AGENDA
09.15
Panel Discussion: Balancing CFO’s Strategic Priorities while Delivering Immediate Results
In 2025, CFOs face the challenge of balancing business growth and profitability with fostering innovation and ensuring compliance. As the finance function evolves, how can it add genuine value from the perspective of business stakeholders? This session emphasises the strategic focus and complexities that CFOs will face in 2026.
- Navigating growth pressures and challenges facing CFOs in 2026
- Ensuring long-term profitability amidst market changes
- Cost control as growth strategy
- Balancing risk and growth
- Making smart investment decisions
Panelists:
10.15
Panel Discussion: CFO’s Investment Strategies that Drive Growth
According to Gartner, organisations currently face historic hurdles: a competitive talent landscape, an exhausted workforce, pressure to control costs, and the rise of AI. These new developments are likely to be faced by finance functions too and finance leaders will now need to rethink how and where work gets done. As CFOs are dealing with the complexities of hybrid work and at the same time embracing emerging and automation technologies in the finance functions, how can they effectively manage these transitions while attracting and retaining top finance talent in 2026?
- How we invest: local, regional, or global?
- Investment strategy that fits emerging markets
- Key risk mitigation management for strategic investments
- The need of investment compliance – latest trends and best practices
Moderator:
Panelist:
11.15
11.40
Panel Discussion: Finance Digital Transformation Check-Up
A McKinsey Global Survey of CFOs in March 2024 reveals that while 98% of CFOs have invested in digitisation and automation within their finance functions, only a quarter of their processes are fully digitised or automated. As we navigate the uncertainties of 2026, finance leaders need to understand the challenges and strategies essential for modernising the finance function in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. How should finance leaders drive their digital transformation efforts while balancing the inherent risks and opportunities of the evolving financial landscape in Asia?
- Identifying roadblocks in finance transformation
- Modernising legacy processes
- Maximising efficiency in finance function
- Aligning people and technology for effective transformation
- Measuring ROI of finance transformation initiatives
Moderator:
Panelists:
Parul Aggarwal
Finance Director - APAC Lead, Enterprise Finance S/4 Transformation
JOHNSON & JOHNSON
13.40
Keynote: Empowering Finance: How CFOs Can Build a Data-Driven, People-Centric Function
The role of CFO is no longer limited to financial oversight. Today’s finance leaders must lead the charge in using technology to transform operations and outcomes. But tools alone aren’t enough—organisational data must be clean, accessible, and actionable. The finance function, as the data powerhouse of any organisation, is uniquely positioned to pioneer these advancements by collaborating closely with IT to design and implement innovative tools. This session will share how leveraging cutting-edge technologies can enhance financial operations, empower decision-making, and improve business outcomes.
- Discovering the importance of accessible, organised, and actionable data with data democratisation
- Strategies to build a future-ready finance function through data, automation, and people
- Addressing the skills, mindsets, and culture required to bridge the gap between data and decision-making for lasting impact
14.05
Panel Discussion: Revolutionising Finance with Artificial Intelligence
As we approach 2025, the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in finance is becoming a pivotal focus for CFOs across Asia. Gartner predicts that by 2026, 90% of finance functions will implement at least one AI-enabled technology solution. Notably, 44% of finance professionals are already leveraging AI for intelligent process automation, enhancing information processing and anomaly detection.
With AI's potential to transform decision-making and operational efficiency, how can finance leaders harness this technology effectively?
- The impact of AI on finance in 2026
- Initiating AI innovations in finance
- Collaborating with IT Leaders for AI deployment
- Evaluating AI tools for finance
- Use cases of AI application to finance activities
Panelist:
C-ENGAGE CONVENTION PLENARY
The CFO & CIO Alliance
15.30
Conference Chairperson’s Welcome Remarks
15:35
C-Suite Panel Discussion: AI Action Plans for 2026
Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat shared a preview of Singapore’s plans for research, innovation and enterprise (RIE) by 2030 and said both initiatives on large-scale applied AI push, and cross-sector research will be among wider efforts, including major investments, to secure Singapore’s future amid quickening economic and geopolitical shifts.
With Singapore’s plans in pushing on with applying artificial intelligence (AI) on a large scale in key sectors, as well as launch major research and development (R&D) programmes that cut across different fields in an effort to drive economic growth that creates good jobs, how should business leaders in Singapore redefine their strategy in their AI roadmap for the coming years?
- Practical lessons of AI implementation: What works and doesn't
- Bridging the gap between Open vs. Closed AI models
- Budgeting for AI: Siloed projects or big bang
- Deploying AI as a defence and offence strategy for business resilience
- Decoding AI opportunities for business in 2026
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