Colombo to host Asia International Digital Economy and AI in Finance Summit 2025

The Asia International Digital Economy and AI in Finance Summit 2025 — featuring the Asian Digital Finance Forum and Awards — will convene global leaders on 23 October, at Port City Colombo to shape the future of inclusive, AI-driven financial systems across Asia through policy, regulation, and technological innovation.

Organised by the Asian FinTech Academy (AFTA) in collaboration with the Fintech Association of Sri Lanka (FASL), and in strategic partnership with Port City Colombo, the summit highlights Colombo’s rise as a regional nexus for digital finance and AI innovation. 

Key global strategic partners include Tech London Advocates (TLA), Global Tech Advocates (GTA), the International Digital Economies Association (iDEA), and Wall Street Fintech AI Inc. 

Port City Colombo, Sri Lanka’s first foreign-currency-designated Special Economic Zone for modern services exports, will host pivotal sessions on intelligent finance and next-generation digital economies—reinforcing Sri Lanka’s emergence as a hub for cross-border investment and innovation. 

Tech London Advocates (TLA) and Global Tech Advocates (GTA) connect Asia’s tech ecosystems with over 30 global hubs, including Paris, Amsterdam, New York, Riyadh, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Founded in London, TLA’s network of more than 15,000 members fosters international collaboration, and GTA is a strategic partner of London Tech Week, a leading global tech event.  

The International Digital Economies Association (iDEA) supports the summit’s vision of inclusive and sustainable digital transformation through collaboration among policymakers, innovators, and industry leaders.  

Wall Street Fintech AI Inc., a founding member of Tech New York Advocates, brings a research-led perspective on AI-powered financial infrastructure, including next-gen approaches to portfolio optimisation and financial uncertainty quantification. 

Commercial Bank of Ceylon, Sri Lanka’s leading private bank, joins as the Official Banking Partner, supporting the summit’s focus on digital inclusion and AI-driven transformation. 

Hilton Colombo serves as the Official Hospitality Partner.

The 2025 summit, themed “Bridging Intelligence, Inclusion and Innovation in Asia’s Financial Future”, will explore how AI is transforming finance through smarter infrastructure, inclusive policy, and technologies such as portfolio optimisation, RegTech, digital identity, and sustainable finance. 

Strategically scheduled ahead of the Digital Finance Summit (DFS) 2025 in Brussels—organised by Fintech Belgium, where FASL serves as an ecosystem partner—the event underscores Sri Lanka’s deepening integration into global fintech dialogue. The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Brussels, also serving as the Mission to the EU, has played a key role in advancing these cross-border connections.  

“As AI reshapes global finance, this summit offers a timely forum to strengthen resilient, inclusive, and trusted systems,” said QuantSafe Inc., Co-Founder and Chief Scientist Dr. Sivaguru S. Sritharan a deep-tech spinout of New York-based Wall Street Fintech AI Inc., and former Provost and Vice Chancellor of the US Air Force Institute of Technology, with prior leadership roles at the US Naval Postgraduate School.

“Colombo’s emergence as a fintech bridge across Asia aligns with our mission to connect innovators across established and emerging markets,” added Global Tech Advocates Founder Russ Shaw, CBE.

“This summit represents a regional commitment to advancing AI-driven finance across Asia,” said FASL Founding President, AFTA CEO and Global Fintech Institute, Singapore Industry Fellow Rajkumar Kanagasingam.

The summit builds on AFTA’s longstanding commitment to fintech education and industry development. At the 2021 Digital Finance Forum in Colombo, AFTA’s efforts to drive blockchain-enabled financial awareness and tech education were acknowledged by Sopnendu Mohanty during his tenure as Chief FinTech Officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). 

FASL, established in 2018, and AFTA, launched in 2021, play central roles in advancing fintech dialogue, talent, and innovation across Asia. Through partnerships with the DIFC Innovation Hub in Dubai and Global Finance and Technology Network (GFTN)—the MAS-backed successor to Elevandi—they foster inclusive, cross-border collaboration.

Their active presence at the Dubai FinTech Summit, and upcoming participation in the Singapore FinTech Festival, Hong Kong FinTech Week, and India’s Global Fintech Fest, underscores Sri Lanka’s growing voice in global fintech forums. 

Asian Digital Finance Forum and Awards 2025

A summit highlight is the Asian Digital Finance Forum and Awards, organised by AFTA following successful editions in 2022 and 2023, building renewed momentum toward the 2025 edition.

Past forums have featured high-impact speakers from across the globe — both in person and virtually — including University of Hong Kong Professor Douglas W. Arner, Lee Reiners (Duke Financial Economics Centre at Duke University; formerly with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York), and CFTE Co-Founder and Citi former Managing Director Huy Nguyen Trieu, alongside senior regulators from Sri Lanka’s Central Bank and India’s IFSCA.

The 2025 edition will spotlight emerging trends in AI-driven finance and policy innovation.

The awards, judged by an independent international panel, continue to recognise excellence, having honoured leading institutions such as IFSCA (India; recognised for advancing cross-border fintech innovation via GIFT City), FreeBalance (Canada; global public finance technology), and IDEMIA (APAC; digital identity).

They have also celebrated Sri Lanka’s leading financial institutions and digital platforms, including Bank of Ceylon, Commercial Bank, Hatton National Bank, People’s Bank, Dialog Genie, and SLT-Mobitel mCash.

Individual honourees have included global fintech leaders such as Singapore FinTech Association President Chia Hock Lai, Central Bank of Bahrain FinTech and Innovation Unit Director Yasmeen Al Sharaf, Japan FinTech Association Vice Chair Takeshi Kito, Jordanian entrepreneur (named in Forbes Middle East “100 Most Powerful Arab Businesswomen”) Iman Mutlaq, and Ondato, Lithuania (EU-regulated identity verification) CEO Liudas Kanapienis.

This year’s Awards expand to celebrate ethical AI, financial inclusion, sustainability, and cross-border collaboration.

Supporting organisations include TLA Sri Lanka, the Sri Lanka and Maldives Chapter of the Colorado-based Global Academy of Finance and Management (GAFM), and other leading academic and industry contributors. 

The summit underscores Sri Lanka’s rising role as a trusted, neutral platform for shaping Asia’s digital finance future through inclusive, cross-border collaboration.