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22 October 2026 | Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre, Singapore
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Convening Retail Banking Leaders Driving Transformation, Growth, and Value

Insightful, Impactful, Intelligent:
The Autonomous Era of Retail Banking

As retail banks move past experimental pilots and hype cycles, the mandate for 2026 has transitioned to execution at scale. The Global Retail Banking Innovation Summit & Awards 2026 is the industry’s premier dual-experience gathering.

By day, the Summit convenes the sharpest minds in consumer finance to deconstruct the friction points of modern deployment. By night, the prestigious Awards Gala honors the trailblazing institutions and leaders whose technology architectures and customer initiatives have translated into tangible business value.

Together, these two segments form a unified, end-to-end masterclass on retail banking excellence.

The Summit

The Global Retail Banking Innovation Summit 2026 provides a premier peer platform for banking leaders, moving beyond the “what” to answer the critical “how” of digital deployment.

Built around insights from The Global Retail Banking Innovation Awards, the agenda highlights emerging trends, proven strategies, and real-world benchmarks – from scaled Gen-AI adoption and ecosystem integration to the innovations redefining banking excellence.

Key Themes

The Autonomous Bank

Transitioning from basic AI pilots to cognitive, self-optimising banking operations at scale.

Zero-Friction Acquisition

Eliminate customer abandonment through fully automated, secure eKYC and onboarding journeys.

Embedded Finance Ecosystems
Unlocking new revenue opportunities by integrating banking services seamlessly into everyday digital experiences.
Hyper-Personalised Wealth Tech
Converting real-time predictive data into tailored, micro-segment financial products instantly.
Next-Gen Resilient Infrastructure
Securing long-term agility by modernising legacy cores for cloud-first, sustainable performance.

Shaped by the Industry

Built by Bankers, Built for Scale
This agenda reflects the realities of scaling innovation within today’s fast-evolving retail banking landscape. Grounded in direct, deep conversations with global digital, product, and retail leaders, each session addresses urgent operational priorities. Additional perspective comes from the breakthrough deployments submitted to the Global Retail Banking Innovation Awards, ensuring a program packed with proven, real-world, market-leading strategies that define the future of our global industry.

Format and Experience

High-Value Conversations, Real Banking Perspectives
A one-day gathering of retail banking leaders featuring keynote perspectives, candid fireside conversations, and strategic panel discussions that explore the strategies, technologies, and leadership decisions shaping the future of financial services, from AI-driven transformation and digital innovation to customer engagement and operational resilience.

Meet The Speakers

Lai Pei Si

Group CEO

GXS Bank

Barani Sundaram

CTO & SVP Head of Technology Transformation

East West Bank

Bryan Lee

Managing Director, Group Head of Data, Innovation Group

UOB

Biswanath Banik

Group Chief Data Officer

Tonik Bank

Sudipto Bhattacharya

Chief Risk Officer

UnionDigital Bank

Rahul Bhargava

Senior Financial Sector Consultant | Interim COO, Contour

World Bank

Shayan Hazir

Managing Director, Chief Digital Officer, Asia (xHK) & MENAT

HSBC

Tianwei Liu

CEO & Co-founder

StraitsX

Naveen Sethia

Chief Risk Officer

Trust Bank

Rahul Bhargava

Senior Financial Sector Consultant | Interim COO, Contour

World Bank

Sudipto Bhattacharya

Chief Risk Officer

UnionDigital Bank

Agenda

A Curated Executive Programme

Handpicked sessions covering the full spectrum of strategic challenges in retail banking today.

Innovation in Action

Go beyond vision to understand how leading institutions are delivering transformation at scale.

What's Shaping Banking Next

Discover the trends, technologies, and strategic priorities redefining the industry.

Real-World Perspectives

Hear from the executives leading the shift, with takeaways relevant to your own strategy.

