Suade's CEO Speaks at Singapore FinTech Festival 2025
Diana Paredes’ week at the Singapore FinTech Festival 2025 showcased how data, standards and AI are reshaping finance far beyond basic compliance. Her panels connected Suade’s long‑standing focus on regulatory data with a broader industry conversation about what the next decade of financial services will look like.
The future of data in finance
On “The Future of Data”, Diana joined speakers from DTCC, ISDA and PwC Singapore to examine how firms can use data standards, governance and AI to drive real transformation rather than simply meet reporting rules. The discussion started with how far the industry has come on open data standards and common models, and what this means for cross‑border consistency and regulatory change. From there, the panel turned to practical lessons on data readiness across jurisdictions and how firms in Singapore are responding to new MAS requirements, making clear that regulatory transformation is now inseparable from data strategy.
From data quality to real insight
A major theme of the session was that data quality and governance are no longer back‑office concerns; they sit at the heart of risk, supervision and business decision‑making. Using recent enforcement actions and penalties as a backdrop, panellists explored how post‑reporting analytics can be used to continuously improve data quality and surface insights for both firms and regulators. The conversation highlighted common governance challenges seen in client work and emphasised the need for resilient, scalable frameworks that can support real‑time monitoring, high‑frequency markets and ever‑increasing regulatory demands.
AI, talent and the next decade
Looking ahead, the panel dug into how advances in AI are changing the way institutions manage and interpret regulatory data, and what this means for skills and talent. Diana and her fellow speakers discussed AI use cases in trade reporting and analytics, but also stressed that human oversight, upskilling and clear accountability are essential if AI is to support safe, explainable decision‑making. This linked directly to her appearance on the festival’s “The Decade Ahead: The Industry Leader’s Perspective on Blue Oceans and Black Swans” panel, which explored where genuine opportunities lie versus hype, and how firms can build infrastructure resilient enough to withstand future shocks.
Beyond compliance: strategy and competition
Throughout the week in Singapore, Diana returned to a central message: data should be treated as a strategic asset, not just a regulatory burden. The “Future of Data” session examined how open‑source and collaborative data models can help smaller firms prepare their data, innovate and compete, while also improving the overall health of the ecosystem. In parallel, “The Decade Ahead” panel underlined that the winners of the next ten years will be those who invested early in automation and data standardisation, enabling them to adapt quickly regardless of which “black swan” emerges.
Singapore FinTech Festival celebrates 10 years
All of this took place against the backdrop of the festival’s 10th anniversary, a milestone arriving in an environment where constrained growth and economic shocks have become the norm rather than the exception. Across Diana’s sessions, the tone matched the broader event: pragmatic, data‑driven and focused on how regulation and technology can work together as innovation accelerates, so that financial institutions are not simply trying to predict the next crisis, but building systems robust enough to handle whatever comes next.