The FS Club Podcast: Recent Episodes
FS Club
The FS Club Podcast features a wide array of speakers covering a broad range of topics across economics, technology, and finance. FS Club Podcast’s offer 25-minute presentations from industry experts, followed by Q&A sessions, with questions fielded from live listeners. To listen in to the live broadcasts, find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3IaFXcw
Africa’s financial services sector is undergoing a rapid transformation, driven by FinTech innovations that are reshaping how individuals and businesses access and use financial services. Accelerated smartphone penetration, wider internet access, and the need to overcome limited traditional banking infrastructure are fuelling growth and attracting significant investment across payments, digital assets, tokenisation and RegTech, amongst others.
Positioned at the strategic crossroads of Africa and Asia, Mauritius offers a well-regulated, transparent, and investor-friendly International Financial Centre (IFC) with a progressive regulatory framework, including the Regulatory Sandbox Licence, the Payment Intermediary Services Licence, and the Virtual Asset and Initial Token Offering Services (VAITOS) Licence. Mauritius stands out as one of the few African jurisdictions where FinTech is comprehensively regulated, offering companies the clarity, and credibility they need to operate and scale with confidence.
These forward-looking legislative tools provide regulatory certainty and operational efficiency, enabling FinTech firms to test, scale, and launch innovative solutions across African markets while maintaining robust oversight. Backed by a skilled and adaptable workforce of multilingual ICT professionals, Mauritius stands as a competitive, future-ready FinTech jurisdiction, ideally positioned to drive growth and innovation in the region. This webinar will explore how the Mauritius IFC connects Africa to the global FinTech ecosystem, providing unmatched opportunities for scaling and market entry.
Participants will gain:
- Understanding of Africa’s FinTech growth drivers, including technology adoption trends, and investment flows.
- Insights into Mauritius’s progressive FinTech regulatory ecosystem, including the Regulatory Sandbox Licence, Payment Intermediary Services Licence, and VAITOS Licence.
- Practical guidance on how Mauritius can serve as a launchpad for FinTech expansion into African markets, offering market access and operational efficiency
The Global Financial Centres Index has been tracking the development of the world’s financial centres since 2007 and is the authoritative guide to financial centre success.
In this webinar, Z/Yen will formally launch the 38th edition of the index.
Programme:
09:00 Introduction & Welcome – Hugh Morris, Senior Research Partner, Z/Yen Group
09:05 Opening Remarks - Hugh Morris, Senior Research Partner, Z/Yen Group
09:15 GFCI 38 Results - Mike Wardle, CEO, Z/Yen Group
09:30 Commentary - Hugh Morris, Senior Research Partner, Z/Yen Group
09:35 Q&A
Speakers:
Mike Wardle is CEO and the Head Of Indices for Z/Yen, managing work on the development and delivery of the Global Financial Centres Index, Global Green Finance Index, and Smart Centres Index. Mike worked as a civil servant for almost 20 years mostly within the field of education policy. He was a director and then Chief Executive of the General Social Care Council, establishing the regulation of social workers. Mike's career moved into consultancy, programme management and coaching and he worked with Z/Yen for six years delivering programme management services to the Church of England, Unison, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, and Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust before taking up his current role.
In our next Esop Sofa webinar, the Esop Centre’s panel of experts discuss recent progress of the Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES) – and look at how those updates might affect employee share plan implementation.
Speakers:Veronika Oswald is a commercial capital markets professional with almost 20 years of experience spanning secondary share trading, corporate finance, and investor relations. She is well-versed in FCA regulations, UK listing frameworks, and compliance requirements across both the Main Market and junior exchanges such as AIM and Aquis. Veronika is a Director at JP Jenkins, the UK’s longest-established platform for trading unlisted securities, where she leads client acquisition, liquidity solutions, and capital raising initiatives. She also serves as a Director of InfinitX Ltd, focused on building institutional-grade infrastructure for private market access. Her track record includes advising private and delisted companies, structuring compliant liquidity pathways, and delivering complex mandates involving CREST integration and alternative investment structures. Veronika is recognised for her expertise in broadening access to private markets and developing innovative, regulatory-compliant solutions for issuers and investors alike.Ifty Nasir is the founder and CEO of Vestd, the platform that takes the cost and complexity out of setting up and managing share schemes for UK SMEs. He is a strong believer in the ‘Ownership Effect’ and advises businesses on how to share equity to incentivise teams and unlock value. An entrepreneur since his teens, Ifty reached the most senior levels at BP and Essar Energy before branching out into the world of startups, setting out to uncover the challenges facing companies in 2014 and found that poor equity management was a serious startup killer. Along with cofounder Naveed Akram, Ifty launched Vestd as a remedy. Known as a creator of ShareTech, Ifty’s opinion is trusted and sought across the media and the startup world.Damian Carnell is the Founder and Director of CORPGRO, a reward consultancy specialising in executive incentives and share plans. He has extensive experience advising all kinds of companies on all aspects of executive compensation and employee share plans, both in the UK and worldwide. He was previously with Willis Towers Watson, Aon, and Ernst and Young. Damian has wide-ranging experience in supporting business strategy and aims. He is fully familiar with Corporate Governance norms and institutional shareholder views as well as extensive experience of helping unlisted companies with top pay and share plans.Interested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5
As the effects of climate change intensify, financial institutions, policymakers, and businesses are under growing pressure to anticipate and respond to environmental risks. But transforming climate projections into actionable financial strategies is no small task. The data is complex, the models are coarse, and the stakes—economic, environmental, and social—are high. This talk explores how AI and data analytics can be used to bridge the gap between climate science and financial decision-making. We’ll examine three major challenges: the limitations of available climate data, the mismatch between global climate models and the local or sector-specific needs of decision-makers, and the difficulty of translating environmental scenarios into financially consistent, forward-looking outcomes. Through examples such as machine learning-based statistical downscaling and the integration of environmental stressors into investment models, we’ll explore how data can help quantify emerging risks and opportunities. We’ll also touch on the less discussed but increasingly urgent question of how climate change may reshape the future of work, from sectoral disruptions to shifts in labour productivity.
Join Sandy Begbie CBE, CEO of Scottish Financial Enterprise to hear more about Scotland’s Global Investment Summit, taking place in Edinburgh in October.
Scotland’s Global Investment Summit 2025 is hosted by Scottish Financial Enterprise and the Lord Mayor of London, with support from the Scottish and UK governments, and a wide range of partners, will provide investors with a unique insight and direct connections to the opportunities that can be found in three of Scotland’s key sectors: renewables, life sciences and financial services
Against the backdrop of Scotland’s world-famous blend of heritage and innovation, the summit will provide a unique opportunity to experience and engage with the very best Scotland has to offer.
As the UK’s largest financial hub outside London, Scotland boasts a centuries-long track record of financial innovation - now worth over £17.7bn GVA to the economy. With strengths in Fintech, data and AI, Scotland’s vibrant FS sector provides opportunities for global firms in a range of areas.
Scotland today stands at the forefront of the global net zero transition, with investible energy projects worth tens of billions of pounds across the country. These projects encompass a varied range of renewable technologies, from offshore wind and tidal energy to hydrogen production and carbon capture, offering substantial opportunities for sustainable investment.
Scotland’s innovative life sciences sector is a leader in health tech and research, with the industry now worth more than £10bn to the Scottish economy. This sector thrives on a collaborative ecosystem of universities, research institutions, and innovative companies, driving advancements in areas like drug discovery, medical devices, and digital health solutions.
Speaker:
Sandy Begbie CBE, FRSE was appointed Chief Executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise in October 2020. Prior to joining SFE, Sandy led the development of the Scottish Government’s Young Person’s Guarantee following an 18-month contract at Tesco Bank as the Chief Transformation Officer. Sandy was responsible for the Global People, Organisation and Culture Integration following the successful merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management in 2017. Before the merger Sandy was the Chief People Officer and Lead Executive for China and Hong Kong for Standard Life for eight years. During this time, he led the Standard Life HR team to be recognised as one of the top performing functions in the UK and also led the turn-around of Standard Life’s Chinese Joint Venture. Sandy was appointed Senior Advisor to the Standard Life HASL Asia business in Hong Kong in July 2020, having been Chair of the Hong Kong-based Board since 2014. In December 2023 Sandy was appointed as International Director to the HASL Asia business and stepped down as Senior Advisor.
Before joining Standard Life in May 2010 Sandy held similar Transformation and Group HR Director positions within Aegon, Scottish Power and Royal Bank of Scotland. Sandy holds several non-executive positions including Chair of Place2Be Scotland and a Trustee on the National Place2Be Board, Chair of Young Person Guarantee and Chair of DYW (Developing the Young Workforce). Sandy was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in August 2018 for services to business and social inclusion. He was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) in March 2023. In December 2024 Sandy was awarded Freedom of the City of London for his transformative leadership in Scotland's financial sector and his enduring commitment to fostering economic growth and social inclusion across Scotland.
The path to net zero is not only a regulatory imperative — it is a business transformation challenge. As climate-related risks escalate and stakeholder expectations rise, companies are under increasing pressure to lead on decarbonisation while navigating policy shifts and new economic realities.
In this keynote, Professor Paolo Taticchi (UCL School of Management), a global authority on corporate sustainability and strategy, will examine how businesses can become the primary engines of the green transition. The session will highlight the strategic, operational, and financial opportunities that decarbonisation presents — and why success depends on smart collaboration with public institutions.
Combining the latest climate science with actionable business insight, the keynote will cover:
- The evolving role of business in driving systemic climate action
- How firms can shape and respond to green industrial policy, climate regulation, and sustainable finance
- A pragmatic framework for business-led decarbonisation, supported by public-private cooperation and innovation ecosystems
With a blend of strategic clarity and practical case studies, this session equips business leaders to take bold, credible steps toward sustainability — not in isolation, but in partnership with governments and society.
Speaker:
Paolo Taticchi is a Professor of Strategy and Sustainability and Deputy Director at UCL School of Management, where he co-directs the UCL Centre for Sustainable Business. A global expert in sustainability and strategy, he has trained thousands of Fortune 500 executives, taught at top business schools such as Imperial College London, and developed business projects across five continents.
His widely cited research includes over 50 publications and books such as How to Be Sustainable (2025) and Disruption (2023). In 2025, his research on impact investing was highly commended by the Financial Times for making a real difference. A sought-after speaker and advisor, he has delivered 250+ talks attended by more than 100,000 people and serves on several international advisory boards.
As an entrepreneur, he co-founded four companies and led major educational initiatives. His accolades include Poets & Quants “Top 40 Under 40 Business Professors in the World” (2018), being mentioned by Sole 24 Ore as the most influential Italian under 40 (2021-23), and inclusion in the Thinkers50 Radar List (2025).
It seems undeniable that the challenges we are currently facing at every level from global to national to local are, if not exactly unprecedented, certainly challenging on a level we have not previously experienced. Whether it is the impacts of climate change, political and geo-political uncertainty, infrastructure fragility, social unrest or a wide range of other increasingly frequent and increasingly disruptive if not destructive events, it feels as if the traditional frameworks that have supported our understanding of a rational world are crumbling. This discussion will look at the issues associated with strategic risk and crisis management in the current world and offer some thoughts on how we can model, prepare for and engage with those issues in meaningful ways.
As sustainable finance moves from aspiration to necessity, it is reshaping global financial systems, driving capital reallocation, and redefining the future of financial services. In this global shift, Taiwan is emerging as a strategic player, leveraging its strengths in green technology, corporate sustainability, and financial innovation to accelerate the adoption of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) finance and responsible investment. To highlight this transformation, the Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance (TABF), in collaboration with the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) think tank Z/Yen, is hosting a high-level online forum: From Vision to Action: Taiwan’s Sustainable Finance Transformation.
This event will feature expert insights into Taiwan’s evolving sustainable finance policies, financial institutions’ sustainability transition strategies, and the integration of ESG standards into investment evaluation, risk governance, product innovation, and disclosure practices.
We invite senior executives, policymakers, institutional investors, and sustainability experts to join this timely dialogue and explore how Taiwan is positioning itself as a regional hub for green finance innovation—offering new pathways for cross-border collaboration, capital mobilization, and sustainable growth in the low-carbon economy.
A regular speaker at the FS Club, EU Regulatory Expert David Doyle is back to give a new year update on the EU financial services regulatory agenda.
He will be covering some of the most contentious and game-changing pieces of EU legislation in the financial services space, notably:
- Digital Operational Resilience Act - are we adequately covered in the financial services space?
- Reducing the reporting and disclosure requirements linked to ESG and sustainability
- New EU orientation; the EU Savings and Investment Union
Speaker:
Dr David Doyle is known across Europe as a leading expert on EU financial services regulation and long-standing speaker at the Financial Services Club. A former diplomat with over 20 years of service on mainland Europe at bilateral and multilateral level, he now acts as an EU Policy Advisor between Brussels and London, specialising in regulatory developments in banking, fund management and insurance.
He is a member of the Executive Board of the joint MEP-EU industry advocacy body, The Kangaroo Group at the European Parliament, holds a seat on the Board of Directors of the Genesis Initiative at Westminster that promotes entrepreneurship and SME policy, as well as being active in the Transatlantic Business Council on Capital Markets and the Conference Board Corporate Governance Council.
This critical webinar will explore how the UK can rebuild financial resilience and reimagine its social contract amid growing global volatility. Our leading experts will tackle urgent questions around innovation funding, national security, and long-term sustainability to explore how public finance must evolve in the face of significant fiscal restraints and how the entire economy must innovate to meet today’s challenges, tomorrow’s demands and reduce debt, working alongside large investment institutions.
In our next Esop Sofa webinar, the Esop Centre’s panel of experts will look at AGM notices, as published by UK listed companies, to see what changes are coming through in remuneration policies and share plan design to reflect the recent updated guidance from institutional investors – and look at how those updates may be shaping the development of share plan implementation.
Centre chairman Robert Pay will moderate and there will be plenty of opportunity to put your questions to the panel.
Carla Walsham advises on all aspects of incentive plans. Her area of expertise is in Global incentive plans and UK Corporate Governance, and primary focus is with global companies, helping them to navigate the various complexities they face when designing, implementing and operating their share plans internationally. Carla has experience working with many large listed companies advising on executive and all-employee share plans. Carla is known for her commercial and pragmatic approach supported by deep technical and market knowledge.
Gary Fereday is an experienced reward professional advising a range of listed and private organisations. His extensive expertise includes incentive design, development and implementation, governance of pay, and investor consultation. He brings a commercial and pragmatic approach supported by deep technical knowledge.
Panellists:
This webinar explores the strategic collaboration between two key elements of civil society organisations in the UK: charities and trade unions. While historically marked by cooperation, conflict, and indifference, recent literature increasingly advocates for partnerships to address shared priorities such as inequality and community support, amid challenges like declining union membership and heightened scrutiny of third sector governance. Drawing on this research, our recent study with 50 charities and 34 trade unions, offers fifteen practical guidelines, highlighting the importance of shared goals, political leverage, cultural understanding, and risk management. For UK financial services professionals engaged in ESG, CSR, or stakeholder strategy, the findings offer a framework for evaluating partnerships with organisations increasingly shaping policy and social impact.
Speaker:
Dr Sara Abdaless is an Associate Professor of Accounting and Finance at Northeastern University London, where she also serves as Deputy Academic Director of the Centre for Apprenticeships. She earned her PhD in Accounting from Henley Business School at the University of Reading and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Dr Abdaless has held leadership roles in higher education, including serving as Associate Dean for Education and Student Experience at London South Bank University (LSBU) Business School. Her research focuses on governance, management accounting, and sustainability, particularly within not-for-profit organisations and charities. Combining her research expertise and leadership experience, Dr Abdaless brings an integrated perspective to accounting education and practice.
In this webinar, we launch the eleventh edition of the Smart Centres Index (SCI 11). The SCI is designed to track the development of technology and financial centres across the world in their support for and readiness for new technology applications.
Investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, media, academics, governments, and regulators can attune their cities to attract innovation and growth in Science, Technology, Energy Systems, Machine Learning, Distributed Ledgers, or Fintech. Tuning a city for innovation is complex. Z/Yen began studying successful and unsuccessful business innovation clustering some 15 years ago, and published in 2018 the Smart Jurisdictions Index. Building on the results of that research we have created a novel factor assessment index based on three dimensions - innovation support, creative intensity, and delivery capability.
The SCI is designed to track the readiness of business centres across the world to support new technology businesses. The SCI uses assessments from private and public sector individuals, along with over 120 instrumental factors, to rate the centres. This important project that will grow substantially as more people pay attention to the ways centres can help globally innovative businesses thrive in rapidly changing times.
eCommerce in MEA is growing fast — but growth alone isn’t enough.
As eCommerce surges across the Middle East and Africa, payment leaders face a unique challenge — building infrastructure that’s as dynamic as the markets they serve.
From mobile-first consumers to regional preferences in payment methods, success in MEA means understanding the nuances of the ecosystem and being ready for what’s next — from real-time rails and embedded payments to smarter data use and social commerce.
Join FS Club for a 45-minute webinar featuring experts from Compass Plus Technologies, including Adil Ahmed (VP & Deputy Managing Director, MEA) and Eyad Almaaitah (VP, Global Product Management). Together with Hugh Morris, they’ll explore how fintechs, PSPs, and financial institutions can better support merchants, streamline experiences, and unlock growth across MEA.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital technology are redefining the global financial landscape, intensifying competition, and reshaping business models. With its robust technological foundation and highly integrated industry ecosystem, Taiwan is emerging as a pivotal hub for AI-driven financial innovation, digital transformation, and regulatory technology (RegTech).
This exclusive webinar will offer deep insights into Taiwan’s latest AI financial policies, banking sector digitalization, and the strategic deployment of AI in financial operations, risk management, customer engagement, and process optimization—driving the next era of financial excellence. We invite global financial leaders, industry pioneers, and decision-makers to discover why Taiwan is at the forefront of AI-powered finance and explore high-impact collaboration and investment opportunities in this dynamic market.
This webinar aims to explore the growing importance of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles in shaping the future of Mauritius' economy, financial sector, and corporate landscape. As global investors and regulators increasingly prioritize sustainability, Mauritian businesses, financial institutions, and policymakers must align with international ESG standards to remain competitive and resilient.
Background: In this webinar I'll be making the case that we should give more, not less, discretionary power to those who are in charge of implementing and enforcing rules in a firm or society. These are people like police officers, prosecutors, judges, and also doctors, nurses, and everyday workers. The argument rest on a case against Legalism, the political philosophy that job titles, roles, rules, laws, policies, and procedures must be detailed, explicit, and blindly administered to ensure an efficiently functioning and fair society. Instead, my view is that basic tenets of what makes for a good person and a society of good people requires that we build into rules and regulation the ability for people in charge of those rules to ignore or bend them.
Speaker:
Professor Barry Lam is Professor of Philosophy at University of California, Riverside, and host and producer of Slate's Hi-Phi Nation podcast, a documentary series about the connection between philosophy and the law, science, technology, and everyday life.
This talk is an introduction to John Kay’s recent book “The Corporation in the twenty-first century”.
In the industrial revolution, businesses were defined by their tangible capital. the iron works and the textile mills in which the routine assembly process was operated by minimally skilled workers. Modern business is no longer like this. Tangible capital is bought as a service from specialist suppliers who have neither interest or ability to control the business. The corporation is a collection of the capabilities of teams of people, and the workers, not the plant, are the means of production.
Speaker:
Sir John Kay is one of Britain’s leading economists with wide practical experience in business and finance. A Fellow of the British Academy and Royal Society of Edinburgh, he was the founding dean of Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and held a chair at London Business School. He is a winner of the Senior Wincott Award for Financial Journalism for his Financial Times columns. Other People’s Money won the Saltire Prize for non-fiction and was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing. His other books include Obliquity, The Long and Short of It, Greed is Dead (written with Paul Collier) and Radical Uncertainty (with Mervyn King).
AI remains a hot topic, with many organisations exploring how to integrate its various technologies into their core operations. However, the use of AI presents societal, technical, and legal challenges. In this talk, we will explore how the UK's regulatory approach compares to the EU's AI Act, which will apply from August 2026. Speakers will examine key differences, discuss the practical implications for businesses, and offer insights into ensuring compliance. Join us to gain a deeper understanding of navigating AI regulations and building responsible AI strategies.
Speakers:
Adam Leon Smith is an expert in AI regulation and technical standards and works on research and strategy projects in that area. He is Chair of the AIQI Consortium, a global initiative to promote the use of the quality infrastructure for responsible AI, and Deputy Chair of the UK’s national AI standards committee. He has led four AI standardisation projects in ISO/IEC SC 42 as an Editor and two as a Convenor of SC 42 JWG 2 (Testing of AI systems). He is also very active CEN/CENELEC JTC 21, where he is Project Leader for two projects in response to the AI Act – the Quality Management System for EU AI Act Regulatory Purposes, and AI System Logging. He is also Chair of BCS Fellows Technical Advisory group.
Before involvement in quality infrastructure, Adam spent 20 years in senior technology roles, delivering verification and validation solutions for highly complex or high-risk industry challenges. In 2024, the University of Bath awarded Adam an honorary doctorate in recognition of his work and its impact on the profession.
David Doyle is known across Europe as a leading expert on EU financial services regulation and long-standing speaker at the Financial Services Club. A former diplomat with over 20 years of service on mainland Europe at bilateral and multilateral level, he now acts as an EU Policy Advisor between Brussels and London, specialising in regulatory developments in banking, fund management and insurance.
He is a member of the Executive Board of the joint MEP-EU industry advocacy body, The Kangaroo Group at the European Parliament, holds a seat on the Board of Directors of the Genesis Initiative at Westminster that promotes entrepreneurship and SME policy, as well as being active in the Transatlantic Business Council on Capital Markets and the Conference Board Corporate Governance Council.
The Global Financial Centres Index has been tracking the development of the world’s financial centres since 2007 and is the authoritative guide to financial centre success.
In this webinar, Z/Yen will formally launch the 37th edition of the index.
Programme:
09:00 Introduction & Welcome – Hugh Morris
09:05 GFCI 37 Results - Mike Wardle, CEO, Z/Yen Group
09:20 Commentary - Hugh Morris
09:25 Q&A
09:45 Close
Speakers:
Mike Wardle is CEO and the Head Of Indices for Z/Yen, managing work on the development and delivery of the Global Financial Centres Index, Global Green Finance Index, and Smart Centres Index. Mike worked as a civil servant for almost 20 years mostly within the field of education policy. He was a director and then Chief Executive of the General Social Care Council, establishing the regulation of social workers. Mike's career moved into consultancy, programme management and coaching and he worked with Z/Yen for six years delivering programme management services to the Church of England, Unison, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, and Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust before taking up his current role.
Background: Artificial Intelligence is reshaping the way organisations attract, evaluate, and retain talent. From automating tedious recruitment tasks to enhancing workforce analytics, AI-driven solutions promise greater efficiency and smarter decision-making. However, the successful integration of AI into HR practices requires more than just technological investment—it demands a strategic approach with collaboration, transparency, and trust between humans and machines.
This talk explores the top tips of AI talent management, offering insights into how organisations can use AI for predictive hiring, employee engagement, and workforce development. We’ll also look at some of the key challenges—such as algorithmic bias, ethical considerations, and the human-AI collaboration dynamic. Join me to discover how AI can be a game-changer in hiring the best people and building stronger, more agile teams for the future.
Speaker:
Dr Sian Joel-Edgar is an Associate Professor in Human-Centred Computing at Northeastern University London with research expertise in Information Systems and human perception of technology such as Artificial Intelligence. She is the Director of Postgraduate Taught at Northeastern University London.
Northeastern University London is part of the Northeastern Global Network which specialises in offering high-value experiential learning and partnerships to add impact to employer partners, with themes of digital transformation, AI and human competencies at the core of their research and education.
Background: The Labour government has already published the first draft of an industrial policy entitled ‘Invest 2035’. After seeking consultation, the intention is to implement a battle plan in 2025. Yet evidenced on the direction taken by other countries, such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, sustainable success is a long-term plan. Their future mindset is ‘Invest 2045’ or ‘Invest 2055’.
What should the UK be doing? It has abundant resources, a talented workforce, great universities, and a quality of life to attract the best international talent. How should British industrial strategy be made? To paraphrase the Chinese strategist Sun Tzu, how can the UK “grasp and win”?
Speaker:
A qualified barrister and solicitor, Iain Sheridan has over 20 years' experience advising on financial regulation. His consulting experience includes advising ABN AMRO, Bank of America, Barclays, Citadel, Deutsche Bank, Fidelity International, and Société Générale. He was also the former head of legal (EMEA and APAC) for the boutique FIG investment bank Fox-Pitt Kelton. Iain currently acts as a consultant for the international law firm Linklaters.
His book Financial Regulation and Technology (Edward Elgar) is relied on by practitioners throughout Asia, Europe, and North America. He coined the term asynchronous compliance to describe the gap between technologically driven business strategies and regulation.
Iain studied data science at Oxford University and machine learning at Cambridge University. His scientific research on GNSS and drones was also published by the Royal Society. Most recently, he is the author of Semiconductors – Law, Strategy and Tax (Edward Elgar).
Background: Z/Yen's "Focus On" series highlights key business and financial centres from around the world. Here, we look at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s most populous city and largest financial centre. This city is also known as the “Pearl of the Far East” with the charming heritage, dynamic, vibrant and innovative atmosphere, and friendly people. Vietnamese government sets out the goal to be a high-income country by 2045 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. They also strive to turn Ho Chi Minh City into the international financial center (IFC) by 2045 and create distinct institutional areas for attracting foreign investors. Vietnam’s Prime Minister is now leading the steering committee of the IFC project and this shows the government’s determination. The IFC in Vietnam will provide opportunities to UK businesses in terms of expertise sharing, trade and investment.
Speakers:
Dominic Scriven's investing career spans nearly 40 years across London, Hong Kong and Vietnam. He studied at Hanoi University for two years before founding Dragon Capital in 1994. He has received an OBE from the British Queen, and a Labour Medal from the President of Vietnam. Dominic Scriven holds a Combined Honours degree in Law and Sociology from Exeter University.
Nguyen Thuy Hanh has over 30 years of banking experience in Vietnam. Hanh leads the client coverage and product teams focused on driving the growth strategy for the bank’s clients, people, shareholders, and communities. Under her leadership, the bank provides the banking products and services to 3 client groups through various product lines including, but not limited to transaction banking, financial market, capital market, securities services, M&A advisory, rating advisory, and ESG etc.
She is also working closely with Vietnam government bodies, and market participants to implement the JETP and contribute to deliver the commitment of Vietnam in achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
Hanh has held various important positions in SCB, including Head of Financial Institutions - Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia (2010 - 2015); Deputy General Director - Head of International Corporate and Financial Institutions (2016 – 2017); Managing Director - Head of Commercial Banking (2018 – 2020); Managing Director - Head of CIB Client Coverage (2020 – 30/9/2024) and CEO & Head of Corporate and Investment Banking, Vietnam (1/10/2024 – Now).
Hanh holds a Master of Business Administration of Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management - Université Libre de Bruxelles.
Andrew Oldland is a senior lawyer specialising in international financial regulation. He is a partner in the UK law firm Michelmores and was the firm's Senior Partner between 2017 and 2021. Andrew is ranked by the Legal 500 directory as a "Leading Individual".
Andrew is a barrister, a King's Counsel and a part-time judge sitting in civil/commercial and criminal cases. He previously held a number of senior UK government roles as independent counsel including the Attorney-General's A list of counsel, standing counsel to His Majesty's Revenue & Customs and the Serious Fraud Office's list of counsel. Andrew has advised a number of governments on financial regulation, particularly in respect of common law based international financial centres.
Worry is the most common aversive mental experience. Given that fact it should be self-evident that handling worry better lies at the heart of better mental health and well-being. Yet successful people tend to remain chronic worriers, allowing worry to make them miserable and less effective. Despite being usually highly intelligent they also remain unable to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy worry. Harley St Psychiatrist and best-selling author and broadcaster, Dr Raj Persaud, explains what worries actually are, what they really represent, and how to effectively handle them with a simple coping algorithm.
Z/Yen's "Focus On" series highlights key business and financial centres from around the world. Here we look at Seoul, which is the largest city and capital of South Korea, as well as being home to many Fortune 500 companies, such as Samsung, LG, and Hyundai. In this webinar, Bonhi Gu will primarily deal with general information on Seoul city as a global financial hub and Invest Seoul as a foreign investment promotion agency established by Seoul Metropolitan Government.
Speaker:
Bonhi Gu is the Commissioner of Invest Seoul since 2022, with over 20 years of his previous career in banking industry.
He is truly enthusiastic about making Seoul a leading hub of global business, innovation, and talent in Asia. Most recently Mr. Gu has been leading work for Woori Bank Korea.
There, he served as an investment banking manager & derivative trader in London & Seoul. Before that, from 2011-2015,
he led the Global Business Department where he handled both HR issues and budget management of overseas networks and employees.
Also, he contributed to the company by launching banking products for global Wealth Management clients. His work has taken him to Woori Bank Europe GmbH in 2016,
where he mainly focused on corporate banking business, money intermediary, and bond trading business.
A regular speaker at the FS Club, EU Regulatory Expert David Doyle is back to give a new year update on the EU financial services regulatory agenda.
He will be covering some of the most contentious and game-changing pieces of EU legislation in the financial services space, notably:
- Priorities of the new EC and the EU Parliament going into the new mandate
- 8 days to go before the application of DORA - are financial entities ready?
- The ECB SSM focus under the 2025 Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP)
In our Esop Sofa 2024 end of year round-up, the Esop Centre’s panel of employee share scheme experts will look at the impact of October’s Budget and PISCES (Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System).
Suzannah Crookes, Legal Director at Tapestry Compliance, will discuss the Budget’s impact on employee share ownership in general. Esop Barrister David Pett of Temple Tax Chambers, will examine the announced reforms to Employee Ownership Trusts. And Corpgro Founder Damian Carnell will guide us through the progress of PISCES following announcements in the Chancellor’s Mansion House speech.
Chairing the panel, Darren Smith of Global Shares (JP Morgan), will be asking for their predictions for the year ahead, too.
Martin Wolf, the 2024 author of “The crisis in Democratic Capitalism” does not believe that the crises can be “fixed”. Instead, he sees the need for them to be managed to avoid autocracy, plutocracy, or climate catastrophe. Professor Colin Mayer believes otherwise. His 2024 book is about “Capitalism and Crises: How to Fix them”. Shann Turnbull’s, 1975 book on “Democratising the wealth of nations”, proposes a self-financing tax incentive (p. 90) to democratise and purify capitalism and democracy. But only for humans that may survive our ghastly future environmental degradation.
Professor Michael Mainelli returns to the FS Club webinar series after a year's sabbatical from Z/Yen to reflect on his personal experience of financial centres, particularly the City of London. As the creator of the Global Financial Centres, Smart Centres, and Global Green Finance indices, he knows what makes cities work.
Michael has a unique viewpoint on the City of London, reinforced through the privilege of serving as:
- Lord Mayor of London (2023-2024) - his theme was "Connect To Prosper", celebrating the many Knowledge Miles of our Square Mile, the world's coffee house, during which year City of London jobs grew from 615,000 to 678,000 (!), an increase of over 10% - end-of-term report;
- Sheriff of London (2019-2021) - alongside Deputy Chris Hayward, where due to Covid they were the first two Sheriffs since 1228 AD to serve a second term with a core programme of strengthening & simplifying anti-money laundering - end-of-term report.
In this Community Chest, Michael hopes to provide answers to questions such as the future of financial centre concentrations, geopolitics, and regulation, as well as the underpinning technology and skills changes. His thinking has been heavily influenced from a year travelling well over 100 days to 25 countries and he looks forward to exchanging thoughts with fellow FS Club members.
How SMEs Can Enact Global Change
Tune in to listen to a discussion on how a small London based business, renowned globally amongst tea connoisseurs and collectors for its rare and premium teas, has managed to positively impact the pay of millions working in the industry around the world.
In this webinar, we launch the tenth edition of the Smart Centres Index (SCI 10). The SCI is designed to track the development of technology and financial centres across the world in their support for and readiness for new technology applications.
Investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, media, academics, governments, and regulators can attune their cities to attract innovation and growth in Science, Technology, Energy Systems, Machine Learning, Distributed Ledgers, or Fintech. Tuning a city for innovation is complex. Z/Yen began studying successful and unsuccessful business innovation clustering some 15 years ago, and published in 2018 the Smart Jurisdictions Index. Building on the results of that research we have created a novel factor assessment index based on three dimensions - innovation support, creative intensity, and delivery capability.
The SCI is designed to track the readiness of business centres across the world to support new technology businesses. The SCI uses assessments from private and public sector individuals, along with over 120 instrumental factors, to rate the centres. This important project that will grow substantially as more people pay attention to the ways centres can help globally innovative businesses thrive in rapidly changing times.
We all age, but some of us live longer than others and on average we are living twice as long as our ancestors did 200 years ago. So, the latest science with respect to ageing and science that I have been involved in for the last 40 years shows that 80% of our ageing biology is within our own control. Longer healthier lifespan is clearly aligned to socioeconomic status. We can not only live longer lives, but live also much happier healthier lives deep into our later years if we control modifiable factors. I will cover the most important areas that allow you to take control of your ageing process.
In this 45-minute webinar, employee share schemes expert David Craddock will consider the empowerment of the employee voice through employee participation. His talk will include a case history and the principles developed to promote the wider involvement in the company. David’s deliberations will also take into consideration employee representation, workers’ groups and voting rights of employee shareholders.
There will be ample opportunity to put your questions and comments to David, which he will address during the final 20 minutes of the event.
Now that the T+1 Working Group has reported (see UK AST Technical Group Draft Report and Recommendations (kpmg.com), it is time to translate intent to have T+1 in the UK into actions to deliver it. T+1 Settlement for UK securities will go live in Q4 2027. It will be mandatory but that’s 3 years away. What do stakeholders need to do now to prepare?
- What do the UK Regulators need you to do between now and Q4 2027
- What will be happening at an industry level?
- How should you prepare for this?
- Europe
Participants will gain insights into immediate actions required in 2024 / 2025 to be ready for the next report in December which will include milestones to Q4 2027. Now is the opportunity to get on the front foot.
The global battle among the three dominant digital powers, the United States, China, and the European Union, is intensifying. All three regimes are racing to regulate tech companies, with each advancing a competing vision for the digital economy while attempting to expand its sphere of influence in the digital world. In her talk on Digital Empires, her provocative follow-up to The Brussels Effect, Anu Bradford will discuss a rivalry that will shape the world in the decades to come.
Join us for an engaging webinar on the Digitalization of Payment Systems in Mauritius and Opportunities for Payment Intermediaries. This event will explore into the rapid evolution of payment systems in Mauritius, highlighting the significant opportunities for payment intermediaries in this dynamic landscape.
The relationship between Britain and China has shaped the modern world. Chinese art, philosophy and science have had a profound effect upon British culture, while the long history of British exploitation is still bitterly remembered in China today. But how has their interaction changed over time?
From the early days of the East India Company through the violence of the Opium Wars to present-day disputes over Hong Kong, Kerry Brown charts this turbulent and intriguing relationship in full. Britain has always sought to dominate China economically and politically, while China’s ideas and exports—from tea and Chinoiserie to porcelain and silk—have continued to fascinate in the west. But by the later twentieth century, the balance of power began to shift in China’s favour, with global consequences. Brown shows how these interactions changed the world order—and argues that an understanding of Britain’s relationship with China is now more vital than ever.
The NAO’s latest report Efficiency in government procurement of common goods and services (nao.org.uk), sheds much needed transparency on the relationship between commissions, fees and value for money in public procurement. The public sector spent £393 billion, or 14.8% of GDP on goods and services in 2022-23, of which around £125 billion is for common goods and services which are items that may also routinely bought by businesses. The government procured 72% of its large contracts through frameworks in 2021-22 compared to 43% in 2018-19. Some framework operators charge commissions as high as 5-6% are levied, far greater than the average rate of 0.7% levied by the government’s largest purchasing authority Crown Commercial Service (CCS). The NAO’s report identifies six ways the government could tackle some of these issues and save taxpayers money, including: enhancing competition within frameworks; establishing an accreditation regime for framework providers, with few frameworks overall; reducing levies charged on purchases; greater rivalry between framework providers; better data and greater transparency to improve decisions; and system leadership by the CCS for the procurement of common goods and services
The fourteenth edition of the Global Green Finance Index provides the world’s most authoritative measure of the performance of financial centres in delivering green finance services.
The report, assembled by combining the views of financial professionals from around the world, with quantitative data commissioned and curated from over 130 sources, uses advanced statistical techniques to map the global spread of green finance.
Web3, sometimes referred to as the “Semantic Web”, enhances the machine readability of web content and could usher in a more intelligent, interconnected, and decentralised internet, turbocharging decentralised finance and fintech blockchain applications.
These innovations have the potential to reshape financial services to be more inclusive and equitable, greatly enhancing international trade and the competitiveness, and reputations, of financial centres that are at the forefront of innovation.
However, DeFi applications also have the potential to bring certain risks, such as the ease of fraud and money laundering, strip protections from customers. Such risks require careful regulatory attention to prevent negative impact on national economies and the global financial system.
Given these dual potentials, an enabling regulatory framework for innovation is crucial, and financial regulators are the bodies that must walk a tightrope between these two outcomes – too heavy handed an approach will see innovation stifled and businesses fleeing to overseas competitors, too light a touch will result in damage to markets.
This webinar looks at how financial centres can support Web3 and FinTech whilst protecting markets and customers, and unveils the latest research from Z/Yen, which was commissioned by Hong Kong’s Financial Services Development Council. Our speakers will unpick the challenges facing various stakeholders in the ecosystem, including regulators and the private sector. They will examine different approaches to foster an enabling regulatory framework for innovation and reveal the insights gained from exchanges with web3 innovators in Hong Kong on the island’s efforts to stimulate innovation in Web3 and Fintech.
Zodia Markets is the UK’s only bank-backed cryptoasset company, being majority-owned by Standard Chartered Bank. Indeed, it is one of the few in the world. In this webinar we will explore its path to being established including the risks that the Bank was concerned about. We will also give an overview of what sets it apart from other cryptoasset brokerages and exchanges, such as access to banking services and foreign exchange.
Wealth management refers to the provision of wealth advisory services targeted at affluent individuals and families. Its main objective is structuring and planning wealth to assist in growing, preserving, and protecting wealth. One important segment of wealth management is Family Office which has been in existence in Mauritius since 2016. It offers curated financial services to ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) and their families. With its stable political and economic environment, Mauritius is well positioned to become the preferred destination for wealth management.
This webinar is aimed at providing an overview of the Mauritius International Financial Centre (MIFC) as a premier jurisdiction for wealth management, with emphasis given to the setting up of a Family Office. Additionally, it will present the strategic advantages, structural options, and legal & regulatory framework that position Mauritius as the destination of choice for wealth management. Additionally, the session will explore current trends in wealth management, the benefits of the Mauritius Family Office scheme and the diverse investment opportunities available within the jurisdiction.
School bullying has existed since formal education began and our efforts to understand it have not always been as successful as we would like. However, over the last 50 years there has been a considerable amount of research on bullying and in more recent years our understanding of the complexity of the issue and how it relates to social norms has increased. Furthermore, while we have some knowledge of the emotional and developmental impact of bullying on individuals, we are only coming to see that there is also an economic cost that arises from this human phenomenon.