08:15 – 09:00

REGISTRATION & MORNING COFFEE

Arrival, Registration & Networking

09:00 – 09:05

CHAIR’S WELCOMING REMARKS

Starting the Conversation

The Chair frames the day ahead, previews the themes running through the morning’s Summit, setting expectations for an agenda built around execution and measurable impact rather than experimentation for its own sake.

09:05 – 09:10

INTRODUCTION FROM THE DIGITAL BANKER

The Digital Banker View

The Digital Banker sets the stage by sharing the vision behind the event, its role in advancing retail banking innovation, and how leading institutions are turning transformation into a measurable impact.

09:10 – 09:30

OPENING KEYNOTE

The Scaled Bank: Engineering Retail Banking’s Execution Decade

Retail banking has moved beyond proof-of-concept, and 2026 is the year institutions are judged by technology’s impact at scale on efficiency, customer trust, and revenue growth. This keynote frames the conference focused on execution over experimentation.

09:30 – 09:50

PRESENTATION

Banking Across Borders: How Regional & International Banks Win the Multi-Market Customers

As customers move fluidly across borders, regional and international banks can turn their reach into a competitive advantage. Explore how real-time payments, multi-currency propositions and integrated digital services can win mobile customers and build deeper, high-value relationships.

9:50 – 10:30

PANEL DISCUSSION

From AI Pilots to Agentic Banking: Scaling Intelligent, Personalised Customer Journeys

Every bank has an AI pilot, but few have scaled it into onboarding, advisory, or risk at real volume. This panel examines how executives are embedding agentic AI into hyper-personalised customer journeys, and what ROI and adoption data reveal about who’s scaling successfully, and who’s still stuck testing.

Panellists:

  • Bryan Lee, Managing Director, Group Head of Data, Innovation Group, UOB
  • Barani Sundaram, Chief Technology Officer, SVP Head of Technology Transformation, East West Bank
  • Biswanath Banik, Group Chief Data Officer, Tonik Bank

10:30 – 11:00

NETWORKING BREAK

11:00 – 11:40

PANEL DISCUSSION

Designing the Invisible Bank: Omnichannel for the Digital-First Customer

“Omnichannel” is shifting from branch branding to invisible banking embedded at the point of need. This session panel addresses physical branch redesigns, shared data rails, and how banks decide what physical footprint remains worth keeping when most transactions run end-to-end without human intervention.

11:40 – 12:00

IN CONVERSATION

The Silent Rewrite: Rewards, Payments and What Comes Next

Banks are rethinking how they use everyday transactions to deepen customer relationships. Explore how cards, payments and loyalty can drive engagement across broader retail banking products, and what emerging behaviours could mean for the next generation of banking.

  • Naveen Sethia, Chief Customer Officer, Trust Bank

12:00 – 12:40

PANEL DISCUSSION

The Digital Money Decision: Build, Partner or Wait?

Tokenised deposits and stablecoins are moving from experimentation toward real-world use cases. What does this mean for retail banks, their customers, and the future of payments? This panel explores where the commercial opportunity lies today, which models are gaining traction, and how digital money could reshape everyday banking.

  • Tianwei Liu, CEO, StraitsX

12:40 – 1:40

LUNCH / NETWORKING

Reset

1:40 – 2:00

PANEL DISCUSSION

Banking the Next Billion: Inclusion, SME Growth & Embedded Finance

Away from the Gen-AI headlines, the next major shift in retail banking is all about reach. Embedded finance, alternative credit data, SME digital lending, and smarter risk approaches are bringing underserved customers into formal banking at scale. Explore how inclusion can become a sustainable growth engine, not just a CSR initiative.

Speakers:

  • Pei-Si Lai, Group CEO, GXS Bank
  • Sudipto Bhattacharya, Chief Risk Officer, UnionDigital Bank

2:00 – 2:20

IN CONVERSATION

The AI Trust Equation: Balancing Innovation, Security & Risk in the Autonomous Bank

As AI moves from experimentation to autonomous decision-making, banks are facing a new risk frontier, from deepfakes and synthetic identities to AI-enabled fraud and evolving cyber threats. This fireside chat explores how banking leaders can scale AI confidently while keeping security, accountability and customer trust at the centre.

