Sopnendu Mohanty, Group CEO of GFTN, delivering a keynote at Istanbul FinTech Week.
Good morning, and thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.
Over the last decade, finance has become faster, more accessible, and more digital. Yet, it has also become more fragmented, complex, and unequal.
This duality defines our current position. The financial sector has made extraordinary strides, but still struggles with systemic challenges—access gaps, trust deficits, climate risks, and inefficiencies that continue to challenge inclusive growth. Today I want to take a different lens: not just to celebrate what we’ve built, but to ask what problems we must now solve. Because if the last ten years were about digitising finance, the next ten must be about reimagining its purpose.
Past Decade: What We’ve Overcome, and What We Haven’t
Let’s begin by acknowledging the immense progress we’ve made.
Exclusion and Uneven Access
A decade ago, financial exclusion remained one of the most significant barriers to development. In 2014, more than 2 billion adults worldwide were unbanked. Thanks to the rise of fintech, that figure had decreased to 1.4 billion by 2021.
However, access is not the same as inclusion. Many still lack access to credit, insurance, and investment tools that build long-term financial health. Even in advanced economies, women, rural communities, and small businesses remain particularly underserved.
In 2014, just 62% of adults globally had a bank account. By 2021, that figure had risen to 76%, according to the World Bank’s Global Findex. This leap was powered by fintech and public-private collaboration.
But financial services must be accessible and reachable—they must also be meaningful. That is inclusion's last-mile challenge.
Trust and Transparency Deficits
The 2010s saw a concerted effort to rebuild trust, with stronger regulation, transparency norms, open banking, and digital ID systems.
Yet, new technologies brought new vulnerabilities. Scams, hacks, and fraud, particularly in the crypto space, have again eroded consumer trust. According to a global survey, only 46% of consumers trust financial institutions to use their data ethically.
In response, regulators have stepped up. Over 70 jurisdictions launched regulatory sandboxes, allowing safe experimentation with emerging models. Innovation was encouraged within a safeguards framework in India, Brazil, and Singapore.
India’s JAM trinity — Jan Dhan bank accounts, Aadhaar digital ID, and mobile connectivity — included over 400 million people in the formal system. The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) now processes over 10 billion monthly transactions — secure, real-time, and cost-free.
Singapore’s digital ID system, SingPass, the payment interface, PayNow, and other similar platforms have upgraded the country to a seamless digital experience.
These efforts have helped, but trust is not a checkbox. It must be continuously earned, with transparency, user control, and data responsibility at the center.
Rising Complexity and Fragmentation
Fintech made financial services more accessible — but also more fragmented.
Consumers now face thousands of apps, platforms, and providers, each solving a sliver of the financial experience. Payments are faster, but not always interoperable. Regulation remains reactive.
The financial stack has broadened, but not always better integrated.
One significant evolution has been the rise of embedded finance — financial services woven directly into digital platforms. Consumers now pay for rides, get loans, and buy insurance all within apps.
Let me share a quick anecdote. Last year, my son traveled to Thailand without buying travel insurance. When he landed and reached immigration, the Grab app sent him a pop-up notification offering on-the-spot travel insurance. He purchased it instantly — embedded, contextual, and effortless.
That’s how fintech has evolved from product delivery to experience design. However, for regulators, this raises new questions around data, consent, and oversight.
Institutional Agility and Digital Readiness
The COVID-19 pandemic tested the system like nothing else. Some governments and financial institutions pivoted with remarkable speed, while others struggled. The difference was digital readiness.
Countries with strong digital public infrastructure could identify beneficiaries, authenticate identities, and transfer benefits in real time.
The crisis accelerated what had been a slow evolution for financial institutions. Digital onboarding, remote KYC, cloud-based servicing, and AI-powered credit assessments were no longer optional—they were survival tools.
Traditional banks began to operate more like tech firms, launching apps in weeks instead of years. At the same time, technology companies entered the financial space with greater intensity, offering payments, lending, and even wealth management services to their existing user bases.
The lines between banks and tech companies, regulation and innovation, and public and private sectors are blurred. However, the shift wasn’t just technological; it was cultural.
