Enhancing Crédit Agricole brand profile in South East Asia

All Crédit Agricole Group entities present in Singapore, namely Crédit Agricole CIB Amundi, Azqore and Crédit Agricole Indosuez participated in this year SFF. The showcase of our full range of financial and technology services increased the attractiveness of our exhibits and ultimately Crédit Agricole brand visibility toward the market and clients.

Our booth attracted more than 2,000 visitors through the 3-day event. Our representatives were engaging a diverse population of entrepreneurs seeking opportunities, partnership or funding as well as service or technology providers, government officials, media, business association and job seekers.

The theme of the festival, "Building Resilient Business Models amid Volatility and Change" was an opportunity to communicate on Crédit Agricole Group’s values and demonstrate the meaningfulness of the Group’s business strategy. Chief Executive Officer for Asia at Indosuez Wealth Management, Omar Shokur, spoke at the Industry Initiative Stage about sustainability by leveraging synergies and balances between the business lines of an international bank.
 Our Hong Kong office Technology, Media and Telecommunications colleagues oversaw business development opportunities. They met with executives from various organisations over the three days and fostered business relationships with leading companies. 

“Given the return to the in-person format this year, we have been able to talk to a lot of people. The TMT APAC team, managed to make quite a few contacts after the festival, and we are currently in the process of exploring business opportunities. Jia Hang, Chief Executive Officer of Ant Group Southeast Asia, has expressed a keen interest in exploring the partnership with Crédit Agricole CIB on ESG projects."
Nancy Cheng, Head of Technology, Media and Telecom Coverage for Asia-Pacific (TMT APAC)

Fostering deeper connections with official and the economic community

Emphasising the strong relationship with French official and economic communities, we had the privilege of welcoming the French Ambassador to Singapore, her Excellency, Ms Minh-di Tang. Ambassador Minh-di Tang discussed the special relationship between France and Singapore across many fields including banking, innovation, sustainability, talent management and technology with representatives from the four Singapore-based entities.

Crédit Agricole CIB also sponsored a networking event co-organised by La FrenchTech, a French entrepreneurial association in Singapore that supports French start-ups in their business expansion in Southeast Asia, on the eve of the conference.
Further discussions on the development of payment services or innovations in the financial sector took place with the Banque de France in the French pavilion. In an exclusive roundtable organised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Ziying Wu, Head of Human Resources, spoke about strategies to overcome the Talent Shortage and Talent Development in the Financial Sector.

SFF serves as an inspirational cross-industry platform facilitating discovery, exchange and learning about industry trends. Below are the key highlights observed from the conference: 

• MAS introduced five latest collaborative projects in a philosophical manner: Water, Metal, Fire, Wood, Earth
  • Instant remittance should flow like ‘water’ (Project Nexus); 
  • Atomic settlement via wholesale Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) should be strong and secure like ‘metal’ (Project Ubin+)
  • MAS will reshape money into new forms including Purpose-bound Money (Project Orchid) like ‘fire’
  • Tokenised assets should be grown and nurtured while their risks are properly managed (Project Guardian) like ‘wood’
  • Trusted sustainability data should be the solid ‘earth’-like foundation for green and transition finance (Project Greenprint).

The concept of Purpose-bound Money caught the highest interest of our experts. The initiative has demonstrated the potential of participating in industry initiatives, as some may see momentum.

• Digital currencies were the stars of the festival
  The three-day conference featured more than 850 speakers from the private and public sectors who participated in plenary sessions. A large part of the exhibitions also related to technologies or financial services around digital assets.
  Further discussions on visions, opportunities and challenges related to digital assets, purposes, including technical aspects were extensively deliberated during the conference.
• Building viable business models
  Against the backdrop of an economic slowdown, greater fundraising challenges, business models and adopting growth strategies, leading fintechs stressed the importance of maintaining an innovative mindset and focusing on profitability rather than fundraising.
• Resilience, purpose and climate
  The importance of purpose and sustainability as much as profits was highlighted by many leaders in presentations and roundtables. An ESG FinTech Zone presented solutions at the intersection of ESG, technology and finance.

Crédit Agricole CIB has placed these strategic elements at the heart of its strategy and is proud to be a leader in sustainable finance.

The Bank has also extensively developed its brand and business relationships with all stakeholders in key strategic markets during the three-day conference. 

Finally, new concepts, experiments and product launches are taking place with the support and oversight of regulators in Singapore. Technology companies and financial institutions are working together to shape the future of financial services