As decision-makers from over thirty countries gather for the FinTech Week Awards & Expo Singapore 2026 (16th–17th September 2026 at Crowne Plaza Changi Airport), global payment infrastructure is undergoing a massive transformation. Operating under the theme "Finance. Innovation. Future.", the summit comes at a pivotal moment when cross-border remittances are moving faster, cheaper, and more transparently than ever before.

In an exclusive interview, Aaron Sim—Head of Remitly Singapore and APAC Business Development Lead—shares how proprietary payment rails, artificial intelligence, stablecoins, and strategic public-private partnerships are transforming global cross-border transactions.

1. Professional Journey: Two Decades of Driving Digital Payments Across APAC

Aaron Sim’s journey in financial services spans more than twenty years, beginning in consumer lending at GE Capital before transitioning into fintech in 2013 with PayPal, where he expanded user bases across North Asia. Prior to joining Remitly, he led payment partnership efforts at Meta, commercializing Facebook Messenger payments in Thailand and WhatsApp payment initiatives across India.

Today, at Remitly Singapore—which holds a Major Payment Institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)—Aaron oversees regional operations and business development:

"What has kept me in this industry is how directly the work shows up in people's lives. Remitly was built for immigrants and their families, and that is still the company's centre of gravity... In the second quarter of 2026, we passed ten million quarterly active customers for the first time, and those customers sent USD 23.5 billion in a single quarter." — Aaron Sim

With Singapore home to approximately 1.9 million non-residents, being based in the city-state places Remitly directly at both ends of major global remittance corridors, where fundamental product friction exists. Remitly now serves 179 geographies across more than 5,100 corridors worldwide.

2. Proprietary Technology & AI: Competing on Cost, Speed, and Trust

Remitly operates as a technology company that moves money, building its own proprietary cross-border payment and risk infrastructure rather than renting third-party systems. This stack enables the company to compete directly on three metrics customers care about most: cost, speed, and trust. In Q2 2026, 70% of funded transfers were delivered in under 20 seconds, with over nine in ten landing in under an hour.

Technology and AI drive three distinct operational pillars:

 

  • "Software Manufacturing": Leveraging AI to shorten product cycles, allowing lean engineering teams to ship updates rapidly.
  • Customer Support: An AI-powered assistant resolves common customer inquiries four times faster than previous workflows.
  • Real-Time Risk & Fraud Scoring: Machine learning models evaluate transactions instantaneously to block fraudulent activity without slowing down legitimate users.
  • Expanded Capabilities & Stablecoin Rails: Through Remitly One, users access multi-currency wallets, cards, and rewards. Additionally, Remitly has introduced stablecoin rails via Circle and Bridge and joined the OpenUSD consortium as a founding member to enable settlement faster and cheaper than traditional correspondent banking.

3. Opportunities & Challenges in the Fintech Ecosystem

Over the next three to five years, key dynamics will shape the evolution of digital remittances and global payments:

 

  • Closing the Cost Gap: World Bank data places the global average cost of digital remittances at ~4.6% versus 7.3% for cash, against the UN Sustainable Development Goal target of 3%. Closing this gap relies on owning payment rails and integrating with public payment links like Nexus Global Payments (Project Nexus in Singapore) and PayNow’s links to UPI, DuitNow, and PromptPay.
  • Building for the Receiver: Building direct relationships with payout receivers naturally attracts senders. While industry value was historically captured on the send side, the receive side is where underbanked communities reside.
  • Serving B2B Cross-Border Friction: Cross-border business payments remain underserved; Remitly for Business already serves over 20,000 active business clients.
  • Key Industry Challenges: Navigating regulatory divergence on stablecoins, fighting sophisticated fraud schemes, and managing foreign exchange and migration policy volatility require disciplined execution.

4. Ecosystem Partnerships & Shared Security

In cross-border finance, ecosystem partnerships are the core product engine. Remitly’s reach across 5,100+ corridors and 100+ currencies relies on localized partners—banks, mobile wallets, cash payout centers, and home delivery networks. Recent regional wallet expansions include Coins.ph (Philippines), Rocket (Bangladesh), and KBZPay (Myanmar).

Collaboration extends into public infrastructure and cybersecurity:

"Access without protection is not inclusion, which is why we work with the Global Anti-Scam Alliance and the Aspen Institute's fraud prevention task force. Fraud is not a competitive advantage for anyone. It is a shared cost, and it is best attacked collectively." — Aaron Sim

5. Participating in FinTech Week Singapore 2026

The FinTech Week Awards & Expo Singapore 2026 brings together 1,000+ senior decision-makers and 70+ speakers from over 30 countries. As a major regional send market and constructive regulatory environment, Singapore offers an ideal platform to engage with wallet partners, regulators, and industry peers.

The conference theme, "Finance. Innovation. Future.", aligns directly with customer expectations: innovation is ultimately judged not as a abstract technology concept, but by money arriving safely and reliably.

6. Key Insights for Fintech Leaders and Innovators

Aaron Sim offers two core takeaways for fellow delegates attending FinTech Week Singapore 2026:

 

  1. Anchor on Fundamentals: Capabilities like AI, stablecoins, and instant payment linkages are only as valuable as their ability to improve cost, speed, or trust. Technology that fails to measurably reduce costs or wait times is a demo, not a product.
  2. Stay Close to the Customer: Always remember the human context on the other end of the transaction—such as a worker in Singapore sending money home to support their family that evening. Build for the receiver, partner where it accelerates execution, and maintain clarity on what is production-ready versus a pilot project.