Will a new form of media emerge heralding an explosive and sustained burst of artistic and intellectual creativity or the power of Big Tech, Big Media and Big Brands be entrenched.
Could Metaverse, Spatial Computing, and Immersive environments become the “Next Big Thing” it’s been a long time coming the first scaled Metaverse “Second Life” was founded in 2003. The current catalyst is AI becoming embedded within content creation, and computing architectures, has the adoption equation changed?
Numerous questions occur, what are the impacts on media and content could “Big Media” be disintermediated. Will every form of content become fungible, changeable or faked at scale, as a text prompt can create any form of media. Could “Big Tech” advertising models be challenged by a collision of social media and crypto.
The stakes are high for the UK with a large creative workforce of c1.4 million what forms of disruption can be expected.
Is there a dark side, could immersive media generated at an individual level be designed to manipulate and condition. What arguments can be made for new forms of regulation to prevent harm.
Can this form of immersive metaverse based on computation herald a new age of artistic and media creativity, with digital avatars becoming the new social media and spurring an explosive burst of discovery, learning and efficiencies in business, medicine, academia, media and fashion.
Conversely, will the predictions of science fiction dystopia prevail, with every single digital media experience touched by a human every day full of dark patterns seeking to manipulate, control or sell.
This webinar entitled ‘Enemies of Judgement’ explores the greatest influencers of judgement quality: namely what we don’t know, our Ignorance, and what we think we know or our Bias. Why is risk always on the agenda? It is to ensure we deliver good judgement.
On 15 April 2022, Mauritius introduced the Variable Capital Companies (VCC) Act, aimed at diversifying its product offerings and boosting its competitiveness as a fund management hub. The new VCC Act is attracting interest from institutional investors, family offices and fund managers wishing to set up innovative and cost-effective investment vehicles in Mauritius.
We are pleased to invite you and your clients to an exclusive webinar on VCC in Mauritius, designed to provide you with valuable insights into this innovative business structure and its potential benefits.
"Insurtech" is a term that was only coined within the last few years but within a short space of time, the UK has become a global insurtech hub with more insurtechs per capita than anywhere else in the world. The UK insurtech market is worth $20bn to the UK economy. Find out how insurtech is transforming UK insurance and what are the key opportunities and challenges for this important and growing area of the market.
Join us as we explore the ground breaking impact of AI technology in revolutionising financial advice within prisons. Discover how Debt Free Advice's innovative Video Advice Kiosks, incorporating ethical AI, are transforming the way inmates access crucial debt and financial support. This presentation will delve into the innovative use of AI to enhance the delivery of FCA-regulated information during video advice sessions, making financial rehabilitation more accessible and effective for those behind bars.
A regular speaker at the FS Club, David Doyle is back to give a mid-year update on the EU financial services regulatory agenda.He will be covering some of the most contentious and game-changing pieces of EU legislation in the financial services space, notably:
- Implications for financial institutions and associated firms of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act
- A deep-dive into the DORA Regulatory Technical Standards, especially criteria for the designation of ICT third-party service providers as critical for financial entities
- Priorities of the new European Parliament and EC in financial services regulation
- Who is ultimately accountable for AI in a bank? Where should the ‘buck stop’?
- The AI Acceleration Decision – Does increased AI capability start with IT supplying more AI services, or through business demand?
- The AI Operating Model: How to approach the AI opportunity? Where to start?
- The End State Architecture: How to build from the current state (Opportunities and Challenges)
We live in a world where money buys power and where companies exist to maximise shareholder value. Our speakers explore alternative business models with ‘Purpose’ at their core, as an essential component in delivering a world where outcomes are reflective of social as well as economic “good”.Annika Schneider, International Partnerships Lead at Purpose Economy, and Andrew Kaufmann, Founder of Time to Give Network will share their insights into the common challenges facing participants in the purpose economy and charitable sectors, and how innovative solutions utilising Stewardship Governance, Skilled-Based Fundraising and Leveraged Philanthropy are catalysts to building a more balanced world.
In this webinar, we launch the ninth edition of the Smart Centres Index (SCI 9). The SCI is designed to track the development of technology and financial centres across the world in their support for and readiness for new technology applications.Investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, media, academics, governments, and regulators can attune their cities to attract innovation and growth in Science, Technology, Energy Systems, Machine Learning, Distributed Ledgers, or Fintech. Tuning a city for innovation is complex. Z/Yen began studying successful and unsuccessful business innovation clustering some 15 years ago, and published in 2018 the Smart Jurisdictions Index. Building on the results of that research we have created a novel factor assessment index based on three dimensions - innovation support, creative intensity, and delivery capability.The SCI is designed to track the readiness of business centres across the world to support new technology businesses. The SCI uses assessments from private and public sector individuals, along with over 120 instrumental factors, to rate the centres. This important project that will grow substantially as more people pay attention to the ways centres can help globally innovative businesses thrive in rapidly changing times.
Archives of IT (AIT) collects oral and documentary history on the story of IT and coms since the dawn of the commercial application digital stored program computing; viz Lyons Electronic Office in 1951. While Apple, Google, Microsoft et al dominate the markets, the UK as much as the USA paved the way for this revolution and built an industry that supports every branch of our economy. Some would say, another dawn is about to break with the realisation of genuine AI changing the face of the workplace and how we collaborate with machines in new enterprises. What have we learned, if anything from the first 70 years? Tom Abram, Director of AIT reviews the observations of the first generation of tech leaders, seeking what will make the tech firm of the future successful. More importantly, he will be asking what you have learned and how those lessons might be applied.
Central banks have failed to issue money that is stable and stops climate change. Parliament should authorize private test issues of digital Great Depression self-liquidating money. It would become lifeboat money in the next pandemic lock down or when the financial system again fails. Tethered to an eternal sustainable wellbeing metric this simpler medium of exchange would stop climate change to eternally nurture humanity.Webinar poll - https://fsclub.zyen.com/feedback-forms/webinar-poll-questions/
Decarbonising energy systems to deliver sustainable energy futures is widely recognised as a global imperative but, unless local natural resources align with this objective, the technologies do not yet exist that allow communities to meet energy transition targets economically. For remote communities cut off from mainland infrastructure the energy transition journey may take several decades but every journey begins with the first steps.The island of Alderney has invested heavily, introducing advanced active network management to allow the integration of key energy assets at grid scale, creating the foundation for future transition to low carbon energy. This presentation looks at what has been achieved, at the journey that the community is embarking on and how a small island might become a vital sandpit for energy innovation.
Jayne Sibley is CEO and Co-Founder of Sibstar, the UK’s first debit card and app designed specifically for people living with dementia. A first-time founder, Jayne’s background is in marketing and communications for leading UK brands, including The Body Shop and BBC.Jayne launched Sibstar in 2023 after caring for her parents, both of whom were living with dementia. During this period, Jayne noticed a gap in the market for a financial product that would help people living with dementia to safely retain their financial independence for longer, and Sibstar was born.Sibstar recently appeared on Dragons’ Den, receiving significant investment that will supercharge its growth in 2024 and beyond. Working closely alongside its partners, Mastercard and Alzheimer’s Society, Jayne will be focused on scaling Sibstar in 2024, ensuring it is accessible to those who need it most.
Today, only 1% of demolition materials and products are reused, contributing to over 50% of London’s waste streams. Meanwhile, we continue to build a city the size of Paris every week. Building anything uses embodied carbon and the carbon clock is ticking. What can be done to change the built environment’s detrimental modus operandi? This session will delve into a transformative solution: commodities futures trading. By applying futures trading principles, the construction sector can overcome barriers to material reuse. With Circotrade’s Futures Trading Contract and Marketplace, property owners can plan for material reuse, creating a new tradeable asset class. Circotrade bridges the gap between real-estate investment and sustainability—unlocking the future value of secondary building materials while saving embodied carbon.
In today's rapidly evolving financial landscape, it is more important than ever for financial institutions to stay ahead of the curve and offer tailored products and services that meet the unique needs of their customers. In this webinar, we discuss how financial services institutions are overcoming the challenges presented by traditional architectures, adopting AI and leveraging the independent software vendors (ISV) ecosystem.By considering a holistic unified customer view, companies are able to look at customer insights across a number of dimensions. There are ways and means to create this view, and this session will explore creating that capability, faster.
The thirteenth edition of the Global Green Finance Index provides the world’s most authoritative measure of the performance of financial centres in delivering green finance services.The report, assembled by combining the views of financial professionals from around the world, with quantitative data commissioned and curated from over 130 sources, uses advanced statistical techniques to map the global spread of green finance
Jarkko Hämäläinen will discuss where businesses stand in the current ESG environment, as well as the impact of and successful engagement with ESG.The critical role of infrastructure in achieving sustainability goals and reducing emissions will be examined in depth. With infrastructure responsible for around 79% of total greenhouse gas emissions, it represents the area with the highest potential for impactful change. Proven strategies and concrete actions that have successfully improved environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance within infrastructure projects will be highlighted. Attendees can expect to learn about quantifiable methods to enhance sustainability and emissions reduction specifically within the infrastructure sector. To illustrate best practices, case studies demonstrating how an emphasis on effectiveness has been seamlessly integrated with sustainable practices will be used. Additionally, Jarkko will explore the interconnection between sustainable infrastructure development and positive climate impacts.
Extreme weather disasters, such as floods, tropical storms and wildfires, are becoming more frequent and more intense. These disasters threaten both life and livelihood, causing the loss of homes and jobs that can scar the lives of those affected. Disaster insurance, by providing funds for reconstruction, plays an essential role in limiting these consequences of disaster. Yet, disaster insurance is under threat in many contexts, becoming unaffordable or being withdrawn entirely. In response, many countries have established ‘protection gap entities’ (PGEs); public-private schemes to keep disaster insurance available. PGEs rebalance the tensions (paradoxes) at the heart of insurance about who controls the insurance market, how much is known about disaster risk, and who should pay for protection. Drawing from our new book examining 17 PGEs operating in 49 countries around the world, I will explain why PGEs are vital in adapting to an increasingly disaster-prone world.
WHO cares about the money of the future? WHY should I care about the money of the future? These questions, and more, are addressed in depth in Intelligent Money. As money becomes digital, it will revolutionise everything. By 2030, digital money will make money personal, individualise currency and its usage, make it secure, enable it to grow automatically to meet our personal goals, manage risk automatically and make life simpler and easier for all. The most critical aspect of this book is HOW money will become intelligent, both digitally and artificially.The bottom line is that money will soon be embedded, intelligent, invisible and everywhere. It’s a whole new world.
Global and domestic economies depend upon trade and related trade finance. For centuries, trade and trade finance transactions have been recorded in paper documents. Cross-border trade transactions (totalling more than US$18 trillion annually) involve vast numbers of these paper documents that must pass through the hands of many parties. This process is slow, inefficient, costly, error and fraud prone, environmentally unsound and contributes to a trade finance gap of up to US$2.5 trillion affecting mainly SMEs, prompting the ICCUK-C4DTI to observe: “[T]he trading system suffers from antiquated laws and a lack of standardisation.”Recent decades have witnessed a remarkable digital transformation in the conduct of commerce, with a phenomenal shift from paper-based to electronic processes. That shift is now accelerating in trade and trade finance, supported by law reform. Our two expert presenters will illustrate the immense benefits that proven digital technologies, like blockchain DLT, offer trade and trade finance. They will highlight recent developments in industry, and in legal reforms, as key trade and finance participants - and government entities - hasten to implement simpler, more efficient, secure, sustainable and inclusive digital trade and trade finance processes.
Financial crime is a global threat, costing businesses and consumers trillions annually. But what if we could leverage the very technology that fuels these crimes – Artificial Intelligence – to fight back?Join us for a webinar exploring the power of AI for Good in fraud and financial crime prevention. We'll delve into Featurespace's decade-long journey as an industry leader in AI-native fraud detection solutions for banks and financial institutions.Martina will unpack topics including:
- Unlocking the Power of Data Sharing: Discover how secure data collaboration can empower AI to identify and thwart fraudsters.
- Privacy by Design: We'll explore Featurespace’s cutting-edge and award-winning Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) innovations that safeguard customer data while maximizing AI's effectiveness.
- Featurespace was a part of the PETS challenge and secured a place as one of the UK winners. The challenge was convened to drive innovation in Privacy-Enhancing Technologies that reinforce democratic values, and winners were announced at President Biden’s second Summit for Democracy in 2023.
- Introducing TallierLTM™: The Future of Fraud Detection: Learn about our groundbreaking generative AI (TallierLTM™) that anticipates and disrupts emerging fraud tactics.
- Against a backdrop of increasingly sophisticated fraud attacks, TallierLTM™ is the world’s first Large Transaction Model – it has been trained on billions of transactions and is already providing an improvement in Fraud Detection of up to 71% against industry standard models.
The built environment, be it in the form of town halls, schools, shops, pubs, pavements, bridges, makes up the background to our lives and our most tangible experience of our cultural heritage. This talk will discuss the importance of preserving the best examples of our built heritage , and will suggest an alternative to over scale, mono cultural development.Mixed use, human scale development has an important place in our management of property. As has ownership and balanced vision.
The Global Financial Centres Index has been tracking the development of the world’s financial centres since 2007 and is the authoritative guide to financial centre success.In this webinar, Z/Yen will formally launch the 35th edition of the index.
Concrete production and steelmaking currently account for a staggering 8% and 11% of global annual carbon emissions, respectively. Having been overlooked for far too long, attention on how to swiftly and equitably decarbonise both sectors is growing.There are enabling technologies to clean up production. Demand from businesses for net zero steel and concrete grows ever louder. Yet, volumes are not coming to market at the speed or scale we need. We’re at a critical juncture where decisions on purchasing, investment and policy must be laser focused on driving decarbonisation.In this session, Climate Group will present their global ConcreteZero and SteelZero initiatives, which are bringing together leading businesses to signal their demand for net zero steel and concrete by 2050 or earlier, and will highlight the critical role of finance in diverting capital flows toward clean steel and concrete production.
Z/Yen's "Focus On" series highlights key business and financial centres from around the world. Here, we look at Busan, South Korea's second largest city at 3.4 million and a burgeoning centre for maritime industry, finance, and digital finance. Busan's ambitious plans for expanding their digital finance ecosystem include the creation of a urban blockchain and digital asset exchange, unifying services offered by the likes of Ethereum and Cosmos onto one platform. Moreover, we'll look at the work of Busan International Finance Centre, the incentives being offered to the international business community as well as the prospective ecosystem.
In October 2010 the UK Government gave the green light to eight new nuclear reactors. It would see the UK push forward with the most ambitious fleet of new nuclear power stations in Europe. On 11 March 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster occurred and nuclear power plant investment in the UK was put on hold. It was not until September 2016 the Government approved the construction of Hinkley C Power Station, with work actually commencing in March 2017 and scheduled to finish in 2025.Originally estimated to cost £26bn latest cost estimates are £36bn with forecast completion dates ranging from 2027 to 2036.The level of investment in these large power stations has led many to consider Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). Typically generating 300MW compared to the 1600 MW of the Hinkley C units they can be largely factory built, require lower investment and as the numbers produced are much larger manufacturing time and costs would benefit from the "learning curve” associated with building multiple units.To meet its carbon commitment the UK Government is now considering around seven SMR designs and is predicted to reduce this to two or three by the end of 2023. The ambition was to have SMRs operational by 2030 but latest announcements suggest a final investment decision by 2030 with construction starting around 2035. In the meantime renewable energy is becoming more attractive and new SMR designs are starting to appear and different power generation scenarios are being considered.As time slips by the dilemma facing the Government is: Should it invest in nuclear power? should it invest in SMRs? and if so... When should it make the investment? As time passes the decision becomes ever more complex.
The speed of change in the global energy mix is occurring at a historically rapid pace. TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque will discuss how the growing need for electricity and the urgency to address climate change have increased the need for advanced nuclear technologies to be part of the suite of solutions to meet the energy needs of the future. The Natrium reactor and energy storage system that TerraPower is demonstrating near a retiring coal facility in the U.S. is an innovative combination the provides both clean, baseload power and gigawatt-scale energy storage to support the energy transition.
In this 45-minute webinar, David Craddock discusses the historical contribution from the USA and Europe on the development of direct employee share ownership in the context of market economics; the capacity of employee share schemes to respond to the creative instincts of human nature; the interaction between business competition and business cooperation; and the mindset of entrepreneurship through employee shares participation.
The current UK funding mechanism for critical private sector ESG initiatives is clearly unsustainable. Current ESG objectives are at great risk unless one of the following occurs:a) governments take financial responsibility for the entire climate transition,b) market volatility across asset classes somehow disappears for the next 30 years, orc) UK asset managers become not for profit social enterprises.Governments and regulators are aware of this risk and are creating regulatory frameworks that may provide a solution – as long as asset managers and asset owners work together in a transparent fashion - quickly. In this session we’ll explore the possible range of outcomes and suggest a way forward.
The authors of “competition in public procurement”, published by the UK National Audit Office will present their recent report and recommendations which are equally relevant for buyers and sellers across the public and private sectors. UK government spends over £250 billion every year on the procurement of goods and services. It is a broadly agreed principle that competition can help support efficiency, innovation and quality in public services, yet the government has not defined effective competition. When competition is lacking or ineffective, other safeguards are required, or value for money can be reduced through higher prices, inefficiencies and poorer outcomes. The new Procurement Act will be rolled out in 2024, and is underpinned by illustrative scenarios that suggest increased competition could deliver savings of £4 billion to £7.7 billion per year. This webinar points the way to achieving these benefits under the new legislation.
A regular speaker at the FS Club, EU Regulatory Expert David Doyle is back to give a new year update on the EU financial services regulatory agenda, which will cover:
- The EU Artificial Intelligence Act
- The new EU AML Authority
- The Crypto-Assets Regulation
- Digital Operational Resilience Act
The term unicorn to describe a private technology company with a valuation of more than $1 billion has become a common currency since it was first coined by Aileen Lee, founder of Cowboy Ventures. Unicorns have even become a symbol of national achievement with politicians [Rishi Sunak] vowing to transform the UK from a United Kingdom to a Unicorn Kingdom in 2023.
There has been a surge in the number of unicorns over the past decade with valuations pumped by more than a decade of cheap money. But recent geopolitical crises and rising inflation and interest rates have exposed the rampant overvaluation of some unicorns. The collective noun for unicorns is a blessing: now many investors might consider them a curse.
Frontier IP Chief Executive Officer Neil Crabb outlines the perils to investors of ignoring fundamental valuation metrics and explains the company’s approach to building companies, the factors needed to achieve outstanding success and what narwhals can teach us that unicorns can’t.
In our first Esop Sofa webinar of the year, the Esop Centre’s panel of employee share scheme experts will look back over the employee share ownership hot topics of 2023 and their pick of articles featured in “It’s Our Business”, newspad of the Esop Centre. Chairing the panel, Darren Smith of Global Shares, will be asking for their predictions for the year ahead, too.
Milan is the first centre to feature in our 2024 "Focus On" series, where we look at key business and financial centres from around the world. In this webinar:Alessandra Perrazzelli, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Italy, will consider the strengths that have resulted in Milan becoming a leading European Centre, with focus on the financial sector. Alessandra will also introduce the approach of Bank of Italy to financial innovation and the role of Milano Hub.
In this discussion Hugh Morris, who has had a very long career in the City of London, will invite panellists to identify the three threat areas which each of them sees as most critical to the future security and prosperity of the UK and allied Western countries. The conversation will then turn to the principal worries of participants in the webclave, and at the end Hugh will invite comments on emergent threats that will then be covered in the spring 2024 Cityforum Resilience Assessment under preparation with help from the Cabinet Office and the National Preparedness Commission.
Perennial financial crises and scandals call for a change in culture. However, what is the role of science and ideology in shaping the modern institutions and education in the accounting and finance professions? In this seminar, award-winning scholar, broadcaster and lecturer, Professor Atul K. Shah will share his latest findings based on thirty years of research. The book published by Routledge and available globally is called 'Inclusive and Sustainable Finance - Leadership, Ethics and Culture' .
People need knowledge in order to act. Sometimes people need to act collectively (e.g. in a business organization, or a democratic society), and then they need group knowledge. How can they get it – especially under adverse conditions? One way is for the individuals that constitute these groups to learn from their network of peers. Perhaps they can connect to epistemically prosper?
This talk reports the models, methods, and initial findings of PolyGraphs, an interdisciplinary project supported by the Royal Society and others. Using a model devised in economics, and adapted by philosophers, the PolyGraphs team runs computer simulations on graph datasets to investigate knowledge and ignorance in communities of inquiring agents.
Our presentation will touch on: the role of social network structure in producing knowledge and sustaining ignorance; homophily models of mistrust and the possibility of polarization; measures of group knowledge; and the effects of mis- and disinformation in trusting and cautious communities. A common theme will be the persistence of the trade-off between error and agnosticism, first discussed in the 19th century debate over ‘the ethics of belief’, now updated for the digital age.
Nestled in the heart of the Atlantic Ocean, Bermuda has emerged as a prominent hub for international finance, attracting investors, corporations, and institutions from around the world. With its stable regulatory environment, tax advantages, and strategic location, Bermuda offers a unique blend of opportunities and advantages for financial services. In this webinar, we will delve into the key factors that have propelled Bermuda onto the global financial stage and explore the myriad benefits it offers to businesses and investors alike.
Fukuoka City is widely recognized as the most dynamic and fastest growing city in Japan. Why are individuals and companies moving to Fukuoka over Tokyo or Osaka? In recent years, economic size is no longer the sole determinant of business location decisions. Quality of life is playing an increasingly important role. In this context, I hope you will discover the hidden potential of Fukuoka as a global financial center that often goes unnoticed.
In this webinar, we launch the eighth edition of the Smart Centres Index (SCI 8). The SCI is designed to track the development of technology and financial centres across the world in their support for and readiness for new technology applications.Investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, media, academics, governments, and regulators can attune their cities to attract innovation and growth in Science, Technology, Energy Systems, Machine Learning, Distributed Ledgers, or Fintech. Tuning a city for innovation is complex. Z/Yen began studying successful and unsuccessful business innovation clustering some 15 years ago, and published in 2018 the Smart Jurisdictions Index. Building on the results of that research we have created a novel factor assessment index based on three dimensions - innovation support, creative intensity, and delivery capability.The SCI is designed to track the readiness of business centres across the world to support new technology businesses. The SCI uses assessments from private and public sector individuals, along with over 120 instrumental factors, to rate the centres. This important project that will grow substantially as more people pay attention to the ways centres can help globally innovative businesses thrive in rapidly changing times.Interested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5
Background: Malta may be one of the world’s smallest countries, but it is also a vibrant financial hub where FinTech start-ups, fund managers, insurance firms, payment providers and family offices work in close proximity to one another. Despite our small size, we made the conscious decision to support a variety of financial activities and specialist segments, including a rich mix of international, regional and local institutions.Asset management, insurance, banking, private wealth, capital markets and FinTech are the dominant forces of our finance industry. Moreover, aviation, yachting, maritime services, space finance and sustainable finance also play important roles as selective niches where Malta has built a specialist service offering tailored to the specific industry verticals. This diversity helps us to thrive and promotes cross-sector partnerships and cooperation among companies operating from Malta.Malta’s success in Financial Services in the last three decades has been marked by strong performance and foreign investment, adding some €1.2 billion in terms of Gross Value Added to Malta’s economy. The sector facilitates trade and investment and drives employment in the country, forming part of the island’s bedrock.The FATF’s placing of Malta on the greylist in 2021 rocked the industry, which has, in turn, reacted by working hard to remove the jurisdiction from such greylist in the record time of under a year. This difficult experience has resulted in a united movement, led by the Malta Financial Services Advisory Council and supported by FinanceMalta, to formulating a forward-looking strategy for the industry, identifying over 175 substantive initiatives which would refocus energy, investment and growth into this sector. This work represents a unique process: it was initiated by Government, with full and active participation from both the industry and the regulators. This will ensure that the strategy will be supported by all stakeholders through its full implementation.Join this webinar to learn more about Malta’s financial services strategy and find out how you can network with the leaders in this space at the Guildhall in London on the 4th December 2023.Interested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5
This session will explore UAE's 2022 economic landscape as well as what's in store for the country's economic future. In a standout year, the UAE achieved historic FDI inflows, defying global trends with 10% growth. We delve into critical aspects, from infrastructure developments, green energy progress, and the remarkable performance of UAE stock exchanges, to record-breaking M&A deals. Additionally, we spotlight the UAE's thriving venture capital ecosystem. Join us as we unveil the UAE's economic journey of 2022 and beyond.
Three years after leaving the EU, there are no discernible signs of any benefits for UK finance. Instead, there are multiplying, and worrying, signs of a lack of substance to the initial, bold slogans. The MoU on financial service co-operation with the EU is revealed as a talking shop that leaves EU autonomy unfettered. The City’s global standing is slowly sinking, and leadership seems to be slipping away from the UK in many fields as the EU continues to exercise its soft power of setting standards that acquire global standing due to its economic scale.
In the latter half of 2022, faster payments (also known as authorised push payments) fraud losses in the United Kingdom reached an alarming £249 million, with a mere 5% recovery rate reported by financial institutions. These troubling statistics come as the industry prepares for the impending 2024 regulation, which will impose a 50/50 liability on both the initiator and beneficiary institutions for reimbursing victims of fraud.
Current preventative measures predominantly rely on risk-scoring methods to flag suspicious transactions or engage in post-transaction fraud recall—both of which have limitations. Our forthcoming webinar will introduce a nuanced approach that aims to seamlessly bridge the gap between conservative fraud prevention and post-transaction recall processes. This methodology promises to reduce the time delays associated with awaiting confirmations, such as victim reports, while simultaneously minimizing customer impact caused by overly stringent real-time controls.
Join us for this essential discussion, as we explore this timely topic that has significant ramifications for risk management within financial institutions. Mark your calendar for a webinar that promises to offer actionable insights for a more secure financial future.
The transformation of the economy to net zero is proceeding much too slowly. Globally, trillions of dollars of additional low-carbon investments are needed every year -- multiples of the current level of investment.
Meanwhile governments are providing $7 trillion of annual subsidies to support fossil fuel usage. These enormous subsidies create a hurricane force headwind that prevents progress in decarbonizing the global economy.
A carbon-linked bond is a simple financial instrument that would allow governments to create a credible time path in which to eliminate those subsidies and a globally harmonized forward curve of carbon prices. Together they would incentivize private capital markets to quickly fund the necessary transformation.
We increasingly rely on services implemented by digital systems.
The software components of these systems are mostly sourced by service providers from outside sources. The digital systems built from these components are complex and tightly coupled. These characteristics mean that the combination of human error, cyber-attack and Natural Accident Theory will result in unpredictable service outages.
These service outages are already a significant cost to the UK economy; to individual users, to citizens and to the public at large. All are seriously affected when service outages occur. Digital systems are not within users’ choice, care or control, but they are becoming systems upon which users must rely.
The costs and consequences of software failure and service outages are increasing due to technological as well as human factors. In addition to growing technological complexity, the widening use of AI and the escalating frequency of cyber-attacks carry increased risk of failures. The expanding reach of services means that more people are affected by service outages – the loss of “user hours” through service outages is increasingly recognised as a key measure.
This webinar reflects the recommendations on “what can be done” from a RoundTable of the National Preparedness Commission, Business Continuity Institute and BCS (was British Computer Society).
We have entered an era marked by rapid technological evolution and an ever-changing threat landscape. Security systems have evolved and developed from the earliest security system invented 170 years ago by Edwin Holmes, his alarm system was one of the earliest attempts to provide protection against unauthorized intruders and burglaries, and is a historically significant innovation in the field of security systems. From these early beginnings the global security industry has evolved exponentially and is now estimated to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars annually. We will chart the evolution of security systems from the early developments in19th century to the highly sophisticated and technologically advanced solutions available today.
Join us for an in-depth exploration of Europe's credit landscape with 'Unlocking Cross-Border Credit in Europe: Mifundo's Innovative Solution.'
Notably, Mifundo has been recognized with two prestigious awards at the Europe Fintech Awards 2023, including 'LendTech of the Year' and 'Startup of the Year.' In this session, we'll delve into how Mifundo addresses the challenges faced by expats and multi-country individuals in accessing credit. We'll explore the innovative methods of passporting credit history across borders, standardizing credit scores, and facilitating seamless financial transitions.
Additionally, we'll take a closer look at Europe's lending market, discuss limitations in current financial systems, and delve into the potential of open banking to transform the financial landscape. Furthermore, we'll discuss the role of sustainable finance in promoting financial inclusion for the 10% of the population of entire Europe currently excluded from credit access. Join us for this enlightening discussion on shaping a more accessible and customer-centric financial landscape in Europe, led by experienced industry experts.
Private sector finance is not structured to support sustainable development at the scale and speed required to achieve the SDGs and the stated goals of the Paris Agreement. The financing gap to achieve the SDGs in developing countries alone is estimated to be circa 3 trillion USD p/a.
Blended finance initiatives seek to align both commercial and non-commercial funding sources in a coordinated pattern of investment behaviours, allowing for a more inclusive and holistic approach to sustainable development.
However, a key issue remains that is almost universal – the reluctance by investor participants to accept risk.
Credit Risk Mitigation tools that typically support lending and associated investments into large-scale infrastructure projects or emerging technologies required to enable the transition, are simply not effective measures for bridging this trillion dollar financing gap.
When Blended Finance initiatives and Credit Risk Mitigation tools cannot support complex transactions, an alternative approach is required.
The twelfth edition of the Global Green Finance Index provides the world’s most authoritative measure of the performance of financial centres in delivering green finance services.
The report, assembled by combining the views of financial professionals from around the world, with quantitative data commissioned and curated from over 130 sources, uses advanced statistical techniques to map the global spread of green finance.
In 2017, the release of Icarus, a documentary on doping in sport, piqued audience interest in the subject and garnered much critical acclaim. The documentary uncovered a Russian state-sponsored Olympic doping programme used during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Since then, there have been continuous doping scandals in sport, including the International Olympic Committee’s concern surrounding a lack of out-of-competition testing in the sport of weightlifting. Martin Dubbey's presentation will cover the risk to sport from the interference of state actors, how far are they embedded in sport and what the implications for clean athletes are.
Many companies struggle to implement frameworks for incorporating ESG factors into their operations. The introduction of biodiversity is one example for an ever-expanding ESG agenda.
So, why is biodiversity important to companies’ business strategy? How can ESG / biodiversity material risks and opportunities be addressed both in their organisation and in their supply chains? How can biodiversity be incorporated into the core business processes and what tools are needed to measure success in tackling these concerns?
This presentation will identify the many areas of concerns for investors and their agents meeting a settlement timescale of trade date plus one day. North America has set May 27th Canada and May 28th USA next year for their domestic markets to move from T+2 to T+1. International investing into Nth America accounts for around 40% of annual transaction volume. So, it will impact portfolios around the world. ISITC Europe was commissioned by the Swift Institute to undertake and academic research study of impacts on global markets. The analysis of impacts and definition of various challenges makes this watershed settlement change one of wide ranging and complex ever encountered in the international capital markets. Impacting FX, Treasury, Risks transference, costs, and liquidity and more and with ETFs financial product. It could impact working hours and potential movement of listings and businesses to North America. It is not just a technology challenge but also business Many of these areas has not been publicly discussed until now!
In recent years conspiracy theories have become a hot subject of debate. No longer confined to its own fringe subculture, ‘conspiracism’ – the belief that secret agendas and cabals drive geopolitical and global economic events – is having a real impact politically and socially, as seen with the rise of QAnon and the various allegations about Covid-19 and vaccinations. As a result, conspiracy theories are now the focus of studies by sociologists, psychologists, cultural historians and political scientists, all attempting to answer the important questions they raise. Clive offers his particular take on the subject from his own unique perspective, addressing questions such as: Who is most likely to believe in conspiracy theories – and why? Are they always false or is there sometimes something to them? How can we tell a conspiracy theory from a genuine conspiracy? What characterises a successful theory? How can they be countered? And most fundamental of all, just what is a conspiracy theory?
Aviation is a clear and present indicator of the way the globe has established its response to meeting (or not) the Paris Climate Agreement. There is a limit to government and international policy action which can restrict an efficient pathway to decarbonisation. Aviation net zero future is critically dependent on a zero-emission energy revolution and commensurate institutional investment to meet the extreme shortage of “green” energy. A lot of airlines are performing better than net zero transition, yet the industry is perceived as a high carbon and risky stock by many who wish to “green” their investment portfolios. Furthermore, the carbon impact of capital may be greater in other sectors. We present our global perspective on how the City could hold the key to translating net zero leadership in the aviation and energy sectors into a real economic impact.
There is a huge buzz currently around AI; both its benefits and visions of apocalyptic futures. It is important that banks adopting AI take their customers on the journey with them.
GFT’s latest Banking Disruption Index, a quarterly assessment of consumer attitudes towards digital transformation, focuses on the innovation led by AI and how it is affecting the experience of the modern banking customer. This webinar explores the results of the assessment, as we continue to witness the ongoing bloom of the ‘AI spring’ and the general population is quickly coming to grips with the latest this technology has to offer.
The relatively newly-established Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has already hit the headlines. Set up to hold public authorities in England and Northern Ireland to account on environmental law, the OEP comments on Government’s interpretation, enforcement and proposed amendment of environmental laws, as well as scrutinising its plans for meeting legally-binding environmental goals. This presentation will outline the functions of the OEP, why it matters for businesses, and detail the OEP’s assessment of England’s Environmental Improvement Plan.
The Global Financial Centres Index has been tracking the development of the world’s financial centres since 2007 and is the authoritative guide to financial centre success.
In this webinar, Z/Yen will formally launch the 34th edition of the index, and focus on the future of financial centres with our guests.
Terrestrial carbon is stored into above-ground biomass, roots, and soil. Anthropogenic climate change, related policies and carbon trading schemes make its accurate assessment increasingly important. Whereas in situ, airborne and drone-based methods are generally more accurate – spaceborne means possess a list of advantages, which are hard to beat. With satellite-based methods it is possible to gather data in short time about huge areas with uniform quality. Independent third-party validation is also easier as satellite data is to a large extent freely available with open data policy. The accuracy of satellite-based carbon stock assessment has improved with current best methods having twenty five to thirty percent uncertainties. A brief overview of satellite-based terrestrial carbon stock estimation techniques and data sources will be given. Covering indirect proxy methods via passive optical satellite reflectance and radar backscatter and direct biomass volume-measurement methods using interferometric radar and LiDAR data. Direct accurate top layer soil carbon measurement over bare land is also increasingly possible thanks to the advancements of hyperspectral imaging satellites.
KappaZeta is developing a constellation of three passive receiver satellites making current industry standard Sentinel-1 radar data from planar to 3-dimensional. It would address many of the shortcomings of current global carbon stock estimation means by cleverly augmenting one of most powerful satellite radar data factories of 2010s to 2030ies. Via direct measurements of the above-ground biomass volume it is possible to improve the carbon stock estimation accuracy of present day’s 25% uncertainty to 10% uncertainty. A global, comparable, accurate and affordable data set for carbon stock estimation will be created. With New Space technology about €20 million investment is needed (with safer and slower old-space means about €80 million investment). We are looking for private and governmental stakeholders to develop the user requirements and relations.
Over the past decade, regulators in the UK and elsewhere have sought to avoid a repetition of the global financial crisis by turning to bank culture. New culture teams have emerged, statements of purpose have been drafted, and self-regulatory initiatives have arisen to administer annual culture surveys to industry participants. Yet these attempts to influence employee behaviour by intervening on their values and beliefs has inevitably been hampered by the parallel use of technologies of control such as risk management metrics (whether it is Value at Risk, AI analytics, stress-testing, or ever-larger compliance teams, etc) that often displace employees’ norms and values in shaping decisions. In his talk, Beunza explores the challenges entailed in enhancing cultural standards in an industry dominated by technologies of control, as laid out in his award-winning book Taking the Floor. Based on extensive, fly-on-the-wall observations at a Wall Street trading room over the span of sixteen years, Beunza considers the case of a bank executive who sought to remedy the ethical shortcomings he observed in derivatives trading by reorganizing his trading floor and challenging the bank’s use of risk management models. Beunza analyses this unique experiment and considers what lessons it offers for financial organizations today: what worked? What didn't? What do we learn from it? Providing a unique perspective on a complex subject, the talk outlines what a contemporary managerial intervention on culture should entail in an age of extensive risk management constraints on decision-making.
Darek Bates interviews Professor Michael Mainelli on his experiences living and working in the City of London.
Trying to make the best decisions for your customers and your company? Want to lead the way with AI and Gen-AI in your industry? Investing heavily in dedicated data teams, BI tools and data warehouses? Then you’ll want to know more about creating and optimising a data led culture. Only by encouraging a data led culture can organisations truly capitalise on their investments and emerging tech.
There are some foundational and fairly obvious criteria to creating a data culture, such as: ‘improve data literacy’, ‘provide training’, ‘build KPIs/metrics’. What is less obvious to most organisations is the power of ‘softer’ factors such as ways of working, incentivisation, democratisation of data and sharing of success stories.
In this webinar, Gate One, a change and transformation consultancy, outline the factors that FS organisations with a leading data culture have in common. Using our latest findings from a survey and interviews with leading FS firms, we provide a series of ‘must haves’ for organisations looking to improve their data culture.
The fourth introductory webclave to the forthcoming Cityforum ‘Reimagining Security and Resilience’ programme is scheduled for September 2023, entitled 'Managing Critical Events'.
Chaired by Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli of Z/Yen with whom Cityforum is working on this series, the excellent panel of discussants comprises Professor Sir David Omand, former UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator; Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom Chairman of the Advisory Panel of Thales (UK); and Zhanna L. Malekos Smith Visiting Fellow Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs & Senior Associate Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS). The panel has much experience on what to do in response to managing critical events. One of the themes Michael Mainelli wishes to include is problems in the space domain and in particular with how debris could wreck both movement and communication, a subject for which Zhanna has particular expertise.
The whole thrust of this Cityforum project, which extends until Christmas, is how to deliver improved security and resilient recovery in a period of global stress, fragmentation and polycrisis.
In a world of increasingly activist states, government decisions matter. What insights do we have into apex decision-making in government – the level one decisions that can be consequential for business and society? Join Professor Alexander Evans from the London School of Economics as he offers a take on how the British, American and UN systems operate, including on regulatory diplomacy and standards.
Discover the pulsating heart of Central Europe's financial dynamism: Warsaw! Poland's thriving capital, blends history with modern financial prowess. From fintech startups to banking giants, it showcases Poland's economic resurgence. In 30 years, Poland tripled its economy, becoming the EU's sixth-largest and Central Europe's largest. The financial sector is a key player.
Poland's growth made it a global hub for financial institutions. Skilled talent, infrastructure, and a central location attract cybersecurity, R&D, and more. Polish banks and fintechs lead in payments, digital banking, and identification.
Join "Focus on Warsaw" webinar to discover opportunities and innovations shaping the region's financial future. Spotlighting Poland's successes and ambitions, the webinar unveils the Future Finance Poland initiative, elevating Warsaw's global financial standing.
The development of DLT and the digital asset ecosystem presents significant opportunities to improve efficiency and deliver real benefits in global capital markets. In this webinar, Adam will discuss the legal, technological, regulatory and risk management considerations of different DLT use cases in capital markets including DLT-based Securities and DLT-based Payment Instruments. He will also set out the associated risks that regulators will need to manage while also enabling innovation in this fast-moving area of policy.
