AI Agents at the Singapore FinTech Festival

AI agents at the Singapore FinTech Festival will face their regulators on November 19, 2026, when the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and American Express take the Policy Stage in Hall 3 from 1:00 pm to 1:30 pm. They will ask who can halt an autonomous system when it fails, according to the festival’s X post of October 16, 2026. The 11th edition runs from November 18 to 20 at Singapore EXPO. Cointribune ties that debate to the safeguards framework MAS published in July 2026 and to what it means for stablecoin payments.

To get the Singapore FinTech Festival x Cointribune partnership discount (20% off with code SMP-DISC-20-COINTRIBUNE), book your pass on the official registration page.

Who can halt AI agents at the Singapore FinTech Festival?

MAS, the FCA and American Express will tackle that question on the Policy Stage on November 19, 2026, according to the festival’s post of October 16. First, an AI agent is software that pursues a goal and acts on its own, for example by sending a payment. However, the post stresses that it fails at machine speed. MAS already tests new settlement models, as Cointribune reported with Singapore’s tokenized bond trials settled in CBDC.

On July 3, 2026, MAS and industry partners published Safeguards for Agentic Finance at Runtime (SAFR). It adds real-time checkpoints that validate an agent’s action before execution, according to MLex. Besides, the framework covers payments, treasury, wealth management and client engagement.

This matches the festival’s own theme. MAS and the Global Finance & Technology Network (GFTN) built the 2026 programme around five forces: technology, geoeconomics, capital, talent and policy. Their press release of August 26, 2026 states the conviction behind it:

Rewiring, handled well, is not just a risk.

MAS and GFTN, Singapore FinTech Festival 2026 press release, August 26, 2026

Who speaks on AI agents at the Singapore FinTech Festival?

Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, who also chairs MAS, will deliver the Ministerial Keynote. Alvaro Garrido, Group CIO of Standard Chartered, is also announced. So is Jessica Rusu, Chief Data, Information and Intelligence Officer at the FCA. These details come from the festival’s posts of October 12 and 16, 2026.

Garrido speaks as an operator. In an interview with The Asian Banker, he said the bank’s AI use cases grew from 200 to more than 300 between early 2025 and early 2026. Moreover, more than 30 generative AI cases are already in production.

The festival’s post adds that the bank operates in more than 50 markets. Rusu, for her part, leads how the FCA analyses and uses data and intelligence, according to her speaker profile. Her presence therefore adds the regulator’s side of the debate.

Speaker	Role	Link to the AI debate
Gan Kim Yong	Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore and Chairman of MAS	Delivers the Ministerial Keynote
Alvaro Garrido	Group CIO, Standard Chartered	Moved AI from pilot to production in a bank present in more than 50 markets
Jessica Rusu	Chief Data, Information and Intelligence Officer, FCA	Leads how the UK regulator uses data and intelligence

How do AI agents at the Singapore FinTech Festival affect stablecoin payments?

The AI debate reaches crypto through payments. First, the festival’s post of October 12, 2026 says stablecoins are no longer a regulatory grey zone. Institutions now ask how to engage, not whether. A stablecoin is a token pegged to a reference asset, most often the dollar or the euro, as explained in our introduction to cryptoassets.

SAFR names payments among its use cases. In our reading, an agent that moves stablecoins therefore raises the same control question as an agent that moves bank money. Meanwhile, regulators move at different speeds, according to the same post. Waiting for a global consensus is no longer an option, so compare the Asian approaches in our analysis of the stablecoin race in Asia.

Payments data from the region point the same way. For example, digital retail payments in the Philippines rose from 1% in 2013 to more than half today, according to the festival’s post of October 9, 2026. However, Cointribune has not verified whether the Policy Stage session will address digital assets directly, because the post speaks of AI agents in general.

How can founders and investors meet at the festival?

Through Investor Hours and SFF MeetUp. According to the festival’s post of October 7, 2026, Investor Hours 2025 gathered more than 500 startups and over 200 investors from 50 markets. Sign-ups for 2026 are open, with one-to-one matching based on each investor’s mandate.

In addition, SFF MeetUp Round 1 matches are confirmed. Round 2 matching closes on October 23, 2026, according to the post of October 15. The MAS press release also lists the Global FinTech Hackcelerator, which offers mentorship, investor access and a Demo Day prize pool to early-stage companies.

The session of November 19 will show whether MAS and the FCA converge on a shared runtime control rule. Otherwise, each regulator keeps its own approach, which matters for any firm moving money with autonomous software. Two dates to watch: October 23, when SFF MeetUp Round 2 matching closes, and November 19 for the Policy Stage session. Finally, our first preview of the festival covers the digital euro and Qivalis speakers.

To get 20% off with code SMP-DISC-20-COINTRIBUNE, book your pass on the official registration page. Passes are non-refundable, according to the organizer’s conditions.