Most small businesses in ASEAN can't get loans — not because they're risky, but because banks need property as collateral and the economy has moved past that. Singapore has PayNow and SGTraDex. Thailand has PromptPay. India has UPI. These systems already verify that businesses are real and that money flows. What's missing is the layer that turns that verified trade data into something investors can finance — like how Grab turned GPS data into a transport system, but for credit.
This working lunch brings together people who can build that layer: fintech operators, trade finance practitioners, DPI architects, AI researchers, and policy thinkers. It's 45 seats, hands-on, and you'll use AI prompts to stress-test the architecture from your own professional angle.
Let's have a conversation about the infrastructure opportunity that connects our regional economies, continuing the conversation from our March 13 community event at the Computer History Museum, Mountain View ...
Date: Friday, 22 May, 2026, 11.00 am – 1.30 pm
Venue: Provided by email 2 days before the event
Host: Professor Rajesh Krishna Balan, School of Computing and Information Systems, SMU
Lunch Provided
45 seats. By invitation.
“We come together now to study those adjustments, to find the best approaches, to face the future together.”
— President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Philippines (ASEAN Chair 2026), 48th ASEAN Summit, Cebu, May 8, 2026
“ASEAN must not be reduced to a pawn amid strategic rivalries and competition among major powers. Peace in the region is precious and must be actively safeguarded.”
— Foreign Minister Sugiono, Indonesia, Special ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, December 2025
“Inclusivity and sustainability must continue to define ASEAN’s vision, ensuring that no member state is left behind.”
— Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan, Malaysia (ASEAN Chair 2025), 47th ASEAN Summit, Kuala Lumpur, October 2025
“ASEAN is better able to shape outcomes and manage the disruptions and shocks of a more fragmented world when it works together as a bloc.”
— Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Singapore, 48th ASEAN Summit, Cebu, May 9, 2026
Across ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), SMEs (Small-and-Medium Enterprises) are the backbone — 97% of all enterprises, 85% of employment. Yet most cannot access the credit they need to grow. The reason is structural: in advanced economies, public companies now hold over 90% of their valuation in intangible assets — software, data, brand, intellectual property. In developing countries, it’s 60% and rising. But SMEs still need physical collateral — property, equipment, inventory — to borrow. As physical assets shrink as a share of total value, SMEs are being structurally squeezed out of the financial system. Without action, this only gets worse.
The pieces to solve this already exist across the region. Thailand has PromptPay. India has UPI. Singapore has PayNow and SGTraDex. Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Philippines are building their own DPI stacks. What no one has built yet is the ASEAN financing layer that sits on top: a way to turn verified SME trade data into securitisable receivables that institutional investors can buy.
AI governance is moving from theory to implementation — and moving fast. China has released a national governance framework for AI agents. The EU AI Act takes effect in stages through 2027. ASEAN’s opportunity is to build complementary, interoperable infrastructure that gives the region its own seat at the table — not as a competitor to any single framework, but as an open architecture that connects them all.
ASEAN sits at the center of global supply chains. The AI systems that will increasingly power trade finance — automated underwriting, supply chain verification, invoice matching, risk scoring — need governance standards that work across borders.
As Prime Minister Wong said recently, ASEAN cohesion is essential for all to thrive. This conversation belongs in the region — and the region needs to own it.
The Open Finance Utility (OFU) is a proposed shared infrastructure for SME trade finance securitisation. The Open Finance Utility (OFU) connects the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) stacks that already exist across ASEAN into a securitisation pathway — turning verified trade data into investable assets — while building open governance standards that ensure AI systems operating on those rails can work across every jurisdiction in the region.
This is a working lunch — not a lecture. Come ready to engage.
11.00 Registration and networking11.30 Welcome — Mark Sin, President, Singapore Connect12.00 Hands-on AI interaction — Mei Lin Fung12.30 Practitioner perspective — Senior AI industry practitioner based in Asia12.40 ASEAN’s role in the architecture — Mei Lin Fung1.10 Open discussion1:30 Close — Mark Sin
Three guided exercises using your choice of AI (Claude, DeepSeek). Each puts you in a role and asks you to stress-test the architecture from your own experience.
Describe your professional role and your experience with SME financing, trade infrastructure, or digital public infrastructure in ASEAN. Then ask: given what I do, where would I fit in an architecture that turns verified SME trade data into financing securitizable receivables across ASEAN?
How does a verified invoice move from SGTraDex through the Open Financial Utility (OFU) to become part of a securitised asset pool that an institutional investor can buy? Where are the trust gaps? Where does AI add value, where does it add risk, and how do you make it interoperable across governance frameworks?
What would the equivalent of the shipping container protocol look like for AI-powered trade finance? How do you build it so that it connects Chinese, European, and ASEAN frameworks rather than forcing everyone onto one?
ASEAN trade finance practitioners, fintech founders, DPI architects, GovStack implementers, payments infrastructure operators, data governance specialists, AI researchers, civic tech builders, and policy thinkers who understand that interoperable standards are how small countries and small businesses get a seat at the table.
Mark Sin
President, SingaporeConnect
Mark Sin is a systems integrator with a broad interest in bridging people, technology and policy. He is President of SingaporeConnect, a social networking club for Singaporeans and friends of Singapore, based in the SF Bay Area. Mark spent 22 years at Apple across roles from engineering manager to architect. He interfaced between teams, building highly-integrated products including the iMac Pro, iPad, Mac Pro and Mac mini, and created processes for systematic design, validation and test used across Mac. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon and MIT’s computer engineering and policy programs, Mark has initiated several events bridging tech and policy including workshops and panel discussions. He sees AI as an agent to catalyse the adoption of digital utilities by efficiently connecting resource pools together.
Mei Lin Fung
Chair, IEEE Technical Committee on Sustainability
IEEE Technical Committee on Sustainability: The IEEE Technical Committee on Sustainability is a group within the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers that promotes research, collaboration, and technological innovation aimed at addressing global sustainability challenges. It brings together academics, industry professionals, and policymakers to develop and share solutions in areas such as sustainable energy, smart cities, environmental monitoring, and responsible technology development.
SingaporeConnect
SingaporeConnect: SingaporeConnect is a non-profit 501(c)4 corporation based in the San Francisco Bay Area. We are a team of volunteers dedicated to building a vibrant and connected community of Singaporeans and Friends of Singapore. Founded in 2005, SingaporeConnect aims to bring the Singapore spirit to life abroad — energising and uniting our overseas community. We serve as a cultural and social bridge— celebrating Singaporean heritage, fostering meaningful connections with fans of Singapore, and engaging the next generation of global Singaporeans. With support from the Singapore Global Network, we organise a wide-range of events, from family-friendly gatherings, professional networking sessions, to milestone national celebrations.
SingaporeConnect bridges technology ecosystems across Silicon Valley, Singapore, and ASEAN — connecting communities, ideas, and opportunities across the Pacific and within the region.
Lunch, Panel Discussion and Workshop. For individuals aged 18 or over.
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