SINGAPORE - Some 11,000 participants from over 50 countries will gather in Singapore this week for the inaugural FinTech Festival, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said on Monday (Nov 14).

This means the weeklong event - including Monday's Lab Crawl - is the world's largest fintech event thus far.

As the first key programme of the festival, the Lab Crawl will see over 20 banks and financial services firms open their innovation labs for public demonstrations and tours.

One of them is Aviva's Digital Garage at Armenian Street, where solutions such as AI chat box and pay-as-you-use insurance are being explored by some 60 people on site, Aviva chief digital officer Andrew Brem told the Straits Times.

Singapore houses one of the insurer's three main innovation labs in the world, alongside London and Toronto.

"Singapore has the advantage of being the hub of Asia, where important innovations are surging to address big demographic needs," Mr Brem added.

Other participants include Microsoft, PayPal, global banks Citi and Standard Chartered, and local banks UOB, OCBC and DBS, which formally launched its Innovation Facility at One North on Monday.

The FinTech Festival was organised by the MAS to create a platform for financial institutions, fintech start-ups and investors to network and explore new innovations that can make financial services more efficient in the digital era.

"The festival will foster the thriving fintech ecosystem in Singapore and beyond, as we strive towards establishing Singapore as a smart financial centre and a world class fintech hub," MAS chief fintech officer Sopnendu Mohanty said.