2:20 – 2:40

IN CONVERSATION

From Main Bank to Main Wealth: Winning the Mass-Affluent Investment Wallet

As customers move beyond deposits into investments, banks are racing to turn everyday relationships into deeper wealth ones. Explore what it actually takes to win the mass-affluent wallet, from personalised propositions, digital tools, and smarter wealth technology, alongside the operating models that make wealth advice scalable, accessible and commercially sustainable.

2:40 – 3:00

IN CONVERSATION

The Leadership Reckoning: Building the Bank of the Future in an AI-Driven Era

Technology may enable transformation, but leadership determines success. This conversation explores how leaders are reshaping talent, building new capabilities and keeping organisations agile as technology transforms the way banks work.

3:00 - 3:10

CHAIR’S INSIGHTS AND CLOSING REMARKS

The Road Ahead

The Chair reflects the day’s insights, connecting the strategic shifts, emerging technologies, and leadership priorities redefining how banks create value in a rapidly evolving market.

Who Will Attend

  • Retail Banks
  • Challenger Banks, Digital Banks and Neobanks
  • Credit Unions and Community Banks
  • Postal Banks and Savings Banks
  • Islamic Retail Banks
  • Mobile Money and Digital Wallet Operators
  • Payment Networks & Digital Payments Companies
  • Banking Industry Associations
  • Regulatory and Supervisory Bodies

Attendees by Role

  • Executive Leadership: CEOs, Presidents, and GMs of Retail Banking
  • Technology Pioneers: CIOs, CTOs, and Heads of Enterprise Architecture
  • Digital Visionaries: Chief Digital Officers, Chief Innovation Officers and Heads of Digital Transformation
  • Product & Payment Owners: Heads of Cards, Payments, and Consumer Lending
  • Experience Champions: Chief Customer Officers and Heads of CX & Design
  • Data & AI Experts: Chief Data Officer, Heads of Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics

Why Attend?

Decode Next-Gen Banking Models using actionable insights to structure, scale, and measure future-ready operations.

Benchmark your Innovation Maturity across diverse markets, segments, and transformation levels against global peers.

Bridge Legacy and Intelligent Tech using frameworks to embed AI, automation, and journey orchestration.

Navigate Real-World Retail Banking Friction alongside regional leaders tackling service complexity and loyalty decline.

Redefine Innovation as a Business Function to treat advancement as a core commercial priority, not just service.

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Tianwei Liu

CEO & Co-founder
StraitsX

Tianwei Liu is the CEO and Co-founder of StraitsX, the stablecoin-native settlement layer driving global finance. With a background in software engineering, Tianwei has led StraitsX’s transformation from a payments company to a trusted infrastructure provider enabling compliant and programmable digital finance.

Under his leadership, StraitsX has become a first-mover in regulatory-first stablecoin infrastructure. Its stablecoins, XSGD and XUSD, are fully reserved and recognised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to be substantively compliant with the upcoming Single-Currency Stablecoin (SCS) regulatory framework, enabling StraitsX to power stablecoin-backed card programs across Asia, advance seamless payment interoperability, and drive real-world utility for institutions and fintechs.

Tianwei is a leading voice in fintech and payments. He is frequently invited to speak at major industry events.

Naveen Sethia

Chief Customer Officer
Trust Bank

Naveen Sethia is the Chief Customer Officer at Trust Bank, where he champions everything customer, from marketing and design to customer experience and corporate affairs. His mission is simple: make banking feel more seamless, rewarding and memorable. He leads Trust’s efforts to deepen customer relationships, grow the business, strengthen the brand and create experiences customers genuinely enjoy at every touchpoint.