We are in the new age of Quackery where mountebanks/scammers are online.
Technology has to be involved right from first contact and throughout the payment process to prevent anyone from being deceived of money.
The world is going instant payments. The choice – Credit Card or Bank Account – for payment, regardless of geography, needs to be verified and safe.
Agenda:
- 11:00 - Chairman's introduction, John Bertrand
- 11:05 - The UK Supreme Ruling impact and PSR, Nigel Brigden, Expert Evidence International Limited
- 11:10 - Will international payments confirm Payee, Alain Raes, iPiD
- 11:15 - Impact of instant payments, Guillermo De La Fuente, SITA Treasury
- 11:20 - Technology following the payment flow, Andrew Burlison, Veridas
- 11:25 - Audience Q&A
- 11:45 - Session close
Direct carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the steel sector amounts to about 7% of total energy sector emissions and 25% of industrial CO2 emissions (IEA, 2020) and achieving net-zero steel in sector will require cumulative investment between $5.2 and $6.1 trillion (MPP, 2022). Emission intensity of steel is a critical criterion in investment decisions which underscores the importance of independent measurement and reporting of the emission intensity of the steel produced. ResponsibleSteel Standard and Certification provides an independent third-party certification assessing emissions and other social criteria from a steel a producing site which the finance industry can leverage on to make financing decisions to the steel sector. In this session, ResponsibleSteel will present the dynamics of steel decarbonization, and the critical role of standards and certification program in enabling finance flows to the steel sector decarbonization.
Icebreaker One and Bankers for Net Zero (B4NZ) are developing Perseus, a pragmatic whole-of-market solution to create rapidly scalable, low-effort, low-friction sustainability reporting. This aims to help unlock access to capital by automating GHG reporting for every SME in the country. Starting with SMEs, UK banks and energy companies, it will create a common framework and operational delivery of a solution that will begin to automate GHG reporting for every SME in the UK.
Perseus is backed by the UK Government with the initiative included in the Green Finance Strategy 2023. Further information on Perseus is available here.
Since the 1960's, satellite imagery has been available of the earth's surface. However, for non-defence related activity, it was not until the 1980's that satellite imagery and remote sensing began to emerge as viable decision support intelligence across commercial and civilian government. However, technology limitations (cost, licencing, weather conditions and many other factors) limited the viability of use for many operational requirements. Has the industry now broken down these barriers?
In this podcast, Dr Andy Wells outlines some of the key technological (and commercial) advances within the last 5 years. It seeks to exemplify and demonstrate how satellite imagery can be applied across insurance, asset risk, investment, climate risk, supply chain management and others to provide data, insight and knowledge regarding the planet we inhabit - potentially monitoring everything - everywhere - all at once!
Interested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5
It is generally assumed that women in medieval times (and later) had very little independent authority either in the home or outside it. But the study of the records surviving from the city of London in the medieval period (1200-1500) suggests a rather different picture. In this talkProfessor Caroline Mary Barron will look at the wills of three London women: Mathilda the ‘smerewyf’ (probably a maker of tallow candles) who died in 1260; Mathilda Penne, a skinner or furrier who died in 1393 and Johanna Hill, who ran a bell-founding workshop outside Aldgate and died in 1441. The wills of these women, and there are many similar wills, challenge the assumption that women were denied a role in the economy of the medieval city. On the contrary they were active in the ‘ hidden economy’ of medieval London despite the conventions of the time that barred them from roles in office-holding and governance.
The moment of Brexit (2016-20) singularly challenged the UK’s unwritten constitution. Some blamed Theresa May and Boris Johnson for implementing the referendum result. Others – including Austen Morgan, a barrister and writer – criticise parliament and the supreme court more fairly.
His book, 'Pretence: Why The UK Needs A Written Constitution', takes up the idea in the 2019 conservative manifesto, and shows how a reforming government could begin to codify the rules by which the state runs, in place of the Gilbert and Sullivan flummery which dignifies the reality of political power.
Discussing Europe, devolution, judicial review and human rights as contemporary political issues, the book even begins the process of finding agreement by the peoples of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland with the author’s own suggestions for a preamble to a new constitution.
Recent research shows that among large-scale US companies, 57% expect the amount of time and effort they will spend on strategy will grow (vs only 2% that will shrink). Many use strategy consulting companies, and while most companies believe this work is of great quality (66-71% in a 4-year period), not so about its value (37-42%). Why is that?
Cost might be an issue, but quite often might be down to the company’s inability to leverage the strategy work to its full potential.
Should a company ‘own’ its strategy? Most would agree, but, could it do so by fully outsourcing it? Could an in-house strategy team produce the same quality output? What would be the impact of being able to fully leverage high-quality strategy? … more importantly, if so, how can all of this be done?
“Strategy in Action”, based on c.20 years of both in-house and external strategy development experience across small and large multinational banks, is a ‘starter-for-ten’ on this path.
Speaker:
Dr Angel Gavieiro is founder and managing partner of AG Strategy & Partners, a London-based strategy consulting & advisory service for the financial services industry, with a special focus on digital and climate finance.
He has more than 25 years of senior executive experience as a banker and strategist in Corporate & Investment Banking and Retail & Commercial Banking. He has worked based in the UK, UAE and Spain, covering North America, EMEA and Asia-Pacific.
Former divisional head of strategy & business development for Wells Fargo EMEA region (18-20), Lloyds’ Wholesale Banking & Markets and Corporate Banking divisions (08-12) and Barclays’ International Retail & Commercial Banking division (04-07). He also ran business P&L as head of domestic corporate markets for Al Hilal Bank (14-15) in the UAE and Agency Treasury Services and Corporate Finance for Lloyds’ Financial Institutions unit (08-09). His career foundation was management consulting at McKinsey & Co (01-04) and debt capital markets at SocGen (94-00) in Spain.
Angel has an MBA from Duke University (02) and Ph.D. in financial economy from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (04). He is a Fulbright scholar, Fuqua scholar, liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Int’l Bankers at the City of London, and board member of the Thames Festival Trust.
For more information on this webinar see the event page here: https://www.zyen.com/events/past-events/strategy-in-action-how-to-own-develop-execute-your-strategy/
Interested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5
Financial Centres Of The World 2023: A Gem Of Opportunities, From Past To Future
Genoa is a vibrant city with a harbour on the Mediterranean sea and a rich historical significance in the world of finance. The Bank of Saint George (Banco di San Giorgio) was founded in Genoa in 1407 and is considered the world's first public modern bank. In the same year the first insurance company in the world, known as the "Casa di San Giorgio”, was established. Genoa and England share St George's Flag, symbolising a rich shared history between the two.
Today Genoa is an important economic hub in Italy with a diverse range of industries including shipping, manufacturing, finance, and tourism. With a €7.5 Billion investment planned in infrastructure, including the new “waterfront” reimagined by the Genoese international architect Renzo Piano, transport networks, port logistics, shipping, and urban development, Genoa is able to attract business and contribute to economic growth, creating investment opportunities. Creating a Greater City Area consisting of Genoa, Milan, and Turin could potentially have a significant economic impact and contribute to the second largest GDP of the Eurozone, with a target to be the largest in the future.
This webinar is part of our "Focus On" series, where we look at financial centres from around the world.
For more information on this webinar see the event page here: https://fsclub.zyen.com/events/past-events/genoa-a-gem-of-opportunities-from-history-to-future/
Interested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5
Investing Together To End Grand Corruption: How Restitution Combines Asset Management, Litigation Funding And Impact Investment To Return Stolen Patrimony To Sovereign Nations
Approximately a trillion dollars every year is stolen through illicit financial flows with a significant proportion from newly democratic, post-conflict and/or emerging market governments through “the architecture of corruption”. Redress for victims has traditionally focused on criminal prosecution, leaving billions of dollars of potential civil claims on the table. In this session, Katherine and Elizabeth will explain firstly why newly democratic, post-conflict and transparency-focused governments have not leveraged existing litigation funding solutions. Secondly, they will discuss how Restitution Capital, as the first litigation impact asset manager, is meeting this untapped need, working with government partners to develop and monetise claims portfolios worth billions of US dollars. Finally, they will discuss how the funds are structured to ensure that recovered assets are used transparently and accountably and with impact, which can include anything from combatting climate change, to setting up stabilisation funds, to helping countries get a better deal on sovereign debt restructuring.
For more information on this Webinar, including the presentation slides, see the event page here: https://fsclub.zyen.com/events/past-e...
Interested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5
Thomas Piketty’s "Capital In The Twenty-First Century" had the good fortune to popularise wealth inequality as a policy issue at a time when austerity dominated western fiscal policy following the global financial crisis and where policy makers have been happy to distract and divert attention from policy failings by pointing at the bogeyman of offshore finance.
Dr Andy Sloan's webinar addresses how offshore finance as the cause of widening global wealth inequality is an emotional and seductive narrative. Its premise and accompanying facts have been accepted with very little critique. So seductive the cause, so self-evident the case, that the facts go unchecked, data unverified and unreconciled. The 'evidence' of the tax campaigners is repeated ad nauseum, without critique. 'Facts' are whatever campaigners deem them to be.
Improved prescriptions in social policy is not served by a false diagnosis and thus the motivation to set out a true presentation of the facts.
The Judgement- or J-value is a validated method that allows you to decide objectively how much should be spent on human safety and environmental protection. Applying the J-value to England's covid epidemic, it is clear that a lockdown that lasts more than 2 or 3 months will lose more life than it will save. The talk will explain the J-value method and show how the economic disruption from lockdown leads inevitably to life being lost. Greater economic awareness is necessary for future emergency planning.
Most of us went through school without learning much about money but in recent years some interesting improvements have been made, focusing on personal finance. This webinar will explore how and why we should consider going further, to encourage children to be good economic citizens contributing to a thriving society. Among other things, what should they know about the contribution of financial services? The whole topic is politically and morally sensitive, with competing rhetorical tricks so familiar we hardly notice them. How should educators deal with this? The presentation will be an introduction to a longer, more detailed article that further explains the issues and proposes a detailed syllabus.
Matthew Leitch's webinar should be thought provoking for parents, teachers, students, and anyone with an interest in education, economics, or building a better society. We expect a lively discussion.
From being told to work in Woolworths to becoming a barrister, Ombudsman, Crown Court Recorder, and Board Chair, working both in the UK and the Cayman Islands, Nicola Williams has a thing or two to say about resilience and beating the odds. This webinar is part of the FS Club's Community Chest series, where we chat to interesting members of our Community about their experiences, careers, and insights.
A regular speaker at the FS Club, David Doyle is back to give a mid-year update on the EU financial services regulatory agenda.
David will cover some of the latest, game-changing EU regulatory developments in the financial services space, including insights into the creation of the EU AML Authority to oversee high-risk entities, revisions to the EU Payments Services Directive, the digital operational resilience act (DORA), and the recently announced EC Retail Investment Package.
Did you know that Liechtenstein has access to two economic areas, fully adopts EU regulations, was the first country in the world to introduce a blockchain law and was crowned the number 1 philanthropy location in 2022?
Liechtenstein is home to a specialised and stable financial centre with a strong international network. Financial services make up the second-largest sector of the Liechtenstein economy, with over 17% of its working population employed in the financial services sector. Banks manage client assets of CHF 424 billion together with their foreign group companies and operating primarily in wealth management. Liechtenstein is also an attractive location for the insurance industry, asset management, the fund industry, and the fiduciary industry.
Discover more about the strengths and special features of the Liechtenstein and its financial centre by joining the webinar.
Background: Mauritius offers an attractive and stable environment for captive insurance companies. Captive insurance entities have become a preferred vehicle for companies to manage their annual premium payments with sustained and continued growth over the past decade.
The Captive Insurance Act was passed in 2015 with the aim of making Mauritius a captive domicile of choice and to introduce a new framework in line with international best practices which is equally competitive and will attract pure captive insurance corporations from around the world. Permissible classes of captive insurance business under the Captive Insurance Act are insurance or reinsurance pertaining to general insurance business, Alternative Risk Transfer policy contracts or any other class or type of insurance business as may be prescribed. At present, the Captive Insurance Act only caters for pure captive insurance business, i.e. the business of undertaking liability restricted exclusively to the risks of the parent and affiliated corporations.
This webinar focuses on maintaining a regulatory system that attracts quality insurance business to Mauritius, safeguards the solvency of captive insurers and aims to shed light on the practical implications of the ongoing initiatives on the Captive Insurance Business.
In this webinar, we will hear from expert speakers who will elaborate on:
The Captive Insurance Framework Authorization and Supervision processes of Captive Insurance Experience from licensees
Find out more about this event on our website: https://www.zyen.com/events/all-events/mauritius-offers-an-attractive-and-stable-environment-for-captive-insurance-companies/
Interested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5
Speakers:
Agenda:
10:00 - 10:05 BST - Welcome and Introduction, Hugh Morris, Senior Research Partner, Z/Yen Group
10:05 - 10:15 BST - Keynote Address, Mr Dhanesswurnath Thakoor, Chief Executive, Financial Services Commission Mauritius (FSC)
10:15 - 10:30 BST - Overview of the Captive Insurance Framework, Mr Aakash Mishra, Assistant Director, FSC
10:30 - 10:45 BST - Authorisation Process, Mr Kamalsing Burun, Assistant Director, FSC
10:45 - 10:55 BST - Share Experience on Captive Insurance Market, Mr Kabir Ruhee, CEO, Rogers Capital Captive Insurance Management Services Ltd (RCCIMS)
10:55 - 11:05 BST - Share Experience on Captive Insurance Market, Dr Chakanyuka Goodman, Executive Credit Risk Management, TDB Captive Insurance Company (TCI)
11:05 - 11:15 BST - Share Experience as Pure Captive Insurer, Mr David Too Sai Voon, Director, ProtectSure Captive Insurance Company Ltd
11:15 - 11:30 BST - Q&A and Concluding Remarks, Hugh Morris, Senior Research Partner, Z/Yen Group
In 2021 the Deep Transitions project set up the Deep Transitions Futures project and convened a global panel of influential investors. The panel and research team sought to formulate a new investment philosophy, informed by the Deep Transitions’ Theory of Change, that challenged investors to commit to worldbuilding through transformative investment, not system optimisation. A new approach to investment that accelerated the disruptive, fundamental and systemic changes required to avoid ecological, societal and planetary disaster.
The resulting Transformative Investment philosophy and action-oriented principles are designed to catalyse fresh thinking, dialogue and decision making that aids investors in achieving systems change. While the principles focus primarily on the role of investors, they are also relevant to other public actors, who can benefit from embedding these 12 principles in their research, analytical and decision-making processes.
Dr Wendy Schultz & Victoria Ward from Jigsaw Foresight were asked to design and facilitate the year long global Investor Panel process, contribute to the generation of the philosophy, and now continue as partners in the Deep Transitions Lab, the next phase of the project. In this webinar they will share extracts from the Transformative Investment Philosophy, provide insights into the huge importance, relevance and future of this project, and observations about the challenges and opportunities in such a ground-breaking collaborative process.
Alderman James Vos, the Mayoral Committee Member at the City of Cape Town, will discuss how his Directorate is working to create an environment in the municipality where more residents can access opportunities. He will focus on the Inclusive Economic Growth Strategy, the City’s deadline-driven plan to build this environment and highlight the municipal government’s recently-launched Ease of Doing Business initiative.
The second introductory webclave to the forthcoming Cityforum programme of round tables ‘Reimagining Security and Resilience’ is scheduled for mid-June 2023. Chaired by Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli of Z/Yen with whom Cityforum is working on this series, the excellent panel of discussants comprises George Barnes, Deputy Director NSA, with considerable cyber expertise, Elisabeth Braw, the distinguished expert on societies and resilience, and the British contributor Christine Elliott, with her authoritative position on professional services, crises and resilience.
The whole thrust of this Cityforum project, which extends until Christmas, is how to deliver improved security and resilient recovery in a period of global stress, fragmentation and polycrisis.
Over the last few years many organisations have begun to consider adopting a multicloud approach, to ensure continued performance and resilience. However, great care must be taken as this can risk increasing the attack surface and amplifying the chance of issues caused by misconfigurations.
In this webinar, we hear from cloud security specialists GFT and Palo Alto on how to leverage the benefits of multicloud, reducing time-to-market and minimising configuration costs, whilst managing risk and regulatory challenges.
Hear how a real-world financial services client project was rapidly implemented in order to accelerate cloud security and provide a single security control in a multicloud environment.
The Medicis and Florence, Luxembourg and its Freeport, London and New York with their auction houses. Successful financial centres are also successful centres for art. How are art and finance related to each other? Can art elevate the standing of financial centres? Can financial centres help artists? Can art become an asset class?
The World Alliance for International Financial Centres (WAIFC) and its members will be examining this subject this year. Keiichi Aritomo, Executive Director of FinCity, Tokyo and Chair of WAIFC for 2023 and 2024 will discuss why this is an important topic for financial centres and what challenges he wishes to address with WAIFC. Adriano Picinati di Torcello, Director of Deloitte Luxembourg as a financial services practitioner has been working on the intersection between art and finance for more than 20 years and is one of the architects of Luxembourg’s art and finance cluster. Dennis Layton, Senior Advisor of McKinsey & Company is launching an art investment platform, Ikon Exchange which he describes as a “stock exchange for fine art” that provides art enthusiasts with an opportunity to own art and museums with cash flow to help them continue their work. We will discuss the following questions and themes:
Can art be a financial asset class? Can we expect a return? Protection of artwork and artists as an “S” in ESG Financial centres are expensive and can become inhabitable for artists. How can we balance gentrification and the creative energy artists can bring?
Find our more about this event on our website: https://www.zyen.com/events/all-events/international-financial-centres-the-power-of-art/
Interested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5
Speakers:
Keiichi Aritomo is the Executive Director of FinCity.Tokyo, which is to continuously promote Tokyo as a leading global financial city. He is also a co-founder and Board Director of JIAM (the Consortium for Japan International Asset Management Center). Keiichi used to be a Partner at McKinsey & Company, Deloitte, and PwC, where he specialized in the financial services industry and technology strategies across North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, and Japan. He has co-authored several books, including “Single View of Customer for Financial Institutions,” published by Kinzai and Shanghai Communication University Press in Japanese and Mandarin, respectively. He earned his MBA from the University of Warwick, in the UK, and his MSc from Nagoya Institute of Technology, majoring in Urban Transportation Planning.
Adriano Picinati di Torcello, Director, Management Consulting, Global Art & Finance Coordinator of Deloitte General Services. Adriano is the Art & Finance coordinator for the Deloitte group of member firms and has over 25 years of professional experience. He is the Global Art & Finance Coordinator for the Deloitte network. Consultant for the Finance, Art business and Cultural sectors, he is in charge of Art & Finance at Deloitte Luxembourg, an initiative he has been coordinating since its beginning. Deeply involved in creating awareness of art and finance, Adriano has initiated the international Deloitte Art & Finance Conference, which has become the annual benchmark event in the field. He is the co-author of the Deloitte and ArtTactic Art & Finance report. Being the spokesman of the Art & Finance initiative within Deloitte, he regularly speaks at international conferences.
Dennis Layton is a Senior Advisor to McKinsey. His work is focused on large scale Organization Transformation projects across the Financial Services, High Tech, Telco, Defense, Health Care and Private Equity Industries. Dennis has been a senior global leader at Oliver Wyman, EY and McKinsey and Company.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://www.zyen.com/events/all-events/digital-care-who-is-getting-digital-now/
Each year Alan shares insights with us from the fast-evolving world of Digital care. Themes will be of interest to healthcare policy-makers, payers and care providers:This is his fourth Z/Yen visit to reflect on:the expanding reach of Digital care into hospital management and community carehow tech platforms and clinical product propositions are consolidatingrecent M&A deals and trends outlook
Speaker:
Alan Hughes brings 20 years of international healthcare advisory, working alongside policymakers on the latest international trends. He is a regular panellist and healthcare commentator at summits across Europe and the Gulf. In 2020 he commenced an independent consultancy, LIT Healthcare Ltd. For 14 years prior he worked as a healthcare management consultant and policy strategist at KPMG. Prior to this he was in Investment Banking on Wall St and the City of London at Lehman Brothers and Dresdner Kleinwort working on 30 M&A healthcare transactions and five IPOs. Sectors included Life Sciences, nursing, community and acute care. He also worked on Global Strategy projects for Novartis in Switzerland.
The inefficiency of cross border payments is well known and lags behind the improvements seen in domestic payments. This stifles global trade and particularly hurts small/medium enterprises who are the engine room of economic growth. The value of cross border payments is estimated to increase from $150 trillion in 2017 to $250 trillion by 2027. The World Bank monitors the global average cost of sending a $200 international payment which in June 2022 stood at 6.01% and has targeted halving this to 3% by 2030. The G20 Roadmap sets out steps to enhance cross border payments which should help to meet this and other targets. However, this needs to be implemented while not relaxing vigilance on money laundering, KYC, and the appropriate and accurate exchange of data. The P20 report contains specific best practice actions to move towards borderless payments. But this can only be achieved through collaboration between governments, regulators and industry.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://www.zyen.com/events/all-events/achieving-borderless-payments/
Interested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5
Speaker:
Elena Whisler is Senior Vice President of Sales and Relationship Management at The Clearing House. Elena is currently responsible for overseeing the customer relationship, sales and marketing teams to manage and expand its client base across The Clearing House’s core payments products (RTP® network, CHIPS, ACH and check image exchange). Current priorities include growing the RTP network across the US financial system participants and evolving the customer engagement model for all TCH Products. Prior to joining The Clearing House, she held regional and global product management positions at FIS, Clear2Pay and Fiserv as well as working at the Federal Reserve Bank within the Retail Product Office and Monetary Policy Divisions working on cross-border activities and economic policy in Latin America. Elena also serves on multiple industry councils such as the P20 Board, the Women in Payments Advisory Board as well as the Girls on the Run Central Ohio Board.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://www.zyen.com/events/all-events/digital-innovation-in-financial-services-with-low-code-no-code-lcnc/Changing customer expectations and increasing regulations have every financial institution getting their digital transformation initiatives off the ground. Post-pandemic developments have only accelerated the need for this shift.Join our speakers in this engaging discussion as they share their insights and experiences on the importance of low code for accelerating digital initiatives in financial institutions.Speakers:
Dr Setrag Khoshafian is a pioneer and recognized expert in the transformation of innovative and agile enterprises. He has invented pragmatic approaches for innovation and cultural transformation through a holistic approach leveraging Intelligent Business Process Management, Intelligent Database Management, Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, AI, Low Code/No Code, Service Oriented Architectures and Automation. He is an author, thought leader, keynote speaker and educator who has helped the cultural transformation journeys of entrepreneurial enterprises leveraging digital technologies, and has been a senior executive in the software industry for the past 30 years, where he has invented, architected, and steered the production of several enterprise software products and solutions.
Rahul Kulkarni is Associate Partner at Infosys Consulting, and he carries a vast experience in Management Consulting and Information Technology in Financial Services (Core Banking) at all levels from leadership & advisory to design & delivery in large banks and Fintech. His specialties include Financial Services, Value and Benefits realisation, Digital transformation, Operating Model (design & implementation), Lean Portfolio Management (SAFe), Agile delivery (PO & PM), Strategy Consulting, Programme Management, Information Technology.
Varun Ghai is Associate Vice President (Products & Solutions) for UK & EU at Newgen, with 18+ years of successful track record in consulting, product management, presales & client projects management. He has assisted leading banks & financial institutions in automating & transforming Retail & Commercial lending, Self-service journeys for LOS & customer onboarding and Client lifecycle management. Instrumental in architecting one of the leading P2P lending platform, processing $125 Billion worth of loans per annum.
In today's rapidly changing landscape, it is increasingly important to address the growing savings gap and ensure individuals have access to expert guidance and support in managing their finances.During this webinar, we will explore the current state of the financial advice industry and shed light on the limitations of existing advisers. We will address the need to incubate and nurture aspiring advisers who possess the essential attributes to prioritise the client's best interests. While certain skills can be taught, the fundamental commitment to putting clients first is paramount.We will tackle the challenge of training new advisers while acknowledging the associated costs. We will discuss innovative strategies and potential solutions to make the training process more effective and efficient.Join us as we discuss and champion the empowerment of a new breed of financial advisers who will reshape the future of advice, fostering financial well-being and prosperity for all.Find out more about this event on our website: https://www.zyen.com/events/all-events/closing-the-savings-gap-empowering-a-new-breed-of-financial-advisers/
Speaker:Petronella West is the CEO of Investment Quorum. She is a double-chartered, pension transfer specialist with an incredible 35 years’ experience in the financial services industry. At Investment Quorum, Petronella provides personalised financial planning and investment solutions, with a particular focus on retirement.Her passion is in business financial planning, and she has a deep belief in cashflow modelling to help clients fulfil the life they want. Petronella says the fun starts when, based on the close relationship of trust, she can start solving what her client perceives as a problem. She was awarded Wealth Manager CEO of the Year at the City of London Wealth Manager Awards 2022.Outside of IQ, Petronella is heavily involved in Charity work, specifically working with Sierra Leone-based charity, Street Child.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://fsclub.zyen.com/events/all-events/launch-smart-centres-index-7/
In this webinar, we launch the seventh edition of the Smart Centres Index (SCI 7). The SCI is designed to track the development of technology and financial centres across the world in their support for and readiness for new technology applications.Investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, media, academics, governments, and regulators can attune their cities to attract innovation and growth in Science, Technology, Energy Systems, Machine Learning, Distributed Ledgers, or Fintech. Tuning a city for innovation is complex. Z/Yen began studying successful and unsuccessful business innovation clustering some 15 years ago, and published in 2018 the Smart Jurisdictions Index. Building on the results of that research we have created a novel factor assessment index based on three dimensions - innovation support, creative intensity, and delivery capability.The SCI is designed to track the readiness of business centres across the world to support new technology businesses. The SCI uses assessments from private and public sector individuals, along with over 120 instrumental factors, to rate the centres. This important project that will grow substantially as more people pay attention to the ways centres can help globally innovative businesses thrive in rapidly changing times.
Speaker: Bekzhan Mutanov works as the Director of the Astana Tech Hub and oversees the functional development of the fintech ecosystem and has experience in this field since 2016. At the AIFC, he began his career as a fintech coordinator at the Bureau of Continuing Professional Development. In 2019, he headed the Department of Financial Technologies at AIFC Administration, where he developed a strategy for the development of the Fintech Hub, which became the Tech Hub in 2021. Prior to joining the AIFC, he founded a company to attract technology and investment to Kazakhstan and Central Asia from South Korea. At the same time, he oversaw the investment and technological projects of the Korea Water Resources Corporation in Central Asia. Bekzhan has experience in strategic consulting, deal structuring and business development in IT and fintech. He is an experienced financial technology coordinator with a demonstrated history of working in the education management industry. Bekzhan is keen on physics and is a trainer of the National Team of Kazakhstan in physics and economy at international Olympiads. Moreover, Mr. Mutanov is skilled in financial technology, blockchain, and nuclear physics and a strong professional in administration with a Global Master degree of Public Administration (GMPA) from Seoul National University. As well, Bekzhan received his master's degree from the faculty of physics and technology from Kazakh National University after al-Farabi. Mr. Mutanov is the author of articles in Physics of Plasmas and the author of model potential equations - potential of interaction of elementary particles in plasma. At the same time Bekzhan passed advanced training courses at the Skolkovo School of Management.
Background:
Thinking about, preparing for and responding to threats to resilience’ is the first discussion in the Cityforum ‘Re-imagining Security and Resilience’ project. This hour-long session is Chaired by Ian Aitchison, a Z/yen specialist with particular interest in maritime. Ian is joined by Dorothy Wickham, a well-known journalist from the Solomon Islands, and Cityforum Associates Hon Franklin D. Kramer and Madeleine Moon, who will extend the conversation further to look at a multitude of hazards including how the climate threat, and the threat to biodiversity is important also in relation to seas and shipping. These dangers and others are converging to produce inescapable challenges for us, resulting in disaster if we do nothing or very little.Find out more about this event on our website:https://fsclub.zyen.com/events/all-events/thinking-about-preparing-for-and-responding-to-threats-to-resilience/Interested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5
Speakers:
Hon Franklin D Kramer is a distinguished fellow and board director of the Atlantic Council. Mr Kramer has served as a senior political appointee in two administrations, including as assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs. At the Department of Defense, Mr Kramer was in charge of the formulation and implementation of international defence and political-military policy, with worldwide responsibilities including NATO and Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Mr Kramer’s areas of focus include defence, both conventional and hybrid; NATO and Russia; China, including managing competition, military power, economics and trade, and China-Taiwan-US relations; cyber including resilience and international cyber issues; innovation and national security; and irregular conflict and counterinsurgency.
Dorothy Wickham is a local journalist who has worked in the media industry in Solomon Islands for the last 30 years. She has also written for various international news organisations.
Madeleine Moon represented the Bridgend constituency at Westminster from 2005 to 2019. She joined the Defence Select Committee in 2009. She chaired sub-committees reporting on the safety and welfare of military personnel on training and exercises, the use of Remotely Piloted Air Systems and defence in the Arctic. Madeleine was a member of the UK Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from 2010, serving as a member of the Defence and Security Committee. She was elected President in November 2018. Since leaving Westminster Madeleine has continued to work in defence facing organisations including City Forum and also joined the European Leadership Network.
Chairman:Ian Aitchison is a strategic communications specialist and senior advisor to the global shipping industry. A Chartered PR consultant, founder and managing director of Scotch Communications Ltd, Ian draws on a diverse professional background. From Scottish agriculture and land management, military service in the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm and Media Operations, and international corporate management, to his current mission of cutting the pollution impact of deep-sea shipping by advocating LNG as a marine fuel, Ian is driven by a passion for the natural world and corporate social responsibility.
Parametric insurance has existed for over 20 years, but its use has grown recently due to new technologies and data sources. In 2023, parametric solutions are being used by insurers, businesses and individuals to manage weather, catastrophe, cyber, business interruption and a range of other risks. Matthew Grant and Henry Gale will provide an update on the latest product innovations in parametric insurance, the companies to watch and key market trends.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://www.zyen.com/events/all-events/parametric-insurance-in-2023-in-out-shaking-about/
Speakers:
Matthew Grant has been building and advising companies on the innovative use of technology, data and analytics for over 30 years. With a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Matthew has been involved in the entire cycle of risk management, insurance and capital management. He was responsible for launching catastrophe modelling into Europe in 1992 and was on the Executive team of Risk Management Solutions (RMS) for 8 years. Over his career at RMS from 1996 to 2016 his roles included running global sales and marketing, leading the product team and developing emerging market solutions including catastrophe bonds and parametric products. Matthew joined InsTech in 2016 and is the CEO and co-owner. InsTech currently works with over 170 companies in insurance and technology that are supporting innovation and the InsTech team provide advice, events, content and introductions. InsTech engaged with over 100,000 people around the world in 2023. Matthew hosts the weekly InsTech podcasts, writes regularly on the topics and themes of relevance to insurance and risk management and parametric insurance is a major theme at this time. Matthew speaks frequently at InsTech events and other industry conferences. Matthew is an angel investor in UK based technology companies supporting insurance and financial services.
Henry Gale leads InsTech's research on parametric insurance and contributes to research in other areas of insurance innovation. Henry edits the Parametric Post newsletter and has been the lead writer for InsTech's latest industry reports on parametric insurance and data process automation in insurance. He is an occasional host on InsTech's podcasts and events.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3Imsyje
The construction (and the wider built environment) industry is one of the largest contributors to global emissions. At the same time, there is significant pressure on construction firms and the wider industry to commit to emission reduction targets, whether as a result of regulation, client demand and/or other pressures. There is also a huge amount of demand for construction work internationally at a time when supply chains are dealing with unprecedented challenges.The purpose of this session will be to highlight some of the issues and concerns in the industry as well as some of the global approaches to this.Voyage Control is a technology company whose software is used by 100 construction companies, owners and asset operators globally when managing their logistics and supply chain projects.Speaker:James Swanston is the CEO and founder of Voyage Control, a technology business focused on making logistics more efficient. He has run a number of businesses as well as serving as an officer in the Australian and British Armies with tours of duty in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan. He was awarded the US Bronze Star, the Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation's Outstanding Service Award and the Australian Joint Operations Command Commendation.He has bachelor degrees in Law, International Business and Arts, and a Masters in International Relations. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and holds the Freedom of the City of London and the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers. He has received a number of awards including the City of London’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3MfHNf7
The events of the past 18 months, the crash in cryptocurrency prices and prominent crypto failures such as those of Terra/Luna, Celsius and FTX, might have been expected to sound the death knell on crypto and crypto assets. Far from it. We are still in hubris. The promotion of “responsible” crypto has been gaining not losing strength, notably with the UK government announcing in April 2022 its plans to make the UK a global crypto asset technology hub and promote a UK market in crypto assets (or digital assets, as they are often more politely referred especially in legal circles). This talk explains why the current promotion of crypto and digital assets is fundamentally flawed, failing to recognise the key distinction between permissionless and permissioned data records. Nemesis will follow. Catharsis, necessary to achieve real economic value from the new cryptographic based technologies, requires recognising the niche nature of permissionless blockchain, with valid but limited application outside the framework of law and regulation. The future is not a digital asset revolution, but the evolution of traditional financial record keeping to embrace permissioned data access and sharing, with all the challenges of data governance that this entails.
Speaker:
Professor Alistair Milne is Professor of Financial Economics at the School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University, He previously worked at Cass Business School, the Bank of England; the University of Surrey, London Business School, HM Treasury and for the Government of Malawi. He holds a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics. He has conducted research for more than three decades on financial technology, bank capital and risk management, macroeconomics and financial regulation. He is the author of a comprehensive account of the 2007-08 global financial crisis “The Fall of the House of Credit”. His current research focus on the emerging innovations in banking and insurance including the application of AI, distributed ledger and related data technologies. He is the principal investigator of the TECHNGI project www.techngi.uk part of the £20mn Next Generation Services Research Challenge supported by the UK government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. He has also worked on disaster risk finance https://floodfinjava.lboro.ac.uk/ and this has led him to write on the potential application of insurance solutions to the current Covid-19 and future pandemics.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3IiV9pQ
With spring well underway and summer around the corner, many of us will have already booked our summer getaway. But how much do consumers think about their spending whilst on holiday; has the rise of digital banking impacted the way we make payments abroad?We know that cash is no longer king when it comes to spending in the UK, but are consumers using their everyday bank card whilst on holiday too? And if so, are they aware of any charges placed on each foreign transaction?GFT’s latest Banking Disruption Index focuses on international transactions for retail banks and their customers. GFT and Currencycloud will be discussing the findings of the report in this webinar, and what the future holds for international transactions.Speakers:
Richard Kalas is a Client Solutions Director at GFT, helping its retail banking clients address their strategic and operational challenges in the new digital economy with truly innovative solutions and services. Before GFT, Richard was a Solutions Architect with Meniga, having held similar roles at Ubiquem and Temenos, leading solutions for organisations such as Metrobank, JPMC, UBS and The Bank of England.
Richard Stockley is Director of Partnerships at Currencycloud, a Visa solution. Richard drives the global partnership strategy at Currencycloud, connecting financial services customers with solution partners to create success. Richard has significant experience in commercialisation and scaling novel technology for startups as well as large corporate organisations.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3M4pFom
At COP3 in Kyoto in 1997, carbon markets were the preferred anti-climate change mechanism. It may have been a slow quarter century burn, but three-quarters of those responding to a survey conducted by Z/Yen for the Global Green Finance Index expect 30% or more of greenhouse gas emissions to be covered by carbon pricing by 2030, up from 21% at the end of 2021 and 15% in 2020. 23% of global emissions are now within a credible emissions trading system.In this webinar, we heard from experts in emissions trading and carbon pricing, from both Europe and Asia.At COP3 in Kyoto in 1997, carbon markets were the preferred anti-climate change mechanism. It may have been a slow quarter century burn, but three-quarters of those responding to a survey conducted by Z/Yen for the Global Green Finance Index expect 30% or more of greenhouse gas emissions to be covered by carbon pricing by 2030, up from 21% at the end of 2021 and 15% in 2020. 23% of global emissions are now within a credible emissions trading system.In this webinar, we heard from experts in emissions trading and carbon pricing, from both Europe and Asia.Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3M4pFomInterested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5Ying CUI is Deputy Director General of the International Institute of Green Finance (IIGF) of Central University of Finance and Economics (CUFE) and a member of the Carbon Peaking and Neutrality Professional Committee under Chinese Society For Environmental Sciences. She holds a master of Environmental Engineering from Queen's University Belfast. Her major research areas are Climate Finance, Carbon Market Mechanisms and Green Bonds. She has more than 17 years of working experience in the field of climate change. Mrs. Ying CUI was the Technical Director of EDF Trading China, having undertaken development and management of more than 100 CDM projects. Since 2016, she has compiled the China Climate Financing Report annually. She is also the author of China ETS Development Report, China Green Bond Development Report, etc., and published many articles on green finance and low carbon in journals such as View Financial, Environmental Protection, Environment Economy, China Sustainability Tribune, Financial Perspectives Journal and China State Finance. Beyond that, Mrs. Ying CUI has abundant research experience with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Ministry of Natural Resources and local governments, as well as project experience with international institutes such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Resources Institute (WRI) and Energy Foundation (EF).Liz Bossley is the CEO of Consilience, which she established in 1999. Liz has a 40-year career in international energy markets, spanning trading, risk management, marketing and extensive experience of contract negotiations. She has written several books on the subject of emissions trading and has very strong views on the subject. After graduation in 1978 she worked for 7 years as a trader for the British National Oil Corporation negotiating and implementing industry Participation Agreements and trading North Sea oil during the formative years of the forward and futures markets. She was head of trading, risk management and shipping offtake operations for Enterprise Oil plc for 14 years For further details please see https://ceag.org/founding-partners/
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3I4UTdH
We show that the premia ills of finance, asset mispricing and short-termism, have a common cause. The problems stem from the commonly adopted, and seemingly prudent practice whereby Giant pension and other institutional funds benchmark short-term performance of their delegated asset managers to market cap indexes or peer group performance. This forces the managers to chase rising prices irrespective of fundamental value, which in turn leads to high volatility of over-valued assets, momentum trading, and over-valuation of the aggregate market. Excessive focus on short-term asset prices obliges corporates to follow suit to the detriment of capital investment and long term growth. The solution will benefit social and investor wealth.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3I4UTdHInterested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5Paul Woolley’s career has spanned the private sector, academia and policy-oriented institutions. He gained his BA and D Phil in Economics from the University of York (UK) and was a Lecturer there in the early 1970’s. Following this, he had a long spell at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, latterly heading the division managing the Fund’s investment and borrowing activities. He returned to the UK as a Director of Merchant Bank, Baring Brothers. He then founded, and ran for 20 years, the UK arm of GMO, the global fund management business based in Boston, US. He returned to academic life in 2007, funding the Paul Woolley Centre for the study of Capital Market Dysfunctionality at the London School of Economics, where he is a full-time member of the research team. He is a Senior Fellow at the LSE. He has published widely on asset management and related fields in both academic and policy journals throughout his careerDimitri Vayanos is Professor of Finance at the London School of Economics, where he also directs the Financial Markets Group and the Paul Woolley Centre for the Study of Capital Market Dysfunctionality. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, a former Director and Managing Editor of the Review of Economic Studies, a Research Fellow at CEPR and a former Director of its Financial Economics program, a Research Associate at NBER, and a former Director of the American Finance Association. His research, published in leading economics and finance journals, such as Econometrica, the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Political Economy, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Review of Economic Studies, and the Review of Financial Studies, focuses on financial markets, and especially on what drives market liquidity, why asset prices can differ from assets’ fundamental values, why bubbles and crises can occur, and what are appropriate regulatory and policy responses. He is a co-editor of the book “Beyond Austerity: Reforming the Greek Economy”, a member of the Pissarides Committee, tasked by the Greek government to develop a growth plan for Greece, and co-author of the European Safe Bonds (ESBies) proposal, and a Director of WWF Greece.
