BrazilSynechron launches state-of-the-art financial innovation lab in Singapore
Global consulting and technology services firm Synechron has brought its state-of-the-art FinLab concept to Singapore. UK senior director Mihir Shah meanwhile has taken on the firm’s head role for APAC.
Following the recent launch of a suite of artificial intelligence data science accelerators through its international network of Financial Innovation Labs (FinLab), the fast-growing digital, business consulting & technology services provider Synechron is bringing its FinLab concept to Singapore. The new FinLab will join the firm’s network of 12 across the US, UK, Europe (including a recent launch in Amsterdam), Middle East and India, staffed by upwards of 300 digital innovation and data science experts.
Designed to enable its banking, insurance, and financial services sector clients to experience the latest in cutting-edge technologies first hand, such as advanced artificial intelligence, blockchain, chatbots, biometrics, and virtual or augmented reality applications, Synechron’s state-of-the art FinLabs bring together what the firm describes as the ‘Power of 3’ – business process knowledge, digital design and core technology delivery excellence.
“Our vision for FinLabs was to go beyond collaborative theoretical discussions and create an interactive, immersive space that truly supports and fosters FinTech innovation,” says Synechron CEO and co-founder Faisal Husain. “We want to empower our clients to stay ahead of the curve with digital transformation, and we are happy to provide a space where they can learn, get inspired, and see and feel first-hand how these disruptors work and can be experienced.”
The new FinLab will officially launch on the 15th of November for the Innovation Lab Crawl of the Singapore Festival 2018 (the largest annual global gathering for the fintech community with 30,000 delegates expected to attend – and of which Synechron is a sponsor), joining an open showcase of digital innovation centres from some of the world’s leading consultancies, including KPMG Digital Village, Accenture’s Innovation Hub and Capgemini’s Applied Innovation Exchange.
The local FinLab launch follows the earlier appointment of UK senior director Mihir Shah as Synechron’s new Head of APAC, and the joint announcement that the firm will seek to add to its 50-plus headcount across its Asia offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Manila – part of the firm’s campaign to break through the $1 billion revenue barrier by 2020, which has seen it boost its employee numbers by approximately 3,000 to a total of more than 8,000 in the past couple years alone.
Mihir Shah
While Shah has been with Synechron for just a year now, the new APAC head brings more than 16 years of capital markets’ experience to his fresh role, including a previous stint in Hong Kong as Head of Asia for UBS’ Global Equity Derivatives line during his eleven and a half years with the Swiss banking and financial services giant.
Shah said of the FinLab launch in Singapore: “The APAC region is a huge center for financial services innovation, and with our new FinLab, we will be able to accelerate banks’ digital transformation journeys to include even more emerging technologies with AI and data science, machine learning, Blockchain, and more, and create new solutions and further innovation to areas like banking, user experience, and wealth management.”
"Our expansion to the APAC region is a strategic one," adds CEO Husain, who has written previously on the flourishing fintech sector of Asia. “Innovation and emerging technologies, and particularly their use in financial services, are evolving every day, and digital services are a large part of that. Our FinLab in Singapore will allow us to innovate with banks and will play a vital role in Synechron’s Accelerating Digital strategy to be the leading digital financial services consultancy.”