Biswanath Banik

Group Chief Data Officer
Tonik

Biswanath “Biswa” Banik is Group Chief Data Officer at Tonik, the Philippines’ first licensed digital bank. He leads Tonik’s data, analytics, machine learning and AI agenda, with a focus on turning data into better credit decisions, stronger risk management and more inclusive financial services. With more than 18 years of experience in consumer lending, retail banking and fintech, including roles across firms such as Oliver Wyman, PwC, Microsoft and Kredivo, Biswa is helping build South East Asia’s next generation of AI-driven credit and decisioning capabilities.

He is known for his ability to engage effectively with stakeholders from C-suite leaders to analysts, translating complex ideas into clear, actionable insights. He has been recognised as a Global Data Analytics Leader by Analytics India Magazine and actively contributes to the community through mentoring, writing, and speaking engagements.

Bryan Lee

Managing Director, Group Head of Data, Innovation Group
UOB

Bryan Lee is the Group Head of Data at UOB, leading the modernisation of the bank’s data ecosystem to enable trusted, scalable, and Al-ready capabilities. He drives enterprise data strategy, governance, innovation, and data products to unlock business value, accelerate Al adoption, and enable intelligent decision making.

Barani Sundaram

CTO & SVP Head of Technology Transformation
East West Bank

Barani Sundaram is a visionary technology leader with over two decades of experience driving digital transformation across the financial services sector. As Chief Technology Officer of EastWest Bank, he leads the modernisation of the bank’s core technology stack, advancing cloud, AI, and microservices architectures built for scale and speed. Before EastWest, he delivered complex, multi-country transformations across Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, and Dubai. A strong advocate for AI adoption with governance and cybersecurity as a strategic imperative, Barani blends bold innovation with enterprise-grade resilience and trust. His leadership continues to shape the future of intelligent, secure, and customer-centric banking in the Philippines. Barani blends bold innovation with enterprise-grade resilience and trust. His leadership continues to shape the future of intelligent, secure, and customer-centric banking in the Philippines.

Lai Pei Si

Group CEO
GXS Bank

Pei-Si is the Group Chief Executive Officer at GXS Bank. Pei-Si was previously the CEO of GX Bank Malaysia, a subsidiary of GXS Bank, where she built and led the founding team to launch Malaysia’s first digital bank. At GXS Bank, she continues to steer a team of dynamic financial professionals and technologists who are passionate about transforming and making financial services inclusive in Southeast Asia. GXS Bank is a digital bank owned by Grab and Singtel.

A veteran in the financial services industry, Pei-Si brings extensive experience and strong customer-centricity developed over 25 years across retail banking, wealth management, corporate finance, and product and business management. She is a seasoned leader who has led high-performing teams in both local and international markets. Prior to her current role, she held senior management positions with Standard Chartered Bank across the region, including Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore.

Pei-Si graduated with a Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) at National University of Singapore, with a major in Economics & Political Science.

Pei-Si is passionate about improving financial inclusion for underserved communities and currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Straits Times Pocket Money Fund.

Media Kit

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            The world’s preeminent Private Banks and Wealth Managers are demonstrating a committed drive in innovation, advisory, new products and services to meet the sophisticated needs of their clients.

            COVID-19
            Amid economic activity revival on the back of the Covid-19 vaccine program, organisations moving from business continuity plans to stable working environments, together with the slightest improvement in unemployment numbers, forced the world to adjust to new realities. Coming to terms with the “new normal”, global investors are now on the look-out for attractive and stable investment opportunities.

            Needs of Private Wealth customers and families worldwide have drastically changed due to the pandemic and banks have had to accelerate efforts to deploy a multi-channel service strategy and safeguard clients’ businesses and wealth against negative impacts of economic uncertainly.

            The Global Private Banking Innovation Awards will recognise the world’s best private banks, wealth managers and asset managers that are championing innovation across advisory, service, products, customer experience and more.

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