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Since 1980 the IT revolution has brought amazing changes, but it has been accompanied by rising inequality and low growth that has left many people feeling stranded, stoking social discord and populism. This lecture links these trends to how and where IT is produced. Because IT is mainly created by skilled workers it has boosted their wages. Importantly, this rise in inequality has been exacerbated by the concentration of IT firms in wealthy, crowded cities. Rising housing costs bottled up IT's benefits in increasingly expensive cities, raising labor misallocation and lowering growth in the rest of the country. Fortunately, the technological cycle is starting to turn, implying a future of higher growth and lower inequality.
Speaker:
A graduate of Cambridge and Stanford Universities, Tamim Bayoumi is currently at King’s College London as a visiting scholar. Before that he had a long and varied career at the International Monetary Fund, working on the United States, Japan, the World Economic Outlook, and the impact of technology on the global economy. He is also the author of the book Unfinished Business which traces the origins of the 2008 North Atlantic Financial Crisis and which was an FT Economics Book of the Year in 2017.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3LxIxvFThe growing global momentum for reform of the international financial architecture presents opportunities in 2023 to change the current trajectory of climate change. The COP27 conclusions recognised the need for major financial system reform to unlock investment for decarbonisation. Markets will have to be harnessed to support the delivery of a just transition to a low carbon economy. Conversely, on the current global temperature trajectory climate change is an existential threat to the financial system. Unlocking the full investment for decarbonisation requires reform of the supervision and regulation of the global financial system – a transition plan for finance.
Speakers:Tom Tayler's work focuses on reform of financial markets to address systemic risks and market failures, with a particular focus on the climate crisis. He supports Aviva Investors work regarding sustainable finance and market and regulatory reform, including contributing to the work of the UN High-Level Climate Champions as a member of their finance team. He has also worked on projects linked to the UN Global Investors for Sustainable Development, the UN-convened Net Zero Asset Owners’ Alliance, the EU High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance, the UK Green Market Taskforce, and the UN PRI Legal Framework for Impact. Tom has also worked with and engaged policymakers on key sustainable finance reforms including the EU Sustainable Finance Action Plan, the DWP reform of pension trustees’ fiduciary duty, and engagement with the IOSCO Sustainable Finance Network.Steve Waygood chairs the ESG Senior Leadership Team at Aviva Investors, and is a member of the CIO Investment Committee. Steve founded Aviva Investors’ Sustainable Finance Centre for Excellence. This Centre seeks to transform capital markets so that they support long term sustainable development. He also co-founded the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, the World Benchmarking Alliance, the UN Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Coalition. He was also part of the group that helped write the Principles for Responsible Investment.Steve was appointed to the European Commission High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance, and the UK Green Finance Taskforce, and is also a member of the Financial Stability Board Taskforce on Climate Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD).Steve started his career at the World Wide Fund for Nature in 1995, where he chaired the business and industry core group and oversaw the ethical investment policy. He also served on the board of the UK Sustainable Investment & Finance association (UKSIF) from 2003 to 2010, serving as its Chairman from 2006.
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Background: In our next newspad review webinar chaired by Global Shares’ Bryony Wilson, panellists Jennifer Rudman of Equiniti, and Elliot Alexander of Computershare will be joined by ShareGift’s Gabbi Stopp to discuss the government’s Call For Evidence on Share Incentive Plan (SIP) and Save as you Earn (SAYE) plans, along with their pick of articles featured in recent editions of “It’s Our Business”, newspad of the Esop Centre.Panellist: Jennifer Rudman, Industry Director, Employee Share Plans, EquinitiJennifer has responsibility for defining Equiniti’s share plan strategy and enhancing its employee share plan services. She is a member of a number of employee schemes working groups, liaising regularly with industry bodies. Jennifer acts as a point of reference for issuers and journalists, analysing market data to identify trends and informing the market of current practice.Panellist: Elliot Alexander, Associate Director, ComputershareElliot first joined Computershare on an internship in 2011 before re-joining in 2013 as an Account Manager as part of a placement year during his Business Studies Bachelor’s Degree studies. Since 2019, he has worked for Computershare’s Share Plans business, working closely with clients and our wider teams to provide solutions for their share plans. Elliot is also a member of the Global Equity Organisation UK Chapter. Prior to this role, he worked in Computershare’s Communications Services business, helping clients and their employees to get the most out of their share plan communications and supporting campaigns to increase education, engagement, and take-up.Panellist: Gabbi Stopp, Chief Executive Officer, ShareGiftGabbi is Chief Executive of the share donation charity and grantmaking foundation, ShareGift. Prior to her current role she ran ProShare for five years, and also enjoyed a lengthy career in executive and employee share ownership both in-house at a number of FTSE100-listed plan issuers and at two service providers, Equiniti and Link. A chartered Company Secretary and lifelong learner, Gabbi is currently studying for a Masters in Philanthropy & Grantmaking. She is passionate about the power and purpose of share ownership and loves solving problems for corporates, shareholders and charities.Chairman: Bryony Wilson, Client Relationship Manager, Global SharesBryony has 7+ years industry experience and joined Global Shares last year having worked previously with YBS Share Plans in roles including; Client Relationship Manager, Business Development Manager and Corporate Relationship Manager. Bryony is an active member of the Global Equity Organisation UK Chapter. Bryony has extensive knowledge of implementing and managing global equity compensation plans, Bryony has a strong focus on helping clients to achieve their employee share ownership goals.
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Big data, AI, generative AI, Chat GPT and other buzzwords - they’re moving faster than light these days and it’s hard to keep up with tech news, even less with what the implications mean for us as businesses. In this webinar we’re looking at how AI could shape one of the largest asset classes in the world - our built environment.
Speaker:
Karen Burns is Co-Founder and CEO of Fyma where they help build better places with data. Fyma partners with commercial real estate developers and asset managers to help them make sense of their built space: from footfall to all kinds of transport, accessibility and dwell time analytics. Set up in minutes, GDPR compliant and works on any camera in the world.
She has 17+ years prior experience in ICT and Business Development roles, having most recently worked at CGI Estonia as Business Development Director, laying foundations for company-wide innovation and product development and prior to that at Mooncascade, one of the Nordics' fastest growing software development houses where she tripled their annual revenue during her two years with the company as their Head of Business Development.
Karen has lived and worked in the UK, South Africa and the Middle East, both in private and public sector organisations in management positions.
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The eleventh edition of the Global Green Finance Index provides the world’s most authoritative measure of the performance of financial centres in delivering green finance services.The report, assembled by combining the views of financial professionals from around the world, with quantitative data commissioned and curated from over 130 sources, uses advanced statistical techniques to map the global spread of green finance.
Interested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5
Mike Wardle is CEO and the Head Of Indices for Z/Yen Group, managing work on the development and delivery of the Global Financial Centres Index, Global Green Finance Index, and Smart Centres Index. Mike worked as a civil servant for almost 20 years mostly within the field of education policy. He was a director and then Chief Executive of the General Social Care Council, establishing the regulation of social workers. Mike's career moved into consultancy, programme management and coaching and he worked with Z/Yen for six years delivering programme management services to the Church of England, Unison, and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust before taking up his current role.
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Mauritius, as an international financial centre and growing Fintech hub, is among the first countries in the Eastern and Southern African region to adopt a comprehensive legislation on virtual assets and initial token offerings through the Virtual Asset and Initial Token Offerings Services Act 2021 (VAITOS). The Act, which came into force in February 2022, regulates the new and developing business activities surrounding VAs and ITOs and makes provisions for, inter alia, managing, mitigating and preventing money laundering, financing of terrorism and proliferation risks associated with VA and ITO services. This webinar focuses on the latest regulatory and market changes, and aims to shed light on the practical implications of the ongoing initiatives on the virtual asset ecosystem.
In this webinar, we will hear from expert speakers who will elaborate on:
- The VAITOS Act
- Authorisation and Supervision processes of VASPs
- Ongoing fintech / VA initiatives.
- Asset tokenisation and other opportunities
Speakers:
Mr Dhanesswurnath Thakoor is the Chief Executive of the FSC Mauritius since 18 May 2020. He holds a master’s degree in Information Technology, Electronics and Systems Automation from Polytech Lille-France and an MBA with specialization in Finance. Mr. Thakoor also has 25 years of Central Banking experience. In his capacity as Chief Executive, Mr. Thakoor represents the FSC Mauritius in a number of international regulatory bodies and committees including the IOSCO, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors (IOPS) and the Committee of Insurance, Securities and Non-Banking Financial Authorities (CISNA). The FSC Mauritius is the Africa/Middle-East Regional Committee (AMERC) representative in the IOSCO Board for the term 2022-2024. Mr. Thakoor spearheaded results-driven initiatives at the level of FSC Mauritius to complete the action items to address the strategic deficiencies identified by the FATF. These efforts have been instrumental for Mauritius to exit the FATF Grey List in October 2021. Mr. Thakoor has also been at the forefront in the establishment of a modern regulatory framework of a spectrum of innovative financial products and services such as Virtual Assets, VCCs, SILIB, Peer-to-Peer Lending, Crowdfunding and Guidelines for the issue of Green Bonds, among others. He also led a number of digitalization-driven projects among which the FSC One Platform and is now leading the National Insurance Claims Database project.
Ms Teenoosha Boyjoo is an Acting Manager in the AML/CFT Directorate of the Financial Services Commission (FSC). She has more than 15 years of experience in the financial services regulation industry. She joined the FSC in 2007 and has served the institution with different responsibilities. Ms. Boyjoo is currently the chairperson of the Joint Coordination Committee (AML/CFT) between the FSC and the Bank of Mauritius Working Group on AML/CFT, and of the Working Group on AML/CFT between the FSC and Mauritius Finance. She is also a member of various committees and working groups with different organisations pertaining to AML/CFT.
Mr Kamal Burun is Assistant Director and heads the Authorisation Directorate at the Financial Services Commission. He previously worked for a major international bank where he held various positions in Mauritius and in Hong Kong where he has served in local and regional tax advisory roles.
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Until recently, ageing was thought of as an irreversible process resulting in an inevitable decline in health and wellbeing. But over the last decade huge scientific advancements have demonstrated that ageing is modifiable. Not only can it be slowed – it can also be reversed. These breakthroughs have rewritten ageing as we know it and offer an unprecedented opportunity for the development of solutions to age well. Dr Nichola Conlon will join us to discuss the latest scientific breakthroughs and solutions to age well.
Speaker:
Dr Nichola Conlon is an expert in cellular health, with particular focus on the science of ageing well. After a career in drug development, Dr Nichola founded Nuchido Laboratories driven by her belief that cutting-edge science should not lie hidden. At Nuchido, she is passionate about translating the latest scientific breakthroughs into products that slow biological ageing. Along with leading scientists at Nuchido, Dr Nichola has identified the right combination of targets to restore cellular NAD+ production back to youthful levels, leading to the development of a breakthrough NAD+ booster called Nuchido TIME+. Dr Nichola is on a mission to democratise science and has a passion for translating advanced science in a consumer-friendly manner. She regularly speaks about the science behind the symptoms of common ageing complaints, educating and empowering people with the latest knowledge to reverse their biological age and improve their healthspan.
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Governments today are much less persuaded that subsidising the burning of biomass to generate low-carbon electricity represents good value for taxpayers – let alone a good deal for our Net Zero targets. Elsewhere, in the world of controversial technologies, Carbon Capture and Storage is still struggling to prove it will ever live up to the promises made on its behalf over the last 25 years. So what happens when you bring the two together, as Drax is now planning to do with its huge new BECCS investment at its Selby plant in Yorkshire? Is it possible to envisage ‘BECCS done well’? If so, on what terms?
Speaker:
Jonathon Porritt is an eminent writer and campaigner on sustainable development. In 1996 he co-founded Forum for the Future, a leading international sustainable development charity, working with business and civil society to accelerate the shift toward a sustainable future.
In 2022 he chaired the High Level Panel on BECCS Done Well, which reported in November 2023: Read the report
Jonathon is President of The Conservation Volunteers, and is actively involved in the work of many other NGOs and organisations.
He was formerly Co-Chair of the Green Party (1980-83), Director of Friends of the Earth (1984-90), a Trustee of WWF-UK (1991-2005), a member of the Board of the South West Regional Development Agency (1999-2008), and a Trustee of Ashden. He stood down as Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission in 2009, after nine years providing high-level advice to Government Ministers. Jonathon served a ten-year term as Chancellor of Keele University (2012-2022), and was a Non-Executive Director of Willmott Dixon until 2022.
In 2017, Jonathon received Ethical Corporation’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the Responsible Business Awards. He was awarded a CBE in January 2000 for services to environmental protection.
His latest book, Hope in Hell (Simon & Schuster, 2020) is a powerful ‘call to action’ on the Climate Emergency.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3zCUwT9
A challenge to the conventional wisdom surrounding financial risk, providing insight into why easy solutions to control the financial system are doomed to fail.
Finance plays a key role in the prosperity of the modern world—but it also brings grave dangers. We seek to manage those threats with a vast array of sophisticated mathematical tools and techniques of financial risk management. Too often, though, we fail to address the greatest risk—the peril posed by our own behaviour.
Jon Danielsson argues that critical risk is generated from within, through the interactions of individuals and perpetuated by their beliefs, objectives, abilities, and prejudices. He asserts that the widespread belief that risk originates outside the financial system frustrates our ability to measure and manage it, and the likely consequences of new regulations will help alleviate small-scale risks but, perversely, encourage excessive risk taking. Danielsson uses lessons from past and recent crises to show that diversity is the best way to safeguard our financial system.
Read Jon's latest blog post on What Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse tell us about financial regulations
Speaker:
Dr Jon Danielsson is a Director of the ESRC funded Systemic Risk Centre at the London School of Economics. He has a PhD in the economics of financial markets and his research interests include financial stability, systemic risk, extreme market movements, market liquidity and financial crisis. He has published his research extensively in both academic journals and the mainstream media, and has presented his work in a number of universities and institutions.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3UgMPLH
The world is having an AI moment. With the attention attracted by AI models like ChatGPT and GPT-4, interest in AI is growing exponentially in both the public and commercial sectors. As the scale of AI deployment expands, there are increasingly urgent legal questions around legal status, rights and obligations of AI developers, service providers and users, and even of AI agents themselves. Can an AI have legal personality or be the inventor of a patent? What restrictions should there be on deployment of advanced AI? The participants in this webinar are experts on AI, and will discuss questions like these about the scope, approach, history and future of legal issues for AI.
Speaker:
Maury Shenk's experience focuses at the intersection of technology, law and education. He is co-founder and CEO of edtech start-up LearnerShape, director and general counsel of global testing and certification company PeopleCert, and founder and managing director of Lily Innovation, through which he handles a portfolio of other investment and advisory activities. Maury is a dual-qualified US/UK lawyer and former managing partner of the London office of global law firm Steptoe & Johnson, where he remains an advisor. He has a deep practical understanding of technology, especially artificial intelligence, edtech, IT, telecommunications and information security. Maury is a graduate of Harvard College and Stanford Law School. He is a lover of languages – a native speaker of English (the American version), proficient in French and Russian, comfortable in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish, and dilettante in German, Greek, Italian and Norwegian and Greek. He is also a guitar player and an avid competitive and recreational sailor.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3nDtFU2
The Kigali International Financial Centre, KIFC, is Rwanda’s financial centre facilitating international investment and cross-border transactions in Africa. KIFC was established in 2020 and positions Rwanda as a preferred financial jurisdiction for investments into Africa by providing an attractive destination for investors, with a robust legal and regulatory framework fully compliant with international standards and competitive tax structures, including a network of double tax treaties.
KIFC attracts regional and international investors such as Pan-African based investment funds, asset managers and administrators, regional holding structures, foundations, and global trading firms.
In addition, with its niche focus on Fintech, KIFC offers FinTechs a framework to pilot their business models in a controlled environment before expanding into the wider African market.
Speaker:
Hortense Mudenge is the Chief Operations Officer of Rwanda Finance Limited, responsible for overseeing strategic projects and the business operations of the company. Hortense is a seasoned management consultant, with 8 years’ experience advising international development and private sector clients on business and market development and an MBA from Hult International Business School in the US.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3KhW4rM
The City of London Corporation has adopted a ground-breaking Climate Action Strategy which sets out how the organisation will achieve net zero, build climate resilience and champion sustainable growth, both in the UK and globally, over the next two decades. As part of this strategy, the Corporation has committed to support the achievement of net zero in the Square Mile by 2040. And this commitment includes providing net zero training support for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) based in the area.
As well as being fundamental to the UK’s economic performance, SMEs are engines of growth, key drivers of innovation and they are creating jobs and generating prosperity. They are essential to our ongoing recovery from the pandemic, levelling up communities and in reaching net zero.
But what role do SMEs play in your company’s eco-system? And in your company’s drive to reach net zero? Supply chain emissions are 11.4 times higher than operational emissions and understandably many large companies want their suppliers – who are often SMEs – to measure, report and cut down emissions. So in these unprecedentedly tough trading conditions, the net zero challenge remains as urgent as ever. But SMEs need support to fully contribute to decarbonisation goals – within corporate supply chains, within the Square Mile and within the wider UK and European economies.
Join this session to learn about the net zero support that is being provided to SMEs in Square Mile; to consider the support that larger firms can provide to their own SME suppliers and to hear a selection of top tips businesses can adopt to ensure we’re all on track to reach net zero.
Speaker:
Maggie Berry OBE leads Heart of the City, a charity that supports SMEs to develop responsible business practices ranging from implementing net zero programmes, supporting their local community to promoting inclusion and wellbeing in the workplace. Since its inception twenty years ago, Heart of the City has been at the forefront of helping small businesses to build successful responsible business programmes.
Maggie was previously Executive Director for Europe for WEConnect International, a global organisation championing supply chain inclusion by helping women-owned businesses to connect into corporate supply chains. Maggie had lead responsibility for the organisation in Europe and her role involved developing corporate and public sector support as well as growing and supporting a network of women-owned businesses across Europe.
Prior to this, Maggie ran an online job board, recruitment and networking forum for women working in the technology profession in the UK. Maggie remains informally involved with championing women in the technology profession and is a Freeman at the Information Technologists' Company in the City of London. In June 2019, Maggie was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in recognition of her services to women in business and technology.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3Zi8ggA
The Global Financial Centres Index has been tracking the development of the world’s financial centres since 2007 and is the authoritative guide to financial centre success.In this webinar, Z/Yen formally launches the 33rd edition of the index.Guest Speaker:
Dhanesswurnath Thakoor, CEO, FSC Mauritius
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3Z8K1kQ
Professor Sir David Omand will examine the nature of modern crisis, (the topic of his next book) both those caused by outside events and the slow burn crises that can develop from policy failure. Drawing on his own experience in government service he will argue that provided we have strategic notice and make preparations, not every emergency has to develop into crisis, but some crises if poorly managed will tip into disaster. He will argue that we are entering an era where we need more investment in resilience by all sectors to allow an ‘all of nation’ response to what we will face.
Speaker:
Sir David Omand GCB is Visiting Professor in the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. His posts in British government service included UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator in the Cabinet Office, Permanent Secretary of the Home Office, Director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), and Deputy Under-Secretary of State for Policy in the Ministry of Defence, He served for seven years as a member of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC). He is a member of the Senior Advisory Board of Paladin Capital and until 2021 he was the Senior Independent Director of Babcock International Group. He has published three books, Securing the State (London: Hurst 2010) and (with Prof Mark Phythian) Principled Spying: the Ethics of Secret Intelligence (Oxford 2018). His latest book How Spies Think: 10 Lessons from Intelligence is now published in paperback by Penguin (July 2021). He is currently writing a book for Penguin Viking on How to Survive a Crisis.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3YVEC0t
For the uninitiated, Asia-Pacific is home to a tongue-twister of both old and emerging trade agreements and economic frameworks: ASEAN, APEC, RCEP, CPTPP, IPEF, DEAs. Nevertheless, their role in both regional and global trade environments as well as their potential to shape the trade rulebook offsets their seemingly unimaginative acronyms. Closer to home, the United Kingdom's application to join the CPTPP is certainly a case in point. In this session, Deborah Elms of the Asian Trade Centre will give a rundown of the region's vibrant trade landscape, what it means for governments and businesses both within and outside the region, and how firms should prepare to leverage their potential benefits.
Speaker:
Dr Deborah Elms is the Founder and Executive Director of the Asian Trade Centre and the President of the Asia Business Trade Association. Concurrently, she is a member of APCO’s International Advisory Council, the G20 Trade and Investment Research Network, and the Advisory Board of the Trade and Investment Negotiation Adviser at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. She is also a Research Associate at the New Zealand APEC Study Centre and a Senior Fellow of the Ministry of Trade and Industry Academy of Singapore. Dr Elms has extensive experience working with governments, international organizations, businesses, and the academe and is one of the leading experts on trade policy in the region. She was also active in her past leadership posts in international trade groups having served on the Trade and Investment Council of the World Economic Forum from 2017 to 2019, the International Technical Advisory Committee of the Global Trade Professionals Alliance, as well as being the chair of its Working Group on Trade Policy and Law. Prior to her current role, Dr Elms was head of the Temasek Foundation Centre for Trade and Negotiations and Senior Fellow of International Political Economy at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Dr Elms holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Washington, an MA in international relations from the University of Southern California, and bachelor’s degrees from Boston University. Dr Elms frequently appears in the media to provide expert analysis on trade issues in the region and publishes the Talking Trade Blog.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3FBw08o
Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are about to enter in wider public discourse. The Bank of England has recently published a Consultation Paper on CBDCs. However, 86% of central banks around the world are looking at both domestic and international, cross-border use of CBDCs. Indeed, the introduction of CBDCs for cross-border financial transfers is likely to happen far sooner than domestic retails CBDCs. This launch will be into a less-than-stable global financial system, reliant on the US Federal Reserve as the de facto global central bank. Michael will indicate how wide digital currency areas may provoke changes in the invoicing of trade flows.
Speaker:
Dr Michael Lloyd read economics at Trinity College Cambridge, some 50 years ago. Now a Senior Research Fellow and Associate Director at the Global Policy Institute (London), Michael has wide experience as an applied economist in industry; in European international organisations, including as Economic Adviser to the European Parliament in 1998, covering preparations for the establishment of the European Central Bank in 1999. His earlier experience included posts as an economist with the UK Trades Union Congress between 1970 and 1973; as a permanent official of the European Commission, 1973 to 1980; as International Director of British Shipbuilders, 1980 to 1984, and as a Managing Director of his own economic consultancy company from 1984 to 1997. He has published a number of books and in currently in the final stages of a book, CBDCs: The Future of Money, to be published by Agenda Publishing at the end of April this year.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/40cLhUX
The Mauritian financial services sector has been evolving in a competitive business environment and keeps on gaining momentum as a resilient and prominent sector. As one of the lynchpins of the Mauritian economy, the financial services sector has contributed to 14% of the GDP in 2021, with a growth rate of 4.6%. Over the years, the sector has built a strong reputation emanating from its role as a premier International Financial Centre (IFC) for cross-border investments in emerging economies.
The buoyancy of the financial services sector coupled with the sustained economic track-record has positioned the Mauritius IFC in good stead, thereby enhancing investors’ trust, confidence, and stability, which is internationally acclaimed.
This webinar will hear from expert speakers who will explain the:
- achievements of the MIFC;
- non-banking financial services sector;
- banking sector as a pillar of the economy;
- competitive edge of the MIFC, and;
- experience of the MIFC.
Speakers:
- The Hon Mahen Kumar Seeruttun
Minister
Financial Services and Good Governance - Dhanesswurnath Thakoor
Chief Executive
FSC - Hemlata Sadhna Sewraj-Gopal
Second Deputy Governor
Bank of Mauritius - Issa Soormally
Vice Chairperson
Economic Development Board - Samade Jhummun
Chief Executive Officer
Mauritius Finance - Thierry Koenig
Head
ENSAfrica
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3FmibdW
It has been said that “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Yet, we continue with the status quo and rarely welcome challenge or creativity especially when addressing second-order problems or significant business and organisational challenges. Disruption is becoming the new normal – and we continue to be ruled by VUCA, that acronym of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity.
We need to think differently to solve traditional problems and achieve transformative results, something I call creative consulting. This is achieved by using psychology, behavioural science, creativity and collaboration, in addition to metrics, to increase imagination, enhance possibility and the expand solution space. This is easier said than done – especially given the homogeneity of many gatekeepers and their reluctance to embrace change. In essence, this is moving from a traditional, linear, ‘left-brain’ approach to a more creative, oblique and right-brain approach - true cognitive diversity.
During the session, I will show via a simple 2-by-2 matrix of effectiveness versus approach that we need to move from the reality of ‘persistent misdirected efforts’ to the truly transformative. This is the opportunity for significant growth, innovation, solving second-order problems. This ‘magical’ quadrant is a concept that frightens many of our gatekeepers and leaders. This quadrant is where true disruption, innovation and ‘blue ocean’ can happen. It is in many cases not predicted by research or metrics but governed by behaviour and oblique thinking.
Creative consulting goes against the grain of many operating models and consulting firms' focus on cost-cutting their way to growth - which, aside from incrementalism, ultimately leads to a bit of a bloodbath and little differentiation or transformation.
Speaker:
Dowshan Humzah is an independent board director and strategic advisor who has delivered transformative business growth, industry firsts, digital innovation and talent diversity, having held executive roles with RSA Insurance, Virgin Media, Orange, Procter & Gamble and four digital start-ups.
He has a multi-faceted career with a portfolio of board, advisory and consulting roles. As a non-executive, he focuses much of his efforts on improving performance and quality via board composition and representation. His directorships include Chair UK Advisory Board, Board Apprentice Global; Member of Council, Gresham College; and Chair, Overcoming MS.
Core to his consultancy roles, Dowshan shows organisations how to enhance customer and commercial deliverables by thinking differently to achieve transformative results. This is facilitated by his cognitive diversity and application of creative consulting, where he combines traditional, linear, ‘left-brain’ frameworks with a more creative, oblique, ‘right-brain’ approach thereby expanding possibility, imagination and the resulting solution space.
Dowshan is a co-author of ‘Uncertainty Deconstructed’ (published by Springer) and an apt book for our current disruptive times!
China’s economic growth slowed from double-digit pre-GFC to about 5% pre-covid, and to likely only 3% in 2022. Is there a permanent structural shift in China’s growth potential? Is there scaring in labor and business? Can China mitigate the long-term secular headwinds such as aging population and carbon reduction? How can China handle the medium-term risks such as housing and debt overhang? Finally we will discuss what these all mean for global investors and businesses.
Speaker:
Gene Ma is the Head of China Research at IIF (Institute of International Finance). At this capacity, Gene maintains regular contacts with Chinese financial institutions and policy makers. Prior to IIF, Gene was a Director of China economics and strategy at Tudor Investment; Managing Director and China economist at ISI Group (Now Evercore ISI); President and chief economist of the CEBM Group (now owned by Caixin); and chief macro analyst at Citic Securities (Beijing). Gene graduated from Peking Univ. and Cornell Univ.
Watch the recording here - https://fsclub.zyen.com/events/all-events/what-is-chinas-growth-potential-after-covid/
Over 25 years, Insurance-Linked Securitisation has subtly changed the entire landscape of the (re)insurance industry by uniting it with the capital markets. Each successive year of mega-catastrophe(s) - Hurricane Andrew in 1992, World Trade Center in 2001, Hurricanes Katrina, Rita & Wilma in 2005 - has been a game-changer for the (re)insurance industry, requiring large amounts of new risk capital to be raised. This new capital has arrived in a variety of forms, (a) repairing the balance sheets of existing (re)insurance companies, (b) forming new (re)insurance companies, and (c) increasingly through various forms of Insurance-Linked Securitisation (ILS). ILS structures place (re)insurance risk directly into the capital markets, and now represent around 15% of the capital in the reinsurance market.
The most visible and successful form of ILS are Catastrophe (Cat) bonds. From the first public cat bond incepting on 1 January 1997, there are currently now over $100 billion of cat bonds in issue. The early Cat bonds mainly financed property damage from natural perils (hurricanes, typhoons and earthquakes), but Cat bonds have now been issued covering a wide range of non-catastrophic property perils, as well as other casualty and life & health risks – even including pandemics. One key innovation underlying this growth has been the introduction of non-indemnity event definitions, particularly parametric ‘triggers’. At the other end of the scale, parametric triggers have aided the development of micro-insurance.
The history of cat bonds is covered in Alan Punter’s new book “A Celebration of 25 years of Insurance-Linked Securitisation through 25 Landmark Deals”. This seminar will describe the basic structure of a Cat bond and illustrate how Cat bonds have developed and evolved over the past 25 years to become endemic in the (re)insurance sector – particularly as the traditional reinsurance market has appeared to reduce its appetite for ‘peak’ risks, as climate change, social inflation and financial inflation have all increased the frequency and severity of insured catastrophes over recent years. The cost of Hurricane Andrew in 1992 to the (re)insurance industry was around $16 billion; the cost if Andrew was repeated at today’s values has been estimated to be over $60 billion – a figure that the 2022 Hurricane Ian appears now to be validating.
Watch the webinar here - https://fsclub.zyen.com/events/past-events/catastrophes-are-they-becoming-too-big-to-insure-are-cats-eating-reinsurers-lunch/
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3y2xrbI
Edward Tenner writes about the revenge effect in technology in his book, The Revenge of Unintended Consequences. He points out specifically that security is an example of where we can see the revenge effect. “Security is another window on revenge effects. Power door locks, now standard on most cars, increase the sense of safety. But they have helped triple or quadruple the number of drivers locked out over the last two decades— costing $400 million a year and exposing stranded drivers to the very criminals the locks were supposed to defeat.”
When we created the backbone of our current device authentication system, PKI, we did not intend to create certificates that have become the target for attackers to steal and the point of entry for approximately 80% of successful data breaches. The purloined credential has given rise to the growth of progeny technology in Two Factor Authentication to deal with the vulnerability created by the strong, but stealable certificate meant to protect.
Adding insult to the injury, we frequently find ourselves codifying the revenge effect’s vulnerability into industry standards and regulations. We have done this with PKI. This codification stifles innovation and perpetuates the vulnerability and at the end of the day creates a safe harbor of a predictable future for attackers.
We may be approaching an opportunity to break the hold of the revenge effect. It appears to some that quantum computing could become both a technical and commercial reality. As we contemplate what that could mean, we should pause for a moment and contemplate what unintended consequences might be lurking in the quantum shadows.
Speaker:
John Ellingson started his digital career with the Boeing Company working on the 747 aircraft in the late 1960s. He became a computer-literate attorney performing what is today known as forensic accounting. As the founding chairman of the ABA/YLD Subcommittee on Tax Treatment in Bankruptcy, John worked with the Congressional Joint Tax Committee to create the Internal Revenue Code Provision enabling the tax-free merger and acquisition of debtor corporations. This law became part of the Bankruptcy Tax Act of 1980. John had a national M&A practice in this area and obtained the first IRS Private Letter Ruling on this Code section. As a result of this practice, he observed a frequent element of white-collar crime in many bankruptcy cases, and he subsequently developed and patented a method to detect identity fraud. The product derived from that patent is still deployed at most retail banks throughout the US today.
This success started John on a path of protecting digital systems and identity management. He continued in this role with American Operations Corporation and ASM Research before founding infOsci LLC and later QWERX, Inc. John holds numerous method patents in digital system security.
John was appointed to the United States Air Force Academy and medically separated before graduation. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin and a Juris Doctor degree from Seattle University. For 20 years John served as a liaison officer with the United States Naval Academy and the United States Military Academy. He also served on the Service Academy Selection Boards for two U.S. Senators.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/41ivvJD
20 years ago, 'Great Mistakes in Technology Commercialization' was published. What are the five 'Great Mistakes' in the paper? They are:
- A failure to distinguish the scientific and technical 'features' of a product/service from the 'benefits' it brings to users/customers
- 'Top-down market assessment' such as 'the market is $5bn, so we only need 1% market share to reach $50m sales'
- Failing to make the technology robust and practical in usage (the 'Chicken-gun test')
- Poor project management
- Entrepreneurs not understanding costs, and investors not understanding the add-on benefits of platform technologies.
20 years on, how does the paper stack up in hindsight? What would be added now?
Join Dr Kevin Parker and Professor Michael Mainelli to hear their there thoughts for great mistakes in technology commercialization in 2023.
Speakers:
Dr Kevin Parker started his career with a bang by blowing up a laboratory at the University of Cambridge. Some 40 years later, he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and runs KKI Associates, a training and consultancy company helping start-up companies and individuals achieve their promise. From 1997 onwards KKI has been one of the pioneers of technology commercialisation in Scotland, Its clients have included 19 Russell Group Universities, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, many parts of Scottish Enterprise, various City think-tanks, and a variety of NGO’s (including the Episcopal Church of Scotland). In 2021, KKI completed its 500th commercial assignment. As well as his science qualifications, Kevin is a Sloan Fellow of London Business School. He has carried out extensive voluntary work, running 25 Cub Scout camps, and being an award winning mentor for the Princes Trust.
Professor Michael Mainelli is a qualified accountant, securities professional, computer specialist, and management consultant, educated at Harvard University and Trinity College Dublin. Michael gained his PhD at the London School of Economics where he was also a Visiting Professor of Innovation & IT. Michael is Emeritus Professor, Fellow, & Trustee at Gresham College where he created the Long Finance initiative asking “when would we know our financial system is working?” His third book, The Price Of Fish: A New Approach To Wicked Economics And Better Decisions, won the Independent Publisher Book Awards Finance, Investment & Economics Gold Prize. Michael is an Alderman and was elected Sheriff of the City of London 2019-2021.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3EnYt0z
This webinar will examine social innovation through the medium of responses to food insecurity with a particular emphasis on collaboration. Though the image of food insecurity in the UK is around the phenomena of food banks, Professor Alex Murdock will take a broader approach and will explore aspects such as technological responses and the growth of social supermarkets and food recycling initiatives. He will draw upon examples in a range of countries using examples of which reach beyond the traditional charity models. Social enterprise forms will be explored together with mechanisms which significantly (in some cases heavily) derive for private sector initiatives. Reference will be made to emerging trends which may impact on food insecurity and the potential implications going forward.
Speaker:
Professor Alex Murdock is Professor Emeritus at London South Bank University. He is a Social Business and Third Sector researcher with extensive professional knowledge and governance experience. He has some 25 years teaching and research experience gained from associations with Universities in the UK, USA, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. He also has successful Board level and organizational development and leadership experience and was previously a professional and senior manager in the public sector.
Alex has authored /co-authored 6 books and numerous other publications.
His research interests are cross sector collaboration and partnership, Citizen engagement and ‘co’ agendas (co-production etc), Social Impact measurement, Food insecurity and social innovation and Issues of an Ageing Demographic.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3lOYNPM
This year, the new European “unified patent court agreement” (UPCA) is expected to come into force. This agreement will introduce the new “unitary patent” which will enable proprietors of European patents to cover a new pseudo-region of (currently) 17 EU states in one go. The agreement will also introduce the new Unified Patent Court which will take default jurisdiction over existing European patents, and the new unitary patent. This court will have the power to grant decisions which will take effect across at least the 17 states and therefore dispense with the requirement for separate national proceedings.
In this webinar AIPEX experts will take you through everything you need to know about this change in the European intellectual property system coming in just a few months’ time.
Speaker:
Rob Davey is an industry thought leader with 24 years’ experience in the intellectual property industry. Rob brings a deep domain expertise to his role as CEO of AIPEX B/V.
Prior to AIPEX Rob held senior roles at some of the largest players in the Intellectual Property, Domain Name and Brand Protection sectors, including Vice President of Strategy at Clarivate’s IP Group during a recent period of accelerated growth for the IP service provider. Rob has spoken or written for various organisations including CITMA, CIPA, INTA, Trademark Lawyer Magazine, World Trademark Review, IP Magazine, World Commerce Review and Lawyer Monthly.
A firm believer in the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace Rob has appeared in the Guardian’s Pride Power List in 2020, 21 and 22 and has been recognised with nominations from the European Diversity Awards, the British LGBT Awards and the Daily Telegraph Top 50 LGBT Executives.
Elliott Davies is a Patent Attorney with significant experience in drafting and prosecuting patent applications worldwide, but notably in the UK, Europe, US, and the Far East. He specialises in protecting inventions relating to a wide range of technologies, including telecommunications, photonics, electronics, and medical devices, and is frequently engaged by start-up companies and SMEs in view of his close links with the Welsh Assembly and knowledge of the financial assistance available to businesses.
He also has significant experience in filing and prosecuting registered design applications worldwide, for clients wanting to protect the outward appearance of their industrial or handicraft products.
Elliott regularly delivers presentations and lectures on intellectual property and frequently assists the UK Patent Office with its intellectual property masterclasses.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3lzPLG2
Often the first uses of a new technology seem frivolous in hindsight. Blockchain technology spent its first few years in the public eye as the backbone for inherently value-less “cryptocurrencies.” As the sky-high values of things like BTC and ETH were soaring, blockchains were adapted to NFTs or Non-Fungible Tokens, the headline grabbing examples of which were digital pictures of drunk hominids on sailboats. Fair enough, if you’re a silly celebrity who has slipped past your financial handlers and blown $300,000 on a digital picture some kid threw together in the basement last week. As that goofiness recedes, the adults in the market are slowly coming to realize how powerful the NFT structure is for smoothing trading and providing bulletproof audit trails for real assets like property and commodities. Christopher Messina has spent his career seeing connections across industries. In this case he saw the potential to create relative liquidity in commodity markets that have no centralized platform. As CEO of Tanbreez, the world’s largest rare earths, zirconium and tantalum mine in Greenland, he realized that NFTs are the perfect structure to connect commercial buyers of critical minerals directly with the mine producing them. Join us for an engaging discussion on this new offering, the Critical Minerals NFT.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3XBd5QZ
Estonia was the first country to offer e-Residency – a government-issued digital identity that allows entrepreneurs from anywhere in the world to start and manage a paperless EU-based company fully online. To date the e-Residency of Estonia has attracted over 96000 entrepreneurs, freelancers and startup founders from 179 countries including 4100 UK nationals. With 99% of public services online, the country’s startup ecosystem does not disappoint either, having bred the founders of Skype, Bolt, Wise and others, meaning the tiny country has the most unicorn businesses per capita of any other country in Europe. With goods, services, data and people not moving as easily anymore between UK and European Union, many have found a solution in e-Residency as a fully online alternative way to establish an EU base.
Speaker:
Ülane Vilumets leads the team that is responsible for ecosystem development and partnerships at e-Residency. Before joining the team Ülane was an entrepreneur and a startup founder herself, having built a travel app and site with half a million monthly visitors. With her experiences ranging from offline as well as online business, she understands the challenges of SMEs engaging in cross-border trade very well.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3YKqyHd
The Philippines is the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)’s second-largest nation. It is the region’s fastest growing population and its third biggest economy. It has a young labor force, a resilient financial sector, and an expanding economy growing by 7.7 percent, year on year, in the first three quarters of 2022.