Institutions that had spent decades perfecting risk management and compliance had to experiment, iterate, and suddenly adapt in real time. This required a mindset shift: from certainty to adaptability, control to coordination, hierarchy to networks.
According to a 2022 IMF study, countries investing in digital ID systems, real-time payment rails, and open data platforms recovered more quickly and equitably from the pandemic's economic shock.
And yet, agility remains uneven — both across geographies and within institutions.
Now, let’s explore what the next decade offers — not just new tools but real solutions.
The Next Decade: Solving the Right Problems
AI: Solving for Access and Intelligence Gaps
AI is set to become the most transformative force in finance. In the past decade, its applications have primarily focused on automation —ndetecting fraud, processing claims, underwriting loans, and powering chatbots.
However, in the coming decade, AI will evolve from automating routine tasks to enhancing complex decision-making. This shift will fundamentally change how we assess risk, personalise services, and deliver financial value.
According to PwC, AI could contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030, with $1 trillion in financial services.
In emerging markets, AI models are already scoring customers with limited credit history using alternative data, such as mobile usage and transaction patterns. AI is already solving problems that traditional finance couldn’t.
In India, startups use mobile phone metadata, e-commerce activity, and digital payment history to assess creditworthiness. In Sub-Saharan Africa, firms use AI to analyse mobile money usage and airtime purchase patterns to offer microloans and insurance to underserved populations. In Latin America, AI-driven platforms are helping small farmers gain access to working capital based on satellite imagery, crop yield forecasts, and weather models.
These are inclusion breakthroughs. With the correct data and models, AI can bridge the last mile in financial access, enabling banks, fintechs, and governments to serve the underserved.
Now, GenAI is transforming financial institutions by drafting compliance reports, generating disclosures, monitoring data for fraud and cyber risks, and powering virtual advisors by offering low-cost personalised guidance on savings and investments while enhancing financial education in multiple languages for first-time users.
With growing capabilities come growing risks. Regulators have stepped in worldwide. The EU’s AI Act categorises risks and establishes guardrails for transparency and accountability. Singapore’s Veritas initiative aids financial firms in assessing AI systems based on fairness, ethics, responsibility, and transparency principles. These efforts ensure AI systems are explainable, auditable, and free from harmful bias.
AI can reshape finance into something more innovative, faster, and inclusive. But for that to happen, it must be governed with as much care as it is built.
The financial system of the next decade could offer real-time, hyper-personalised services — available to everyone, in every language, at any time — if we ensure AI is not just intelligent, but also ethical, inclusive, and trusted.
Tokenization: Redesigning Market Infrastructure
Tokenization addresses the complexities and inefficiencies of financial products like deposits and loans for real estate and bonds, which will transition to programmable digital tokens. These can be traded 24/7, settled instantly, and owned fractionally. This could reduce transaction costs by about 80%, according to a study by Oliver Wyman and the World Economic Forum.
The opportunity is promising for unlocking liquidity, reducing settlement times, and enabling fractional ownership. Tokenized markets could reach $16 trillion in value by 2030, according to BCG. Tokenized government bonds can be traded 24/7 at lower costs, allowing small investors to access traditionally illiquid assets through fractional shares. This will democratise investment and strengthen capital markets, particularly in emerging economies.
Currently, regulators are cautiously yet convincingly embracing tokenized finance.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Project Guardian and the UK’s Digital Securities Sandbox are testing real-world applications under supervised conditions. Meanwhile, the IMF and BIS are exploring interoperability, custody, and settlement standards to mitigate risks and avoid fragmentation.
In the next 10 years, tokenized markets could represent 10% of global GDP, according to BCG. We may see global financial markets operating with near-instant settlement, programmable compliance, and lower barriers to participation — not merely digitised versions of today’s systems, but entirely new market architecture.
Quantum Computing: Solving Problems Beyond Today’s Limits
Some problems in finance are simply too complex for today’s classical computers. Quantum computing may seem distant, but its implications are very real.
