This article was originally published on Coinpost and is republished here with permission.
The Global Finance & Technology Network (GFTN) is a non-profit organization established by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in 2024 with the aim of building a technology-enabled global financial ecosystem.
The forum was held in Tokyo as the main event of Japan Fintech Week, and through collaboration with the Financial Services Agency and domestic exchange groups, it has created a forum for international public-private dialogue.
About Japan Fintech Week 2026
A major FinTech-related event week hosted by the Financial Services Agency. It will be held in various locations around Tokyo and regional cities from February 24 to March 6, 2026, bringing together FinTech professionals from Japan and around the world. The Tokyo GFTN Forum is one of the main events of the week.
The Tokyo GFTN Forum , to be held from February 24th to 27th, 2026 , will focus on the theme of "Financial Corridors" and will delve into cutting-edge areas such as agent AI, quantum computing, and digital assets.
CoinPost interviewed GFTN Group CEO Sopnendu Mohanty, who, as the first CFO (Chief Fintech Officer) of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, helped propel Singapore into one of the world's leading fintech hubs. We asked him about his outlook for the Japanese market and GFTN's strategic vision.
Mr. Sopnendu Mohanty
Co-founder and Group CEO of GFTN
He served as the first Chief Fintech Officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for approximately 10 years, where he led the development of the instant remittance infrastructure "PayNow" and the founding of the "Singapore Fintech Festival." Prior to joining MAS, he worked at Citigroup for approximately 20 years. He currently also serves as a director of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
GFTN's Mission and Vision
Question: GFTN operates four businesses: Forum, Advisory, Platform, and Capital. How do these businesses work together to drive transformation in the financial sector? What is GFTN's vision for the future?
Answer: Over the past year, we have reviewed the pillars of our business, and now focus on "connecting people, ideas, and solutions."
The GFTN Forum is at the heart of this. In addition to the main event, we launched a new forum last year called the "Black Swan Summit (BSS)." It has already been held in three cities: Armenia, Perth (Australia), and India, and is promoting dialogue on important issues in each region and uncovering innovations emerging from notable regions. We have also launched an event called "GFTN Select," which is being held in cities around the world focusing on the ecosystems and challenges unique to each region.
Outside of the forum, we offer solutions that combine advisory and platform services. This approach combines strategic advice with practical digital tools to deliver tangible results. A prime example is our proprietary research and advisory tool, ALFIN, which integrates insights gained from forum discussions with data analysis.
We are also working with partners in each market to deploy solutions locally, such as hosting a hackathon in Odisha, India, in collaboration with APIX, a matching platform for fintech companies.
In the capital division, we launched a growth investment fund in November last year in partnership with Japan's SBI Holdings Inc. Furthermore, through a partnership with ACCION (an international non-profit organization promoting financial inclusion), we are providing capital to digital finance companies that support underserved segments of the population in emerging countries.
These efforts have come together to create a system that supports the entire FinTech industry. As an "ecosystem builder," GFTN brings together all the elements necessary for the public good and promotes financial inclusion. Our mission is "Innovating Finance, for everyone."
Why the Japanese market?
Question: GFTN holds forums all over the world, but you position Japan as an important market. Why is that, and how do you evaluate Japan's financial and fintech market?
Japan is an important market for GFTN because of its market size, institutional stability, and clear policy stance to promote financial innovation.
Answer: The Singapore-Japan Corridor is one of the most successful we have built to date. It builds on years of regulatory cooperation and has naturally expanded into the wider Asia region. The Corridor is accelerating the creation of cross-border business opportunities through strategic investments and new models in banking-as-a-service (BaaS) and embedded finance.
Japan's financial and fintech markets have several distinctive features. While it has a mature capital market and a highly reliable financial system, there is also a growing sense of urgency regarding productivity improvement and digital transformation. Recent political and economic trends are encouraging policy continuity and emphasizing growth, financial resilience, and structural reform. This means that the environment is becoming more predictable and investment-friendly for Fintech and digital finance players.
This relationship, where innovation is "supported by policy" rather than "bound by regulations," is the most important point that GFTN considers when choosing a location for its forum.
Additionally, the India-Japan corridor is gaining momentum. Major domestic banks such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMBC) are expanding their presence in India and working closely with GFTN. Both banks are supporting talent development and organizational development in India and plan to continue deepening collaboration between the two markets.
Highlights of the 2026 Tokyo GFTN Forum
Question: Please tell us about the themes and focus areas of the Tokyo GFTN Forum in 2026. In particular, please tell us about hot topics such as stablecoins, AI x finance, and tokenization, as well as the lineup of speakers.
Answer: The 2026 Forum will have three main themes.
The first session will be "Stablecoins, Tokenization, and Regulated Markets." Japan is one of the few major countries in the world where stablecoins and tokenized products are developing under a clear regulatory framework. This session will explore the role of yen-denominated stablecoins as a foundation for settlement, clearing, and cross-border transactions, as well as tokenized financial products as building blocks for next-generation capital markets. The focus will be on how to achieve institutional-level tokenization, particularly in areas such as bonds, funds, and structured products.
The second session will focus on "Payments, Banking, Insurance, and Capital Markets." AI and Finance will be a key theme, emphasizing the perspective of practitioners. The world is currently moving toward "agentic AI," in which AI makes autonomous decisions and takes action. This is poised to dramatically change the way finance operates, from payments to insurance and capital markets, through automated decision-making, advanced risk management, and the redesign of business processes. We will also discuss infrastructure preparations, such as the impact of quantum computing on cryptography and financial security. There is a growing recognition across the industry that the introduction of AI must be coupled with ensuring the robustness and reliability of the entire system.
