Hong Leong Holdings Limited (HLHL) recently participated in the SFF x SWITCH event (Singapore FinTech Festival x Singapore Week of Innovation & Technology), held from 7 to 11 December 2020. It was the world’s first week-long, round-the-clock hybrid digital and physical event aimed at championing and celebrating financial technology and key innovation domains such as Smart Cities.

The hybrid business-to-business (B2B) event format featured a 24-hour online platform with over 240 hours of immersive content and more than 40 global satellite events in fintech hubs around the world. This new collaborative hybrid model seeks to provide greater access and inclusivity to the global fintech and innovation communities looking to boost sales cycles, foster and forge new cross-border partnerships, and generate investments.

HLHL Manager Ms Kwek Wei Ling was invited to speak on the panel, Market Access: Southeast Asia – The Diversity of Corporate Innovation in Southeast Asia. She was joined by six other regional leaders of Southeast Asian conglomerates to discuss the diversity of corporate innovation and its role in creating future-proof business models, especially in light of the unprecedented challenges brought on by pandemic.

She said, “By partnering Singapore on the SEA OI Challenge, we hope to leverage the strengths of startups to deliver mutually beneficial outcomes that have the potential to impact the industry. This is also in line with Hong Leong Holdings’ hopes to support innovation in the digital economy in the long-run.”

During the festival, 80RR Fintech Hub SG was also the proud venue sponsor for FinTech for Good 2020, which launched the report “Singapore FinTech Landscape 2020 and Beyond”. The event was graced by Guest of Honour Minister for Trade & Industry Mr Chan Chun Sing.

The report was a collaboration between the Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) and management consulting firm Oliver Wyman, with the support of Monetary Authority of Singapore, and shared key findings of how the FinTech community in Singapore has grown and the key enablers of the country’s success as a FinTech hub.

At the event, SFA also recognised the contributions of its individual and corporate members, who collectively donated S$100,000 to the NTUC U-Care Fund. The donation amount was raised in just two weeks under the FinTech for Good initiative, which goes towards various initiatives supporting lower-income NTUC union members and their families.