and Osman Faiz, Chief Information and Operations Officer of AMTD Digital, held a "fireside chat" on hot topics in the industry at the AXSI Digital Finance Leadership.

 

Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), attended the opening ceremony and seminar of the first and second AXSI courses in December 2020 and February 2021 respectively. At the recent opening ceremony of the Digital Finance Leadership Course on February 21, Sopnendu shared his views on various major topics in the fintech industry while addressing the participants of the course, including data regulations of regulators, the MAS's ongoing technical risk guidelines for financial institutions and the possible impact on the development of traditional banks, digital banks and fintech companies, and the new trend of Asian regulators to build new rules to guide the healthy development of the fintech industry.

 

[Left] Students actively discussed the latest industry topics in the first digital finance leadership course.
[Right] Students enthusiastically shared their personal experiences and proposed various new ideas, new methods and solutions in the second digital finance leadership course to promote industry development and common progress among peers.

 

Eddie Tritton, Executive Director of Singapore Management University (SMU), and Chan Meng Khoong, CEO of the Institute of Systems Science, National University of Singapore (NUS-ISS), also thanked the Digital Finance Leadership Programme participants, and especially thanked Mr. Calvin Choi for his significant philanthropic donation and all-round strategic support for the establishment of the programme.

At the graduation ceremony of the course on February 26, Calvin Choi connected from Hong Kong and had a cordial exchange with AXSI students, sharing his interpretation of the current situation and future development of global financial technology. Calvin Choi also introduced the spider web ecosystem as the core of AMTD Group's strategy, and shared the goal of AMTD to build a cross-regional, cross-market, comprehensive and all-round one-stop digital service and solution platform.

 

Calvin Choi addresses students at the second AXSI Digital Finance Leadership Course

 

Calvin Choi said: " AMTD Digital is the digital integrated service division of AMTD Group, headquartered in Singapore. With the AMTD Spider Web ecosystem as its core, it widely connects ASEAN with the Greater Bay Area and other regions, empowers entrepreneurs, and supports talent cultivation and skills improvement . Three years ago, we established the AMTD FinTech Academy, the first school-enterprise cooperation in Hong Kong, with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, to offer a doctoral degree program in the field of fintech. We also cooperated with the University of Waterloo to establish the AMTD-Waterloo Global Talent Cultivation Postdoctoral Workstation to support the innovative and creative scientific research development in the Greater Bay Area."

 

[Left] Dr. Flocy (first from left), Director of AXSI Digital Finance Leadership Program, Osman Faiz of AMTD Digital (second from left), and Dr. Leong Mun Kew of the School of Systems Science, National University of Singapore (first from right) present graduation certificates to students of AXSI Digital Finance Leadership Program
[Right] Back row, from left to right: Yang Zhan, Co-founder and COO of FOMO Pay, Osman Faiz of AMTD Digital, PK Raman, Chief Risk Officer of AMTD Digital, Vincent Ling, Head of Transaction Banking and Payment Solutions Department of AMTD Digital, and Pierre Habib, Head of Ecosystem and Development Department of AMTD Digital; Front row, left: Paula Liu, Head of Digital Innovation and Customer Experience Department of AMTD Digital, right, Dr. Flocy, Director of AXSI Digital Finance Leadership Program

 

Osman Faiz also said, "Education is one of the key strategic pillars of AMTD's IDEAS strategy. The AXSI Digital Finance Leadership Programme once again demonstrates AMTD Group's commitment to Singapore and its unremitting contribution to strengthening the leadership skills of digital talents and deepening their understanding of industry-leading technologies to enhance the competitiveness of Singapore's fintech ecosystem."

At the same time, the management team of AMTD Digital and founders from member companies of the AMTD SpiderNet ecosystem such as Funding Societies, CapBridge, PolicyPal, FOMO Pay, etc. hosted different seminars during the course to share their insights and experiences, allowing participants to have a more practical understanding of industry-related information and trends.

 

AMTD Digital’s management team (Osman - top left, Paula - top right, Vincent - bottom left, PK Raman - bottom right) hosted the case analysis discussion in the “Practical Challenge” session of the second AXSI Digital Finance Leadership Course

 

The two successful AXSI Digital Finance Leadership Programs fully demonstrate the huge resource network effect of the AMTD Spider Web ecosystem; Xiaomi’s global experience in digital technology services, consumer IoT and innovation; Singapore Management University’s professional experience in digital finance, law and government governance and its excellent track record in building leadership programs; and the National University of Singapore’s School of Systems Science’s professional experience in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

The AXSI Digital Finance Leadership Program is a program led by AMTD Group, Xiaomi, Singapore Management University, and the School of Systems Science of the National University of Singapore to train a new generation of digital finance leaders. The program is held twice a year, with no more than 25 participants in each session. The first round of courses in 2020 started and ended at the same time as the 2020 Singapore Fintech Festival, and was a huge success and industry appreciation. The first AXSI course in 2021 was completed on February 26, and the second course in 2021 began to welcome its second batch of students in July this year. In the face of new opportunities and emerging challenges, executives, entrepreneurs and policymakers are welcome to apply for the program and learn proprietary technologies to adapt to digital disruption and ride the digital wave.