In this webinar, we will hear about the latest financial sector developments in the Philippines, including the role of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the Philippines in ensuring the stability of the Philippines’ financial system, as well as the SEC’s efforts to advance financial innovations and sustainable finance in the country.
Speaker:
Atty Kelvin Lester K Lee is a Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines.
As Commissioner, he directly oversees key regulatory functions of the SEC, such as Markets and Securities Regulation, Sustainable Finance, IT, Fintech and International Affairs. He is a Business Columnist of The Manila Times newspaper and a Law Professor on Corporate Law and Governance. He was recently selected as a Lee Kuan Yew Senior Fellow in Public Service of the National University of Singapore and was awarded as a Philippine Blockchain Champion by the Blockchain Council of the Philippines.
Atty Lee is a frequent keynote speaker and resource person, and has spoken in over a hundred events including international events organized in South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore and Spain, as well as conferences organized by international organizations such as the Asian Development Bank, the OECD, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum. He has also been interviewed by CNN, GMA News and other Philippine and international media channels.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3x89Up9
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, critical attention has shifted from the economy to the most fundamental feature of all market economies—money. Yet despite the centrality of political struggles over money, it remains difficult to articulate its democratic possibilities and limits. In this webinar, Stefan Eich will take us from ancient Greece to today to provide an intellectual history of money, drawing on the insights of key political philosophers to show how money is not just a medium of exchange but also a central institution of political rule. Money appears to be beyond the reach of democratic politics, but this appearance—like so much about money—is deceptive. Even when the politics of money is impossible to ignore, its proper democratic role can be difficult to discern. Stefan Eich examines six crucial episodes of monetary crisis, recovering the neglected political theories of money in the thought of such figures as Aristotle, John Locke, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes. He shows how these layers of crisis have come to define the way we look at money, and argues that informed public debate about money requires a better appreciation of the diverse political struggles over its meaning.
Speaker:
Stefan Eich is Assistant Professor of Government at Georgetown University. His research is in political theory and the history of political thought, in particular the political theory of money and financial capitalism. He is the author of The Currency of Politics: The Political Theory of Money from Aristotle to Keynes (Princeton University Press, May 2022), which recovers constitutive debates about money as a political institution in the history of political thought. His work has appeared in Political Theory, Modern Intellectual History, Capitalism and History, and History & Theory. He also co-edits a book series at Stanford University Press with Martijn Konings (University of Sydney) on "Currencies: New Thinking for Financial Times."
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3Xhw0jI
To what extent is global trade a new phenomenon? Documents from the Cairo Geniza, a cache of manuscripts from a medieval Egyptian synagogue, hold answers to this question, even if getting at them requires knowledge of multiple semitic languages, skill in paleography and bookkeeping worthy of medieval long-distance traders themselves. Thousands of letters and legal deeds from the 11th–13th centuries, mostly in Judaeo-Arabic (Arabic in Hebrew script), document the flow of people, commodities and manufactured goods across the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean basins.
The magisterial labors of S D Goitein (1900–85) opened the study of Geniza documents sixty years ago. After decades of work, he described his five-volume opus magnum, A Mediterranean Society, as “only a sketch.” His students’ and their students have now identified three times as many documents, and using them to drill deeper into the nitty-gritty of medieval trade: commodity supply; tax payments and evasion; the affective dimensions and vicissitudes of trade partnerships; and the relative importance of slaves and gemstones versus mundane items like flax and soap. The new generation is also developing online databases and machine learning tools to coax Geniza documents into yielding otherwise unrecoverable information about global trade in a period in which most traders focused their energies on Africa and Asia, not Europe.
Speaker:
Professor Marina Rustow is a social historian of the medieval Middle East with an interest in the history of trade, technology, economy, the state and social stratification. She specializes in reading documents in Arabic, Judaeo-Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic, including letters, legal deeds and state administrative and fiscal records, especially from the Cairo Geniza, a cache of manuscripts preserved in a medieval Egyptian synagogue. She is the Khedouri A. Zilkha Professor of Jewish Civilization in the Near East and a professor of Near Eastern studies and history at Princeton University. She also directs the Princeton Geniza Lab, where undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs and faculty work collaboratively to decipher and digitize Geniza documents, and helps run the Manuscript, Rare Book and Archive Studies Initiative. For the last two years she has been deep in digital humanities, working with a team to redesign the Princeton Geniza Project database, forging a multi-institutional collaboration to digitize Arabic manuscripts and understand their provenance histories, and venturing into computational paleography (handwritten text recognition using neural networks to decipher geniza manuscripts). In 2015, she was named a MacArthur Fellow.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3YnouVy
US and G7 financial sanctions on Russia have raised concerns about weaponization of the dollar - that is, increased use by the United States of the international financial leverage afforded by the greenback's "exorbitant privilege." The question is whether other countries, contemplating even the remote possibility that they may find themselves on the outs with the United States, will look to alternatives. Professor Eichengreen will ask whether the history of sanctions points to such a response. He will assess the available alternatives and evaluate the implications for 21st century globalization.
Speaker:
Barry Eichengreen is George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Chair and Distinguished Professor of Economics and Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research. In 1997-98 he was Senior Policy Advisor at the International Monetary Fund.
Professor Eichengreen is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (class of 1997). He is a distinguished fellow of the American Economic Association (class of 2022), a corresponding fellow of the British Academy (class of 2022), and a Life Fellow of the Cliometric Society (class of 2013). He has held Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships and been a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Palo Alto) and the Institute for Advanced Study (Berlin). For 15 years from 2004 he served as convener of the Bellagio Group of academics and officials. He is a regular monthly columnist for Project Syndicate.
Professor Eichengreen has been awarded the Economic History Association's Jonathan R.T. Hughes Prize for Excellence in Teaching and the University of California at Berkeley Social Science Division's Distinguished Teaching Award. He is the recipient of a doctor honoris causa from the American University in Paris, and was the 2010 recipient of the Schumpeter Prize from the International Schumpeter Society and the 2022 recipient of the Nessim Habif Prize for Contributions to Science and Industry. He was named one of Foreign Policy Magazine's 100 Leading Global Thinkers in 2011. He is a past president of the Economic History Association (2010-11).
His most recent book is In Defense of Public Debt with Asmaa El-Ganainy, Rui Esteves and Kris Mitchener (Oxford University Press 2021)
Find our more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3HXGDUF
Keeping people as safe as possible during incidents such as fires, attacks or explosions involves changing behaviour as well as physical protection. The ways that people behave in emergencies can help or hinder survivability, particularly in crowded places where the potential for congestion and crush can be as dangerous as the original threat. Behavioural research, new developments in computer simulation technology and data are increasingly used to help predict these outcomes, identify the changes in behaviour and operations needed and improve safety. In this session, Dr Aoife Hunt will explore the ways we model behaviour and crowd dynamics in emergencies, revealing the surprising story behind our safety regulations and debunking myths about human behaviour in disasters.
Speaker:
Dr Aoife Hunt is a Market Leader at GHD and leading specialist in people movement and emergency planning. She has 14 years’ experience in simulating human behaviour and pedestrian dynamics and completed an award-winning PhD in evacuation modelling. Leading on high profile projects across sectors, Aoife advises on the movements of people and materials in buildings, hospitals, stadia and events, the public realm, and transport systems across the world. She leads national research projects to advance the safety and security of crowded places, specialising in human behaviour in emergencies and pedestrian movement through security overlays. Aoife is regularly consulted on national guidance documents such as the 6th Edition of the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (Green Guide), SG02 Planning for Social Distancing at Sports Grounds, the Public Realm Design Guide, CIBSE Guide D, PAS 127, and is currently co-authoring the chapter on evacuation modelling in the SFPE Fire Engineering handbook. Aoife is co-chair of the Security Institute’s Special Interest Group: “Protecting People in Crowded Spaces” and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland. She delivers lectures at several academic institutions on crowd flow modelling, human behaviour in emergencies, and evacuation analysis, and is a former President of the British Science Association Mathematical Sciences Section.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3HJ0lmF
This webinar looks at everything from how banking plays a role in the climate emergency through to the FinTech world using technology to overcome issues of inequality and inclusion. The themes of Mr Skinner's new book 'Digital for Good' include questioning the purpose of banking, and whether it is socially useful; how purpose can impact a bank's role in the climate emergency; the way in which we can use finance to do good for society and the planet; the latest developments in cryptocurrencies; and more.
Speaker:
Chris Skinner is known as one of the most influential people in technology and a best-selling author. He is an independent commentator on the financial markets and fintech through his blog, the Finanser.com, which is updated daily. He helped to found one of the first mobile banks in the world, and has advised CEOs and leaders from every continent of the world including the United Nations, the White House, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.
His latest book (seventeenth!) is Digital for Good, focusing upon how technology and finance can work together to address the environmental and social issues we face today and make a better world. His previous books include Doing Digital, which shared the lessons of how to do digital transformation through interviews with leading global banks such as BBVA, China Merchants Bank, DBS, ING and JPMorgan Chase; Digital Human, which showed how digitalisation is a revolution that allows everyone from the plains of Africa to the mountains of Tibet to be included and served by the network; and Digital Bank that provides a comprehensive review and analysis of the battle for digital banking and strategies for companies to compete. Chris has recently been added to The Mad 33 List for Inspirational change and transformation leaders - making a difference - making the future a reality.
He is a non-executive director of 11:FS and on the advisory boards of many FinTech and financial firms. Mr Skinner is a visiting lecturer with Cambridge University as well as a TEDx speaker. In recent years, he has been voted one of the UK’s foremost fintech observers by The Telegraph and one of the most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal’s Financial News and Thomson Reuters.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3JpF9Ul
Complementary currencies have spread to many places around the world at the beginning of the 21st century. Creating sustainable economic cycles and short transport routes are often the goals of introducing them. Due to their manageability, regional currencies can be embedded in debates of regional economics and sustainability. Above all, they are suitable for democratic experiments that can show in real environments whether currency designs work as examples of collaborative communities and research.
Read Christian's new article on Creating Monetary Collaborative Spaces for Social and Ecological Transformation here
Speaker:
Christian Gelleri is a trained graduate teacher of economics and was awarded with degrees in business education at the University of Munich and business administration at the Rosenheim Technical University of Applied Sciences. He has founded the Chiemgauer, the most successful local currency in Germany. As CEO of the Regios social cooperative he has significantly shaped the dissemination of local currencies in Europe and has a broad knowledge of the status and prospects of complementary currencies. His current research focusses on complementary currencies designed to promote sustainable value chains with a low carbon footprint (“Climate Bonus”). He has published in the field of Law & Economics with recent articles on “Reshaping the Future of Europe with Complementary Currencies” (2022) and “The Phenomenon of Complementary Currencies” (2021).
Find our more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3Htj8SX
The four-day working week may seem attractive to workers, however critics are quick to point out the potential risks that a shift in working patterns would cause the economy.
A new book by Dr Pedro Gomes, Reader in Economics in Birkbeck’s Department of Economics, Mathematics and Statistics, draws on economic theory, history and data to argue that working Monday to Thursday will bring about a ‘powerful economic renewal for the benefit of all society’.
The book’s narrative is centred around the ideas of four economists from the 19th and 20th centuries: John Maynard Keynes, Joseph Schumpeter, Karl Marx and Friedrich Hayek. Giving careful consideration to the counter arguments, Dr Gomes demonstrates how a four-day week can:
- stimulate the economy through demand
- raise productivity, innovation and wages
- reduce technological unemployment
- crush populist movements
- reconcile a polarised society.
Speaker:
Dr Pedro Gomes is Reader in Economics at Birkbeck, University of London. Previously, he spent seven years as Assistant Professor at the University Carlos III de Madrid, was a Visiting Professor at the University of Essex and held positions at the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.
Pedro studied for his BSc in Economics in his hometown of Lisbon, and received his PhD from the London School of Economics in 2010. A leading researcher on public sector employment, he has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and two chapters in books. His work has been widely cited and has influenced policymakers, and his paper ‘Optimal public sector wages’ was awarded the Austin Robinson Memorial Prize by The Economic Journal (for the best paper written by an author within five years of receiving a PhD).
Pedro values partnerships with policy institutions, and has presented his work at the national banks of Portugal, Spain, France and England, as well as at the European Central Bank and the OECD. Fluent in English, Portuguese, Spanish and French, he lives in London with his wife and daughter.
Find his new book here
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3wpW15m
At Weatherbys Private Bank, we put our clients at the heart of everything we do. We remain a family run business, keeping pace with the digital world we now live in. With our online and mobile banking services our clients stay in control with easy access to their finances wherever they are. As more complex financial needs arise, alongside the digital solutions you can be sure of getting through to a real person at Weatherbys.
Join Roger Weatherby to learn about his 100% human and 100% digital strategy; why relationship banking is still important, and how it's still possible to build and maintain client relationships in an increasingly digital and instantaneous world.
Speaker:
Roger Weatherby became CEO of Weatherbys Bank in 2000. Outside of Weatherbys, Roger held the post of Senior Steward (Chairman) of The Jockey Club from 2014–2019 and was Chairman of Racing Welfare from 2005–2010. From 2010–2013, he was the inaugural chairman of The Racing Foundation. He has a Masters from London Business School.
Before joining Weatherbys, Roger served in HM Forces and worked at Cazenove & Co.
In 2018 Roger started Weatherbys’ flagship conference – “Creating The Future” – which brings together experts in diverse fields to stimulate discussion around major issues facing society and our future.
Roger is married to Semantha, they have four children and live in Leicestershire.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3WL5TSh
Join ES3G’s Kris Van Broekhoven for a webinar exploring how we can objectively measure the S of ESG of any company using technology, and how we can engage the end consumer to use its purchase power to direct the supply chain towards improvement of labour conditions. Kris will share his experience from rolling out a worker engagement application for some of the UK’s largest retailers, and how it helps them to complement annual factory audits with real-time data on labour conditions in the garment industry gathered directly from the workforce. Kris will cover how this solution can be extended at scale to any industry and has the potential of becoming a global standard for human rights due diligence (HRDD).
Speaker:
Kris Van Broekhoven is the Chief Executive Officer of ES3G Limited, a London based fintech that developed the technology that gathers the worker voice in real-time to monitor labour conditions in the supply chain. In 2020-2021 he was Chief Financial Officer of multi-bank digital trade finance platform Komgo. In 2012-2020 Kris was Global Head of Commodity Trade Finance at Citibank, where he set up the business with teams located in the US, Europe, Africa and Asia. Prior to Citi he spent 10 years at Deutsche Bank in London, where he was EMEA head of structured commodity trade finance. Kris has 28 years of international trade experience and holds master degrees in Law and Economics.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3iONXrY
Why is Red Bull so popular – even though everyone hates the taste? Why do countdown boards on platforms take away the pain of train delays? And why do we prefer stripy toothpaste? We think we are rational creatures. Economics and business rely on the assumption that we make logical decisions based on evidence. But we aren’t, and we don’t.
In many crucial areas of our lives, reason plays a vanishingly small part. Instead we are driven by unconscious desires, which is why placebos are so powerful. We are drawn to the beautiful, the extravagant and the absurd – from lavish wedding invitations to tiny bottles of the latest fragrance. So if you want to influence people’s choices you have to bypass reason. The best ideas don’t make rational sense: they make you feel more than they make you think.
Speaker:
Rory Sutherland is the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy, an attractively vague job title which has allowed him to co-found a behavioural science practice within the agency.
He works with a consulting practice of psychology graduates who look for ‘unseen opportunities’ in consumer behaviour - these are the often small contextual changes which can have enormous effects on the decisions people make - for instance tripling the sales rate of a call centre by adding just a few sentences to the script. Put another way, lots of agencies will talk about "bought, owned and earned" media: we also look for "invented media" and "discovered media": seeking out those unexpected (and inexpensive) contextual tweaks that transform the way that people think and act.
It is a hugely valuable activity - but, alas, not particularly lucrative. This is because clients generally do not have budgets for solving problems they did not know they had.
Before founding Ogilvy’s Behavioural Practice, Rory was a copywriter and creative director at Ogilvy for over 20 years, having joined as a graduate trainee in 1988. He has variously been President of the IPA, Chair of the Judges for the Direct Jury at Cannes, and has spoken at TED Global. He writes regular columns for the Spectator, Market Leader and Impact, and also occasional pieces for Wired. He is the author of three books: The Wiki Man, available on Amazon (at prices between £1.96 and £2,345.54, depending on whether the algorithm is having a bad day), and the best-selling Alchemy, The surprising Power of Ideas which don't make Sense, published in the UK and US in May 2019, and, co-written with his former colleague Pete Dyson, the newly released Transport For Humans on the behavioural science of transport.
Rory is married to a vicar and has twin daughters. He lives in the former home of Napoleon III - unfortunately in the attic. He is a trustee of the Benjamin Franklin House in London and a Patron of Rochester Cathedral.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3WjobK1
We live in an age when the pursuit of authenticity – from living your ‘best life’ to eating artisan food – matters more than ever before, and yet we have created a world riddled with inauthenticities, from counterfactual conspiracies to the carefully curated profiles that dominate social media. Authenticity itself has become a valuable commodity, with companies variously packaging it as a new form of conspicuous consumption or using it as a handy adjunct to reputation management.
In her award-winning Authenticity: Reclaiming Reality In A Counterfeit Culture, Alice Sherwood describes how our counterfeit culture has been shaped by the powerful forces of evolution, economics, and technology. Taking examples from worlds as varied as the art market, elk hunting, luxury brands, and Isaac Newton’s battles against counterfeiters - as well as the tale of the ‘authentic’ drinks brand that was anything but – she argues that we can still come together to reclaim reality.
Speaker:
Alice Sherwood is currently a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at The Policy Institute at King’s College London, director of an open-source intelligence company, and author of the award-wining Authenticity: Reclaiming Reality In A Counterfeit Culture. Alice has worked as a management consultant for Accenture, in retail strategy consultancy and private equity, and for the BBC in multimedia and education. She has undergraduate degrees in philosophy and in chemistry, an MBA from INSEAD, and an MA in literary criticism and narrative non-fiction. She chairs the Rising Tide women’s network, and lives in London and Wales.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3QI3XIy
China's global role grows more contentious and vexed as it becomes more economically and geopolitically important. But what does Xi Jinping want for his country as it stands poised to become the world's largest economy. This talk will look at some of the indicators and what they might mean.
Speaker:
Kerry Brown is Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College, London. He is an Associate of the Asia Pacific Programme at Chatham House, London. From 2012 to 2015 he was Professor of Chinese Politics and Director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, Australia. Prior to this he worked at Chatham House from 2006 to 2012, as Senior Fellow and then Head of the Asia Programme. From 1998 to 2005 he worked at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as First Secretary at the British Embassy in Beijing, and then as Head of the Indonesia, Philippine and East Timor Section. He previously graduated from Cambridge University and has a Ph D in Chinese politics and language from Leeds University. He is the author of almost 20 books on modern Chinese politics. He has recently been awarded the China Cultural Exchange Person of the Year.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3X9PIyK
The UN announced a crackdown on carbon net zero greenwashing at COP 27 as global emissions are still heading in the wrong direction despite record multi-trillion-dollar trade in carbon credits and climate bonds. Tightened accounting and verification standards are to follow. Meanwhile, scientists have produced breakthroughs in measuring local emissions. Very high spatial resolution from the WorldView-3 satellite has detected and located point methane plumes. Ground sensor networks have confirmed locally that some cities and countries that imposed Covid-19 lockdown measures significantly reduced carbon dioxide levels while others didn’t. Learn more about the greenwashing-busting tech poised to hold companies and cities accountable and supercharge climate investing.
Speaker:
Tac Leung is CEO of Secured Carbon, a climate fintech building a data appliance for cities to scientifically monitor emissions, accountably raise capital from green bond investors, allocate capital efficiently, and verify the progress of net zero carbon emissions projects. It is forming a coalition with the US National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop standards linking climate science measurement and goals to financial performance. Tac is a materials scientist and engineer the has contributed to more than a dozen venture and corporate-backed fintech and insurtech startups and served as entrepreneur in residence for Shasta Ventures, State Farm’s venture incubator, and Standard Chartered Bank’s SC Ventures. Andressen Horowitz led the seed round on Anzen, his previous startup. Tac’s transportation scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions are zero, and his scope 3 will be net zero by 2023.
Professor Paul Palmer, Group Leader and Professor of Quantitative Earth Observation at The University of Edinburgh
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3GW6mMJ
A regular speaker at the FS Club, David Doyle is back to give a new year update on the EU financial services regulatory agenda.
In this webinar, David will cover:
- Future of the access rules for non-EU financial services institutions in the EU
- Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation
- Revisions to the MiFID and AIFMD regimes, including the delegation model for 3rd country investment firms
- Powers and reach of the New EU Anti-money laundering Authority
Speaker:
Dr David Doyle is known across Europe as a leading expert on EU financial services regulation and long-standing speaker at the Financial Services Club. A former diplomat with over 20 years of service on mainland Europe at bilateral and multilateral level, he now acts as an EU Policy Advisor between Brussels and London, specialising in regulatory developments in banking, fund management and insurance.
He is a Board Member, and Secretary to the Financial Services Working Party, of the joint MEP-EU industry advocacy body, The Kangaroo Group, at the European Parliament, holds a seat on the Board of Directors of the Genesis Initiative at Westminster that promotes entrepreneurship and SME policy, as well as being active in the Conference Board Corporate Governance Council.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3YG2HJs
At the Financial Services Culture Board (FSCB) we provide support and challenge to our member firms from across financial services in managing their organisational cultures, and work with firms outside of financial services that join as Associates. We use a variety of direct and indirect information-gathering approaches in our work, including surveys, interviews, questions to boards, focus groups, roundtables, ethnographic techniques, behavioural trials and natural language processing. Our annual Culture Survey, now in its seventh year, provides both intra- and inter-firm comparisons over time and has enabled us to develop a database on organisational culture unparalleled globally.
This session will look at the FSCB's seventh annual set of results, its emergent themes and discuss methodological approaches to measuring culture.
Speakers:
Alison Cottrell is CEO of the Financial Services Culture Board (FSCB) and took up her role in April 2015 when the organisation was launched. Alison began her career in the City of London as an economist covering international fixed income and currency markets. She joined HM Treasury in 2001, becoming Director of Financial Services in 2009 with responsibility for a wide range of policy areas including bank lending, payments, competition and pensions guidance. She combined this role for the three years to 2014 with that of Director of Corporate Services, focusing in particular on staff development, engagement and culture.
Nick Wainwright is the Head of Data Science at the FSCB, overseeing the team’s work of analysing data from its annual assessment of culture as well as external data sources to draw insights that help firms across the sector understand and improve standards of behaviour and competence.
Prior to working at the FSCB, Nick worked as a Senior Operational Researcher at Acas (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service), carrying out quantitative and qualitative research to evaluate the impact of its work, and carrying out data modelling to help improve the way services were delivered. He holds a Masters degree in Mathematical Trading and Finance from Bayes Business School and a Bachelors degree in International Finance and Capital Markets Studies.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3FRtNpD
We live in a world where business, Government and media extol the virtues of being data led, of using and exploiting data, of regarding data, in a slightly imperfect analogy, as the new oil. Ed Humpherson, head of the UK’s Office for Statistics Regulation, is in the front line of these debates. He focuses on how the UK Government collects and presents statistics to serve the public good. He will argue that there are different motivations that lead people to place data at the heart of discourse. They include the weaponisation of data, in which data are used as a resource in debate, isolated factoids dropped in as a rhetorical device; data as a programmatic comfort blanket – data which confer an illusion of control and delivery mastery; and data as knowledge and learning, where data are used to find out about the world, in all its messiness, and appreciate the limitations and caveats. His talk will bring out how to thrive in a world of data everywhere.
Speaker:
Ed Humpherson is Director General for Regulation at the UK Statistics Authority, and head of its Office for Statistics Regulation. He is responsible for the development and implementation of the UK’s Code of Practice for Statistics; for assessing compliance with this Code by Government departments and the Office for National Statistics; and highlighting concerns about the misuse of statistics in public debate.
Between July 2009 and December 2014, Ed was a Board Member and Executive Leader for Economic Affairs at the National Audit Office. This role included responsibility for the overall strategic direction of NAO’s work on economic affairs. Amongst other previous responsibilities, Ed oversaw the NAO’s response to the 2007-09 financial crisis.
Ed is also Vice Chair of the charity Motability; a trustee of Pro Bono Economics; a trustee of the Regulatory Policy Institute; and co-chair of the Royal Society’s data community of practice.
Ed is a chartered accountant and was educated at the University of Edinburgh where he obtained a first-class MA honours degree in Politics and Economic History.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3j4RtxP
Industry observers, investors and pundits have mused for years how Malaysia leveraged its natural resources in palm oil and large plantations (and embedded corruption to inhibit changes) which produced strong cash flows in a low beta investment environment. However, over the past couple of years, to paraphrase Bob Dylan... "the times they are a changin” for Malaysia.
This short 20 minute slide presentation tracks the changes from nearly complete domestic M&A/equity investment in 2020 to strong cross border FDI inflows and ODI outflows across several continents over the past 2 years. We also examine important infra projects coming on stream over the prior two years and next two years and financial effects.
We set out how the Malaysian Government has managed the balance: strong Chinese inflows for several years up to 2019 have seen a return to East Asia (led by Japan but also including Korea and Taiwan), USA and more recently GCC, especially UAE and Saudi Arabia. East Asia has led on green energy; 35 Japanese companies across numerous industries are currently collaborating to have the economics work on converting green algae to biofuels/food- an area which Malaysia aspires to be a world leader. The USA and EU have been investing heavily to leverage their existing semiconductor presence – as well as expanding into 5G, cloud computing and data centres. China is focused on converting Malaysia into an important ASEAN regional logistics hub –led by rail, ports. GCC just launched its leading green packaging business in Malaysia earlier this year.
While these companies are all pouring investment into Malaysia and Malaysia is doing the same into the UK – the UK has actually withdrawn investment to Malaysia during the past decade…Why?
Find the full report here
Speaker:
Henry Tillman has enjoyed a 30+ year career in Global Wholesale Banking including Executive Board positions at Barclays and ABN AMRO and a NED role at Wells Fargo UK/EU when Wells was the world's largest bank. From 2003-2018, Mr Tillman chaired Grisons Peak LLP, which advised on over €25 billion successful M&A and capital raising assignments. Through Grisons Peak Services, Mr Tillman focusses on capital raises for biotech and renewable energy projects globally.
In 2008, Mr Tillman created a unique China focused database which has since been extended to include below Fdi, ASEAN and SCO, Abrham Accords and GCC inbound/outbound flows. The database has also served as a basis for two macro research publications: China Investment Research and Asia Investment Research.
Mr Tillman speaks frequently at global forums, including most recently Eurasia Forum (Budapest] and BRI Board of. Governance - both on geopolitics/rise of the multipolar world. Mr Tillman also lectures as an Associate at Churchill College, Cambridge.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3PCAv6d
Cities like London are rapidly falling into dependence on so-called cashless payments, but the term ‘cashless’ is but a euphemism for the payments infrastructure run by the banking sector, Visa, Mastercard and Big Tech, which exists to move privately issued bank-money around. This shift away from government-issued physical cash to bank-issued digital money is traditionally presented as a natural and inevitable change driven from the bottom-up by the public, while cash is presented as the ‘horse cart’ of payments – an old, inefficient and dangerous form of money in the process of being upgraded to something more advanced and convenient. That’s the official story at least.
In this talk, Brett Scott, author of Cloudmoney: Cash, Cards, Crypto and the War for our Wallets, will show why the official story is extremely dodgy. Not only has the cash system been attacked from the top-down for decades, but cash is far more like the ‘bicycle of payments’ and is crucial for retaining a balance of power in our monetary system. A cashless society is not an upgrade – it’s an enclosure we need to fight.
Speaker:
Brett Scott is a journalist, campaigner, monetary anthropologist and former financial broker. He is the author of Cloudmoney: Cash, Cards, Crypto and the War for our Wallets (2022), and The Heretic's Guide to Global Finance (2013). He’s written for publications like Business Insider, The Guardian, New Scientist, Huffington Post, Wired Magazine and CNN.com, and has appeared in a wide range of TV shows, radio broadcasts and documentaries. He’s a Senior Fellow of the Finance Innovation Lab (UK), an Associate at the Institute of Social Banking (Germany), and was a winner of the 2016/2017 Ethics and Trust in Finance Global Prize. He publishes the Altered States of Monetary Consciousness newsletter and tweets as @suitpossum
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3Pov2QD
David Craddock examines the role that employee share schemes can play in contributing to the levelling-up agenda in the context of the commitment given by the British Government to the electorate in the regions, whether urban, rural, or coastal. David identifies the unique characteristics of employee share schemes in reducing inequality, addressing the deficiencies in industrial management, marrying individual motivation and the entrepreneurial mindset with business development, and restoring cohesion to local communities. He explains how employee share schemes, when properly implemented, can contribute to both formal education as well as self-education, and raise aspirations by opening the channels for social mobility and life fulfilment, with implications for economic growth, regional policy, the housing market, local self-help groups and sustainability projects.
Speaker: David Craddock is an independent consultant specialising in employee share ownership and reward management. A recognised authority on the subject, he is the author of The Tolley’s Guide to Employee Share Schemes , along with many other essential books and courses. David’s clients range from major public limited companies with international considerations to smaller private companies where the requirements are for Enterprise Management Incentives, tax-unapproved share scheme arrangements and market-making employee share trust structures. David has successfully established employee share schemes and employee benefit arrangements worldwide and to date has travelled to over 30 countries to personally facilitate their introduction. He enhances his service through a long experience in share reconstructions and share valuation.
Chairman: Ian Harris, BA (Hons) FCA FBCS FIBC CMC, Managing Director, Z/Yen Group. Ian specialises in strategic planning and systematic performance improvement in both the civil society sector practice (which he leads) and also commercial sectors. Ian regularly leads award-winning work, such as Charityshare's partnership award, Ideal Hardware's HR Award for its rewards framework and the Marine Stewardship Council's Best Practice award for its strategic planning and governance review. He designed and manages Z/Yen’s employee incentives and share ownership programme. Ian is a former chair of the judging panel for the National Payroll Giving Awards and of BCS The Chartered Institute for IT's Ethics Group. His third book, The Price of Fish: A New Approach to Wicked Economics and Better Decisions, written jointly with Michael Mainelli, won the Independent Publisher Book Awards Finance, Investment & Economics Gold Prize.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3HnMwKS
Join Fintech Ireland's Peter Oakes for a webinar exploring the fintech environment in Ireland, and how it is uniquely positioned for effective collaboration between fintech centres that have the potential to add value to both parties and the industry as a whole. Peter will cover the fintech ecosystem in Ireland, the regulatory framework being put in place, how Irish fintech is scaling overseas, Ireland’s place as a EU Home for fintech, Ireland and the UK’s unique fintech bridge opportunity, fundraising & the life of an Irish unicorn, collaboration between finserv & fintech and for regulated entities, the rise of regtech in Ireland.
Speaker:
Peter Oakes is a financial services expert focused on banking, payments, emoney, MiFID, fintech, regtech & distributed ledger technology. Peter is the founder of Fintech Ireland, Fintech UK and US TechFin. He is a non-executive director of leading regulated fintech and wealth management firms including Susquehanna (MiFID), AWM Wealth Advisers (MiFID), Optal Financial Europe (Emoney) and TransferMate (PSD). Peter is a consultant on finserv and fintech to international law firm Armstrong Teasdale and works on fintech authorisation applications across Europe, particularly Ireland, UK and Lithuania (where he advised on Lithuania 2nd specialise bank licence). Peter has a deep central bank and regulator background including inaugural Director of Enforcement and Financial Crime at the Irish Central Bank (2010-2013), senior regulator and central bank roles in the UK (FSA), Australia (ASIC) and Saudi Arabia (SAMA). He continues to work with regulators on supervisory and enforcement strategies. Peter is a solicitor admitted in the UK, Ireland and Australia.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3iEBPZW
Quantum Computing is a hot topic as the technology nears the point at which it will have commercial applications. Most of the world’s largest technology companies are researching it and many of them have even put Quantum Computers on the Cloud for clients to use. But why is Quantum Computing so different? What can it do that no traditional computer ever could? More importantly, what does it mean to me or my business? - and how can I sound wise and cool by explaining how it works without requiring a degree in Quantum Physics?
Speaker:
Richard Hopkins is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a senior quantum ambassador for IBM. He has spent the last thirty years designing solutions that generate value for businesses using innovative technologies. Starting with biometric national identity card systems, post office automation, through welfare reforms and into the realms of national security and regulated Cloud, he has adopted and adapted new information technology to meet the needs of citizens around the globe. Beyond the day job he creates robots to encourage kids into STEM. He lives in a beautiful market town in Yorkshire with his wife, three adult kids, four dogs and seven cats. One of the dogs is a robot.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3AZZQRv
Carbon footprint and ESG credentials of enterprises including those in the banking and financial services industry have been hot topics of late. Equally, cost of energy and cost of IT infrastructure has been a key topic for many CTOs and CIOs in enterprises. But are we already doing the best that we could? Is it possible to further lower carbon footprint, and lower energy costs?
Data centers are already running at PUE of 1.0x. How could we possibly further optimize? Public clouds are operating at scales beyond what many people can imagine, and should therefore have efficiencies of scale. Is it the truth or it is just fallacy.
This presentation will look at where we are right now. Whether there is anything else to further optimize, and if so, potential approaches, while meeting organizational and business objectives.
With Sardina’s technology, an average Bank should save GBP 16.5 Million annually — simply by more efficiently managing workloads and intelligently powering down excess servers. FishOS technology has been proven to run multiple national scale cloud infrastructures in Germany.
Sardina is currently completing an EIS round of up to GBP 5 Million, assisted by Jodi Bartin at Citicourt & Co
Speaker:
Kenneth Tan is responsible for building Sardina Systems as a leader in automated, flexible, efficient, and scalable OpenStack, Kubernetes and Ceph platforms. He has 20+ years of prior experience at CloudFabriQ, Qontix, BNP Paribas, OptimaNumerics. Ken’s area of expertise is supercomputing, cloud computing, AI, systems integration and optimization.
Ken has been working on FishOS concept since 2014, developed most of the software in 2015-2017 and took the product to market in 2018. Until recently he has been singlehandedly running Sardina Systems as a profitable and rapidly growing commercial entity.
Ken previously led from founding to exit, OptimaNumerics, a software firm that specialized in high-performance numerical libraries.
Ken has a PhD in Computer Science from University of Reading and BS in Geomatics Engineering from University of Calgary.
Jodi Bartin is a respected corporate financier in London, with a high profile career as an formidable corporate negotiator and as a complex technology expert. She has over 25 years’ experience in finance, starting her career in finance as an advanced corporate finance analyst advising companies such as ABB, ABN AMRO, Pepsi and a number of other blue chips companies on WAAC and financial risk. Jodi runs Citicourt, yet is proud that at her heart is an analyst and relatively proficient, even still, with excel and modelling! Jodi is said to benefit from above average all around capabilities and whilst still very likable, she loves working with complex companies, highly intelligent and complex entrepreneurs and complex technologies.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3VhOCQA
That seems a pretty simple question, and also a very fundamental one. But the answer to it is not one upon which practitioners, regulators, policy makers, and more particularly the customers of the industry agree. It is not the perspective from which finance is typically taught at our business schools. We all understand an effective finance industry is vital to our prosperity. Yet the former top industry regulator concluded that much of what takes place within the industry is ’not socially useful’. When asked to find one word to describe developments in the finance industry, citizens described it as ‘corrupt’. How can such an important and successful industry be held in such disregard?
Based on his award winning course at Cambridge University, David Pitt-Watson will discuss the evidence on the purpose of our industry, and how well that purpose is fulfilled by our current institutions. He will also reflect on whether current developments in the industry are likely to lead to improvement.
Speaker:
David Pitt-Watson is an investor, and a leading thinker in the world of finance. Co-founder and head of the responsible investing activity at Federated Hermes, he has chaired the UN Environment Finance Initiative. He has sat on the board of organisations as varied as KPMG, Oxfam, NESTA and Oxford Analytica. He has been a visiting professor at Cranfield and Cambridge Universities where he now a visiting fellow. His books, published by Harvard and Yale Universities have been translated into five languages.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3gQfjg5
Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is Northern Europe's rising digital star. Estonia has built a world-leading digital society, with a secure and transparent financial ecosystem. Estonia is sometimes known as the unicorn factory in tech and investor circlers, giving birth to many global success stories like Wise, Skype, Bolt and many more. Estonia offers a business-friendly regulatory environment with some ground-breaking digital solutions, like e-residency. This makes starting and managing businesses possible entirely online all over the world. The webinar will focus on what makes the Estonian financial ecosystem so enticing for global investors and businesses.
Speaker:
Taavi Tamkivi is the CEO and founder of Salv, an Estonian regtech that helps financial institutions to fight financial crime with smart technology. Prior to co-founding his own company Taavi was the global head of compliance for Wise (then TransferWise), responsible for scaling Wise's compliance teams and tooling. Before Wise, Taavi led Skype's revenue assurance and fraud teams. Taavi is also acting as a board member in FinanceEstonia, the peak body of the country's financial ecosystem.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3Ugz9ia
Government uses corporate finance techniques to generate proceeds from asset sales, maintain financial stability, open new markets for investment and a range of other purposes. This offers a fascinating variety of professional opportunities in government departments and agencies, and professional advisory mandates. The National Audit Office will explain they recently published a guide to corporate finance in the public sector and how this can support senior leaders working in the public sector to apply the appropriate principles and concepts, establish commercial ventures and create new asset classes such a student loans and financial guarantees. UK Government Investments will discuss their role in the stewardship and governance of a portfolio of government shareholdings and how they support corporate finance professionals working across government.
Speakers:
Matthew Rees is Director of the NAO’s Commercial Hub, which leverages the NAO’s wide range of parliamentary reports about government performance to provide insights across public procurement and commercial arrangements, corporate finance and regulation. Matthew has led a wide range of NAO studies, including the use of supply chain finance in the NHS, the privatisation of Royal Mail, the UK guarantees scheme for infrastructure investment and landscapes of government companies and financial institutions. Matthew qualified at KPMG, where he worked on public sector audit before moving to corporate finance and investment banking. He has served as a NED at Gemserv Limited, a business process outsourcing company, and is a member of the ICAEW’s Supervisory Council. His public sector career spans Competition and Markets Authority, Ofwat and the Single Source Regulations Office.
Organisations:
The National Audit Office supports parliament in holding government to account by producing high-quality audits, including financial audit, value for money studies and investigations.
