DPM Gan Kim Yong의 「Trust and AI: Navigating a World in Transition」 Leaders Dialogue

Economy

Jobs and productivity

Science and technology

Speech by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong at the "Trust and AI: Navigating a World in Transition" Leaders Dialogue on 20 May 2026.

Ms Tan Su Shan Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning to all of you.

Introduction

We meet at a time when the global economy is being reshaped on many fronts at once.

Geopolitical contestation is intensifying.

Supply chains are being reconfigured.

Capital deployment is becoming more selective and targeted.

And technology – especially artificial intelligence – is moving faster than many can keep pace with.

For a small, open and globally connected economy like Singapore, these shifts matter deeply.

Our relevance has never rested on size. It rests on whether we are trusted, whether we are useful and how connected we are to the rest of the world.

When the competitive balance shifts, Singapore must move swiftly.

AI is one such shift. It can transform – how banks serve clients, how asset managers allocate capital, how insurers price risk, how compliance teams detect suspicious activities, and how institutions protect themselves against cyber threats.

This morning’s launch of the Global AI Financial Hub Index is timely.

Singapore’s ranking – third among major financial hubs, behind New York and San Francisco – is a strong vote of confidence.

But more importantly, it tells us where the next race will be fought.

The leading financial centres of the future will not only be those with deep markets, strong institutions and good infrastructure, although these remain will remain important and essential.

Increasingly, financial centres will also be judged by whether they can embrace and harness AI capabilities, and do so responsibly, deploy it at scale, preserve trust, ensure security, and nurture their people with the skills to work effectively and confidently with technology.

While we are encouraged by Singapore’s ranking, we should also see it as a call to action. Our next bound as a financial centre will depend on how well we do three things.

First, translate AI from experimentation into enterprise-wide adoption.

Second, ensure that AI creates good jobs and opportunities for our people.

Third, build trust, safety and security into the way AI is developed and used.

From experimentation to enterprise-wide adoption

The promise of AI in finance is clear. But its full value will only be realised when it is embedded into workflows, risk systems, and operating models.

For financial institutions, this means identifying impactful use cases that genuinely improve outcomes; redesigning workflows; improving data quality; training teams; and integrating AI into operations, rather than leaving it at the edge of the organisation.

This is not easy.

Many institutions still face legacy systems, fragmented data, capability gaps, and uncertainty over implementation risks.

Smaller firms may lack the resources to build capabilities on their own.

Larger institutions may find that AI adoption requires deep and extensive changes to operating models, risk controls and organisational culture.

This is why Singapore’s approach must be ecosystem-led. Our advantage is not scale. We cannot outspend the largest economies, nor build the biggest models. But we can be the place where useful AI solutions are developed, tested and deployed against real-world financial use cases.

We can bring regulators, banks, insurers, asset managers and technology firms around the same table.

We can create an environment where innovation is encouraged, while risks are properly understood and managed.

But in order to do so, we will need trusted spaces where firms can test AI solutions; practical guidance on responsible deployment; and common approaches to model governance, validation, data protection and risk management.

By strengthening public-private partnership, we can help more firms move from isolated pilots to scalable deployment.

This is how Singapore can compete – not by chasing every AI trend, but by becoming a trusted base for high-impact AI adoption in finance.

Good jobs and opportunities

Second, AI must translate into good jobs and opportunities.

This is central to Singapore’s refreshed economic strategy under the Economic Strategy Review.

Growth remains essential. But in an age of AI and automation, growth may no longer generate jobs in the same way as before.

More can be done with fewer workers.

Some tasks will be automated, some jobs redesigned, and some workers will face difficult transitions.

We are already seeing early signs of this.

In some AI-exposed fields, graduate outcomes are affected, as entry level jobs have changed.

In computer science, the nature of work is also shifting – less routine coding, and more designing, organising and overseeing systems at a higher level.

The work is not disappearing. But it is changing, and changing unevenly.

For Singapore, the answer cannot be to hold back change. If we slow AI adoption, we will weaken our competitiveness and ultimately hurt workers more, not less.

