Big Four professional services firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (Deloitte) has announced that the founders and employees of Singapore-based digital consultancy firm Practical Smarts have joined its risk advisory practice in Southeast Asia, forming part of the Deloitte Asia Pacific Blockchain Lab (the Lab).
The Lab aims to enhance Deloitte’s expertise in Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and blockchain advisory services, with its formation in response to an increased demand from business clients in the region, according to Deloitte Asia Pacific’s blockchain lab leader, Dr Paul Sin.
The Lab will be led jointly by Practical Smarts’ co-founders Andrew Koay and Stanley Yong, who will manage the Lab from Singapore. Koay previously served as the head of blockchain technology at investment holding company Singapore Exchange Limited, and Yong was formerly global lead on central bank digital currency solutions at IBM for two years. The Lab will liaise with organisations to implement blockchain solutions to address governance, regulatory, settlement and enforceability issues. In addition, it will employ and train talent with FinTech expertise with a particular focus on cybersecurity and digital security.
“The team from Practical Smarts will complement Deloitte’s cyber and digital assurance services by securing the assets to be transferred over the network and the underlying transfer protocol,” said Deloitte Southeast Asia’s CEO, Mr Philip Yuen, in a statement.
Yong added that “blockchain is gaining momentum in the region and acceptance is growing across multiple industries”, while Koay noted that “operating in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region where there is a burgeoning of technology entrepreneurs and start-ups will put us at the forefront to meet the demand” of clients.
Elsewhere, Reed Smith published a report on , in particular the legal and regulatory implications, in December. Also in December, the UK’s National Health Service announced a team to provide patients free-of-charge health information through voice assisted technology.
Sourced from ICLG.com - written by Sandy Bhadare