The third theme is "Capital Reimagined." This theme is unique to Japan, a country with some of the world's largest long-term savings. We will explore where the vast amount of capital lying dormant within the country is headed and what the bottlenecks are. We will explore how to redirect capital to productive investments both domestically and abroad through policy, technology, and market mechanisms. We will also explore issues such as the role of asset managers, the use of AI in the investment process, and how NISA (tax-free small investment system) can encourage individual participation in capital markets.
The speakers will include a balanced mix of leaders from both the public and private sectors. In addition to the Financial Services Agency, the regulatory side will include Ravi Menon, Chairman of the Board of Directors of GFTN and former Chairman of MAS. Also speaking, symbolizing the growing momentum of the India-Japan Corridor, will be Jawed Ashraf, Chairman of the India External Trade Organization (ITPO). He is a leading figure in Indian diplomacy, having previously served as High Commissioner to Singapore and Ambassador to France.
Bringing the Singapore experience to Japan
Question: Given your experience as Chief Fintech Officer of MAS, where you led PayNow and the Singapore Fintech Festival, what advice would you give to financial institutions, startups and regulators in Japan?
Answer: There are three points for financial institutions. First, focus on "interoperable public infrastructure." Real-time payment systems such as PayNow (Singapore's instant remittance platform) have shown that an industry-wide infrastructure can reduce costs, move away from cash, and create new business models.
The second is to treat fintechs as partners, not vendors or competitors. In Singapore, banks are working with hundreds of B2B fintechs through platforms such as APIX to accelerate their digital transformation, rather than building everything themselves. Fintechs are able to provide solutions in niche areas more cheaply and efficiently than banks could do on their own.
Third, "invest in talent and organizational culture." The adoption of technology led to success because banks engaged in reskilling and aligned incentives with digital and data-driven services.
I would encourage startups to first "build on public infrastructure." Many fintechs in Singapore have grown by taking advantage of PayNow, data exchange platforms, and regulatory sandboxes (a system that allows new services to be tested under limited conditions). It is quicker to build on existing infrastructure than to try to build your own closed ecosystem.
Additionally, "we will have an eye on international expansion from day one." Platforms like APIX are designed with connectivity to ASEAN and global markets in mind, proving that even a small domestic market can become a global fintech hub. And finally, "we will focus on B2B and deep tech." Much of Singapore's fintech ecosystem is based on a B2B model, providing technology to financial institutions in areas such as compliance, AI, cloud-native banking, and cross-border payments.
We recommend that regulators adopt a "co-creation" approach. MAS has established a dedicated fintech division and has conducted numerous experiments, including "Project Ubin," a proof-of-concept for cross-border payments using blockchain, as well as settlement infrastructure experiments, and has worked with the industry to verify new models through sandboxes. Rather than relying solely on written public comments, we believe the key is to utilize a platform that brings together banks, fintech companies, and policymakers to collaboratively discover, design, and implement solutions.
Expectations for Japanese companies and the government
Question: What outcomes do you expect from Japanese financial institutions, startups, and regulators through the Tokyo GFTN Forum? Also, what role do you think Japan should play in global financial innovation?
Answer: We encourage financial institutions to work on core projects for the "Financial Corridor" with partners in the ASEAN, India, and global networks. The areas of cross-border payments, capital markets, and asset management are particularly promising. We hope to see the forum move from the demonstration phase to full-scale implementation in areas that will be discussed at the forum, such as payment platforms using tokenized products and stablecoins, and AI-based risk management and portfolio management.
We hope that startups will use the forum as an opportunity to begin joint development with overseas partners. We will join forces with players from ASEAN, India, the Middle East, and Europe to jointly develop solutions in the areas of digital assets, AI in Finance, and embedded finance. What is important at this time is that the solutions will directly address the structural challenges facing Japan (aging population, productivity, resilience).
I would like to see regulatory and administrative bodies further deepen cooperation with relevant national organizations in areas such as data, AI, cybersecurity, and quantum resistance (designs that will remain safe even in the age of quantum computing). I would also like to see the Forum serve as a springboard for the establishment of thematic sandboxes and joint task forces on agent AI, tokenization, and next-generation payments, and forge international cooperation for the utilization of long-term capital through systems such as the Nippon Individual Savings Account (NISA).
I have a clear vision for the role Japan should play in global financial innovation. I believe Japan should become a "corridor architect," or the designer of international financial corridors. We should design financial and technological connections that connect North Asia, South Asia, ASEAN, and global markets, and function as the linchpin of those connections. This means that Japan will not just participate in systems created by other countries, but will also be on the side of designing its own systems.
Japan can also be a model case for a "regulated digital asset economy." A place where stablecoins, tokenized products, and next-generation market infrastructure can scale with prudence, transparency, and consumer and investor protection. Even in the age of AI and quantum computing, advanced technologies can be deployed in a way that is safe and verifiable, and that addresses long-term societal challenges like an aging society. Japan can demonstrate leadership in this field of "trusted intelligence."
Through the GFTN Forum and Fintech Week, I hope that Japan will become a leader in global financial dialogue. I want to create a forum where policymakers, financial institutions, entrepreneurs, and investors can gather in Tokyo not just to discuss things, but to design the international financial corridor for the next decade and take home concrete promises of collaboration.
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