To unlock the true potential of finance for people, community and society and help Bangladesh to achieve its potential, the first-ever Bangladesh Fintech Summit Powered by Guardian Life was held today, November 23, 2019. The event was organized by Bangladesh Brand Forum and was attended by more than 300 financial professionals across the country.
The Theme for the summit was ‘Shaping Future of Finance for People’ with the objective to provide collaborative space to fin-tech companies to share learning, success and failure with present and aspiring fin-tech Companies, for entrepreneurs to initiate policy dialogue for right policy framework for Future Fintech companies to thrive sustainably and to nurture the fin-tech ecosystem so that Bangladesh receives the full benefit and value of Global Fintech drive and movement.
The Summit comprised of 4 Keynote Sessions, 2 Insight Sessions and 5 Panel Discussions with the international and local industry leaders. The summit also facilitated 1 Insight Session, 1 Case Study presentation and two Breakout Sessions. In the opening speech of the summit Sanjoy Datta, Financial Services Industry Leader, Deloitte South Asia stated,” Fintechs have changed how financial services are structured, provisioned and consumed, they have laid the foundation for future disruption and set the pace with which incumbent financial institutions need to respond to customer expectations.” Shariful Islam, Founder & Managing Director of Bangladesh Brand Forum delivered the welcome speech at the auspicious event stating that, ”Fintech and financial innovation will play the pivotal role in pursuing inclusive and sustainable progress for Bangladesh.”
The 4 keynote speakers for the summit were: Sanjoy Datta, Financial Services Industry Leader, Deloitte South Asia who spoke on the ‘Global Fintech Trends’, Jaspreet Bindra, Digital Transformation & BlockChain Expert, Author of the Tech Whisperer stating his keynote on “Blockchain & Cryptocurrency”, Shilin Wu, Global Business Manager of Zoloz Solution Architect, Ant Financial Services Group and Lauren Liang, Head of Strategic Partnerships – Innovation, LumenLab, MetLife Innovation Centre.
Some of the eminent panel members of the summit were: Md. Abul Kalam Azad, Principal Coordinator, Sustainable Development Goals, (SDG) Affairs, Prime Minister’s Office, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Anubrata Chakrabarti, Partner Deloitte Touche, Tohmatsu, India LLP, Rahel Ahmed, Managing Director and CEO, Prime Bank Limited, Mashrur Arefin, Managing Director & CEO, City Bank Limited, Md. Arfan Ali, President & Managing Director, Bank Asia Limited, Ali Reza Iftekhar, Managing Director & CEO, Eastern Bank Limited, Daipayan Kar Choudhuri, Director, Deloitte Shared Services India LLP, Sajid Amit, Senior Advisor Bangladesh, Tala.co., Associate Professor & Director, CES & EMBA, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), Syed Mohammad Kamal, Country Manager, Mastercard Bangladesh, Iresh Jaker, Board Member, Digital Tree Bangladesh, Aref R. Bashir, Co-Founder & Managing Director, Dmoney, Adil Islam, Managing Director & CEO, Meghna Bank Limited, Bangladesh, Md. Ashraful Alam, Country Project Co-Ordinator of SHIFT- SAARC, UNCDF, the Secretariat of DFCG, Selim R. F. Hussain, Managing Director & CEO BRAC Bank Limited, Kamal Quadir, Chief Executive Officer, bKash, Rezaul Hossain, Co-Founder & Director, Nagad, Tania Sharmin, Senior Team Leader, JANO, Care Bangladesh, Anirban Bhowmik, Country Director, Swisscontact Bangladesh, Ms. Farzanah Chowdhury, Chartered Insurer, Managing Director & CEO, Green Delta Insurance Company Limited, M. M Monirul Alam, Chief Executive Officer, Guardian Life Insurance Limited, Mahbubul Matin, Chairman, Systems Solution & Development Technologies Limited, Md. Arafat Hossain, Team Leader, FHI 360, Agent Banking, Anir Chowdhury, Policy Advisor, a2i, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Mohammad A. (Rumee) Ali, Chairman AB Bank Limited & Ex-Deputy Governor, Bangladesh Bank, Syed Mahbubur Rahman, Managing Director & Chief Executive officer, Dhaka Bank Limited and Raja Debnath, Managing Partner, Cogence Lab.
Bangladesh Fintech Summit also facilitated an exclusive Insight Session. The Insight Session was conducted by Gazi Yar Mohammed, EVP, Head of MFS & Agent Banking, ONE Bank Limited. On the topic ‘Digital Lending: An Exponential Growth Engine for Banks and Fintech’. The summit also facilitated a case study. The topic for the case study was “Future of Retail Banking: How Aamartaka is Leveraging Fintech to Empower the Economy” which was conducted by Maruf Toufiq, CEO & Founder, Aamartaka.com. The summit also facilitated two exclusive breakout sessions.
The day-long summit ended with a high note, as any nation’s Financial sector plays a vital role in shaping the future and growth potential; ‘FINTECH’ will play the critical role for Bangladesh in how it shapes the industry and broad financial space based on the elaborative dialogue of Bangladesh Fintech Summit 2019.
Bangladesh Fintech Summit 2019 was Powered by Guardian Life Insurance and in association with – Access to Information (a2i) and the City Bank Limited, the initiative was supported by – Prime Bank Ltd. & The Digital Tree, Bangladesh Innovation Conclave as Strategic Partner, Deloitte as Knowledge partner, Le Meridien as Event Partner, Aamra as Technology partner, Backpage PR as PR Partner, The summit was an initiation of Bangladesh Fintech Forum and was organized by Bangladesh Brand Forum.
