Hong Kong SAR
With 25 years of experience in payments and financial market infrastructure, I founded Clearspring Insights, a strategic advisory firm dedicated to driving clarity and innovation at the intersection of payments, AI, and financial regulation. My work focuses on modernizing financial systems, developing market strategies, and navigating complex regulatory landscapes alongside central banks, payment operators, and fintech leaders. Core focus areas include agentic payments, stablecoins, digital assets, CBDCs, and cross-border payments. During my tenure at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), I built foundational payment systems like RTGS and FAST, supervised and inspected banks, and managed FX strategy as a lead portfolio manager. This was followed by a decade in strategic consulting, most recently leading the consulting practice for payment innovation at NETS Solutions. In addition to my commercial advisory work, I serve as an Industry Fellow at the Global Fintech Institute (GFI), advancing responsible fintech practices and mentoring the next generation of tech leaders.
· Advance Ecosystem Collaboration: Contribute to closed-door discussions, research, and policy dialogues to help strengthen connectivity and best practices across financial institutions, technology providers, and regulators. · Support Talent Development: Provide industry perspective and mentorship to the next generation of fintech professionals, while advising on curriculum relevance for executive and professional certification programmes.
Clearspring Insights is a strategic advisory firm I founded to provide decisive clarity at the intersection of payments, AI, and financial regulation. We partner with central banks, payment operators, and fintech leaders to: · Assess & Modernize Financial Market Infrastructure: Evaluating payment systems against global standards to identify critical gaps and strategic opportunities. · Develop Market & Technology Strategy: Crafting robust roadmaps for market entry, competitive positioning, and the strategic adoption of digital assets, stablecoins and AI. Specifically for AI initiatives, I leverage rapid prototyping in local systems to help clients visualise and operationalise agentic workflows. · Navigate Complexity & Risk: Providing expert guidance on the evolving regulatory landscape to ensure responsible and sustainable innovation. Utilise frameworks like Project Moonshot to benchmark and red-team AI models, ensuring AI implementations meet rigorous safety and compliance standards. · Drive Industry Capacity Building: Designing and instructing executive training programs in partnership with major industry bodies and leading training institutes. We educate finance, compliance, and wealth practitioners on navigating complex regulatory reporting frameworks, digital assets, and the practical application of emerging AI technologies.
• Lead and manage the Strategic Advisory team, overseeing all aspects of client engagement, project delivery, and business development. • Drive business development initiatives targeting central banks and payment operators across APAC, conducting outreach and showcasing NETS Solutions' expertise to secure strategic advisory engagements. • Shape the evolution of financial market infrastructure by providing expert counsel on best practices, emerging technologies, and regulatory compliance to key industry stakeholders and regulators. • Actively cultivate relationships within the fintech ecosystem through event participation, roundtable discussions, and strategic collaborations, driving innovation and partnership opportunities. • Lead the exploration and adoption of AI-powered solutions, including Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and agentic workflow, for team productivity gains, enhancing project management and client advisory capabilities.
• Provided expert guidance to payment operators and Fintech startups, contributing to the shaping of regulatory frameworks and business strategies in an evolving financial landscape. • Enhanced the competitive edge of clients through strategic advice on regulatory compliance, technology adoption, and market positioning. • Actively involved in trading and investing various financial instruments, including crypto, forex, equities and fixed income. • Experimented with smart contracts and launched NFTs, gaining understanding of decentralised finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
• Redefined procurement and administrative strategies, resulting in a robust procurement governance framework and enhanced operational efficiency within the organisation. • Oversaw the nationwide implementation of Fast And Secure Transfer (FAST), a transformative payment infrastructure enabling 1M+ daily transactions ($1B+) and accelerating the adoption of real-time payments by 30% year-on-year over 5 years.
• Successfully managed Singapore's official foreign reserves, achieving significant returns through strategic investments and rigorous risk management protocols. • Influenced the development of Singapore's e-payments strategy, ensuring alignment with broader national economic goals and digitalization initiatives.
• Architected MEPS+, Singapore’s second-generation Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, processing over $100B daily. This highly reliable and resilient system remains in operation today, nearly 20 years later, underscoring its stability and efficiency. • Pioneered the strategic integration of SGD into the Continuous Linked Settlement (CLS) system, mitigating SGD settlement risk for $180B+ in daily FX transactions and solidifying Singapore’s position as a leading global FX hub. • Spearheaded the modernization of Singapore's electronic payment infrastructure, resulting in a robust and scalable system capable of handling the exponential growth in transaction volumes. • Represented Singapore at international forums, contributing to global standards in financial market infrastructure (e.g. BIS and regional central bank committees). • Ensured the seamless operation of Singapore's first generation real-time gross settlement system, contributing to the stability and credibility of the financial market. • Ensured that financial institutions adhered to regulatory standards, conducting thorough inspections and providing guidance on compliance.