Held in Singapore from May 20–22, AsiaFIC 2026 brought together leaders from across the financial information industry to explore everything from AI and cloud transformation to market structure and regulation. To help capture the highlights, we enlisted some extra eyes and ears: the participants in our Rising Stars panel, Deoghoon Hwang (Korea Exchange), Sejal Jain (JP Morgan Chase), Kanchan Shelke (DataGum), and Krish Tejnani (LSEG). In addition to sharing their perspectives on stage, they spent the conference attending sessions, taking notes, and identifying the ideas that resonated most strongly. The summary below brings together their key takeaways:

1. AI is Becoming Central to the Future of Market Data
   AI is rapidly transforming the financial data value chain and has moved from concept to practical implementation. Firms are actively leveraging AI to enhance data discovery, automation, governance, client service, and decision-making, while high-quality, structured financial data is becoming a critical foundation for successful AI adoption.
2. High-Quality Data and Data Engineering are Critical Enablers
   Success in the AI era depends on structured, high-quality datasets, strong data governance, scalable architectures, metadata, symbology, and data dictionaries. Data quality and operational resilience are becoming increasingly important as markets become more digital and interconnected.
3. New Data Consumption Patterns
   Client expectations are shifting toward richer, faster, and more flexible access to data. Cloud, SaaS, and evolving distribution channels are reshaping how financial data is delivered and consumed.
4. Commercial, Licensing, and Governance Models Must Evolve
   AI, tokenization, and new data consumption patterns are challenging traditional approaches to data licensing, pricing, distribution, and governance. The industry continues to grapple with balancing innovation, data usability, and protection of data rights.
5. Industry Collaboration is Essential for Navigating Change
   The conference highlighted the value of bringing together exchanges, data providers, technology firms, buy-side participants, and other stakeholders to share perspectives, discuss challenges, and shape future industry developments.