Our approach must be to shape AI adoption, so that it complements workers wherever possible.

In finance, AI should reduce routine work, improve decision-making, strengthen risk controls, and allow professionals to focus on higher-value roles involving judgement, client engagement and problem-solving.

Job redesign must go hand in hand with technology adoption.

When firms implement AI, they should not only ask: how much cost can we save?

They should also ask:

What kind of new roles can we create?

How can existing workers be trained for them, and

How can relationship managers, analysts, compliance professionals, operations staff and technologists use AI to do higher-value work?

The future will not be about “AI skills” in isolation. It will be about AI plus domain expertise – AI plus finance, risk management, compliance, wealth advisory, cybersecurity, and operations.

AI can process information, detect patterns and generate options. But clients will still value judgement, accountability, empathy and trust.

In many roles, the winners will not be those who can compete against AI, but those who learn how to work with AI and make AI work for them.

We must also recognise that to stay competitive, Singapore will need to continue to attract global AI talent.

The global competition for specialised AI researchers, engineers, product builders, cyber specialists and implementation experts is intense.

If we want to build AI capabilities here in Singapore, we must remain open to the best teams and ideas from around the world.

But this makes it even more important that AI translates into better jobs and opportunities for Singaporeans.

When global AI teams are anchored here, they should help deepen Singapore’s capabilities – by augmenting local teams, transferring expertise, building leadership pathways, and creating roles where Singaporeans can work alongside world-class talent on frontier problems.

This is why workforce transformation is not separate from the AI agenda. It is central to it.

The Government will do our part.

We will strengthen AI literacy across the workforce, as well as build sector-specific AI capabilities.

We will work with industry to develop pathways into emerging roles in AI implementation, model validation, AI governance, cyber risk management, digital operations and financial technology.

We will also strengthen support for workers who face disruption.

This means providing workers with earlier support, better job matching, more practical reskilling, and clearer pathways to new careers.

Employers, too, have a role to play.

Many of you here lead major institutions, manage capital, advise clients, or shape investment decisions. You have influence not only over where capital flows, but over how capabilities are built.

When you invest in Singapore, we hope you will also invest in Singaporeans.

Build teams here. Train them.

Give them exposure to regional and global opportunities.

Create pathways for Singaporeans to take on leadership roles, both locally as well as overseas.

This is how we ensure that Singapore’s success as a financial centre will benefit our people.

Building trust, safety and security in AI

AI creates opportunities. But it also changes the risk landscape.

The same technology that helps firms detect fraud can also help criminals carry out more harms.

The same tools that improve productivity can also be used to automate cyberattacks.

The same models that support innovation can, if misused, lower barriers to serious harm.

Recent developments in frontier AI have shown how quickly this risk frontier is moving.

This is the new reality. The issue is not whether AI is good or bad. AI is powerful – and powerful technologies require effective safeguards.

This is especially important for Singapore. Our financial centre is built on trust. Clients place assets here because they trust our institutions, our regulatory standards, our rule of law, and our ability to manage risk.

As AI changes the nature of risk, we must also deepen our trust for the AI age.

This is why we must strengthen AI governance.

Financial institutions must be able to explain, validate and monitor their AI systems.

They must know where models are used, what data they rely on, what risks they create, and where human oversight remains essential.

We must also strengthen cyber and operational resilience. As AI-enabled attacks become more sophisticated, firms need to respond faster, and with clear accountability.

Conclusion

The global operating environment will remain challenging. We should expect more geopolitical uncertainty, more technological disruption, and more competition among financial centres around the world.

But Singapore is starting from a strong position.

The Global AI Financial Hub Index confirms that Singapore is already among the leading financial hubs in AI readiness.

But we cannot be complacent. We must go beyond ranking well; we must strengthen our position not only as a leading financial centre in Asia, but as a trusted and AI-empowered financial hub that helps clients navigate uncertainty, seize opportunity, and build for the long term, while creating good opportunities for Singaporeans.

The road ahead will not be easy. But for Singapore, complexity has never been a reason to stand still. It is a catalyst to adapt early, partner more deeply, and move more decisively.

Thank you.