Find a copy of the report here: https://bit.ly/3ET8Kmi
In this webinar, we launch the sixth edition of the Smart Centres Index (SCI 6). The SCI is designed to track the development of technology and financial centres across the world in their support for and readiness for new technology applications. Investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, media, academics, governments, and regulators can attune their cities to attract innovation and growth in Science, Technology, Energy Systems, Machine Learning, Distributed Ledgers, or Fintech. Tuning a city for innovation is complex. Z/Yen began studying successful and unsuccessful business innovation clustering some 15 years ago, and published in 2018 the Smart Jurisdictions Index. Building on the results of that research we have created a novel factor assessment index based on three dimensions - innovation support, creative intensity, and delivery capability. The SCI is designed to track the readiness of business centres across the world to support new technology businesses. The SCI uses assessments from private and public sector individuals, along with 138 instrumental factors, to rate the centres. This important project that will grow substantially as more people pay attention to the ways centres can help globally innovative businesses thrive in rapidly changing times. Interested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3gBIPGf
Recent events – the pandemic, global supply chain disruption, extreme weather – have strained the UK to breaking point. No one can fail to be aware of the consequences of lack of resilience in our economy and society. Digital systems are already a critical part of society and the economy – we all depend on services supplied by digital systems. Their range is wide – there are very few people who do not use digital services – whether it's bus arrival information or satnavs, credit cards or bank accounts, self-check out in the supermarket, staff scheduling in service industries. This is great, as it provides people with information and services they did not have before. But. There is growing evidence that service breaches are increasing in scale and duration. Some are due to network failures but increasingly they are caused by software failures. Systems are increasingly complex and interconnected. Organisations are increasingly dependent on systems built out of a myriad of software components from a multiplicity of sources. This means that failure causes and modes are harder to predict. The risks are similar to those from global warming or pandemics, in that major shocks are certain, but not their location or timing. This webinar will explore the impact of software failure on the economy and society, and why this is set to increase. We will conclude with summarising the output from a recent Roundtable organised by the BCS with the National Preparedness Commission.
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3AAye5e
Speaker:
Professor Michael Mainelli, FCCA FCSI(Hon) FBCS, Chairman, Z/Yen Group, is a qualified accountant, securities professional, computer specialist, and management consultant, educated at Harvard University and Trinity College Dublin. Michael gained his PhD at the London School of Economics where he was also a Visiting Professor of Innovation & IT. Michael is Emeritus Professor, Fellow, & Trustee at Gresham College where he created the Long Finance initiative asking “when would we know our financial system is working?” His third book, The Price Of Fish: A New Approach To Wicked Economics And Better Decisions, won the Independent Publisher Book Awards Finance, Investment & Economics Gold Prize. Michael is an Alderman and was elected Sheriff of the City of London 2019-2021.
What a difference a year makes! The crypto assets landscape has experienced not only extreme turbulence but sudden crashes. This May, the stable coin Terra USD and its linked token Luna imploded, losing a combined capitalization of $40 billion. Subsequent shock waves rippled through global crypto markets causing bitcoin to fall below $20,000, approximately 70 per cent of its November 2021 peak.
These events, and others, have stirred influential regulators in Asia, EU, UK and the US to focus more on making regulations fit for managing crypto assets. In this seminar we discuss what offensive and defensive weapons regulators are relying on to combat reckless crypto asset activity. We also propose answers to the question what else should be in the regulators’ armoury?
Find out more about this event on our website: https://bit.ly/3EOaFs8
Speaker:
A qualified barrister and solicitor, Iain Sheridan has over 20 years' experience advising on financial regulation, especially FSMA and MiFID. His consulting experience includes advising ABN AMRO, Bank of America, Barclays, Citadel, Deutsche Bank, Fidelity Investments and Société Générale. He was also the former head of legal (EMEA and APAC) for the boutique FIG investment bank Fox-Pitt Kelton.
As a member of Grant Thornton’s business risk services (BRS) team, he focuses on financial regulation, ESG and risk in the financial services sector working with FinTech, hedge fund and investment bank clients. His skill set combines an understanding of regulation, technology, and intellectual property rights relevant to financial services firms. He studied data science at Oxford and machine learning at Cambridge. He is also the author of the practitioner book ‘Financial Regulation and Technology’ (Elgar Publishing).
Find a link to the report on our website: https://bit.ly/3EFpD3M
This webinar accompanies the launch of a new booklet from the Esop (employee share ownership) Centre - “Why Employee Share Ownership Matters”. Big concepts can be unfairly pigeonholed in small boxes. The concept of employee share ownership ought to start from a moral perspective, not least sharing risks and benefits with fellow economic agents. The benefits attach to a number of levels, from the micro to the macro. At a micro level, employee share ownership seems fair, encourages cohesion, promotes productivity, and provides financial security. At a macro level, employee share ownership encourages longer-term thinking, promotes national productivity, and aids moves to ‘sustainability’. At an international level, anyone promoting various forms of ‘caring’, ‘compassionate’, or ‘stakeholder’ capitalism or ‘third ways’ should take a long, hard look at providing more fervent support for employee share ownership. And then there is UN Sustainable Development Goal 10 - “Reduced Inequalities”. Yet too often the employee share ownership pigeonhole becomes ‘tax’. Employee share ownership is a good thing to promote even if you don’t believe that tax is a necessary promotional tool. If you do believe that employee share ownership is deserving of tax advantages, then don’t lose sight of the wider goals. This booklet attempts to restate the widest case for employee share ownership regardless of national boundaries. It attempts to re-connect the employee share ownership movement with its deeper benefits, connecting open market economies with environmental, social, and governance standards, in turn linked to long-term sustainability goals. This booklet examines the societal case for Employee Share Ownership (ESO) and sets out its alleged benefits. The booklet attempts to bring readers up-to-date with a movement that is several decades old, and connect the movement with current societal concerns, in particular addressing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, in turn linked to long-term sustainability goals. Finally, the booklet sets out areas for renewed and further research.
Professor Michael Mainelli, FCCA FCSI(Hon) FBCS, Chairman, Z/Yen Group, is a qualified accountant, securities professional, computer specialist, and management consultant, educated at Harvard University and Trinity College Dublin. Michael gained his PhD at the London School of Economics where he was also a Visiting Professor of Innovation & IT. Michael is Emeritus Professor, Fellow, & Trustee at Gresham College where he created the Long Finance initiative asking “when would we know our financial system is working?” His third book, The Price Of Fish: A New Approach To Wicked Economics And Better Decisions, won the Independent Publisher Book Awards Finance, Investment & Economics Gold Prize. Michael is an Alderman and was elected Sheriff of the City of London 2019-2021.
Simon Mills began his career by working as a field botanist on Cloud and Elfin rainforest in Northern Costa Rica. His subsequent career encompassed minerals and highways planning, environmental management systems and sustainable development.
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The climate emergency is changing everything and its impacts will only increase in the years to come. Not only are systems becoming outdated, but so are ways of thinking, working and living. Preparing future generations for the transformations to come starts with equipping them with new ways of thinking and learning. Black Mountains College is dedicated to the urgent task of unleashing human potential.
Speaker:
Ben Rawlence is a writer, social scientist and former adviser to political parties in the UK and Africa. He is the founder and director of Black Mountains College and the author of three books on global issues: Radio Congo: Signals of Hope from Africa’s Deadliest War (2012), City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World’s Largest Refugee Camp (2016), and The Treeline: The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth (2022).
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In March 2022, the Republic of Chile placed the first-ever Sovereign Sustainability-Linked Bond (SSLB). This $2 billion 20 year SSLB was more than 4 times oversubscribed - a remarkable achievement given the sovereign bond market’s volatility and uncertainty. Green Policy Performance Bonds, Sustainability-Linked bonds (SLBs), and, most noteworthy, Sovereign Sustainability-Linked Bonds (SSLBs) form a subset of green bonds however, they differ from green bonds, social bonds, or sustainability bonds in several crucial ways: First, the funds raised are not tied to a specific project, but a corporate or national objective. Liberating the proceeds from a specific project frees the issuer to deliver sustainability improvements using a wide range of means. Second, SSLBs and SLBs are issued with specific sustainability performance targets (SPTs), which contain key performance indicators (KPIs), for example: “A 20% reduction in scope 1 & 2 emissions by 2030”. Third, if the SPT is missed the bond is subject to a ‘step-up’ clause, meaning the bond interest increases.
Speaker:
Patricio Sepúlveda Carmona is currently the Head of Public Debt Office for the Ministry of Finance, where he has also acted as Senior Advisor since 2002. Mr. Sepúlveda obtained his BA in Commercial Engineering, concentrating in Economics, from the Universidad de Talca (Chile) and has a postgraduate degree in Business Administration and a Master of Science in Financial Economics from the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium). As Head of the Public Debt Office, Mr. Sepúlveda has placed bonds for over US$150 billion in the local and international markets. Under his management, the curves have been extended since 2003, issuing longer bonds. For instance, in 2012, he performed the first external issuance of 30-years and 20-years bonds locally. In 2013, he executed the first issuance of 30-years nominal bonds locally. In 2016, he performed one of the most important LM operation in the local market (US$14.5bn), with the aim to create strong references both in UF and nominal curve. In 2017, he issued the first domestic Euroclearable Bonds for US$1.5 billion offered simultaneously to local and international investors. Additionally, in 2017-2018, he designed the structure and hired Chile’s first insurance against earthquake for US$500 million with the World Bank. In 2019, he was in charge of the first issuances of Green Bonds for the equivalent of US$2.4bn. More recently, he was in charge of the issuance of several ESG instruments, including Social and Sustainable bonds of the Republic of Chile.
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The most interesting cryptocurrencies may be the ones that are only ever expected to be worth $1. Terra UST's failure to clear that low bar was the first domino to fall in the crypto winter of 2022. But stablecoins remain central in crypto's ambitions to become a mainstream alternative to traditional finance. Will there be one stablecoin to rule them all? Or will a thousand stables bloom in a new era of wildcat banking? Examining the various flavours of stablecoin on offer is crucial to understanding both the current state of crypto and its potential as a financial system.
Speaker:
Byron Gilliam is the Markets Strategist at Blockworks, a crypto media company. He writes a daily newsletter which attempts to translate crypto for traditional finance types and traditional finance for crypto types. Prior to Blockworks, he traded global equities out of Frankfurt, London, Paris and New York for a number of investment banks and brokers. Byron holds an undergraduate degree in history from Binghamton University and an advanced degree in Hard Knocks from 20+ years of trading.
In April 2021, the European Commission proposed a draft regulation for Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems used in the EU single market, dubbed the AI Act. This opened one of the most politicized regulatory debates since GDPR, and the AI Act promises to be as wide-ranging. In this conversation, we'll take stock of the current thinking about governing AI in the EU, 1.5 year into the debate.
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Nicolas Moës is an economist by training focused on the impact of Artificial Intelligence on geopolitics, the economy and industry. He is the Director for European AI Governance at The Future Society, where he studies and monitors European developments in the legislative framework surrounding AI. His current focus is on the EU AI Act and the various governance mechanisms needed to enforce it cost-effectively. Nicolas is also involved in AI standardisation efforts, as a member of the International Standardisation Organization’s SC42 and CEN-CENELEC JTC 21 committees on Artificial Intelligence, as a Belgian representative. Nicolas is also an expert at OECD.AI Policy Observatory in the Working Group on Classification & Risk.
Prior to The Future Society, he worked at the Brussels-based economic policy think-tank Bruegel on EU technology, AI and innovation policy. His publications have focused on the impact of AI & automation, though he has carried out research on global trade & investments, EU-China relations and transatlantic partnerships. Nicolas completed his Masters degree (M.Phil.) in Economics at the University of Oxford with a thesis on institutional engineering for resolving the tragedy of the commons in global contexts. He is a native French-speaker fluent in English and persists in learning Dutch and Mandarin.
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In the face of climate catastrophes and mass extinction of plants and animals, non-human entities previously regarded as 'nature' are being granted the status of legal persons. Such legal personality facilitates and enables bio-geo entities to sue in their own name; and enforce rights and protect their interests. These developments sit alongside greater cognisance and responsibility for 'future generations' litigated and enforced by courts. What are the implications of these developments for social and legal organisation as we have known it?
Speaker:
Stewart Motha is Professor of Law, Birkbeck, University of London. He has served as Executive Dean of Birkbeck Law School from 2016-22, and in 2023 will be the John Hinkley Visiting Chair at Johns Hopkins University. He has published widely on problems of sovereignty, imperialism, and indigenous land rights. He is the founder and host of Countersign podcast; and currently works on issues of the environment and resource extraction.
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The tenth edition of the Global Green Finance Index provides the world’s most authoritative measure of the performance of financial centres in delivering green finance services.
The report, assembled by combining the views of financial professionals from around the world, with quantitative data commissioned and curated from over 140 sources, uses advanced statistical techniques to map the global spread of green finance.
Speakers:
Mercedes Vela Monserrate is Head of Sustainable Finance at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). Ms Vela Monserrate oversees ADGM’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies and procedures, contributing to the long-term development of sustainable finance across Abu Dhabi and the UAE. She works closely with stakeholders to facilitate improved understanding and integration of material ESG factors, covering both risks and opportunities.
Prior to joining ADGM, Mercedes held senior positions across both the public and private sectors in Brussels and London. Her professional history includes positions at Morgan Stanley, the Financial Conduct Authority, and the European Parliament. Mercedes holds a BSc and a Minor in European Studies and Globalisation and Diversity from Maastricht University and is part of various industry working groups on sustainable finance, including the Unites Nations’ Financial Centres for Sustainability Network Steering Committee.
Mike Wardle is CEO and the Head Of Indices for Z/Yen Group, managing work on the development and delivery of the Global Financial Centres Index, Global Green Finance Index, and Smart Centres Index. Mike worked as a civil servant for almost 20 years mostly within the field of education policy. He was a director and then Chief Executive of the General Social Care Council, establishing the regulation of social workers. Mike's career moved into consultancy, programme management and coaching and he worked with Z/Yen for six years delivering programme management services to the Church of England, Unison, and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust before taking up his current role.
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The paper-based process of international trade and trade finance, along with many other commercial transactions, is staff intensive, cumbersome, susceptible to fraud, and costly. Widespread efforts to convert paper documentation into digital form to address these issues have had to contend with both technological and legal barriers. In an effort that culminated last year, the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (BAFT) saw an opportunity to significantly “leapfrog” forward the digitisation of trade finance with the emergence of blockchain/distributed ledger technology (“DLT”). Recognising that all trade transactions involve payment commitments, a BAFT Working Group produced standardized rules for the transformation of a payment commitment into a digital asset to be used in any trade finance solution sitting on any DLT platform. It published open-sourced business and technical standards for a Distributed Ledger Payment Commitment (“DLPC”), a simple legally binding, enforceable, interoperable, and negotiable financial instrument in digital form. These standards have been used in international trade transactions by Skuchain, a Silicon Valley fintech and, coincidentally, are mirrored in eNotes™ created by Swiss fintech, FQX AG, that are being used in trade finance and a myriad of capital markets transactions. Scott will highlight the main characteristics and benefits of the DLPC, and its potential for growing use as law reform globally is spurring digitalisation, and Sriram and Philipp will illustrate the practical uses of DLPC and eNotes™.
Speakers:
Scott Stevenson is Senior Vice President of #Trade at the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (BAFT), Scott has responsibility for leading the association’s trade-focused policy, practices, and education initiatives, and provide support its trade-related councils and committees. Before joining BAFT, Scott was the Senior Global Manger, Trade and Supply Chain Solutions at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. He joined the World Bank in Jakarta, Indonesia as a member the Corporate Restructuring and Governance Group that was formed in response to the 1997 Asia Financial Crisis. Prior to the World Bank Group, Scott was with Standard Chartered Bank, where his last position was based in Singapore and he served as the Asia Regional Head for Financial Institutions. Scott has a BA in Economics from Colgate University, and an MBA in International Finance from York University, Toronto, Canada.
Sriram Srinivasan is a passionate entrepreneur looking to bring efficiencies into the Supply Chain. He is the Founder & CEO of Skuchain. He has previously built a company selling risk management solutions to wall street firms, founded an ecommerce startup during the dot-com heyday and played Entrepreneur-In-Residence with a small silicon valley fund. He has been a qualified Captain of ocean going merchant ships, enjoys hackathons and has done the Executive Program at Stanford GSB.
Dr Philipp von Randow is a co-founder of FQX. He currently serves at FQX as advisor on matters of legal strategy. Philipp is also a Retired Partner of Latham & Watkins LLP, a global law firm providing high-end legal advice in complex business transactions. He was co-founder of and resident in the firm's Frankfurt office.
Chairman:
Patrick L Young is Executive Director of Valereum PLC (Aquis VLRM). Patrick has over 30 years experience in investing and has been working online since 1994.
Globalisation has meant that many businesses now operate on a truly international scale, but how can they keep corporate identity and cohesion in the midst of so great a variety of cultural, financial and legal complexities?
In this 45 minute webinar, share schemes expert David Craddock will examine the challenges of international share schemes, including language, legislation, currency and technology; and how employee share schemes can promote inclusivity and act as ‘corporate glue’, holding together the various subsidiaries into a global whole and the role of an international employee share trust.
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Speaker: David Craddock is an independent consultant specialising in employee share ownership and reward management. A recognised authority on the subject, he is the author of The Tolley’s Guide to Employee Share Schemes , along with many other essential books and courses. David’s clients range from major public limited companies with international considerations to smaller private companies where the requirements are for Enterprise Management Incentives, tax-unapproved share scheme arrangements and market-making employee share trust structures. David has successfully established employee share schemes and employee benefit arrangements worldwide and to date has travelled to over 30 countries to personally facilitate their introduction. He enhances his service through a long experience in share reconstructions and share valuation.
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The Metaverse isn’t just something from a sci-fi novel anymore. If you’ve been struggling to get your head around it, here are two pieces of good news: you’re not alone, and it definitely isn’t too late to learn about it. This webinar will provide insight into what the Metaverse is and isn’t – and the key legal issues you’ll need to be aware of in order to thrive in the virtual age.
Speakers:
Alan Hunt is a Partner in the Digital, Commerce & Creative group and Co-Head of Media & Entertainment. In 2019 he co-founded The Collective by Lewis Silkin and it has grown from strength to strength. Through The Collective, Alan is passionate about building a community of thought leaders and decision makers working for luxury, lifestyle and premium brand businesses. Alan specialises in the drafting and negotiation of commercial and technology contracts and the exploitation of intellectual property assets. Many of Alan's clients are from leading fashion houses, retailers and lifestyle brands, as well as innovative and disruptive media, technology, publishing and advertising companies.
Wendy Saunders specialises in financial services and markets law and regulation, both advisory and contentious. She has particular expertise in the intersection of financial services regulation and digital transformation – with a focus on cryptoassets and the use of blockchain and DLT within the financial services sector. Wendy is currently on the steering committee of Global Blockchain Convergence, and was part of the GBC working group that submitted a response to HMT’s consultation and call for evidence on the UK’s regulatory approach to cryptoassets and stablecoins.
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Stress at work is something everyone talks about - in the press recently was even the idea that Clifford Chance the famous 'magic circle' Law firm was to appoint a well-being officer! But the problem with that idea is most stress at work boils down to dealing with difficult people. The difficult person may be a demanding or bullying or neglectful boss or a lazy co-worker etc etc. Difficulty comes in many forms, shapes and sizes. Maybe you are a manager struggling to get a team to gel or achieve the firm's goals. Dr Raj Persaud will reveal the three essential psychological and emotional tools you need to deal with difficult people and survive them or even bend them to your will.
Speaker:
Dr Raj Persaud is a Consultant Psychiatrist who has worked as a Consultant at the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley NHS Hospitals in London from 1994-2008, and as an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London. These are the premiere research and training institutions for Psychiatry in Europe. He was also Research Fellow at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the USA and Institute of Neurology at Queens Square. His training in psychiatry since leaving UCH medical school in1986 was entirely at the Institute of Psychiatry and the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals. Unusually for a psychiatrist, he also holds a degree in psychology, obtained with First Class Honours, and 8 other degrees and diplomas including a Masters in Statistics.
He was awarded the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Research Prize and Medal as well as The Maudsley Hospital's own Denis Hill Prize, and The Osler Medal. The Royal College of Psychiatrists' recently also awarded him the Morris Markowe Prize. In 2004 he was appointed Visiting Professor for Public Understanding of Psychiatry at Gresham College, and he was asked by the Royal College of Psychiatrists to edit its first book aimed at educating the public on psychology and psychiatry. 'The Mind: A Users Guide’ was published in 2007 and reached the top ten best-seller list. All of his 5 previous books have been top ten best-sellers. He has contributed a chapter to the Royal College's latest book - 'The Female Mind - A Users Guide'.
His writing is in several established textbooks, including the Oxford Companion to the Mind and he has contributed a chapter in the latest comprehensive textbook of psychiatry for trainees: Psychiatry – An Evidence Based Text. He has approaching 100 publications in Journals such as The British Journal of Psychiatry, British Medical Journal and The Lancet. Recently he was elected Fellow of University College London and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He is patron or supporter of numerous mental health charities including OCD-UK, The Manic Depression Fellowship, Association of Post-Natal Illness, Childline, ActionAid and The Samaritans.
The Independent on Sunday Newspaper conducted a poll amongst members of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Institute of Psychiatry to discover who were the top ten psychiatrists in the UK as rated by fellow psychiatrists. Dr Raj Persaud was the youngest doctor to make it into this esteemed list. The Times Newspaper also recently placed him as one of the Top Twenty Mental Health Gurus in the world. He is now podcast editor for the Royal College of Psychiatrists and also now has a free app on iTunes and google play store entitled 'Raj Persaud in conversation', which includes a lot of free information on the latest research findings in mental health, plus interviews with top experts from around the world. Download it free from these links: GooglePlay iTunes See Raj's Ted talk with over 3.4 million views Visit The Psychology Today blog
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As the climate crisis accelerates, new attention is focused on the accuracy of data referenced to establish baseline measurements of critical issues like GHG emissions and land use. Satellite data - often enhanced through artificial intelligence - offer new insight to improve the timeliness and accuracy of sustainability measurement, often independently of government. The webinar will introduce a few of these satellite-based approaches and show how they are being used to amplify the power of data to address the climate crisis.
Speaker:
Jeremy Tamanini works with partners globally on projects at the intersection of data and sustainability. He created the Global Green Economy Index™ (GGEI), currently in its 10th anniversary edition. The GGEI tracks 160 countries in terms of their green progress towards global sustainability targets. The GGEI is a widely referenced ESG index with usage in 100+ governments, institutions, and private firms.
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The United States is now nearly 250 years old. It arose from humble beginnings, as a strip of mostly agrarian and sparsely populated English colonies on the north-eastern edge of the New World, far removed from the centres of power in Europe. Today, it is the world's most powerful country, with its largest economy and most powerful military. How did America achieve this status? In The Four Ages of American Foreign Policy, Michael Mandelbaum offers a new framework for understanding the evolution of the foreign policy of the United States. He divides that evolution into four distinct periods, with each defined by the consistent increase in American power relative to other countries. His history of the four periods features engaging accounts of the major events and important personalities in the foreign policy of each era. Throughout, Mandelbaum highlights fundamental continuities in the goals of American foreign policy and in the way that policy was adopted and implemented. He portrays the United States, in its ascent, first as a weak power, from 1765 to 1865, then as a great power between 1865 and 1945, next as a superpower in the years 1945 to 1990, and finally as the world's sole hyperpower, from 1990 to 2015. He also presents three features of American foreign policy that are found in every era: first, the goal of disseminating the political ideas. Americans have embraced from the first; second, the use of economic instruments in pursuit of the country's foreign policy goals; and third, a process for formulating policy and implementing decisions shaped by considerable popular influence. American foreign policy, as he puts it, has been unusually ideological, unusually economic, and unusually democratic.
Speaker:
Michael Mandelbaum is the Christian A. Herter Professor Emeritus of American Foreign Policy at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. and is the director of the American Foreign Policy Program there. He has also held teaching posts at Harvard and Columbia Universities, and at the United States Naval Academy. He serves on the board of advisors of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a Washington-based organization sponsoring research and public discussion on American policy toward the Middle East. A graduate of Yale College, Professor Mandelbaum earned his Master's degree at King's College, Cambridge University and his doctorate at Harvard University.
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Today, your personal data is constantly collected and processed, whether you're accessing a service, searching online for information, or purchasing a product. Web browsers, loyalty/credit cards, and mobile applications all record vast amounts of personal data. AI-powered algorithms transform this data into intelligence about the behavior of individuals. Until now it has mainly been benefitting commercial purposes. However, it could be put to better use by being donated to research projects and academic studies which support good causes and improve people’s lives.
Speaker:
Simon Hessami is the Founder of Doneh, a tech non-profit platform to facilitate personal data sharing with academic institutions. He has a PhD in Mathematics and over ten years of experience in data science and business. Simon is also Head of the UK & Ireland AI Center of Excellence at Sia Partners, a next-generation management consulting firm.
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Economic policymakers must rely on theory to guide them. If the theory is bad, policy can be disastrous. This is the situation today. The current consensus model of the economy (“CM”) leads to periodic financial crises. We risk having another soon. We must replace CM with a better model, and I propose we use The Stock Market Model (“SMM”) which is explained in detail in The Economics of The Stock Market published this year by Oxford University Press. If we use SMM we will have a much better theory, a much improved understanding of the economy and we will be able to avoid financial crises.
Speaker:
Andrew Smithers founded Smithers & Co in 1989. Before that he ran S G Warburg's successful asset management business for many years (now part of BlackRock). A regular financial commentator and columnist, and author of many academic publications, he co-authored Valuing Wall Street with Stephen Wright (March 2000). He wrote Wall Street Revalued: Imperfect Markets and Inept Central Bankers (July 2009), and “Can We Identify Bubbles and Stabilize the System?” in The Future of Finance, published by the LSE in September, 2010.
Other books include The Road to Recovery: How and Why Economic Policy Must Change (September 2013), and Productivity and the Bonus Culture (July 2019).
His latest book, The Economics of the Stock Market was published by Oxford University Press in March 2022.
Andrew seeks urgent change to accepted economic theory and the regular financial crises which policy based on it causes.
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Scotland has a 350-year history as a leading financial centre; second only to London in the UK, sustaining around 150,000 jobs, and contributing 9.4% of the Scottish economy by Gross Value Added (GVA). Throughout its long history, it has innovated and reinvented itself continuously. Edinburgh is well known for its expertise in asset management, pensions and banking and Glasgow is creating its own distinctive success story, with global banking firms such as Barclays, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley choosing to invest there. The Scottish fintech cluster spans the central belt of Scotland and is recognised internationally, with FinTech Scotland recently being awarded a new silver level of Cluster Excellence accreditation, the highest level achieved by a fintech body in UK and Europe. In this webinar, Sandy Begbie CBE, Chief Executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise, the membership body for the financial sector in Scotland, will cover Scotland’s existing strengths as an international financial centre, and how it is successfully positioning itself for future success and inward investment through its sector strategy and collaboration across the sector and with key partners in Universities, colleges, other industry sectors and government.
Speaker:
Sandy Begbie CBE, was appointed Chief Executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise in October 2020. Prior to joining SFE, Sandy led the development of the Scottish Government’s Young Person’s Guarantee following an 18-month contract at Tesco Bank as the Chief Transformation Officer. Sandy was responsible for the Global People, Organisation and Culture Integration following the successful merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management. Before the merger Sandy was the Chief People Officer and Lead Executive for China and Hong Kong for Standard Life for eight years. During this time, he led the Standard Life HR team to be recognised as one of the top performing functions in the UK and also led the turn-around of Standard Life’s Chinese Joint Venture. Sandy was appointed Senior Advisor to the Standard Life Asia Board in July 2020, having been Chair of the Hong Kong-based Board since 2014. Before joining Standard Life plc in May 2010, Sandy held similar Transformation and Group HR Director positions within Aegon, Scottish Power and the Royal Bank of Scotland. Sandy holds several non-executive positions including Chair of Career Ready, Non-Executive Director of Place 2 Be and Chair of the Centre for Moving Images. Sandy was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in August 2018 for services to business and social inclusion.
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A collateral consequence of the invasion of Ukraine has been an undeniable demonstration that the world is not yet in a position to abandon fossil fuels. With one face governments are encouraging the oil industry to produce more oil and gas; with the other face they are banging the drum, albeit with increasingly muffled drumsticks, for a zero-carbon future. Why should companies and financial institutions continue to invest in an industry, which is likely to experience falling prices and hostile policy in the future? Investors would be well advised to ensure that any new investment and loan financing is analysed thoroughly and hedged appropriately. Consilience explains its web-based software package that can calculate the right amount of hedging that has to be undertaken to protect the retained revenue stream and underwrite loan financing for oil projects. It calculates the consequences if the state’s official selling price (OSP) diverges from the joint venture partners’ actual sales price. It determines the scaling factor that has to be applied to forecast production when there is unequal tax treatment of physical sales and hedge gains and losses, by adjusting the volume of hedging that has to be undertaken.
Speaker:
Liz Bossley is the CEO of Consilience, which she established in 1999. Liz has a 40-year career in international energy markets, spanning trading, risk management, marketing and extensive experience of contract negotiations. After graduation in 1978 she worked for 7 years as a trader for the British National Oil Corporation negotiating and implementing industry Participation Agreements and trading North Sea oil during the formative years of the forward and futures markets. She was head of trading, risk management and shipping offtake operations for Enterprise Oil plc for 14 years trading North Sea, Mediterranean, Indonesian, Gulf of Mexico and Brazilian oil and implementing risk management strategies using the full range of financial instruments available in the market. For further details, please follow the link.
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Uncertainty is not really uncertainty at all but just demonstrates a lack of foresight, imagination, and vision; as well as an unwillingness to think about the maverick or unthinkable – good and bad - and be ready for it or take advantage of it. If we are to meet the challenges that an everchanging world is throwing at us, then the task of accepting that uncertainty is about exploring the possible, rather than the impossible must be recognised by strategists, policy developers, political leaders, and boards and executive committees across the private, public and civil society sectors. This is highly resonant in the current disruptive and VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) times – magnified by the impact of the pandemic, ongoing digital change and increasing inequality. The term ‘unknown–unknowns’ is ubiquitous, albeit most future uncertain events do not fall into this category. However, it has been used to absolve decision makers from challenge and even rightful criticism especially post-event – in hindsight. Whilst there may have been good oversight of the ‘known’ aspects or what is extrapolated from the past, poor insight and poor foresight are the prime culprits. Most future uncertainties are ‘known-unknowns’ or inevitable surprises. It is our reliance on the past, accepted models and lack of accepting alternative , even challenging perspectives, which limits our thinking and actions. This re-positioning of uncertainties can help mitigate the impact of such risks through better foresight-aware contingency planning. As a result, the enemy is not uncertainty itself but our lack of imagination when trying to visualise the future. Most questions now are behavioural. The next industrial revolution is more psychological. As a result, we must expand traditional solution spaces by better embracing creativity and psychology rather than relying on the limiting spaces dominated by metrics and past models. To better understand uncertainty, we must deconstruct it and get to grips with its component parts. Three main questions are posed: 1) What are the main structural components that make up the conditions under which uncertainty operates? 2) What scenario lenses can be used when exploring uncertainty? 3) What behavioural factors do we need to consider when analysing the human responses to uncertainty? Practitioners, having to deal with making better decisions under uncertainty, will find the webinar a useful guide.
Speakers:
Bruce Garvey provides specialist support for organisations faced with high levels of uncertainty and complexity, addressing problems and issues at a strategic level. His knowledge base allows him to address client problems and issues at a strategic level via a Systems Thinking (Holistic) approach. He has developed proprietary decision support software to help structure complex problems and which has been licenced to organisations such as NATO and Anglian Water. The software and its accompanying process, helps decision makers to reduce often large potential problems to a much smaller set of viable options.
Dowshan Humzah is an independent board director and strategic advisor who has delivered transformative business growth, industry firsts, digital innovation and talent diversity, having held executive roles with RSA Insurance, Virgin Media, Orange, Procter & Gamble and four digital start-ups. He has a multi-faceted career with a portfolio of board, advisory and consulting roles. As a non-executive, he focuses much of his efforts on improving performance and quality via board composition and representation. His directorships include Chair UK Advisory Board, Board Apprentice Global; Member of Council, Gresham College; and Chair, Overcoming MS.
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It is currently fashionable to say that politics is now all about culture rather than economics. That transitioning sex matters more than transitioning nature of economies. That whether Brexit matters to you emotionally matters more than what its practical impacts are. And so on. However, this conventional wisdom is wrong. Younger people do feel different on many cultural issues, but this is largely downstream of the economic changes to their lives, not upstream of them. The most significant things that are changing younger people’s attitudes (all over the Western world) are being driven by their economic experience since the financial crisis, and the lack of the political and economic establishment to address their problems; combined with a heavy dose of social media which makes the change seem much faster.
Speaker:
Bim Afolami was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Hitchin and Harpenden in 2017 and was re-elected in 2019. Prior to entering Parliament, he spent ten years in the City of London; first as a corporate lawyer at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, then moving into banking in restructuring and strategy as a Senior Executive (Vice President) at HSBC. Through this Bim helped to advise some of the biggest companies in the world, both British and international. In Parliament Bim is the Chair of several cross-Party groups, including the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Renewable and Sustainable Energy and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Financial Markets & Services, a former PPS to three Cabinet ministers, and Conservative Vice Chairman. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, trustee of several charities (particularly focused on creating opportunities for young people) and is fascinated by books and historical figures. He is the father to three little boys and husband to Henrietta.
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Charismatic people create new systems that sometimes work (Big Bang in the City) and other charismatic people can crash the markets and countries large and small. Charisma is exerted through facial expressions, tone of the voice, hand gestures and body movements. This wrapping of non-verbal signals together with pithy language makes markets move and sometimes crash. The recognition of non-verbal emotional expressions is one of the targets of the AI community especially in their quest of creating machines that can understand aspects of human behaviour. In particular, the quest is directed at finding the difference between emotions expressed in words and, say, the facial expressions accompanying the words or the wrong tone of voice - a kind of an advanced lie-detector test much beloved of the financial services and security services alike. Professor Khurshid Ahmad will describe his recent work on the examination of chief executive officers of major enterprises, banking regulators, and some politicians, to examine the performance of facial emotion expression, of head movements accompanying facial expressions, and the tone of the voice of these charismatic people.
Speaker:
Professor Khurshid Ahmad is the Professor of Computer Science in the School of Statistics and Computer Science, Trinity College Dublin. His research areas include artificial intelligence, neural networks, fuzzy logic, social media analytics and behavioural finance. He was trained as a nuclear physicist and has worked in high-performance computing covering areas such as forecasting, computer-assisted learning, engineering design, and information extraction from continuous information streams comprising texts, images and numbers. His work seeks to maximise the potential of computing systems by enabling these systems to deal with different modalities of human communications, language, vision, symbolic including numerical information exchange. He has designed and implemented systems that learn to deal with the different modalities of communications. His work has been supported by research councils, EU Programmes, and venture capital funds. He is a former Visiting Professor at Copenhagen Business School and the University of Surrey, and has worked with UN FAO and UNDP. He has published over 200 research papers and his work has appeared in journals in AI and in corporate finance. His latest book is on the topic of Social Computing and the Law (Cambridge University Press). He is a Fellow of the British Computer Society and of Trinity College, Dublin. He is a member of the Board of Trinity College Dublin.
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The Global Financial Centres Index has been tracking the development of the world’s financial centres since 2007 and is the authoritative guide to financial centre success. In this webinar, Z/Yen, in partnership with the China Development Institute, will formally launch the 32nd edition of the index. We will also look to the future, with a panel discussion on New Landscapes In Global Finance, examining the uncertainties that the global economy and finance are facing and how we need to address and response to the impacts in the future.
Speakers:
Professor Michael Mainelli, Chairman, Z/Yen Group
Yu Linqu, Deputy Director of Department of Financial Development Research, China Development Institute
He Ping, Deputy Dean of School of Economics and Management,Tsinghua University
Douglas McWilliams, Chief Executive of Centre for Economics and Business Research
Qian Zongxin, Deputy Dean of School of Finance, Renmin University of China
Yu Changhua, Professor of National School of Development, Peking University
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Consult Hyperion and Norfico were commissioned by EACHA – The European Automated Clearing House Association to produce this in-depth whitepaper on Central Bank Digital Currencies. The whitepaper is based on research, insights from EACHA’s members and from hands-on experience from ongoing CBDC projects. We’re delighted to have the opportunity to discuss the whitepaper on 20th September 2022 with the FS Club community, where Tim Richards will be walking the audience through the key points and insights.
Speaker: Tim Richards has over 30 years experience in the payments industry and related areas, covering everything from the original EMV rollout through to e-Identity and e-Passport and including transit and mobile payments. As Principal Consultant, Tim heads up the Open Banking practice at Consult Hyperion, the international technology company specialising in secure transactions. He provides specialist consultancy to banks, payment schemes, payment scheme intermediaries and retailers.
About Consult Hyperion: Consult Hyperion is an independent strategic and technical consultancy, based in the UK and US, specialising in secure electronic transactions. With over 30 years’ experience, we help organisations around the world exploit new technologies to secure electronic payments and identity transaction services. From mobile payments and chip & PIN, to contactless ticketing and smart identity cards, we deliver value to our clients by supporting them in delivering their strategy. We offer advisory services and technical consultancy using a practical approach and expert knowledge of relevant technologies. Hyperlab, our inhouse software development and testing team, further supports our globally recognised expertise at every step in the electronic transaction value chain, from authentication, access and networks, to databases and applications.
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“Those able to make the most progress fastest stand to capture the highest value from data-supported capabilities. Companies already seeing 20 percent of their earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) contributed by artificial intelligence (AI)” McKinsey & Company. Without question, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the way we conduct business. However, a foundation needs to be in place to accelerate our journey towards those capabilities, and we need a flexible data platform in order to do so. This discussion will look into the evolution of the Data Platform, and understand what is needed to complete, what is seen as, The Modern Data Platform.
Speaker:
David Tuppen is Head of Digital, Data and AI at GFT. He has been working in the Data space for 20 years, from technical development through to business development. His area of expertise is Enterprise Data Strategy, with a focus on hybrid data architecture patterns and applications. His career experience includes working at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Athene Holding in Bermuda, and Milliman Actuarial Consultancy in London.
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Climate change is driving increasing wildfires including megafires worldwide, and the business community has begun to reckon with the impacts. The reinsurance industry has reclassified fires as a primary rather than a secondary peril. AXA XL has a special division focused on science and natural perils including fire, but they acknowledge that current catastrophe models don’t handle fire well. Besides such small, specialised business teams, ecologists, and staff of land use sectors directly impacted by fire, few understand the basics of fire: what exactly is fire, what drives it, who uses it and who tries to control it, and how does this impact on nature and society? The talk will provide an overview focused on these questions, with brief case studies from Mediterranean Europe, Australia, California and the Amazon to illustrate key points. It will conclude by summarising why wildfire is such a wicked problem, characterised by uncertainty, complexity, variability and disagreement over how to manage it.
Speaker:
Dr Simon Pooley is Lambert Lecturer in Environment at Birkbeck University of London, a bequest lectureship created by Dr Michael Lambert, a Fellow of Birkbeck College. Lambert’s work provided a template for new kinds of collaboration between biologists, ecologists, pharmacologists, even ethnographers and cultural historians, in short, interdisciplinary research.
Simon's work focuses on wildfires, bioinvasions, and human-wildlife conflicts and coexistence (in which capacity he serves on IUCN specialist groups). He has published an overview of wildfire in Africa, and is interested in fires in grasslands, savannas and Mediterranean-type ecosystems. All Simon's research informs his teaching on environmental topics in the Geography Department at Birkbeck, where he is Programme Director of the MSc in Environment and Sustainability.
