What a productive and memorable week in Luxembourg City, June 24-28, 2024! IDEA’s members had the privilege of engaging in insightful and productive events during their visit. Special thanks to the Ministry of Finances and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Luxembourg House of Financial Technologies (LHoFT) and their exceptional #CatapultSEAsia program, which brought together ten fintech finalists from across Southeast Asia for an intensive week of mentorship, workshops, and dynamic discussions on financial inclusion and innovation.
Read on to discover more about our journey, the impactful sessions, and the exciting future of fintech collaboration between Luxembourg and Southeast Asia.
First, why Luxembourg?
1) It has an attractive business environment: Over the recent years, it has become a favourable regulatory landscape combined with a supportive ecosystem not only for local projects, but more equally importantly for international start ups.
2) It is known for regulatory excellence: Luxembourg’s robust regulatory framework is driving fintech growth, ensuring a supportive environment for both startups and established players.
3) It is a country with little over 650, 000 people, but is fostering innovation like no other in the region. With its continuous regulatory improvements, such as MiCA, DORA, and PSD2/PSD3, LX has become successful in enhancing consumer safety, data protection, and fostering innovative financial solutions.
Considering that, IDEA members highly appreciated that they were able to have productive and fruitful meetings with the Ministry of Finances and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Members from IDEA, representing South East Asia, namely Cristina Amor Maclang, Aries Setiadi, Nicole Nguyen, Farah Jaafar, as well as Weena Llona and Savana Phothilath had the opportunity to meet with Tom Théobald, Director of Development of the Financial Centre, Ministry of Finance Luxembourg, and Louis de Muyser from Luxembourg Development Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Luxembourg. Both meetings were equally pivotal in understanding the cooperation and opportunities for mutual growth in respective ecosystems.
LHoFT: The amazing team at Luxembourg House of Financial Technologies and their fascinating acceleration program #CatapultSEAsia was a great success. Thanks to the diverse and experienced mentors, leaders of these startups went through serious evaluations, challenging them in every aspect of their business in order to push them to become the best version of themselves, as well as improving their pitching skills and strengthen overall business expertise.
LHoFT hosted +30 sessions filled with critical discussions on financial inclusion & innovation. During the program, experts from various countries globally actively participated in dynamic workshops and personalized sessions. Each start up has gone through addressing key areas such as go-to-market strategies, impact investment, and team building, participants gained essential skills to drive forward financial inclusion and foster innovation within their region.
#CatapultSEAsia included: 10 invited countries, 10 fintech finalists, 37 mentoring sessions, over 90 hours of hard work, 32 partners & 40 mentors. This was the first edition of our Catapult Financial Inclusion South East Asia 2024.
At the end of a highly intensive and productive week, Catapult in Asia has concluded with a winner of a main prize. On behalf of IDEA, we are congratulating the winner from 🇵🇭 , InvestEd, who is a FinTech lending platform for Gen Z consumers, led by Carmina Bayombong. The second place belonged to 🇵🇭 Farmvocacy led by Vincent Roy P. Mendoza.
Congratulations to all our participants who work so hard with their companies to make their local communities live better.
🇮🇩 AIForesee – Innovative credit score company.
🇲🇾 BlueDuck – Underserved customer-focused risk management company.
🇻🇳 Ekko – IT consulting enhancing financial wellness.
🇱🇦 Fina Fintech – Digital Financial Services Provider.
🇮🇩 Finfra – Embedded lending infrastructure for sustainable financing.
🇵🇭 GoodTech Information Systems Inc. – Sustainable Finance Platform for Financial Institutions.
🇵🇭 Global CreditPros – Suite of financial education.
🇸🇬 iCare Group – Social enterprise focused on providing low-income women workers.
🇹🇭 Laneth Tech Company – Core banking solutions to rural financial institutions.
🇱🇦 Lao Mobile Money – A platform for digital payments, remittances, and bill payments.
🇱🇦 LTS VENTURES – FinTech for Financial Inclusion.
🇹🇭 Noburo Wealth-Being – Financial well-being for your employees.
🇲🇾 Wahine Capital – A digital vault designed for women by women.
“We are all coming from Southeast Asia, the fastest-growing fintech and digital economy region in the world,” said moderator Cristina Amor Maclang from the Digital Pilipinas and International Digital Economies Association, introducing her fellow panelists. Representatives from Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand shared insights about the fintech scenes in their countries during a discussion at the Nexus2050 tech conference at Luxexpo on 27 June 2024.
Topics discussed during the panel discussion:
– Financial inclusion / underserved banking via open banking 🇹🇭
– SME Lending 🇹🇭
– 15% Growth of P2P lending 🇮🇩
– Microfinances 🇱🇦
– Advanced regulation of blockchain enabling digital custody solutions 🇵🇭
– Islamic banking and P2P lending 🇵🇭
– Blockchain based settlements 🇰🇭
– CBDC expansion 🇹🇭
– Play-2-Earn creating income opportunity for locals in 🇵🇭 🇻🇳
– Embedding Fintech/Insurtech into other industries 🇲🇾
– Agritech & Blockchain based trading 🇰🇭
What to focus on next?
– Sustainability (green lending)
– Financial inclusion
– Advanced legislation to drive innovation and collaboration
Farah Jaafar Chonladet Khemarattana Ma. Weena Llona Amor Maclang Nicole Nguyen Savana Phothilath Aries Setiadi
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who made this week unforgettable, creating lasting memories and strengthening our global fintech community. Here’s to continued collaboration and growth!
