In an era marked by rapid digital transformation and disruptive innovation, financial leadership demands more than just precision and prudence, it requires vision, agility, and a relentless pursuit of relevance. El Lee, the Chief Operating Officer of SenSen Technology, stands at the forefront of this new wave of finance leaders. With a career defined by trailblazing ventures and a philosophy grounded in sustainable innovation, El is not just adapting to the future of finance, he’s shaping it.
“Finance is no longer just about balancing books or meeting compliance—it’s about building systems that endure, evolve, and empower. My mission has always been to fuse innovation with accountability, creating platforms that deliver speed without sacrificing trust, and intelligence without losing human oversight. Every step of my career, from investment banking to fintech innovation, has been driven by one guiding principle: sustainable value. True financial evolution is not measured in quarterly spikes, but in long-term resilience, customer trust, and the ability to adapt seamlessly to what’s next.”
From Investment Banking to Fintech Trailblazer
El took his first professional steps within the intense environment of investment banking. There, he gained an insider’s perspective on the mechanics of financial systems, how they function, where they break down, and what they often overlook.
“began my career in investment banking, which gave me a firsthand understanding of how financial systems operate — and at times, where they fall short,” El shares. “That experience made me ask harder questions about access, efficiency, and trust.”
These questions became the foundation for his transition into fintech. In 2019, he co-founded Onchain Custodian, pioneering Asia’s first institutional-grade digital asset custodian, a venture that signaled a pivotal shift in the region’s digital finance landscape. Just two years later, he co-founded dtcpay, a fintech company that spearheaded fiat-to-token payments in Singapore, offering merchants and consumers new, legally compliant methods of transaction.
Today, at SenSen Technology, El is leading the charge in developing programmable financial infrastructure. His vision is a platform where stablecoins, fiat currencies, and card payments coexist, delivering seamless and secure financial experiences. Each chapter of his journey reflects an unwavering commitment to pushing fintech boundaries while maintaining a strong foundation in compliance and real-world applicability.
Redefining Success in the New Enterprise Era
In today’s rapidly changing business landscape, conventional measures of success no longer capture the full picture.. El reflects on his evolving perspective:
“I once believed that success was all about growth — more users, higher volumes, and continuous expansion. Over time, I have come to define success as building systems that endure.”
For El, success means staying strong, focusing on lasting growth, and making a positive difference. At SenSen, this philosophy translates into platforms that deliver tangible business value, helping clients reduce costs, accelerate cash flow, and increase operational control.
But it is not just about the platform. At the heart of El’s strategy lies a focus on cultivating vibrant team dynamics and a thriving organizational culture.
“It’s essential to build a team that embraces accountability, understands how to navigate risks, and confidently explores new ideas within set boundaries. Sustainable momentum is harder than speed. But it lasts longer.”
Understanding how financial systems work is only the beginning—real progress comes from identifying where they fall short, and building the solutions that bridge those gaps. Every venture I’ve led has been about making finance more secure, accessible, and relevant for the future.
The Intelligence Revolution in Finance
As AI, automation, and data-driven strategies reshape the business landscape, the role of finance is transforming dramatically. Finance has moved far beyond its traditional roles of bookkeeping and meeting compliance standards. Today, it’s about strategic intelligence.
“According to El, fintech today is shifting focus from simple record-keeping to delivering deeper intelligence. “AI is already replacing routine tasks like reconciliation and anomaly detection, but the real shift is in how fintech can now inform strategy, real-time dashboards, predictive forecasting, embedded compliance.”
At SenSen, programmable rule engines and automated data pipelines are utilized to manage everything from wallet limits to transaction routing. By taking this integrated route, fintech becomes a fundamental product strategy instead of just an isolated department. The goal is to make data actionable, driving not only speed but also accountability throughout the enterprise.
Unified Infrastructure: A Strategic Game-Changer
One of the most impactful financial strategies El has championed at SenSen is the unification of back-end infrastructure. This implies that fiat currencies, stablecoins, card issuance, and compliance functions are all managed within one unified technology stack. The result? Streamlined operations, faster execution, and greatly optimized unit economics.
Moreover, introducing real-time liquidity routing across various partners has significantly enhanced the overall customer experience. It ensures better conversion rates, faster settlements, and higher transaction visibility, a benefit for SenSen, its partners, and its clients.
“Most importantly,” El emphasizes, “we embedded frontier fintech into the product itself. Our customers don’t just use a platform, they manage treasury, compliance, and payments from one interface. That alignment of fintech and product with market-fit is our strategic edge.”
Aligning Finance With Product and Customer Impact
In a high-tech company like SenSen, the integration of finance with product development is not an afterthought, it is a strategic imperative.
