Philippine President appears as hologram to speak at SG Fintech Festival

SINGAPORE: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr was announced as one of the speakers at the Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) 2023, although a footnote on the media release said he would be attending virtually.

However, Mr Marcos, who is currently visiting the United States, appeared before the audience as a hologram. A clip of the speech where Mr Marcos talked about his country’s readiness for business and digital banking was shared online, courtesy of the festival and Union Bank.

Bloomberg noted that Google and Microsoft are exploring holograms for communicating and that the Philippine President is the only speaker to use this type of technology that projects three-dimensional images for SFF 2023.

Brazilian-born environmentalist Achim Steiner, the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and vice-chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group, and Mr François Villeroy de Galhau, the Governor of Banque de France, are also scheduled to attend SFF 2023 virtually, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in announcing the festival’s lineup of speakers on Monday (Nov 13).

Mr Marcos, who is in San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, delivered a speech via hologram at the summit shortly before “attending” SFF 2023. The hologram had been prepared a week before he went to the US for the summit and had been arranged through a collaboration between the SFF, MAS, UnionBank, UnionDigital, the Presidential Communications Office of the Philippines, and Radio Television Malacañang.

At the SFF, Mr Marcos talked about “accelerating ESG [Environmental, Social, and Governance], advancing talent, and efficient payments,” inviting participants “to look at (Philippine) startups and explore potential partnerships to ensure our mutual growth and shared prosperity.”

“The Philippines also recognizes the growing presence of digital banking and the importance of inclusive finance in our financial landscape so that no one will be left behind in our pursuit of progress and prosperity. That is why we are putting great emphasis on the digitalization of all cashflows—regardless of amount or scale—so that Filipinos can start building a digital profile.

The Philippines also remains ready to adapt new technologies to respond to the demands of our regional and global challenges. It is for this reason that we keep our FinTech ecosystem open to collaboration with a wide array of stakeholders, both domestically and internationally,” he said.

Read also: ‘Promise and Pitfalls of AI’ in focus at Singapore FinTech Festival 2023  /TISG