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In July 2011, a tanker carrying a million barrels of crude oil, insured in London, was attacked by armed raiders off the coast of Yemen. Initially, Somali pirates were blamed. But the truth turned out to be much stranger and more sinister. The book and FT 2022 long list finalist, Dead in the Water, by Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel, tells a true story of fake pirates, real criminals, an unsolved murder, and an audacious fraud against the Lloyd's of London insurance market.
Speaker:
Kit Chellel is a reporter at Bloomberg and features writer for Businessweek magazine, covering subjects as diverse as sports gambling tycoons, Chinese state hackers and an ill-fated foray by Goldman Sachs into Colonel Qaddafi's Libya. His features have won numerous international awards, including a British Journalism Award for crime and legal affairs; the Gerald Loeb award for feature writing; the Overseas Press Club of America's Morton Frank Award; the Quill Award from the Melbourne Press Club, a feature reporting prize from the New York Press Club.
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Karan Jain discusses the advantages of leveraging networks of third-party technologies to accelerate innovation. Financial institutions can leverage partnerships to expedite the time to market, increase technical capabilities and user experience, and enable the ability to scale. Partnerships will be critical to financial services institutions over the next 3 years. Stakeholders need to partner swiftly, experiment rapidly, and look at more than one partner for business capabilities.
Speaker:
Karan Jain, CEO of NayaOne is a highly regarded finance technologist, bringing unique perspectives and real-life learnings from both financial institutions and start-up trenches. He is a multi-disciplinary CXO with expertise in delivering products to market, strategy, building complex trading applications, developing and leading high-performing teams. Featured on the UK top 30 CIO list, Karan has an in-depth understanding of applying technology to drive business objectives.
He previously launched and successfully exited two businesses, a B2B RegTech and an Agile Delivery Consultancy with a customer base from ASX50. With an in-depth understanding of the finance and tech ecosystem in the UK, US and Australia, Karan is an advisor to trade associations and young businesses. Karan also advises various regulatory WGs and Think Tanks in the domains of Digital Transformation, Cybersecurity, Fintech Partnerships (Sandboxes, toolkits and Synthetic data) and Data (AI and Data sharing).
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Given the speed of transformation of the investment landscape, together with the huge advisory industry that has appeared almost overnight, there are major concerns for ‘green and ESG-washing’ in the sector and it is unsurprising that regulators sought to act.
But Dr Sloan has significant concerns with the costs of the EU’s bureaucratic approach to sustainable finance regulation. He believes it is questionable whether the burden or the benefits of another layer of regulatory reporting requirements were properly thought through. The European Commission relying on a priori assumption that harmonisation creates efficiency rather than undertaking any significant cost benefit analysis. Through the International Sustainability Institute Channel Islands (‘ISICI’), Dr Sloan has put the cost to industry of implementing the EU’s SFDR at around €20bn per annum.
In this webinar, Dr Sloan will discuss and explain these costs estimates and illustrate the historic tendency of the EU to underestimate regulatory costs, providing legitimate grounds for the UK’s decision to diverge from the EU with its sustainable finance regulations.
Speaker:
Dr Andy Sloan is the founder of the think tank, the International Sustainability Institute Channel Islands, and runs a climate risk advisory business, Netherite and Grunweldt Advisory. An economist by trade, He has over 20 years’ experience of international policy development. Working in Guernsey for the last 15 years, he has been Chief Economist for the Guernsey Government, Director of Strategy at Guernsey Finance and Director of Financial Stability and International Policy Advisor at the Guernsey Financial Services Commission during that time. Representing a third country gave him direct experience of negotiating with the European Commission on regulatory equivalence and taxation. He has been the GFSC’s representative at IOSCO and other regulatory bodies. He worked with the City UK’s International Regulatory Strategy Group on its Brexit and Regulatory Coherence agendum and has worked with numerous other London based trade groups including the BVCA and the Investment Association. A strong advocate of climate disclosures, and an expert reviewer for the IPCC, he founded Guernsey Green Finance in 2018.
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Did the old office environment deliver the best way of working? Have we discovered that WFH delivered some positives that we didn’t have before? Have we learned new techniques, routines, rhythms etc that we would like to keep but don’t know how, or will dwindle into memory? Are there things about being back in the office that we are relishing or have missed without realising? This session will explore some of the changes emerging since people have been returning to the office and the impacts of hybrid environment; consider some questions that leaders and employees can ask themselves while adapting to this new world and discuss how practically to maximize some of the benefits and opportunities and how we might address unwanted impacts.
Speaker:
Sophie Hutcherson originally qualified as an accountant and has since worked in financial services for over 30 years as a regulator, risk manager and as a bank CEO, COO and chief of staff. Having worked with Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo, most recently she has been advising leadership teams and boards and begun her Non Executive career. She is passionate about ensuring the operating model of an organisation enables the team to develop their full potentials, and greatly enjoys coaching, mentoring and tailoring practical and “easy to implement” solutions.
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Private equity is known for a ruthless focus on returns, but these days you struggle to find a private equity group that isn’t talking about sustainability. Responsible investment policies, sustainability due diligence and net zero strategies are becoming part of the common vernacular. Regulatory pressures have forced this issue up the agenda, but private equity isn’t treating this as a simple compliance exercise. Instead this has become a primary value creation lever. This webinar will explain the sustainability pressures on private equity and how sustainability is adding value at different stages in the fund lifecycle. It will also show why sustainability is here to stay.
Speaker:
Harry Briggs is a sustainability specialist within the asset management sector. Harry’s focus is on assisting private equity clients with their responsible investment policy, portfolio engagement strategy, regulatory compliance, and outsourced sustainability reporting. Prior to establishing Terra Instinct, Harry was a Director of Sustainability at KPMG where he worked on these issues with asset managers. Harry has recently led a sustainability reporting project at The Prince of Wales’s Accounting for Sustainability organization. In this role he deep dived on sustainability reporting challenges around governance, materiality, data control and reporting standards with circa 30 of the world’s largest multinational organizations. Harry is a member of the EU’s EFRAG working group for sustainability standards in the financial services industry. Harry is also a non-executive advisor to the UK Future Homes organization and sits on the Embodied Carbon expert working group in the UK Government’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
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For too long the natural world has been pillaged and depleted. But now what was only recently considered expendable wasteland is becoming recognised as a vast source of value providing services worth billions of pounds annually to the world economy by nurturing biodiversity, cleaning the air, sequestering carbon, delivering water, and providing livelihoods to tens of millions of people. Yet remarkably it remains untapped by international investment markets. Markets may have been its nemesis in the past, but through creative economic thinking they can now be transformed into its saviour. This webinar explains how environmental services can be turned into a major investment opportunity while simultaneously providing much needed debt-free capital investment for green economic development and social infrastructure in emerging economies.
Speaker:
Simon Lamb is an environmental policy innovator, passionate conservationist, and prize-winning author with life-long experience in business and investment. He began his working career in financial services, and is founder/CEO of a successful art business in Dorset, as well as a farmer (now retired). For the past 25 years he has studied evolution, human development and market economics in the context of their combined impact on the natural world and human society. His book, Junglenomics (2019), represents the culmination of insights into the underlying causes of the world environment crisis, and presents a unified plan to address them based on natural systems - "ecosystem economics". Simon presents economies as “virtual ecosystems” in which the speed of evolution has outstripped its ability to develop symbiotic relationships that complete the cycle of resources found in Nature, and sees the constructive disruption of environmentally damaging markets as the only viable way forward for humanity. Simon is a commission member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and Lambda Alpha International. He is married with four sons and four grandchildren.
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The term “Digital Economy” refers to the use of information technologies in the production of goods and services, their financing, agreements, marketing, tracking, distribution, and consumption. Technology is creating new products, services and changing the way we do business, work and live. Digital, like the information economy that preceded it, is sustainable because if offers more efficient ways of doing things, from the conception, design, creation, financing, selling, delivery, tracking, servicing of products and services. If you’re interested in the future and how you should approach the Digital Economy as a provider, consumer, or investor, join our discussion.
Speaker:
Einar Tangen is a Senior Fellow with the Taihe Institute. He trained and practiced as a lawyer in the US, was an investment banker with Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, served in government at the City, State and National levels, and is a serial entrepreneur and a current affairs commentator for over 40 stations internationally. In addition, he hosts several Videocasts including Speak Softly with Charles and Einar, Tangen On China, Reality Check, Country to Country and Competing Narratives.
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In our next newspad review webinar, Global Shares’ Darren Smith will chair a panel of share schemes experts for in depth discussion of their pick of articles featured in recent editions of “It’s Our Business”, newspad of the Esop Centre.
Panellist: Cathy Wears. Of Counsel - Tax Department, CMS
Cathy is an Of Counsel in the CMS Employee Incentives team with over 15 years’ experience advising clients on their share plans. Cathy advises a full range of clients from start-ups to large listed multinational companies with the design and implementation of a diverse range of share plans, tax advice and compliance. She also advises on the impact of takeovers and investments on share plans. Her expertise includes employee benefit trusts, tax advantaged arrangements and international share plans, working with ShareReporter and CMS to create an app providing global legal and tax information in over 80 countries.
Panellist: Tom Hicks, Executive Director-Employee Incentives, Fiduchi
Tom has spent the majority of his near 20-year finance industry career in Employee Incentives, primarily in the provision of trusteeship and administration services to a broad cross-section of clients, from multinational and FTSE 100 companies to small private companies. He is responsible for the Employee Incentives Team at Fiduchi, following leadership roles at a large, listed financial services provider and, more recently, a law firm affiliated trust company. He is also a member of the Fiduchi Board of Directors.
Tom is a qualified accountant with a first-class honours degree in Applied Accounting and has a strong technical ability. He favours a solutions-driven approach, balanced with integrity and commerciality, to ensure clients are provided with efficient service tailored to their specific requirements.
Chairman: Darren Smith, Business Development Director for the UK, Global Shares
Share plans sector stalwart Darren Smith joined the Global Shares team in July 2021. Darren worked with YBS Share Plans for more than 20 years as share plans consultant, client relationship manager and most recently as national sales manager, until it announced that it was pulling out of share scheme administration. Darren is a well-known and regular industry host, speaking on topics including share plans and financial wellbeing, bringing fun and an engaging style to events.
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In this webinar Bob McDowall will discuss how anthropology and technology can be of mutual benefit in the future. Both anthropology and technology rely on study and analysis of human behaviour for their success and deployment. Behavioural aspects of adoption of technology will be of more importance in deployment of more sophisticated technologies.
Z/Yen conducts an irregular series of short webinars, Community Chest, featuring people from its various communities and clubs, viz. technology, financial services, civil society, and business. These webinars provide an opportunity to meet people from the wider Community, to share ideas, and to make connections.
Robert (“Bob”) McDowall spent his career in banking and finance in the City of London, working for a number of institutions including Merrill Lynch, Pru-Bache and Singer and Friedlander, and retains a number of consultancies and directorships in the finance and technology sectors.
He has authored, co-authored and presented a number of research papers on finance and technology.
Robert is a former President of the Folklore Society, an Academic Charity. He has delivered a number of papers, lectures and blogs on many facets of folklore from literature and food and drink to finance, money, urban myths and legends. He currently serves on the Finance Committee of the Royal Anthropological Institute and is a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute and chairs its fund raising committee.
He lives in the Channel Islands. He is a former member of the States of Alderney (2013-2016) where he chaired the Policy and Finance Committee and the Finance sub-committee. He currently chairs Conservatives Abroad in the Channel Islands and sits on the Board of Conservatives Abroad.
Robert is a Livery Man and former Member of the Court of the Livery Company, The Tin Plate alias Wireworkers Company, a Member of the Gresham Society. He has a degree in law (LL.B) from University College London and is a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute (“FRAI”).
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Today, Seoul is more determined than ever to reach the milestone and capture the eyes of investors and institutions. In order to attract excellent global companies and investment capital, Seoul has officially launched ‘Invest Seoul’, the city’s Investment Promotion Agency. Its main goal is to help foreign investors find a successful business. In this webinar, Bonhi Gu will run a session on how Invest Seoul is committed to serving as a devoted business partner, leveraging its expertise to provide active support across the full business cycle. He will share how Invest Seoul is promoting the investment environment of Seoul to attract leading global companies and link them to foreign investors. This procedure will turn Seoul into an engine of an international financial system and make headway in the future.
Speaker:
Bonhi Gu is the Director of Invest Seoul, an investment promotion agency of Seoul Metropolitan Government. He is truly enthusiastic about making Seoul a leading hub of global business, innovation, and talent in Asia. Most recently Mr Gu has been leading work for Woori Bank Korea. There, he served as an investment banking manager & derivative trader in London & Seoul. Before that, from 2011-2015, he led the Global Business Department where he handled both HR issues and budget management of overseas networks and employees. Also, he contributed to the company by launching banking products for global Wealth Management clients. His work has taken him to Woori Bank Europe GmbH in 2016, where he mainly focused on corporate banking business, money intermediary, and bond trading business.
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While less directly threatening in the public mind than ‘killer robots’, the use of AI in military decision-making presents key challenges as well as enormous advantages. Increasing human oversight over the technology itself will not prevent inadvertent (let alone intentional) misuse. The presenters argue that trust at all levels (operators, commanders, political leaders and the public) is essential to the effective adoption of AI for military decision-making and explores key related questions. What does trust in AI actually entail? How can it be built and sustained in support of military decision-making? What changes are needed for a symbiotic relationship between human operators and artificial agents for future command?
Christina Balis is the Global Campaign Director of Training and Mission Rehearsal at QinetiQ. Her 20 years’ experience across both sides of the Atlantic encompasses consulting, industry and public policy settings, with particular focus on defence, global security and transatlantic relations.
Paul O'Neill is the Director of Military Sciences at The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). With over 30 years’ experience in strategy and human resources, his research interests cover national security strategy and organisational aspects of defence and security, particularly organisational design, human resources, professional military education and decision-making.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3QDA0IA
What does an Information Commissioner do exactly? In this information age, data is all around us. But who regulates what happens to our personal data? Who is there to protect us? This webinar focuses on the role of the Information Commissioner, presented by Paul Vane, Information Commissioner for Jersey. Paul will walk you through the main tasks of the regulator, what that means for both businesses and individuals, and how important data protection is for each and every one of us.
Speaker:
As Information Commissioner, Paul Vane is accountable for the overall leadership of the Jersey Office of the Information Commissioner (JOIC) and is ultimately answerable for any issue relating to it. He is responsible for strategic planning and ensuring that the operations of the office meet with the strategic goals. Paul is responsible for promoting awareness of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018, its principles and the obligations upon controllers and processors as well as the rights of individuals. An important part of his role is to ensure that the office is perceived to be helpful, supportive and informative, while enforcing the law where necessary. Part of his role is to create a greater awareness of Jersey and data protection in Jersey within the international community. Paul leads JOIC’s external relations, dealing with representatives from businesses, governments and NGOs, both locally and internationally. Paul has extensive experience in the regulatory and law enforcement environment and held the position of Deputy Commissioner between 2004 - 2021. Between January and August 2018 Paul was Acting Information Commissioner, during which time the GDPR came into effect. Paul led the organisation through this landmark transition.
Previously, Paul worked at the Jersey Financial Services Commission as a Compliance Manager and Policy and Legal Manager. This gave him experience in a similar regulatory environment where, among other things, he was responsible for ensuring that financial services businesses were compliant with Jersey’s financial services law. Before that, Paul worked as a police officer for the States of Jersey Police, learning skills which he still uses today.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3padbR8
Bangladesh has come such a long way since Henry Kissinger’s famous 1971 quip, "Bangladesh is a bottomless basket", and the 2014 World Bank, “corruption challenge”, remarks. Examples abound across the country and ultimately both were proven wrong.
More recently, within its economic development progress, Bangladesh has been a star. During the period 2017-2019, its economy grew at 7.8%, and managed 2.4% in the 2020 covid pandemic, one of the very few countries worldwide to show growth during this time. While Bangladesh continues to make improvements across many parts of its economy, growth in inbound FDI has lagged and still hovers just above 1% of GDP, below its 5-year plan and well below the FDI of neighbouring India, and Vietnam’s 10-15%.
This webinar focuses on the recent changes to its capital markets and tracks inbound flows by country across infrastructure, corporate, VC and PE investors over the past 2-3 years, which has been very impressive. We also address challenges to this growth which still remain. The research that Henry will discus was produced by Asia Investment Research. Links to the full report on Bangladesh can be found there.
Speaker:
Henry Tillman has had a 35+ year international banking career, with ExCo positions at Barclays and ABN Amro and a NED role at Wells Fargo EMEA. In 2003, he formed Grisons Peak LLP, a UK based merchant bank, focussed on UK/Tech partnerships with Asia, which advised on over $25 billion completed transactions before being wound down in 2018. In 2008, Mr Tillman launched a global China macro research product, China Outbound Investments, driven from a bespoke database launched in 2008, five years before the launch of the One-Belt-One-Road Initiative, later recast as the Belt Road Initiative (OBOR/BRI). Over the past few years, the firm’s business has shifted from large cap M&A advisory to Asia research/consultancy with related private placements operated within Grisons Peak Services.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3zZyydS
Bonds can be structured to help reverse specific environmental harms and could be a powerful tool in our efforts to restore the planet. For example, overfishing has been a leading driver of oceanic habitat degradation for decades, because fishing companies are financially incentivised to fish as much as they legally can. Similarly, deforestation is hard to stop because multiple stakeholders have a financial incentive in it. But what if these incentives were reversed? Designing financing instruments where investors, lenders and other stakeholders are financially incentivized to ensure that the state of the relevant natural ecosystem, species or habitat is improved offers a powerful way to reverse the status quo.
In this webinar, Planet Tracker’s experts will discuss two examples of financial instruments (a Deforestation-Linked Sovereign Bond and a Blue Recovery Bond) that could be used to help tackle problems such as these. The Deforestation-Linked Sovereign Bond proposed by Planet Tracker incentivises the issuing government to reduce deforestation by linking better financing terms to achieving deforestation reduction targets. Similarly, Planet Tracker’s award-winning Blue Recovery Bond concept incentivises fishing companies and their investors to fish less by financially rewarding a period of fishing restraint, which enables the rebuilding of fish populations, ensuring greater catches and associated profits in the medium-term. Whether by amending existing tools such as sustainability-linked bonds or by creating purpose-built instruments, there are multiple possibilities to structure the integration of nature conservation objectives into the legal framework of financing instruments, and Planet Tracker’s engagement with the financial community shows that demand for them is high and supply-constrained.
Speakers:
Peter Elwin is Director of Fixed Income, and Head of the Land Use and Textiles Programmes, at financial think tank Planet Tracker and has over 20 years of financial markets experience in senior management and functional roles on the buy side and sell side. His experience covers equity and credit research, accounting, valuation, natural capital, sustainability, strategy, and operations.
Peter was previously Head of Research at the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), one of the largest UK private pension schemes with over £60bn under management. Before joining USS, Peter was Deputy Head of European Research and the #1-rated Global Head of Pensions, Valuation, & Accounting research at JP Morgan.
François Mosnier brings more than 10 years of experience working across finance, nature conservation and sustainable farming. Prior to joining Planet Tracker, he was a financial analyst at Exane BNP Paribas and Capital Group, and a conservation finance specialist at Conservation Capital.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3P1J60o
OneBanks is pioneering a new concept in high street banking: leveraging open banking to enable customers of all banks to do their everyday banking transactions in a single location. Resulting from a backdrop of bank branch closures over the past decade, many communities have lost their access to convenient banking services with people at risk of being left behind. OneBanks mission is to create a sense of community by having opportunities for everyday human interaction. While digital and analogue are somewhat paradoxical, it is essential that solutions cater for both to help drive both access to cash and also look to reduce the digital divide. Duncan will explore the issue of reducing branches in the UK and outline the OneBanks innovation and solution which is set to become the new face of banking on the high street.
Speaker:
OneBanks came from Duncan Cockburn's vision to develop an agnostic bank platform to facilitate everyday banking services and preserve human interaction. Duncan has developed the overarching strategy, as well as defining and maintaining the company mission and vision. Duncan has also played a pivotal role in leading the OneBanks team to date. Duncan has a degree from the University of Exeter and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG. He spent time in California learning about coding and whilst there became excited about the potential offered by Open Banking. He left KPMG to set up OneBanks in 2019.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3zqoNnF
We all know it’s important for success to look after our customers, but how do you do that in times of challenge? What the last two years have taught us is that at some point your business will face some form of crisis. It may be high growth pressure, cost base getting out of control, competition eating your lunch, capacity challenges, the fallout from wholesale technology transformation, or a myriad of other things... In this webinar, Jimmy Barber will run a session specially focused on how you can look after your customers in times of crisis. He will share some of his experience from across Financial Services and the lessons he has learned in trying (not always successfully) to navigate these choppy waters. Despite the subject, the session will be light, insightful, and thought provoking, and will give some practical tips to help to deliver for your customers when you next face times of crisis.
Speaker:
Jimmy Barber is the MD & Founder of JAB Financial Solutions, a start-up aiming to help FS companies deliver exceptional results. Most recently he has been leading work for Hiscox who post the pandemic faced the challenge of handling the equivalent volume of 100 years of Business Interruption claims. Before that he was the Chief Operating Officer for the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) who handle claims resulting from firms failing across Insurance, Investment, Pension company. There he led the business transformation which saw Customer Satisfaction go from the low 50%’s to the high 80’s while at the same time volumes of claims doubled. Before that, he did senior roles at RSA and Capital One, leading large scale transformation.
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On 24 February 2022, life changed dramatically. Russia invaded Ukraine and that triggered a multi-lateral response unseen since WW2. International sanctions were and remain a key part of that response. This talk will give an overview of the UK sanctions response, identify key “problem” areas and conclude with suggested best practices.
Speaker:
Fergus Randolph QC practises commercial, EU and international law in London and Brussels. He has been involved in sanctions litigation for many years, initially dealing with Iran and more latterly with Russia. He is a Bencher of Middle Temple and Chair of the Bar Council’s International Trade Working Group.
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In this webinar, Dr Con Keating will cover his paper, examining the legal position of common elements of liability driven investment (LDI) for DB pension schemes. It concludes that there are significant risks, that their actions will be deemed ‘ultra vires’, for trustees and LDI investment managers arising from the use of borrowing, the use of derivatives, and the purchase of conventional and index linked gilts as ‘hedge’ instruments. It appears that the Pensions Regulator has failed to enforce the law, in breach of their statutory duty.
The returns to LDI strategies are directly related to the performance of gilts and have historically generated positive returns with the secular decline in yields. However, with rates now rising, the losses which follow are likely now to attract the attention of scheme members and their sponsors, and most importantly their lawyers, Messrs Sue, Grabbit and Runne.
Speaker:
In the seven years since retiring, Dr Con Keating has restricted his advisory activities to projects for friends, former colleagues, and old clients. He remains active in a number of pro bono roles, including chairing the Bond Commission of the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies. For the past five years, with Professor Iain Clacher, he has been researching the design and operation of collective defined benefit pensions schemes.
He has taught courses as a visitor, at undergraduate and post graduate levels, at universities in the UK, US, Asia and Europe, and continues to supervise two doctoral candidates. The subjects taught and researched have included international and development finance, financial economics, mathematical finance and actuarial science, risk management and pensions design and modelling.
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Busan is a major commercial and shipping hub in South Korea. In line with the Korean Government's aim of balanced growth across the nation, Busan is beginning a period of major infrastructure development, with the goal of raising substantial investment funds to finance this development, using public private partnership arrangements. The infrastructure plan includes -The development of a new airport -Building a second new port -LNG Hub Terminal Development -The development of a City Rail Network, Expressways, Bridges and Tunnels -The redevelopment of the North port. In this webinar, we heard more from Busan Finance Center about the opportunities available for investors and construction firms and the ways in which you can be part of the future of Busan.
Speakers:
Jong Hwa Kim is the President of Busan Finance Center, an incorporated association built on public-private partnership to develop strategies for Busan to become an international finance hub and act on policy initiatives to attract foreign and domestic financial institutions. Mr. Kim previously served about 30 years at the Bank of Korea, the central bank of Korea, at various capacities such as Deputy Governor and Director-General of the International Department. After his tenure at the Bank of Korea, Mr. Kim joined the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute, a specialized institution for payment and settlement system, as the President and Chairman. Most recently, he served as an Adjunct Professor of the College of Economics at Sogang University in Seoul. He earned his BA in Economics from Seoul National University and received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor.
SB Shin is Director, International Finance Division, Busan Finance Center. His previous career was spent at Kookmin Bank and then at Standard Chartered Bank in Korea, as Head Of Group Market Risk, Head Of Asset And Liability Management, and then as Managing Director. He holds an MBA from the American Graduate School of International Management, Arizona and was Professor at Baewha Women's University from 2017-2018.
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Islamic investing eschews a variety of sectors and activities, a process often referred to as negative screening. But it also seeks positive attributes surrounding financial sustainability, management integrity and social responsibility. Over decades the combination of these factors have contributed to the creation of portfolios demonstrating superior performance, excellent downside protection and lower than benchmark risk as measured by annualized standard deviation of returns; in short, Alpha. In this webinar, Scott will discuss Islamic equity portfolio construction, the rules that guide stock selection, and how Islamic investing can reduce risk.
Speaker:
Scott Klimo, Vice President & Chief Investment Officer, joined Saturna Capital in May 2012. He is portfolio Manager for the Amana Growth Fund, the largest Shariah-compliant mutual fund in the US, with AUM of $3.1 billion. He also manages the Saturna Al Kawthar Global Focused Equity UCITS ETF. He received his BA in Asian Studies from Hamilton College in Clinton, NY and also attended the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Mandarin Training Center in Taipei, Taiwan. Scott has 35 years’ experience in the financial industry with the first several years of his career spent living and working in a variety of Asian countries and the past 20 years working as a senior analyst, research director, portfolio manager and CIO covering global equities. Mr. Klimo is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder and an avid cyclist.
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As the nature of conflict changes, so too does its periodicity and duration. There have been many long, nearly forever, wars - The Reconquista, 774 years; Roman-Persian Wars, 681 years; The Germanic Wars, 588 years; Arab-Byzantine Wars, 400 years; The Ottoman Wars, 573 years; The Philippines Revolt, 377 years; Mexican Indian Wars, 414 years. Many wars continue today, especially civil wars, e.g. Myanmar from 1949, Afghanistan from 1978, Somalia from 1991, Syria from 2011. Some would argue that in modern warfare the use of overwhelming force by major states precludes long-term conventional conflict. Others would argue that chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats encourage long-term conflict. Cyber aggression, terrorism, and piracy are perennial, but arguments abound that somehow these are not ‘real’ wars.
In order to explore this topic with a view to gaining insight into when a conflict is due to be short, or when a conflict is likely to persist, CityForum and Z/Yen have assembled an unusual panel of a Vice Admiral, former Chair of NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and a wildly-popular speculative fiction author, along with a City economist and scientist. The exploration will centre on trying use insights to gauge the likely duration of the Russo-Ukrainian war since 2014. Here, our speculative fiction author will provide an unusual perspective, that of narrative from an alternative universe featuring the continuous Crimean War.
The historic Crimean War, so named as most of the fighting took place on the Crimean Peninsula, was waged from 1853 to 1856. It began when Russia's Czar Nicolas I, claiming to be protecting Orthodox Christians, took advantage of a demonstrably weak Ottoman-Turkish empire and invaded the principalities of Moldavia and Walachia in July 1853. In October the Ottoman-Turks retaliated by declaring war on Russia. Austria was concerned over its economic lifeline, the Danube River, which flowed through and terminated in the occupied provinces. Britain was concerned over its trades routes through Turkey into India. France simply wanted revenge for its sound defeat at the hands of the Russians in 1812. It wasn't long before they were drawn into the Russo-Turkish conflict. The war fighting raged for several years, and contained the famous "Charge of the Light Brigade" which ended the Battle of Balaclava on 24 October 1854. Over the winter of 1854-55 the allied French, British and Turkish forces were joined by the Italian kingdom of Sardinia, who wanted British and French support in expelling Austria from Italy. The Treaty of Paris, signed 30 March 1856, ended the war. Among terms of the treaty, Russia was forbidden to sail a fleet on the Black Sea, the Turks had to promise better treatment for their Christian subjects, and the territory at the mouth of the Danube was returned to Turkey. An overwhelming majority of casualties in the war died from disease and poor medical care. Florence Nightingale played a big role with a more scientific approach to nursing. The war was the first to employ armoured warships, submarine mines, intercontinental telegraph, and war photography. It gave rise to the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest award for military valour. But what if the Crimean War continued? In Jasper Fforde’s Nextian Universe, the Crimean War never ends, continuing for some 168 years, spanning some seven books, The Eyre Affair, Lost In A Good Book, The Well Of Lost Plots, Something Rotten, Thursday Next: First Among Sequels, One Of Our Thursdays Is Missing, and The Woman Who Died a Lot
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Purpose is a concept that has been confused and abused to the point where some are thinking of moving to something else. In this talk, Victoria will set out why she thinks purpose is a concept of profound significance for business and society, because it encapsulates and operationalised the paradigm shift happening at the heart of economics and business. Having lived through a necessary time of proliferation and noise, consensus is starting to emerge about precisely what it is to be a purpose-driven organisation is. This is best evidence by the - about to be launched - first national guidance standard: PAS 808: Purpose-driven Organisations: Worldviews, Principles and Behaviours which was steered by a range of actors including Anglian Water, JLL, B Lab (C Corp), Prof Colin Mayer, John Lewis, ReGenerate, UK Government (DCMS), Future Fit Foundation and Business in the Community. Victoria will outline the accountability frame for purpose at the heart of this standard and how far she thinks purpose-driven firms can create the long-term wellbeing for everyone that we are in danger of irreversibly losing.
Speaker:
Dr Victoria Hurth works at the intersect of academia and hands-on business to help companies transition to be drivers of long-term wellbeing for all (sustainability). She works most of her time at the University of Cambridge – as a Fellow of the Institute for Sustainability Leadership and as a Visiting Fellow at Judge Business School. focuses on five core pillars: purpose, governance, marketing, leadership and culture. Victoria is currently Technical Author for the first national standard specifying the Worldviews, Principles and Behaviours of Purpose-Driven Organisations (PAS 808). She co-led the process to create ISO 37000, the first global consensus standard on organisational governance and currently co-leads the ISO working group (TC309/WG1) developing standards on Indicators of Effective Governance (ISO 37006) and guidance for governing bodies in Using, Selecting and Creating Indicators (ISO 37005). Victoria is an UNCTAD review panel member for ISAR Honors, was a member of the UNCTAD/UNEP Task Force developing a methodology for SDG indicator 12.6.1 and their guidance on core SDG indicators for business, and was a member of WBCSD’s working group on Governance. She is a director of the Soil Association.
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Professor Charles Goodhart was appointed to the Norman Sosnow Chair of Banking and Finance at the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1985, until his retirement in 2002 when he became Emeritus Professor of Banking and Finance. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1990, and awarded the CBE in 1997, for services to monetary economics. During 1986, he helped to found the Financial Markets Group at LSE. For the previous 17 years he served as a monetary economist at the Bank of England, becoming a Chief Adviser in 1980. Following his advice on overcoming the financial crisis in Hong Kong in 1983, he subsequently served on the HK Exchange Fund Advisory Committee until 1997. Later in 1997 he was appointed for three years, until May 2000, one of the four independent outside members of the newly-formed Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee. He became an economic consultant to Morgan Stanley in 2009, until he resigned, at the age of 80, in 2016.
Professor Willem Buiter is an independent economic advisor and speaker. He is Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the Advisory Scientific Committee of the European Systemic Risk Board. He was Global Chief Economist at Citigroup from 2010 to 2018 and a Special Economic Advisor at Citigroup from 2018 to 2019. Previously, he was Chief Economist and Special Counselor to the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England. He was the Juan T Trippe Professor of International Economics at Yale University and has also held academic appointments at the London School of Economics, Cambridge University, the University of Bristol, and Princeton University. He is the author of 78 refereed articles in professional journals and seven books.
Dr Andrew Hilton OBE is a financial and economic commentator and consultant, based in London. In 1993, he co-founded the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI), a non-profit think-tank supported by up to 70 City institutions (including the BofE and the Treasury), and was its Director until March 2021. During that time, the CSFI held over three thousand events, published well over one hundred reports as well as a regular journal, and produced over 400 videos, establishing itself as an international thought-leader in the fields of financial services and macroeconomics. He has worked for the World Bank in Washington and was editor-in-chief of a New York-based financial advisory service owned by the Financial Times . He has written books on LDC debt and edited a UN work on free-trade zones. He is a board member of the Observatoire de la finance in Geneva. He has a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from Wharton and an MA from New College, Oxford. He was appointed OBE in 2006.
Dr Shann Turnbull published The Management of Capital in 1965 to promote modern financial analysis in Australia. He became a part time teacher at Australia’s first business schools while being a serial entrepreneur founding many enterprises with three becoming traded on the Australian stock exchange. From 1967 to 1974 he was in charge of research for a private equity group that acquired and re-organized a eight publicly traded companies. In 1970 he also became a founding joint CEO/owner of a public mutual fund management company. In 2001 he obtained a PhD from Macquarie University with a thesis that showed how the science of control and communication in the animal and the machine described as cybernetics could be extended to organizations to create a science of governance using bytes as the unit of analysis.
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The global financial industry is amid a wave of change. From the financial crisis in 2008, changes in technology, demand for sustainable finance, and the challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic; all have required a collective response to shape a better future for the industry.
Financial centres worldwide have been co-ordinating responses to some of the world’s most pressing challenges and spearheading efforts to strengthen their jurisdictions’ financial markets, business environments, and innovation ecosystems to enable sustainable global growth.
Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) in partnership with the World Alliance of International Financial Centers (WAIFC) and the Z/Yen Group, are launching The Future of Financial Centres, whitepaper. The paper provides insights on how financial centres are collaborating and cooperating to enable sustainable growth, addressing the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), developing human capital and working together to share a vision for financial centres in 2030.
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A regular speaker at the FS Club, David Doyle is back to give a mid-year update on the EU financial services regulatory agenda.
David will cover the latest regulatory developments from Brussels, covering the EU bank prudential regime (Basel III), revisions to MiFID, AIFMD, the EU digital agenda (MICA, DORA) and the progress on the EU Sustainability finance regime.
Speaker:
Dr David Doyle is known across Europe as a leading expert on EU financial services regulation and long-standing speaker at the Financial Services Club. A former diplomat with over 20 years of service on mainland Europe at bilateral and multilateral level, he now acts as an EU Policy Advisor between Brussels and London, specialising in regulatory developments in banking, fund management and insurance.
He is a member of the Executive Board of the joint MEP-EU industry advocacy body, The Kangaroo Group at the European Parliament, holds a seat on the Board of Directors of the Genesis Initiative at Westminster that promotes entrepreneurship and SME policy, as well as being active in the Transatlantic Business Council on Capital Markets and the Conference Board Corporate Governance Council.
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Sanctions are restrictive measures that can be put in place to fulfil a range of purposes, which are increasingly being used in political discourse and international relations especially since the advent of Russian’s invasion of Ukraine. In the UK, these include complying with UN and other international obligations, supporting foreign policy and national security objectives, as well as maintaining international peace and security, and preventing terrorism. What does this mean from an organisation or firm perspective? Why does this matter and why is it important to an organisation or firm? How does an organisation or firm manage risk using intelligence led data analysis? What does it mean when the unknown unknowns are identified, possibly within your customers, partners, suppliers and employees?
Speaker:
Michael Hoddy is Sales Leader for UK and Ireland at i2 Group, now part of Harris Computer Corporation. i2 Group were established in Cambridge, England in 1990 and are the de facto market leaders who produce visual intelligence and investigative analysis software for Defence, Law Enforcement and Commercial agencies. Michael has 25+ years of extensive national and international experience working with a wide range of companies and organisations in both regulated and un-regulated markets. He is a passionate advocate in helping clients find effective solutions to problems and advises on all aspects of Information Technology, Security and Technological Innovation as how to apply i2’s market leading insight to the challenges organisations face every day.
Philip Leaper is Professional Services lead for EMEA at i2 Group. Philip has a 20 year history of consulting, architecture and engagement management before joining i2 in 2018, he manages a team delivering the most complex solutions to the most interesting clients. Alongside this, Philip maintains the catalogue of external search connectors that i2 uses to enrich its clients investigations with commercial and open source intelligence, as well as working with clients and partners daily to design solutions that push the boundaries of linked intelligence analysis.
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Large companies have social and investment responsibilities. Choices made today could lock us into carbon intensive pathways, or lead the world to achieve net zero and put the brakes on climate change. Carbon Emission Accounts and Datasets (CEADs.net) are key to helping companies and governments plan towards global carbon neutrality. Apart from being an interesting set of accounts, they provide emission data for emerging economies, their regions and cities, plant level emission accounts for global infrastructures, and carbon footprints for Forbes 2000 companies.
Speaker:
Professor Dabo Guan is a Chair of Climate Change Economics at the University College London, UK. He is the Fellow of Academy of Social Sciences, UK. He specialises in environmental economics for international climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, scenario analysis on environmental impacts, water resources accounting and management, input-output modelling and their applications in both developed and developing countries. He was a Lead Author for the IPCC AR5. He was the Highly Cited Researcher for 2018-2021, top thousand climate academics (rank 389 in 2020). He has authored over 260+ publications, including 60+ articles published Nature, Nature Research Journals, and PNAS. He received the PNAS Cozzarelli Prize 2014, the Leontief Prize 3 times and the Philip Leverhulme Prize. His paper about climate change impact on beer consumption received the 2018 Altimetric Top 100 award.
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Interested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5 Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3OjmbhK In this webinar, share schemes expert David Craddock will examine the effects of the current cost of living crisis on everyday lives together with the impact of inflation on the operation of employee share schemes, the role that employee share schemes can play in alleviating the problem through the companies that embrace them and the wider employee share schemes policy initiatives that governments can introduce to influence, for the betterment of their citizens, the range of macro economic indicators. He will also explain how at the micro-economic level of individual companies, cash profit sharing schemes can work alongside employee share schemes to add to the positive effect in combating inflation and how, at the macro economic level, the process of reversing globalisation can be harnessed to an increase in employee share scheme activity.
Speaker:
David Craddock is an independent consultant specialising in employee share ownership and reward management. A recognised authority on the subject, he is the author of The Tolley’s Guide to Employee Share Schemes , along with many other essential books and courses. David’s clients range from major public limited companies with international considerations to smaller private companies where the requirements are for Enterprise Management Incentives, tax-unapproved share scheme arrangements and market-making employee share trust structures. David has successfully established employee share schemes and employee benefit arrangements worldwide and to date has travelled to over 30 countries to personally facilitate their introduction. He enhances his service through a long experience in share reconstructions and share valuation.
Chairman:
Ian Harris specialises in strategic planning and systematic performance improvement in both the civil society sector practice (which he leads) and also commercial sectors. Ian regularly leads award-winning work, such as Charityshare's partnership award, Ideal Hardware's HR Award for its rewards framework and the Marine Stewardship Council's Best Practice award for its strategic planning and governance review. He designed and manages Z/Yen’s employee incentives and share ownership programme. Ian is a former chair of the judging panel for the National Payroll Giving Awards and of BCS The Chartered Institute for IT's Ethics Group. His third book, The Price Of Fish: A New Approach To Wicked Economics And Better Decisions written jointly with Michael Mainelli, won the Independent Publisher Book Awards Finance, Investment & Economics Gold Prize.