“Finance and financial control is a core part of the customer requirement. When a customer executes a cross-border payment or issues a card, that is finance in action,” El explains.
By tightly aligning fintech and product roadmaps, SenSen reduces development cycles and increases the value delivered to clients. The platform is designed to remove friction, reduce handoffs, and build trust, all essential elements in modern financial services.
“When you unify payments, compliance, and treasury into one infrastructure, you don’t just gain efficiency—you create a platform that can adapt, scale, and deliver value in ways that siloed systems never can.”
Risk Management: Built Into the DNA
In a space where innovation and speed are critical, risk management must be proactive and deeply embedded. At SenSen, compliance is not a siloed function; it’s infused into every layer of the organization.
“We built real-time monitoring tools, programmable controls, and audit-ready logs into every layer of the platform,” El notes.
SenSen’s compliance architecture includes KYC at onboarding using global data providers, as well as on-chain KYT (Know-Your-Transaction) tools that monitor token flows, wallet behavior, and potential sanction risks. Each digital payment token transaction is evaluated in real-time, while fiat and stablecoin transactions undergo continuous monitoring for suspicious patterns.
But technology alone is not the answer. El stresses the importance of risk culture.
“Every product release goes through internal risk review. We encourage innovation, but we build in reversibility. Teams are trained to move fast, but always with rollback plans and risk mitigation measures.”
This balanced approach allows SenSen to innovate responsibly, maintaining control, transparency, and trust.
Defining Moments in Leadership
One of El’s most defining leadership experiences came during the early days of Onchain Custodian.
“We were entering uncharted territory. Regulators were cautious, banks were hesitant, and the market lacked trust. We had to earn confidence one stakeholder at a time.”
This experience solidified El’s belief that strategy is not about bold proclamations, it’s about consistent execution, transparency, and resilience. At SenSen, this philosophy drives a dual-speed approach: building secure, compliant infrastructure while iterating rapidly to meet evolving customer needs.
“I ensure our engineers understand compliance, our product team understands client pain points, and our finance operations scale without losing control,” he explains. “Great enterprise strategy is more than vision; it is about building systems that hold up under real pressure and deliver true benefits for our customers.”
Financial Infrastructure with a Sustainable Core
El also believes that sustainability and ESG considerations are integral to the future of financial leadership.
“At SenSen, we believe in designing infrastructure that is inherently more sustainable,” he says.
Stablecoin payments eliminate the need for physical cash, manual banking processes, and resource-heavy branch infrastructure. SenSen’s platform runs entirely on cloud infrastructure and issues virtual-first corporate cards, reducing plastic waste and cutting down environmental impact.
“Stablecoin transactions can settle instantly over distributed ledger networks, removing the need for interbank settlement cycles. The result is faster, cheaper, and cleaner financial flows.”
For SMEs and global e-commerce firms, this means more than efficiency, it means leaner systems that consume fewer resources and generate greater value.
Advice for Aspiring Finance Leaders
For those looking to step into strategic and visionary finance roles, El offers clear, thoughtful guidance:
“Start with the fundamentals, accounting, cash flow, risk – but don’t stop there,” he says. “Finance leaders today need to be multidimensional. Understand code. Study product architecture. Follow how value is created, not just how it’s recorded.”
Communication is equally critical. The ability to translate complex data into actionable narratives is what separates a good finance leader from a great one.
“If you can master both the analytical and human side of finance, you won’t just be a number-cruncher. You’ll be a core strategist, shaping direction at every level of the organization.”
Looking to 2025 and Beyond
El’s vision for the future of finance is ambitious, yet grounded in practical execution. He envisions a world where financial operations are real-time, programmable, and invisible, integrated into the daily rhythm of smart cities and digital ecosystems.
“In smart cities, value transfer will be seamless, triggered by smart contracts, embedded sensors, and AI-driven workflows,” he explains.
This future is already materializing at SenSen, where fiat, stablecoins, and programmable cards operate on a unified enterprise platform. And El believes Singapore is uniquely positioned to lead this transformation.
“We have the regulatory clarity, infrastructure maturity, and ecosystem support to turn fintech experiments into national-scale infrastructure,” he says. “My vision is for Singapore to become the first hub where programmable finance isn’t a pilot – it’s the norm.”
In a financial world constantly redefined by technology, El Lee represents a new breed of leader: strategic, sustainable, and boldly forward-looking. At SenSen Technology, he is not just building the tools of tomorrow—he is laying the infrastructure for a smarter, faster, and more trustworthy financial future.
The future of finance will be invisible, seamless, and fully programmable—operating in the background of smart cities and digital economies. My goal is to ensure we build that future with trust, transparency, and resilience at its core.