Money's Wild Ride: From Cow Trading to Digital Wizardry
Picture this: You're a baker in ancient times, fresh loaves cooling on your table, and you desperately need
Notes from a FinTech Generalist
Interoperability, standards, and how systems actually ship
Hi, I’m Siva. I previously worked at the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub (BISIH). In that world, “innovation” meant real constraints, real stakeholders, and delivering products that actually work.
Innovation is often trendy. I care more about whether a change actually improves outcomes.
To judge that, I try to go one layer deeper than the headline and ask what problem is being solved,
what trade-offs are being made, and what would break if we shipped it into the real world.
At a glance
Systems & trade-offs
Stakeholders & constraints
Specs, stories, tests
Ship what works
Innovation often feels like running into walls. You have to be a little crazy to keep doing it. I’m just the right amount of crazy to push through. Real innovation is more human than technical. It requires fighting against existing processes, advocating for structure, and a willingness to constantly learn and unlearn.
That is why I am a generalist. To push a product through those walls, you end up wearing many hats across the same problem, sometimes all in the same week: product owner, product manager, project manager, business analyst, design thinking facilitator, UAT tester, backlog manager, and the person writing user stories and test cases when the details really matter.
I am not the best at every hat. I think of myself as Jack of all trades, master of some. If you ask me what I am, I am a problem solver who keeps going until I find a way through.
Learn with Siva
This is where I document the mechanics of money. I explore modern finance and infrastructure, and I also trace the historical path that got us here.
When something looks “obvious” today, I try to find the earlier constraints and decisions that made it feel obvious. No hype. Just systems, trade-offs, and history.
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Blog
Case Studies
From Chaos to Code: Building a Hackathon Platform (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Demo)
After experiencing hackathon coordination firsthand, I built a working prototype to explore better event management. Role-switching demos, AI guidance, and workflows designed around real user frustrations.
Publication
Novel Approaches to Combat Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing, Fraud, and Scams
A cross-sectoral view into how regulators and industry are responding to the growing complexity of financial crime. This piece draws on insights from the BISIH community and covers the use of AI, behavioural science, and collaborative data-sharing strategies.
GenAI in Action: Transforming Data Use in SupTech
This paper explores how generative AI is transforming the use of data in SupTech. It highlights real-world central banking applications of LLMs in report generation, anomaly detection, and regulatory analysis, drawn from BISIH, MAS and EDKP Collaboration Communities experiments.
Project Viridis: A Blueprint for Managing Climate-Related Financial Risk
A pragmatic framework developed by BISIH and MAS to help financial authorities manage climate-related financial risks. Project Viridis integrates emissions data, geospatial mapping, and scenario analysis to support qualitative assessments of systemic climate vulnerabilities.
Testimonial
Siva played a key role across major workstreams, bringing structure, focus, and stakeholder engagement to everything he handled. His work exploring the use of AI, digital twin technology, and novel approaches to combating financial crime was invaluable to the Hub.
Patrick Hoffmann, BIS Innovation Hub and Bundesbank
Siva's intelligence is evident in his approach. He seamlessly transitions between business and product roles, leveraging a diverse skill set and a collaborative spirit to deliver innovative solutions.
Madhava Shan, FinTech Lead, Sleek
Experiences
Business Administrator - Project Lead
Worldwide Computer Services, Singapore
Aug 2020 — Feb 2023
Product Management Associate
Synfindo, Singapore
Feb 2023 — Sep 2023
Fintech Analyst - Product Coordination
Sleek, Singapore
Oct 2023 — Mar 2024
Junior Product Owner
Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub, Singapore
Mar 2024 — Present