Alan Lim

According to an IBM report, as of late 2024, only 8% of banks have enterprise-wide generative AI strategies 📊 78% remain in tactical mode, not from hesitation, but from legacy systems, fragmented data, regulatory scrutiny, and the need for explainable AI. Enterprise AI demands capability building, governance alignment, and structured transformation. LeanTech SG have helped numerous banks across the GCC unlock their full generative AI potential through focused enablement and strategic execution. If your institution is ready to move from experimentation to enterprise impact, let’s talk: https://wa.link/arx078 👈

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Kita (YC W26) turns messy financial documents into fraud-checked, predictive risk signals that power lending in emerging and underserved markets, starting in Southeast Asia. In places like the Philippines, bank APIs often do not exist. Lenders are forced to rely on “noisy” documents such as bank statements, payslips, and financial statements to understand a borrower’s history. Today, that leaves them choosing between slow, expensive manual review or brittle legacy OCR that breaks on real-world documents common in emerging markets. Kita uses vision-language models to transform scans, images, and screenshots into decision-ready underwriting signals. Because it's hyperlocalized, Kita doesn't just digitize text; it understands the local document formats, behaviors, and fraud patterns that actually drive loan outcomes in markets like the Philippines, Indonesia, and Mexico. Over time, repayment outcomes are linked back to these signals, turning Kita into a custom learning engine for every lender. The team brings together rare local insight and deep technical expertise. Carmel Limcaoco is a Manila-raised repeat founder who previously worked on computational audio at Apple. Rhea Malhotra is a top computer vision and robotics researcher who received the highest distinction in Computer Science at Stanford in 2025. Best friends since their gap year, they completed their bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Computer Science at Stanford before deciding to build Kita full-time. Congrats on the launch, Carmel and Rhea! https://lnkd.in/eVYgm3RA

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🔴 Webinar for IT leaders in HK & Singapore.​ Still relying on manual security reviews and struggling to produce audit evidence on demand?​ On September 23, Gediminas Volungevicius, who has spent 12 years in IT Security across BNP Paribas, Citi, DBS, and Trustwave, will share how he drove DevSecOps automation in banking environments to accelerate secure software delivery while ensuring continuous audit readiness.​ You'll learn:​ - Why scanning tools and green dashboards are not enough​ - The real challenges of implementing automated security testing in regulated environments​ - Proven strategies to get auditors to trust your automated controls​ - Concrete, hands-on lessons from implementing DevSecOps in banking environment​ For senior IT, security, and IT compliance leaders in Hong Kong & Singapore. Secure your seat now​! Free to attend, plus a free resource sent to every attendee after the session, and a free 1:1 if you'd like to talk through your own setup.​ ​ 23 September, 12:30 PM HKT/SGT.​ 👉 Link to register in the comments.​ Powered by Alan Allman Associates

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𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 - 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 🔴 𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐲𝐩𝐞: 𝟓 𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 🔸 AI adoption hit 98% globally. Only 2% of institutions report zero AI use. 𝐕𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐧𝐚𝐦 leads at 74% scaled deployment; 𝐉𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐧 trails at 39%. 🔸 Security spend is surging 40% in 2026. #UAE, #Mexico, and #HongKong are leading the charge with 90%+ planning increases. Advanced fraud detection is now deployed by 48% of institutions. 🔸 Modernization is no longer optional. 87% plan to invest in the next 12 months. #Singapore is scaling spend by 50%+. Yet 72% believe they're ahead of competitors (spoiler: they can't all be right). 🔸 Talent shortage is the #1 barrier to progress. 43% cite skills gaps as the main blocker. #Singapore (54%), #UAE (51%), and #US (50%) are hit hardest. Hedge funds face the worst shortages. 🔸 Personalization is now table stakes. 38% say customers demand improved, personalized experiences above all else. Only 4% of institutions offer no personalized services. 24% plan to scale CX spend by 50–74% this year. 🔸 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 and 𝐋𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 are the new frontlines. 38% deployed or improved AI in payments tech in 2025. Real time payments follow at 35%. In lending, 36% adopted AI assistants and chatbots; 35% enhanced fraud/KYC/KYB controls. 🔸 Partnerships are the default strategy. 54% are collaborating with fintechs to close gaps and accelerate modernization. Data sovereignty is the top reason for building in house (58% in the U.S.). 🔸 Privacy concerns are slowing hyper personalization. 45% of very large institutions cite privacy, consent, and regulation as their biggest barrier to scaling personalized services. 🔸 Core banking modernization is uneven. Germany and UAE lead at 34%, Vietnam at 33%, U.S. at 32%. All other regions lag below 30%. Legacy systems remain the silent killer of innovation. 🔸 AI's top use cases vary wildly by market. UAE prioritizes accuracy and cost reduction (53% and 44%). Japan focuses on workforce productivity (49%). Vietnam wants speed (49%). U.S. and Singapore lean into compliance (43%). 🔸 Confidence is high, but barriers persist. 87% are excited about the pace of change. Yet budget constraints (41%) and regulatory hurdles continue to slow execution, especially in Singapore (52%) and UK (49%). 🔸 Trust is the new competitive currency. Institutions are no longer judged by size or speed, but by how reliably and responsibly they deliver. Stewardship, not scale, will define winners in 2026. 🔴 The message is clear: innovation without discipline is d/e/a/d. 🔴 The institutions winning in 2026 won't be the fastest adopters; they'll be the Most Dependable Executors. #FinancialServices #DigitalBanking #Fintech #ArtificialIntelligence #BankingInnovation #Payments #Cybersecurity #Modernization #CustomerExperience #FinancialInclusion

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