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The 2016 Fintech Finance 35: Sopnendu Mohanty

In the race to be the premier fintech hub, Singapore concedes no ground to London, New York, and Silicon Valley, and the island city-state’s central bank is all-in.

34. Sopnendu Mohanty
Chief FinTech Officer
Monetary Authority of Singapore
PNR

In the race to be the premier fintech hub, Singapore concedes no ground to London, New York, and Silicon Valley, and the island city-state’s central bank is all-in. In July 2015, Monetary Authority of Singapore managing director Ravi Menon announced the bank had created a fintech and innovation group to orchestrate “regulatory policies and development strategies” to promote Singapore as a “smart financial center.” The group’s chief fintech officer, Sopnendu Mohanty, says the vision is “one that is characterized by innovation, and where businesses and people benefit from the use of technology.” The initiative is an outgrowth of the Financial Sector Technology & Innovation project, set up by MAS in June 2015 with S$225 million ($162 million) to deploy over five years to create a fertile fintech environment, including innovation centers to attract R&D labs. MAS has delineated seven areas capable of transforming financial services: digital and mobile payments; blockchain and distributed ledger; advanced sensors; learning machines; big data; cloud computing; and authentication and biometrics. “These are to be supported by a strong API [application programming interface] architecture and enhanced cybersecurity,” says Mohanty, 45, who previously spent 12 years with Citibank, most recently as global head of consumer lab networks and programs. From 2010 to 2014 he was Citi’s Asia-Pacific head of branch operations and led its Singapore consumer innovation lab. MAS seeks to encourage “a ‘just do it’ mind-set,” Mohanty explains. “Financial institutions can launch their innovative solutions without first seeking MAS’s endorsement if they are satisfied with their own due diligence in terms of risk management and compliance with relevant regulations. Where regulatory compliance is unclear, financial institutions and fintech companies can adopt a ‘regulatory sandbox’ to launch innovative solutions within controlled boundaries, where the risks can be contained.” A native of Balasore, India, Mohanty graduated from Birla Institute of Technology in Ranchi in 1995 with a degree in information science. Since 2011 he has coauthored four patent filings related to retail distribution in the financial sector. “In the field of innovation, you learn something new every day,” Mohanty says. “My personal and professional journey prepared me well for dealing with uncertainties.”


The 2016 Fintech Finance 35

1. Jonathan Korngold
General Atlantic
2. Matthew Harris
Bain Capital Ventures
3. Jane Gladstone
Evercore Partners
4. James Robinson III & James
Robinson IV
RRE Ventures
5. Steven McLaughlin
Financial Technology Partners
6. Amy Nauiokas & Sean Park
Anthemis Group
7. Richard Garman &
Brad Bernstein
FTV Capital
8. Gerard
von Dohlen
Broadhaven Capital Partners
9. Darren Cohen
Goldman Sachs Group
10. Hans Morris
Nyca Partners
11. Meyer (Micky) Malka
Ribbit Capital
12. Maria Gotsch
Partnership Fund for New York City
13. Barry Silbert
Digital Currency Group
14. Jay Reinemann
Propel Venture Partners
15. Mariano Belinky
Santander InnoVentures
16. Justin Brownhill & Neil DeSena
SenaHill Partners
17. François Robinet
AXA Strategic Ventures
18. Vanessa Colella
Citi Ventures
19. Michael Schlein
Accion International
20. Kenneth Marlin
Marlin & Associates
21. Rumi Morales
CME Ventures
22. Alastair (Alex) Rampell
Andreessen Horowitz
23. Steve Gibson
Euclid Opportunities
24. Fabian Vandenreydt
SWIFT
25. Vladislav Solodkiy
Life.SREDA
26. Gardiner Garrard III
TTV Capital
27. Nektarios Liolios
Startupbootcamp Fintech
28. Lawrence Wintermeyer
Innovate Finance
29. Bina Kalola
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
30. Hyder Jaffrey
Fintech Innovation
31. Calvin Choi
AMTD Group
32. Janos Barberis
FinTech
Hong Kong
33. Jalak Jobanputra
Future Perfect Ventures
34. Sopnendu Mohanty
Monetary Authority of Singapore
35. Oskar Mielczarek
de la Miel
Rakuten
FinTech Fund

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