GFTN Select Series - Philippines

Arrival & Welcome Networking
Coffee and light refreshments served for high-level relationship building

Boardroom Discussion 1 - Inclusive Instant Payments: How Do We Scale with Viable Commercial Models?
The Philippines has issued clear mandates on inclusive instant payments. InstaPay and PESONet have built the rails. But converting regulatory intent into financial flows at the last mile - at the sari-sari store, the tricycle driver, the overseas worker sending money home - remains the hard problem.

Building on a regional landscape study on inclusive instant payment systems across Southeast Asia, commissioned by the Gates Foundation and conducted by Albright Stonebridge Group - and on insights shared by central banks and industry stakeholders at previous convenings - this session moves from diagnosis to action. The discussion will explore how to overcome persistent friction points in domestic settlement, design sustainable commercial models for payment providers serving thin-margin populations, and ensure that the next generation of payment rails serves as a foundation for broader financial empowerment across the archipelago.

Boardroom Discussion 2 - AI Governance in Financial Services - What Are the Problems Worth Solving?
AI is now embedded across the bank - in credit, fraud detection, customer engagement, generative interfaces, and autonomous decision-making. But governance frameworks have not kept pace, and the region lacks a shared understanding of where the real challenges lie.

This roundtable convenes senior bank and regulator leaders to establish a baseline: across the full range of AI deployed in financial services, where are the governance gaps most acute? Which challenges are shared across ASEAN - and therefore candidates for regional alignment and interoperability - and which are rooted in local law and market context? And of those, which warrant deeper industry attention first?

The discussion is candid and held under the Chatham House Rule. Its output feeds directly into The State of ASEAN AI Governance Report, co-curated with the ASEAN Bankers Association.

Boardroom Discussion 3 - Agentic Commerce & Future of Payments: the Technology Interplay Driving Untapped Regional Trade  
The digital economy is moving beyond simple online transactions toward a future defined by agentic commerce - where autonomous, AI-driven agents execute complex financial decisions on behalf of consumers and businesses. This paradigm shift promises unprecedented efficiency but introduces novel challenges regarding consent, liability, and the fundamental architecture of payment networks.  Concurrently, new forms or payment instruments and infrastructure are emerging with the potential to rewire the financial system. 
 
Nowhere is this more consequential than in cross-border trade. As ASEAN’s bilateral corridors accelerate - remittance flows, MSME trade, digital infrastructure interoperability - the question is whether existing payment infrastructure can support autonomous agentic payments and real-time settlement across jurisdictions. New instruments including stablecoins are emerging as potential settlement layers for cross-border commerce, while traditional networks are re-architecting for speed. This session brings together technology pioneers, financial leaders, and policymakers to explore how existing payment paradigms must evolve - domestically and across borders - to support the next frontier of AI-driven commerce and trade connectivity.