Global fintech leaders converge in Colombo for Sri Lanka FinTech Summit 2025

• Two-day summit kicks off today at BMICH, Colombo

The Sri Lanka FinTech Summit 2025 has announced its confirmed line up of speakers, bringing together global and Sri Lankan leaders in digital finance, technology, and regulation to accelerate the country’s transition towards a resilient and inclusive digital economy. The two-day summit will kick-off today at the BMICH in Colombo. 

The summit will feature more than 25 speakers across Government, financial institutions, global fintech leaders, and industry innovators. The summit is led by HNB Managing Director/CEO Damith Pallewatte, serving as Summit Chair, with TECXA Ltd. Founder/Managing Director Dr. Kumudu Megasooriya, and FinTech Forum Chairman Channa De Silva as Co-Chairs.

This year’s line-up also brings together the leaders behind India’s UPI revolution, Singapore’s digital finance transformation, and Southeast Asia’s new wave of digital banks, alongside Sri Lanka’s own fintech champions. 

Government and Policy Leaders include CBSL Governor Dr. P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, Digital Economy Deputy Minister Eng. Eranga Weeraratne, ICTA Chairman and Chief Advisor to the President on Digital Economy Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, and international policy specialists such as DXGlobal Foundation (USA) President Anir Chowdhury, GFTN (Singapore) Public Policy Executive Director Chek-Tchung Foo, and International Fintech Institute at GIFT City (India) Executive Vice President K. Chelvakumar. 

NPCI CEO Dilip Asbe will contribute insights from India’s UPI framework, which has become one of the most widely adopted real-time payment systems in the world and is now expanding across borders, including into Sri Lanka. 

Sopnendu Mohanty, who helped position Singapore as a global fintech hub during his tenure at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, now leads GFTN’s global effort to connect innovators, capital, and regulators. 

Representing India’s UPI-led payments revolution, Rithesh Pai of PhonePe brings the perspective of a platform that anchors one of the world’s largest digital payment ecosystems. 

Neal Cross, renowned for driving DBS’s digital transformation into a global benchmark, now brings an innovation lens from Australia’s fast-growing wealthtech sector through his work at PictureWealth. 

Also featured is Boost Group CEO Sheyantha Abeykoon. Boost is Malaysia’s first home grown digital bank, which has rapidly positioned itself as a driver of financial inclusion in Southeast Asia. 

Other global fintech CEOs and innovators include AZA Finance (UK) Founder/CEO Elizabeth Rossiello, Better Than Cash Alliance (Rwanda) Managing Director Nshuti Mbabazi, Blue Lotus Partners (Australia) Director Brad Jones, and Casterman Advisory (Belgium) Founder and André Casterman. 

Technology and Industry Experts will bring perspectives from across the digital finance ecosystem, including Integrated Communication Channel DMCC (UAE) Fintech Director Ghassan Jumblat, World Bank Consultant and Global Fintech Institute Industry Fellow (Singapore) Rahul Bhargava, Emerging Payments Association Asia (India) Chief Expansion and Innovation Officer Monica Jasuja, Rakstar Solutions LLC (UAE) Founder Gianluca Bin, DesignOne (UAE) Chairman Dan Ameresekere, Vector Business Navigation (USA) CEO/Founder Brad Smith, M-Pesa Africa (Kenya) CTO Vinod Sharma, SWIFT (India) Account Director – India and Country Manager for Sri Lanka and Maldives Niharika Kori, Circulo de CISO President Sujit Christy, and CoHEAD Therapeutics (Sri Lanka) CEO/Chief AI Officer Thushera Kawdawatta.

Together, these specialists will extend the conversation to frontier technologies including AI, blockchain, and cybersecurity. 

The summit will address critical themes shaping the future of financial services, including digital transformation, blockchain applications, artificial intelligence, cross-border payments, and regulatory innovation. With Sri Lanka’s $ 15 billion digital economy target for 2030 in focus, the event aims to align innovation with policy, attract investment, and promote financial inclusion across urban and rural markets. 

With UPI now expanding into multiple international corridors, Boost Bank scaling its model across Southeast Asia, and GFTN convening a global ecosystem for collaboration, the summit positions Sri Lanka at the centre of Asia’s digital finance conversation. 

The Sri Lanka FinTech Summit is organised by TECXA Limited in collaboration with the FinTech Forum Sri Lanka and HNB. It has been designed as a year-round coordination mechanism to connect regulators, financial institutions, technology providers, and start-ups, and to deliver tangible progress for the nation’s digital economy.