René Michau is a visionary leader in digital finance, serving as the Global Head of Digital Assets at Standard Chartered Bank, where he spearheads the bank’s innovation and delivery of secure digital asset solutions for institutional clients. Based in Singapore, René plays a key role in shaping the future of finance by integrating cryptocurrencies, tokenization, and stablecoins into the bank’s ecosystem.
Since joining Standard Chartered in 2016, René has held several influential positions, including Head of Fintech Client Advisory where he established the Fintech Banking business within CIB.
His expertise in fintech, crypto and digital payments is backed by an extensive career across major banks, including HSBC, ANZ, and National Australia Bank, where he led groundbreaking projects such as the launch of a cloud-based merchant platform and the development of a carbon trading capability.
René’s leadership extends beyond banking, as he is deeply embedded in the global fintech and crypto communities. He co-chairs the Global Digital Finance (GDF) Financial Institutions Crypto Working Group and the Institute of International Finance (IIF) Digital Assets Forum, driving industry-wide conversations on the future of digital assets. He is also an active member of the Digital Asset Markets sub-committee within the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Global Markets Advisory Committee, influencing regulatory discussions at the highest level.
A former officer in the Australian Army, René brings a disciplined and strategic approach to leadership. His passion for fintech goes beyond innovation—he is a strong advocate for empowering women in crypto and fintech, actively championing diversity and inclusion in the industry.
René is not only shaping Standard Chartered’s digital asset strategy—he is helping define the future of digital finance globally.
Launchpad Room, Level 1
Open
A 2-hour curated session exploring how AI is redefining institutional finance; From infrastructure and risk to next steps execution, we are at the intersection of traditional finance and digital assets with AI. Through a series of concise discussions, industry leaders will share actionable insights on autonomous systems, institutional adoption, and the future of digital finance.
Bringing together leading voices from across the ecosystem, the session will deliver actionable discussions on the future of digital finance, highlighting the opportunities and pathways required to drive institutional adoption at scale.
4:00pm – 4:05pm
Welcome & GFTN Opening Remarks
Speaker(s): Bernice Neo, Client Engagement Manager, GFTN
4:05pm – 4:35pm
Fireside Chat: Protecting the Future Agentic Economy: Rethinking Compliance for Autonomous Finance - Powered by Solana Foundation, Standard Chartered Bank and Collisionless
Speaker(s): Lu Yin, President of APAC, Solana Foundation, Rene Michau, Global Head, Digital Assets, Standard Chartered Bank
As autonomous agents reshape financial decision-making, compliance, identity, and trust are being redefined. This session brings together banking and blockchain perspectives on fraud prevention, agent identity, and on-chain payments. It explores how regulated institutions and decentralized infrastructure are adapting to autonomous finance, and what governance and security frameworks are needed for safe adoption.
4:35pm – 5:05pm
Session - Powered by Elliptic
5:05pm – 5:35pm
Next Wave: Agentic Wealth Management - Powered by OpenWealth API
This session explores how wealth management is moving beyond traditional applications towards AI agents as a new interface layer for advisers and clients. It examines how the OpenWealth API, as an industry-driven standard, enables interoperability across custodians, portfolio management systems and client platforms, and introduces the OpenWealth Model Context Protocol (MCP) as a governed, auditable and permissioned tool layer for agentic use cases. In a live showcase attendees will see a wealth manager agent query portfolios, detect investment strategy drift and initiate rebalancing through OpenWealth MCP. The discussion will then look ahead to the governance, liability and multi-custodian implications of agent-ready wealth infrastructure, while inviting banks, fintechs and AI providers to engage with the OpenWealth community and help shape the next generation of our API standard.
Speaker(s): Dr. Simon Alioth, Vice President, OpenWealth Association & Managing Director, Synpulse8, Dominic Greenwood, Chief Innovation Officer, Expersoft, Raphael Bianchi, President, OpenWealth Association & Co-CEO Synpulse8 (Moderator)
5:35pm - 6:00pm
Closing & Networking