Quantum computing will eventually disrupt today’s computational limits, enabling breakthroughs in risk modelling, portfolio optimisation, and pricing of complex derivatives. It could compress simulations that take days into seconds, and allow hyper-personalised financial products. JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are already exploring quantum use cases, anticipating commercial breakthroughs by 2030.
But it also poses a threat: quantum machines may one day break current cryptographic systems, which underpin the security of digital finance. And with that comes a new urgency: to protect financial systems from quantum-level cyber threats.
This is a solvable problem, if we start preparing today.
Governments and central banks are preparing for a post-quantum future. The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology is developing quantum-resistant encryption standards. Central banks in Europe and Asia are beginning to assess the long-term cybersecurity implications for payments and CBDCs. Industry bodies are urging institutions to begin “crypto-agility” — the ability to upgrade cryptographic protocols quickly.
We may not yet know when quantum computers will reach scale, but readiness is key. The financial institutions that invest now in post-quantum security, talent, and partnerships will be the ones leading in a world where speed, security, and intelligence converge.
Sustainability: Making Finance Climate-Ready
The financial system must become climate-intelligent. The system is now a central actor in addressing climate change.
Green bonds, transition finance, and sustainability-linked loans have grown exponentially. AI and blockchain are being used to verify emissions data and track ESG metrics. Finance is not just pricing risk — it’s helping drive capital toward a more sustainable economy.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 will require over $4 trillion annually in clean energy investment. The Network for Greening the Financial System — a group of 135 central banks — is developing frameworks for climate stress testing.
ESG is evolving from voluntary disclosures to mandatory standards. Climate disclosure mandates are becoming mainstream — from the EU’s CSRD to ISSB standards. Central banks are conducting climate stress tests.
Taxonomies are being developed to clarify what qualifies as “green,” ensuring credibility and comparability. The GFANZ initiative also aligns private capital with net-zero goals.
Over the next decade, sustainability will move from niche to baseline. Returns, coupled with resilience and impact, will guide financial flows.
The winners will be those who integrate ESG into every product, risk model, and decision. In short, green finance will simply become finance.
Digital Public Infrastructure: Solving for Scale and Inclusion
DPI solves the “last mile” problem in finance. DPI — including digital ID, payments, and data sharing — is foundational for inclusive, efficient finance. Countries with strong DPI foundations, like India with Aadhaar and UPI, rapidly scaled financial access and delivered real-time government support during COVID-19.
Singapore offers a high-tech, high-trust model. Systems like Singpass and PayNow have made secure digital identity and instant payments ubiquitous, even for small businesses and seniors.
DPI enables open banking, faster innovation, and citizen-centered services.
A McKinsey study estimates that adopting digital ID and payments could add 3–6% to GDP in emerging economies by 2030. Singapore’s DPI approach exemplifies this by integrating digital identity, interoperable payments, and consent-based data sharing via platforms like SGFinDex. This enables citizens to consolidate their financial data across institutions and use it for better financial planning.
The magic lies in interoperability — when digital ID, payments, and data-sharing platforms work as a system.
The G20, World Bank, and UNDP actively promote DPI as a global public good. Frameworks are emerging for interoperability, consent-based data sharing, and public-private collaboration. Countries like Brazil, Singapore, and Nigeria export their DPI learnings through South-South cooperation.
Singapore’s active engagement in global DPI dialogues — including through ASEAN and the Digital Economy Framework Agreement — reflects its commitment to shaping responsible, inclusive digital ecosystems beyond its borders.
DPI will define the foundational layer — the infrastructure layer — of next-generation finance.
A well-designed DPI stack enables instant payments, seamless onboarding, and portable credit histories — helping the unserved become banked, and the underserved become empowered.
Singapore’s experience shows that when DPI is built with privacy, trust, and user-centricity at its core, it can drive both digital inclusion and economic competitiveness.
Conclusion
The financial sector doesn’t need another decade of transformation for transformation’s sake. It requires a decade of solving the correct problems.
If we apply the tools of AI, tokenization, quantum computing, sustainable finance, and digital infrastructure with clarity and purpose, we won’t just modernise finance — we will commit to transformation, not just to transformation but to transformation that matters.
Thank you.