Speakers
Osamu Abe
Chief of Staff, Asia Pacific
MUFG Bank Ltd
View LinkedIn profileMr. Osamu Abe was appointed Chief of Staff for Asia Pacific for MUFG Bank in May 2025. Based in Singapore, he is responsible for managing the safety and soundness of the bank’s branch operations — which include risk, compliance, and regulatory matters — across 17 markets in South-east Asia, East Asia (including China), South Asia (including India) and Oceania.
Prior to the current appointment, Mr. Abe was CEO and board member of Mars Equity M.C. Pte. Ltd. where he oversaw launch of investment activity at the $500-million growth equity fund based in Singapore. He also served as the board member of Mars Growth Capital, a startup debt fund with total commitment of $1 billion. Mr. Abe will continue to serve on the Boards of the two entities.
Mr. Abe has over 28 years of extensive experience in corporate & investment banking through senior postings across MUFG’s global network. When he relocated to Singapore in 2023, Mr. Abe was appointed Managing Director and Deputy Head of Global Corporate & Investment Banking (GCIB) for Asia Pacific, where he was responsible for managing MUFG’s global corporate client portfolio and oversaw all governance and control aspects of this business across the region.
Prior to that, he was the Managing Director of the Bank’s GCIB Planning Division in Tokyo, a position he held since 2019. He was a senior member of MUFG Americas’ GCIB Planning Division in New York in 2017 where he supported the implementation of the region’s strategic plan and drove key initiatives. Mr. Abe also held roles with the Human Resources Office and Global Planning Division’s Strategic Planning department in Tokyo, and Global Credit Liaison.
He began his career in 1997 with the then Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi’s Nihonbashi Corporate Banking Office, followed by his first overseas assignment in 2001 with the European Business Division in London.
Speaking At
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3:45–5:15pmTue 17 NovPublic-Private RoundtableRoundtable Room 4Invite-Only
Enabling The Next Wave Of Innovation
Is AI Pulling the Ladder Up? Reimagining Job-Ready Skills in the AI Transition
Public-Private RoundtableRoundtable Room 4Invite-Only
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Arvind SankaranSenior Fintech ExpertAsian Development Bank
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Prof. Chia Tek YewAdjunct Professor/AdvisorNUS - Asian Institute of Digital Finance
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Osamu AbeChief of Staff, Asia PacificMUFG Bank Ltd
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Priyank HiraniVice President of Programsdata.org
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Tram Anh NguyenCo-Founder of CFTE (Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship), Chairwoman of Global Women in AICFTE (Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship)
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Akanksha RathHead of Capacity BuildingGlobal Finance & Technology Network (GFTN)Moderator
About this session
The white-collar skills that have historically lifted millions out of poverty across emerging economies are now facing disruption from AI. In the Philippines alone, the ILO estimates that more than a quarter of the workforce — some 12.7 million workers — holds jobs at risk of being displaced by AI automation. Most of these roles will be transformed rather than eliminated outright, but the shift is already reshaping what "job-ready" means for graduates and mid-career workers alike.
This roundtable brings together policymakers, regulators, educators, and industry leaders to confront the anxiety facing today's fresh graduates and mid-careerists, many of whom were trained for a job market that is changing faster than their curricula can keep pace with. Panelists will chart the policy interventions, employer strategies, and new models of education that will define career pathways for the next generation of workers in emerging economies. -