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Investors, Boards of Directors, and funders are recognizing the cost and risk of climate inaction, and the urgent need for mitigation and adaptation. Do your stakeholders care about sustainability, and why should you care? How can you reach them more effectively, and what does art have to do with it? Despite increasingly dismal IPCC reports on climate change, with escalating promises of action in response, we are very far from achieving goals set out by scientists. A litany of dire statistics is everywhere, but it isn’t working. We are failing at messaging because we are relying too much on data and missing the human element. When images are used, they are typically depressing, like starving polar bears. This presentation will look at why communications fail, why they succeed, and how art is being used to engage stakeholders. See examples of art experiences that move beyond sad images to communicate data and tap into new audiences, break through apathy, build hope, and accelerate change.
Speaker:
Susan Israel, AIA LEED AP, founded Climate Creatives to engage people on sustainability topics through participatory public art and experiences. Susan’s work communicates data and educates people on topics such as flood preparedness, climate adaptation, diversity and equity, public health, and environmental justice. She consults to businesses on engagement, culture change, strategy, team development, and outreach. Susan works with businesses, organizations, universities, boards, NGOs, museums, and municipalities. Her STEAM methodology is used by universities and K-12 schools. Over 500,000 people and 150 partners have benefited from Climate Creatives’ work in three countries on-site, and more digitally. Past clients include Harvard Business School, Fidelity Investments, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and her work has appeared at the United Nations. Prior, Susan practiced architecture for over 20 years. She sits on advisory boards and is a lifelong Harvard alumni leader. She holds an A.B. from Harvard College, a Master of Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and attended the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School.
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Corruption is a term increasingly used in political discourse and international relations. But what does it really mean, and can understanding the world through the lens of corruption reveal anything new? This webinar will look across the world from Afghanistan to Ukraine, examining concepts such as state capture and strategic corruption, and discuss the role of London as a centre for corrupt capital. It will conclude by analysing global leadership on tackling corruption, and where that might be heading.
Speaker:
Robert Barrington is Professor of Anti-Corruption Practice at the Centre for the Study of Corruption, University of Sussex. His research focuses on global corruption trends and corruption in developed economies, and he lectures on the Masters in Corruption & Governance. He was formerly the head of Transparency International (TI) in the UK, and is currently Chair of TI’s International Council. At TI, he led the campaigns to secure the Bribery Act, a national Anti-Corruption Strategy for the UK and the introduction of Unexplained Wealth Orders. Previous roles include Director of Governance & Sustainable Investment at F&C Asset Management, overseeing Europe’s leading ESG funds, and CEO (Europe) of the Earthwatch Institute in Oxford. Robert is a member of the ICAEW’s Corporate Governance Committee, and has been a long-term adviser to the UK government on subjects including the Bribery Act, export credits and the post-Brexit procurement regime. Publications include a new book on ‘Understanding Corruption’, ‘How to Bribe’, ‘Adequate Procedures – Guidance to the UK Bribery Act’, and ‘Corruption in the UK’. He holds a degree from Oxford University and a PhD from the European University Institute.
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In aggregate, the average active asset manager fails to outperform its benchmark, says conventional wisdom. However, the data on which this conclusion is drawn is both highly biased and plainly misinterpreted. It also leads to a race to the bottom where cost of managing assets becomes the only criteria for the selection of a fund manager. We have seen a race to the bottom that has not benefitted investors and savers. The truth – like in any purchase decision, be it the choice of a restaurant or the buying of a car – is that we should focus on outcome and therefore the after-fee performance of the saving pool. Hence passive investing may not be the best way to reach this maximization objective. Academic research provides tools for selecting fund managers and the evidence is that active management is not dead.
Speaker:
Jean Keller joined Quaero Capital SA in 2011 as CEO and Partner. He was previously CEO of 3A (Alternative Asset Advisors), the alternative asset management arm of Group Syz&Co in Geneva and was also responsible for the development of the group in Asia. Prior to this, Jean Keller spent 11 years assuming various responsibilities within the Lombard Odier Group. From 1988 to 1992, he was Investment Manager and Investment Analyst with Baring Asset Management in London and Hong Kong. Jean Keller holds a MBA from the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania and an Ms in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva.
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This webinar will feature a discussion with Professor Fan Gang, President of China Development Institute, and Independent Member of the Monetary Policy Committee of China’s Central Bank, interviewed by Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chairman, Z/Yen Group.
With the aftermath of Covid-19, disruption to supply chains, inflationary pressures, and conflict placing the world's economic system under pressure, it is a good time to share thinking about the current challenges and potential futures, including:
Trends in investment in trade as the world continues to cope with the impact of Covid-19. Future resilience in supply chains and credit systems. The prospects for achieving more stability in energy and food prices given the continuing effects of the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The impact of Central Bank Digital Currencies on domestic economies and on trade. The significance of carbon trading in the transition to a sustainable economy. The potential for co-operation to help the world economy progress. Speaker: Professor Fan Gang is President of China Development Institute (CDI) in Shenzhen, China, Director of National Economic Research Institute (NERI) and Chairman of China Reform Foundation in Beijing, China. He is Professor of Economics at Peking University (PHBS) and at the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). He is a guest professor at a number of universities and graduate schools. He served as an independent member of the Monetary Policy Committee of China’s Central Bank from 2006 to 2010, and again from 2015 to 2018, and is an advisor to various departments of the Chinese central government and provincial governments. He served as an economic consultant to various international organizations and played leading roles in research projects commissioned by the World Bank, ADB, UNDP, OECD, etc. His publications include over 100 academic papers published in Chinese and English academic journals and 12 books on macroeconomics and economics of transition. He received Doctor Honoris Causa degrees from the University of Auvergne (France) and the Royal Roads University (Canada), in 2004 and 2011 respectively, and was listed as one of the “World’s Top 100 Public Intellectuals” jointly by Foreign Policy and Prospect in 2005 and 2008 consecutively, and one of “100 Global Thinkers” by Foreign Policy in 2010. He received his PhD in economics from the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 1988.
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The role of data in sustainable finance has always been central. The trend towards sustainable investing is well documented, with assets under management having surged from $30.7 trillion in 2018 to $35.3 trillion in 2020, with over $500 billion flowing into ESG integrated funds in Europe in 2021. This trend is demanding increasing scrutiny to ensure there is a common understanding of what is “green” or “sustainable” or, increasingly, “impact” aligned. In 2020, the Future of Sustainable Data Alliance (FoSDA) was launched to champion issues and knowledge sharing around data for use in sustainable finance. After a deep dive into the part data plays in a sustainable future, FoSDA has issued multiple reports and recommendations to global financial players and regulators on how data can be best used and where there are known data gaps and data holes. However, ESG data is regularly called out as the problem to investing in a sustainable future. Only 1% of companies reporting to CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) reported on all the 24 key indicators. How can we ensure the data we need doesn’t become the world’s scapegoat for inaction?
Speaker:
Sherry Madera joined Mastercard’s global public policy and government affairs team as Senior Vice President in 2022. She oversees the company’s public policy and government affairs activities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Central Asia and China. A Canadian and British national, Madera joined Mastercard from LSEG where she last held the position of Chief Industry & Government Affairs Officer. She was also the Economic Ambassador and Special Advisor to Asia for the City of London. Previously, she was Minister-Counsellor at the British Embassy in Beijing, leading the trade and investment agenda between the UK and China. Madera is instrumental in representing Mastercard with policymakers in key markets around the world. Her experience and track record of leadership roles in sustainable finance, FinTech, Data policy, international trade and geopolitics advance Mastercard’s agenda and efforts, in particular on policy issues related to inclusion, sustainability and ethical data practices. Madera is the Chair of the Future of Sustainable Data Alliance, a global alliance dedicated to working with the financial industry to use data to build a sustainable future. She also sits on the Board of the University of Nottingham and is an Advisor to Hong Kong’s tech hub, Cyberport.
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What do we imagine when we think of an eco-house? An insulated, solar-powered new-build? An old building recycled for a new use? City livery company, the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects (WCCA) supported by the London Festival of Architecture (LFA) plans to launch a competition to build a temporary pavilion in the heart of the City of London, in Paternoster Square, to inspire people to consider the future of sustainable living.
While the brief is highly flexible, the starting point is the house – architects are being asked to consider living, dining, kitchen, bedroom and circulation spaces. The pavilion is intended to explore new ways of building; the challenge for participants is to combine new thinking in architecture with the latest technologies to create a memorable, inspiring structure. With its high-profile location in the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral, the project is expected to draw an impressive calibre of submissions and attract national and international attention. The pavilion, which will be installed for three months in 2023, is likely to welcome more than 100,000 visitors and could be relocated to other cities as part of a touring programme.
The catalyst for the initiative has been the Mayor of the City of London’s Climate Action Strategy, along with the WCCA’s ongoing sustainability theme. The City has a history of enlightened patronage when it comes to environmental leadership and design – the square mile features some of the UK’s most advanced buildings and is home to world-leaders in green finance. The WCCA aims to unite the two, while showcasing its public activities and role in promoting high-quality architecture. Chris Dyson will introduce the competition, the remarkable site and opportunities for leaders in sustainable finance to get involved.
This is being driven on behalf of Chris' Architects Livery WCCA, for which he will be master in September 2022 through to September 2023. The proposed site is in front of the new hall designed by Christopher Wren, The Temple Bar [TBT] in paternoster square.
Speaker:
Chris Dyson is an architect, principal of Chris Dyson Architects and Upper Warden of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects. Before setting up his own practice in 2004, he was a Design Director at Farrells and a senior designer at Sir James Stirling and Michael Wilford Associates. His firm, Chris Dyson Architects is an award-winning studio based in Spitalfields with a reputation for intelligent conservation work, sensitive building design and creative collaborations with artists. Recent projects include a large scheme within Bishopsgate Goodsyard, the renovation of Tracey Emin’s former studio, a new building for Harrow Arts Centre and the mixed-use Albion Works in Hackney. Chris is also a design advisor to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the Corporation of London.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3zAiGi6
‘Money’ comes from the Latin word Moneta, and the Romans also gave us many other monetary terms, like £sd. But their understanding of money seems very limited by modern standards. There was some awareness of the quantity theory of money and of the importance of liquidity. It’s also been thought that they made attempts to regulate the balance of gold and silver in their bimetallic system. But what did they think about other things, like monetary union or dealing with inflation?
Speaker:
Andrew Burnett was Deputy Director of the British Museum from 2002 to 2013, having begun his career at the Museum in 1974 in the Coins and Medals department as Research Assistant.
His publications include Coinage in the Roman World and several volumes in the series Roman Provincial Coinage. He is a Trustee of the Royal Mint Museum and the American Numismatic Society and has been President of the Royal Numismatic Society, the Roman Society and the International Numismatic Commission.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3NvrBWw
Each year Alan shares insights with us from the world of Digital care. This is his third Z/Yen visit and as we emerge from the impacts of covid his timely discussion includes:
Digital care overview commentary in a ‘post’ covid world Investment considerations and emerging themes Increasing prevalence of Ai and where consolidation might occur Who are the buyers of digital care? The latest on government adoption and policy…
Speaker:
Alan Hughes brings 20 years of international healthcare advisory, working alongside policymakers on the latest international trends. He is a regular panellist and healthcare commentator at summits across Europe and the Gulf. In 2020 he commenced an independent consultancy, LIT Healthcare Ltd. For 14 years prior he worked as a healthcare management consultant and policy strategist at KPMG. Prior to this he was in Investment Banking on Wall St and the City of London at Lehman Brothers and Dresdner Kleinwort working on 30 M&A healthcare transactions and five IPOs. Sectors included Life Sciences, nursing, community and acute care. He also worked on Global Strategy projects for Novartis in Switzerland.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3Q98ByS
Everybody seems to be talking about gig work, but what is it, and how do we value it? This presentation will look at the human components of the global gig economy and put a value on such elements as staffing, consultancy, temporary and platform work.
Speaker:
Adam Pode is Head of Research for EMEA & APAC at Staffing Industry Analysts, the global advisor on staffing and workforce solutions. He has carried out similar roles as an academic, researcher, soldier and consultant in the private sector, parliament, private equity, and for the US government.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3wWXVvr
There is a ‘Commonwealth Advantage’. A Commonwealth country’s trade with another member is likely to be a third to a half more than with a non-member – so concluded an influential 2010 paper, “Trading Places: The ‘Commonwealth Effect’ Revisited” by Joanna Bennett, Paul Chappell, Howard Reed, and Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, sponsored by the Royal Commonwealth Society and the Worshipful Company of World Traders.
The UK experienced the Brexit vote of 2016 and leaving the EU in 2021, while the world has experienced a tremendous amount of geopolitical change, even war. Trade agreements proliferate, while trade relations become more fraught and less multi-lateral. Some pundits claim that globalisation is going into retreat. How can the UK grow its role in world trade using this Commonwealth Advantage? This webinar draws upon the work of Lord Marland and the Commonwealth Enterprise & Investment Council in growing the business and economic links among Commonwealth countries to explore what the future of intra-Commonwealth trade may hold, and what the role of the Commonwealth as a trade association might presage.
Speaker:
Lord Marland is chairman of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council. He retired as the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy and chairman of the business ambassador network on 1 January 2014. Lord Marland is the former chairman of the Commonwealth Business Council and was Minister for the Department of Energy and Climate Change in 2010 and subsequently for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Lord Marland was one of the founding directors of Jardine Lloyd Thompson plc a multinational insurance business, and he founded the Jubilee insurance company. He led the acquisitions of:
Janspeed Ltd (automotive engineering and manufacturing) Hunter Boot Ltd Insurance Capital Partners Jubilee Insurance Ltd WH Ireland Ltd (stockbroker) Wisden Cricketer Ltd Tamara Mellon, LLC (fashion) He is Chairman of Tickets for Troops and the Churchill Centre, President of The Commonwealth Youth Orchestra and Choir, Trustee of Peggy Guggenheim (UK) and Atlantic Partnership, and Patron of Salisbury and South Wiltshire Cricket.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3NClkI6
Tokenising Funds offers benefits to many participants in the value chain but may have a negative impact on others. During this webinar, Brian will provide an open view on the opportunity but also the numerous challenges the industry faces to transform from current state to a scaled future state required to realise these benefits. He will cover the reasoning behind tokenising funds, some of the key initiatives going on across the markets aimed at tokenising funds, and optimising the associated value chain.
Speaker:
Brian McNulty is the Founder & CEO of FundAdminChain: A digital funds network for launching and trading investment digital private and mutual funds. A serial entrepreneur, he has started and exited companies including DBFS Consultancy, Tradermade International, Asset+ Fund of Funds platform and Appii.io. Brian has over 25 years buy-side/fund admin experience, the last 7 specialising in blockchain including MD, Global Head of Services at R3 and previously consultant across firms including JP Morgan, London Stock Exchange, HSBC, BNP Paribas amongst others. He founded the Post Trade Distributed Ledger Group (PTDL) of 40 financial blue-chips.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3MIiq4u
The global pandemic did more than just overwhelm our public health resources, it also shut down economic activity and lead to major trading imbalances across the globe. In particular International trade and the container shipping sector saw demand issues and the imbalance lead to delays, increased freight costs and even congestion at a number of North American and European ports. The media focussed on ports, but in truth, issues at our strategic gateways were only a small part of the problem, with certain seasonal goods left in storage and shipping lines frantically heading back to Asia to re stock but leaving empty containers in North American and European port. Indeed the issue certainly dragged on and was compounded by labour shortages, Brexit rule changes and most dramatically with the temporary blockage of the Suez Canal!
Speaker:
Richard Ballantyne joined the British Ports Association in 2007 and became the Chief Executive in 2016. He represents the BPA on a number of industry bodies and is a member of a wide range of government stakeholder groups and international committees. Richard has in-depth expertise in ports, transport and environmental policy matters as well as a wide experience of the legislative process around the UK. He is a Director of Maritime UK, a Trustee of the Merchant Navy Welfare Board charity and was previously a Director of Port Skills and Safety Ltd. Before joining the BPA Richard spent five years at a Westminster political consultancy and was previously an MP’s researcher in the House of Commons.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3wG6Jpx
In this webinar, we launch the fifth edition of the Smart Centres Index (SCI 5). The SCI is designed to track the development of technology and financial centres across the world in their support for and readiness for new technology applications.
Investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, media, academics, governments, and regulators can attune their cities to attract innovation and growth in Science, Technology, Energy Systems, Machine Learning, Distributed Ledgers, or Fintech. Tuning a city for innovation is complex. Z/Yen began studying successful and unsuccessful business innovation clustering some 15 years ago, and published in 2018 the Smart Jurisdictions Index. Building on the results of that research we have created a novel factor assessment index based on three dimensions - innovation support, creative intensity, and delivery capability.
The SCI is designed to track the readiness of business centres across the world to support new technology businesses. The SCI uses assessments from private and public sector individuals, along with over 120 instrumental factors, to rate the centres. This important project that will grow substantially as more people pay attention to the ways centres can help globally innovative businesses thrive in rapidly changing times.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3LgwssJ
The chopstick, which is the tool with which over 1.8 billion people in East Asia – China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and other South East Asian countries – eat their meals, embodies the qualities that make them successful: sharing, taking care of each other, offering food to the others, respect of elders, courtesy, manners, punctuality, coming clean to the table. This webinar provides philosophical insights into the constituent elements of the Chopstick Culture, a term coined by the speaker.
Speaker:
Carson Wen is Founder of Bank of Asia, a bank licensed in the British Virgin Islands, whose customers come from 90 different jurisdictions. He studied at Columbia and Oxford, at both of which he finished his degree in two years. He practised law for over three decades at his own law firm, and then at two leading international law firms, retiring from Jones Day at the end of 2016. He served three terms as a Deputy of the National People’s Congress, the Chinese national parliament, representing Hong Kong.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3M5Han3
Have you ever bought or sold Bitcoin? Ethereum? Any other cryptocurrency? If yes - how many times have you wondered about forces defining the valuation of cryptocurrencies? Since cryptocurrencies are not supported by any centralized repository, their valuation is critically dependent on collective perceptions of their worth – and the subsequent trust in them. Yet, can trust be utilized to understand the changes in the prices of cryptocurrencies? Does the trust of regulators matter more (or less) than the trust of buyers and sellers of cryptocurrencies? Is there such a thing as "general" trust of the market into cryptocurrencies? And, incidentally, what is trust anyway? Dr Ara Brutian, the co-founder of Liberous Insight-as-a-Service, will deep dive into the role trust plays in forming the valuation of cryptocurrencies - and how trust can be utilized to be more informed and prepared for valuation changes. Liberous' trust model assumes that currency valuation is determined by the decisions made by market players. These decisions, in turn, are determined by the market player’s perceptions of the macroeconomic situation, currency stability, possible regulatory actions, and other contextual elements that together form trust into a given cryptocurrency. Hence, trust can be utilized as an indicator of the direction in which the valuation of a cryptocurrency is moving.
Speaker:
Dr Ara Brutian has two decades of corporate and academic experience in open source intelligence and digital innovation (artificial intelligence and machine learning). With a multidisciplinary academic background in philosophy, computing, information systems, and international communications, he has designed and produced numerous media analytics and web data analytics products and services.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/37nd4fH
Standards are like marmite – some love them, some hate them. In either case they, and the process to create them, are often not well understood and so their value can go underappreciated. In this session Victoria will explain why, in amongst humanity’s existential crises, she dedicated 5 years of voluntary time to chairing the process to create the world’s first international standard on good governance of organisations. You will come away either thinking she is mad, or you may agree with some of her points as to the power of ISO 37000 as a change lever, either way you may learn something useful about standards and standards building.
Speaker:
Dr Victoria Hurth works at the intersect of academia and hands-on business to help companies transition to be drivers of long-term wellbeing for all (sustainability). She works most of her time at the University of Cambridge – as a Fellow of the Institute for Sustainability Leadership and as a Visiting Fellow at Judge Business School. focuses on five core pillars: purpose, governance, marketing, leadership and culture. Victoria is currently Technical Author for the first national standard specifying the Worldviews, Principles and Behaviours of Purpose-Driven Organisations (PAS 808). She co-led the process to create ISO 37000, the first global consensus standard on organisational governance and currently co-leads the ISO working group (TC309/WG1) developing standards on Indicators of Effective Governance (ISO 37006) and guidance for governing bodies in Using, Selecting and Creating Indicators (ISO 37005). Victoria is an UNCTAD review panel member for ISAR Honors, was a member of the UNCTAD/UNEP Task Force developing a methodology for SDG indicator 12.6.1 and their guidance on core SDG indicators for business, and was a member of WBCSD’s working group on Governance. She is a director of the Soil Association
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3wd65y8
It is said that the only two certainties in life are death and taxes. The rapid change in the information technology landscape is underpinned by two other near certainties; the growth in compute power and commoditization. Understanding these forces can help us to get a handle on the future arc of technological change. In this talk, using real world examples, we will explore how commoditization is affecting the systems that we build and try to make some predictions on how it will continue to impact financial services technology.
Speakers:
Peter Elger is a co-founder and CEO of fourTheorem, a company that specializes in cloud architectures and software transformation. Peter started his career at the Joint-Jet Undertaking in the UK where he spent 7 years building acquisition, control and data analytics systems for nuclear fusion research. He has held technical leadership roles across a broad base of the industry in both the research and commercial sectors including, software disaster recovery, telecommunications and social media. Prior to founding fourTheorem, Peter was co-founder and CTO of two companies; Stitcher Ads, a social advertising platform and nearForm, a Node.js consultancy specializing in digital transformation initiatives. An author and contributor to several books and academic papers, Peter’s latest book ‘AI as a Service’ is available from Manning Publications. Peter holds degrees in Physics and Computer Science.
Colum Thorne started his career as a consultant working for BearingPoint before moving to his current position at RenaissanceRe. Colum has worked in various roles at the company, starting out as a software engineer and progressing on to become VP Platform Architecture. An AWS Certified Systems Architect, Colum has years of experience working in serverless computing. He has spoken at many events, including AWS Summit London, on the implementation of serverless architecture. Colum has a MSc in computing at the Dundalk Institute of Technology and did his undergraduate studies at the Technological University Dublin.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3MLOc03
The ninth edition of the Global Green Finance Index provides the world’s most authoritative measure of the performance of financial centres in delivering green finance services.
The report, assembled by combining the views of financial professionals from around the world, with quantitative data commissioned and curated from over 140 sources, uses advanced statistical techniques to map the global spread of green finance.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3EN2ZVF
The global economy is 100% dependent on nature, but nature has been historically mis-valued, and its economic benefits inequitably distributed.
Nature has surged from the margins of market consideration to become a significant factor in assessing physical and transition risk. This session will explore this development and its implications for the investment community, given a slew of new initiatives like the Task Force on Nature related Financial Disclosure, new markets such as nature based solutions linked to voluntary carbon markets and the emergence of biodiversity credit markets, new instruments such as nature performance sovereign bonds, new supporting business such as those emerging to deliver finance relevant data, and new, frameworks and policy developments such as those being advanced by the work of the Taskforce on Nature Markets.
Speakers:
Dr Simon Zadek is Chair of Finance for Biodiversity, Director of Migrant Nation, and Senior Advisor to the Task Force on Nature Related Financial Disclosure. He was Head, Secretariat, UN Secretary General’s Task Force on Digital Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals, Senior Advisor on Finance in the office of the UN Secretary General, and Co-Director of UNEP’s Finance Inquiry. He co-Chaired China’s Green Finance Task Force, and led the Green Finance Study Group secretariat under the Chinese, German and Argentinian G20 Presidencies.
Prior to this, he was Senior Advisor to the World Economic Forum and the Global Green Growth Institute, founder and CEO of the international think tank, AccountAbility and Development Director of the New Economics Foundation. He was Visiting Professor at the Singapore Management University and the Copenhagen Business School, and has been a senior fellow at Tsinghua School of Economics and Management, Harvard`s Kennedy School of Government, and the University of Southern Africa.
He has worked with many corporations, governments and multi stakeholder initiatives on their sustainability and broader strategies, been a member of the International Advisory Board of Generation Investment Management, and has published extensively, including the award winning book, The Civil Corporation.
Dr Vian Sharif’s work centres on driving the development of innovative technology solutions to catalyse the shift to more sustainable capital allocations with a focus on the natural environment. She is the founder of ESG nature insights fintech platform NatureAlpha, and heads sustainability at financial investment technology firm FNZ.
Her work includes collaborating with academics at Cambridge and Oxford Universities on the development of science-based insights for investor decision-making with a focus on nature risk and impact, including the Benchmark for Nature Project, the Cambridge AI for the study of Environmental Risks Centre and as a guest researcher at the Oxford Martin School.
Prior to this she spent over a decade in the global asset management industry.
As part of a number of governmental and international sustainability advisory groups, she was a guest researcher at the Oxford Martin School, Member of the Taskforce for Nature Related Financial Disclosures Technical Experts Group and the U.K. Government’s Business Advisory group to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Vian holds a PhD in environmental behaviour change, and a masters degree from Cambridge University.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3L7QciZ
In 2007 the world suffered the Global Financial Crisis. The most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression of 1929. Citizens lost faith in the financial services and the ability of governments to protect their financial wellbeing. This presentation is based on a practitioner’s point of view and his experiences in implementing Operational Resilience. Who, What, What Is, Why and How he has defined new ways of working in support of Operational Resilience in an agile digital transformational world.
Speaker:
Terry Downing FBCS F.ISRM MBCI CITP CBCP NCSP: An operational resilience, business continuity, crisis management information security, systems engineering and IT professional with extensive hands on and leadership experience. His career includes British Army, Accenture, IBM, Colt, CMA, Camelot, RCR, UUNET, MCI WorldCom, EMC, GrIDsure, CitiCorp, Bankers Trust, Legal and General. He holds Chartered Fellow BCS, Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists and the City of London, Member Business Continuity Institute, Senior Member ISSA, Financial Services panel member (WCIT), NIST Cyber Security Professional.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3L9ny0S
The UK fishing industry found itself thrust centre stage during the Brexit negotiations. Now the dust has settled, and the news cycle has moved on, how is the fishing industry doing post-Brexit? What can be done to nurture more ethical and sustainable fishing practices? And what role must finance play in order to effectively support the industry’s future?
Z/Yen conducts an irregular series of short webinars, CommunityZ Chest, featuring people from its various communities and clubs, viz. technology, financial services, civil society, and business. These webinars provide an opportunity to meet people from the wider CommunityZ, to share ideas, and to make connections.
Speaker:
After a career in finance in Japan and London, Caroline Bennett founded Moshi Moshi in 1994 and started the kaiten-sushi revolution, simply because she loved sushi and was convinced other Londoners would as well. Since then, the restaurant has stuck to time-honoured Japanese tradition, serving authentic Japanese food made by our chefs with many years of experience.
Caroline is at the forefront of campaigns to protect fish stocks, and has won a number of awards, including the prestigious Green Apple Award for the Environment, the RSPCA Award for Animal Welfare, and she was lauded as a 2009 international Seafood Champion by SeaWeb's Seafood Choices. Moshi Moshi was one of the first five restaurants in the UK to achieve Marine Stewardship Council accreditation.
Caroline was the author of Sushi 500 published in 2013.
She sat on the Board of Slow Food and remains involved through Slow Fish, is a Trustee of Open Seas Trust, a Scottish charity seeking to limit scallop dredging, and founded Sole of Discretion CIC to safeguard the livelihoods of small-scale fishers and their marine friendly fishing methods.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3KVxLhp
Fasten your seat belts, being defrauded and blamed for it is coming for you! It appears the UK is at sixes and sevens in tackling cyber/digital crime on bank accounts with faster payments. There are few court convictions, and blaming bank account owners generally take the blame.
Faster payment bank fraud, where the fraudster must have a bank account, like COVID, requires a programme to put a stop to the APP Fraud epidemic.
The Netherlands, where 99% of payments are made after the true owner of the bank account (Confirmation of Payee: CoP) is verified, APP Fraud has dropped 80% since 2017. They are now using confirmation of payee on international payments for France and Germany.
Curious Resistance takes you through scams affecting 250,000 people per year, unintentional consequences of regulations, causing higher rather than a lower risk of attack and the need to reshape cyber/digital environment by putting an end to APP fraud with prevention programmes.
Speaker:
John Bertrand is a senior executive with 30 years of experience in banking and technology at Citibank, FISglobal and SAP. John using his background in real time transactions embraced the paradigm shift to everything crypto/digital and the need for safety and protection in this world. The focus needs to be delivering cyber offerings with cyber/digital fraud prevention, supported by real time banking and payments technologies. He’s expertise covers a wide range of investible assets over a number of financial and security authorities jurisdictions including UK and USA.
With Digital Policy Party (DPA) John created the first EU Directive on international payments. In addition with DPA/FISglobal/VocaLink John showed 75% Faster Payment Fraud can be stopped immediately and many mule networks identified.
At SAP by focusing on real time transactions he enabled annual revenue targets to be achieved across the UK Financial Services Group by using Value Engineering.
With FISglobal, John managed major banks creating over $200 million in contracts. Including a venture with a major Building Society to revamp the mortgage portfolio.
At Citibank, John worked in New York and London, across four out of five of Citi’s major banking areas and represented Citi at the Federal Reserve and Bank of England. John led Citibank into becoming one of the first banks to offer live foreign exchange Internet trading.
John is a Director of three FinTech - On Demand Payments Technologies Ltd, ValU Innovations Plc and Cyber Benab Ltd - aimed at providing safe and secure real time movement of assets in cyber/digital with fraud protection within the systems used.
At The Worshipful Company of Information Technology John is a Liveryman and sits on the Security Panel. Author of four books and enjoys rugby.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3jxx0Pf
Art and analytics are domains that generally live in isolation today. There is a viewpoint that for art to be creative and relevant it has to address the human condition and its emotions and keep as far away as possible from analytical sciences. It certainly should not be on the same planet as the accountancy profession.
Business now has the problem of too much data, too many graphs, too many actionable insights. How do you extract meaning from the terabytes of data drowning every single executive and company employee? Dashboards and KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) are one dimensional, usually backward looking, and can miss key systemic performance changes.
Could a possible solution be to combine art and analytics to help explain business and its performance within a complex system framework? Thus, moving managements perspective towards managing outcomes and becoming better at communicating what is happening to itself, employees, and other stakeholders. After all, wasn’t one of the world’s greatest artists one of its greatest mathematicians, Leonardo Di Vinci.
Speaker:
Ian Dowson is the Principal of William Garrity Associates Ltd a boutique consultancy specialising in the strategic implications of FinTech, GovTech, and Corporate Development. Producing original research on innovation systems since 2008. Constant themes have been cross domain innovation, design thinking and the use of complexity science.
In his Corporate career he was Financial Director of an 800-unit retail chain, Chief Accountant in the UK and Belgium, for companies Imperial Group and Ladbroke starting his career with Glaxo Plc.
He speaks and writes regularly on FinTech and Digital Innovation, an example “Initial Coin Offerings the search for the Final Function” and has presented at Social Media Week, FinTech Week, FinTech for Good, Digital Shoreditch festival and London Blockchain Week. Ian is qualified FCCA and MBA.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3v1ug1Y
A safe asset is generally understood to be a highly liquid debt instrument, backed by a solvent sovereign borrower, that can be relied on to hold its value during adverse systemic events. Quintessential safe assets are US Treasuries. Yet it is questionable whether US government IOUs satisfy this definition today. Against a background of soaring inflation they are priced to deliver negative real returns. Their liquidity in systemic crises since 2007-08 has been questionable. And soaring debt since the pandemic together with tightening monetary policy points to potential Treasury market turbulence. Could this pose a threat to the dollar’s role as the world’s preeminent reserve currency?
Reserve currency status is in reality a relative issue. At present none of the main reserve currencies can be regarded as safe. US Treasuries and the dollar continue to look the least unsafe outlets for nervous money. Two pressing questions are whether the global shortage of safe assets is likely to persist and whether US and European sanctions targetting Russia’s official reserves since the invasion of Ukraine have changed the rules of the reserve currency game. Where does this weaponisation of reserves leave the renminbi as a future challenger to the dollar? And what does the closer geopolitical alignment of the US and the EU in the face of the Russian threat mean for the euro’s reserve currency role?
Speaker:
John Plender is a British writer, broadcaster and journalist based at the Financial Times in London. After Oxford University, he joined Deloitte, Plender, Griffiths & Co, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1970. He then moved into journalism and became financial editor of The Economist in 1974, where he remained until joining the UK Foreign Office policy planning staff in 1980. On leaving the Foreign Office, he became a senior editorial writer and columnist at the Financial Times, a role he combined for a time with broadcasting for BBC Television and Chanel Four. A past chairman of Pensions and Investment Research Consultants (Pirc), the UK shareholder activist, John Plender served on the UK government’s Company Law Review steering group which provided the basis for the Companies Act 2006. He joined the board of Quintain PLC as a non-executive director in 2002 and chaired the company from 2007 to 2009. John is a trustee of the £4bn Pearson Pension Fund and a member of the World Bank/OECD Private Sector Advisory Group on corporate governance. His recent books include Going Off The Rails: Global Capital and the Crisis of Legitimacy, John Wiley (2003) which anticipated the financial crisis and Capitalism: Money, Morals and Markets, Biteback Publishing (2015).
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3uZMwZv
We all need to take preparedness and resilience much more seriously. We face the challenges of a volatile and uncertain world. The experience of covid-19 over the last two years has shown how quickly the norms of society can unravel with deserted city centres, businesses shutdown, enforced social distancing and mask wearing. The National Preparedness Commission, although conceived before covid-19 hit, had its first meeting in November 2020 with the central purpose of promoting better preparedness in the UK for a major crisis or incident. The Government has now promised a National Resilience Strategy and has committed itself to a whole-of-society approach. But what will this mean? In essence, we all have to focus on three core questions:
- What should we prepare for?
- How much preparedness is enough?
- And how do we finance the necessary investment?
Speaker:
Lord Toby Harris was made a Life Peer in June 1998 and has been Chair of the Labour Peers since 2012. He stood down from Parliament’s Joint Committee on National Security at the beginning of 2021, having been a member for most of the last decade. He has also been at various times a member of the House of Lords’ Select Committees on Life Beyond Covid, on Democracy and Digital Technologies, on the Olympic and Paralympic Legacy (which he chaired), and on Personal Internet Security.
Outside Parliament, he chairs the National Preparedness Commission (whose mission is to promote better preparedness for a major crisis or incident), and is President of the Institute of Strategic Risk Management. Since October 2021, he has been Chair of the General Dental Council (which regulates dental professionals). He is also Chair of the Fundraising Regulator (overseeing charitable fundraising), and was Chair of National Trading Standards (which is responsible for delivering national and cross-boundary consumer protection enforcement activity) from 2013 to 2021. In addition, he chairs the Independent Advisory Group on Ethics for the National Crime Agency. In 2016 and in 2021, he conducted Independent Reviews for the Mayor of London on London’s Preparedness to Respond to a Terrorist Attack.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3uJ9Cnm
This talk reviews historical relations between the City of London and the UK's major political parties, takes stock of where we are today and ponders fault lines and potential opportunities in the coming years. While in the main the City has established an enduring affinity to the Conservatives, this relationship has been subject to increased uncertainty and recrimination through the turbulent Brexit detachment, while Labour has striven again to establish its credibility with the sector.
With the sector still suffering a reputational hangover from the 2008 financial crisis, and in the face of disruptive economic, technological and geopolitical headwinds, UK finance finds itself in a politically delicate place. Looking forward, the talk lays out some of the key political challenges facing the sector, and ponders how these challenges might condition the major parties' attitudes towards the City going forward.
Speaker:
Dr Joseph Ganderson is a postdoctoral researcher at the European Institute, London School of Economics, where he teaches and researches the party politics of financial and banking regulation in Europe. He work has been published in several academic journals and he has presented his findings to multiple academic conferences and at the Bank of England.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3JRQSs6
Becoming a listed company has advantages not only for large companies, but also small and medium enterprises. In 1995, AIM was created as a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange, offering smaller companies the ability to raise funds through the sale of shares. Similar opportunities are available in Switzerland, with a special regime for SME listings on Swiss exchanges. Since Brexit, both of these two major stock exchange jurisdictions are now outside the European union. However, they are competing for the same slice of the pie. On the panel we have two very experienced representatives of each country. For the UK, Marcus Stuttart of the London Stock Exchange, and for Switzerland, Matthias Müller of BX, one of the two Swiss authorised stock exchanges. We would like to understand from the panellists how the UK and Switzerland compete in general, and in particular vis-à-vis the EU. The seminar will be chaired by Ariel Sergio Davidoff of Lindemannlaw Zurich.
Speakers:
Matthias Müller is Member of the Executive Board at BX Swiss, the Swiss stock exchange focusing on SMEs and private investors, and responsible for the further development of the exchange ecosystem, including the onboarding of new issuers and trading participants. He is also in charge of the online platform Regservices.ch on which BX offers regulatory services to more than 600 banks and financial service providers. He has 16 years of stock exchange experience and started his career in the financial sector with UBS and Credit Suisse. Before joining BX Swiss in 2018, he was responsible for the group-wide innovation management of SIX. Matthias Müller holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from HWZ in Zurich and an advanced Swiss Federal Diploma in financial market operations from AZEK.
Marcus Stuttard is Head of AIM and has responsibility for Primary Markets in the UK across both AIM and the Main Market. He is responsible for the management and development of AIM, London Stock Exchange’s international growth market for small and medium sized enterprises. He is a regular speaker on growth and business funding issues and sits on a number of industry and policy advisory bodies and has played a leading role in key policy changes such as making AIM shares eligible for inclusion in ISAs, the abolition of stamp duty on the trading of shares admitted to Recognised Growth Markets such as AIM and the approval of AIM as the leading European SME Growth Market, a categorisation created in MiFID II.
Chairman:
Dr Ariel Sergio Davidoff
After an uninterrupted, successful and exciting banking career spanning over 34 years in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, which took him from the level of office clerk to Member of the Executive Board and CEO of prestigious private banks, Ariel is now self-employed as a partner in a law firm, where he looks after the interests of an international UHNW entrepreneur clientele. He holds positions on several boards of directors in the Swiss wealth management industry and others. He serves inter alia as Vice Chair for the Swiss Capital Market Forum and is an expert for the annual STEP Awards in London. He is a Doctor of Business Administration (Australia), holds an LL.M. degree (Switzerland) and is a STEP member. Ariel is a regular speaker, panellist and moderator at (web-) conferences about the wealth management industry, its trends as well as risk management and wealth protection for the UHNW investor.
The Global Financial Centres Index has been tracking the development of the world’s financial centres since 2007 and is the authoritative guide to financial centre performance.
In this podcast, Z/Yen launched the 31st edition of the index, setting out the main findings overall and in individual regions of the world.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3D3fz1V
Often the subject of cynical and dismissive media coverage, that emphasises high day rates, over-reliance on management jargon and little added value, management consultancy is a much-maligned profession. Yet, at their best, consultants help organisations set new directions, manage change effectively and generally improve business performance.
Is it a profession with a future and how can consultants avoid joining the ranks of scriveners, patten-makers and other redundant occupations? Can those who claim to master change for their clients, change enough to survive? Drawing on research carried out by the Centre for Management Consulting Excellence, this webinar will ask some uncomfortable questions and propose where answers can be found. The ultimate beneficiaries of this process? Clients – and the long-term survival of the profession.
Speaker:
Nick Bush is the Director of the Centre for Management Consulting Excellence (CMCE), a voluntary organisation that is an open and collaborative for the assessment and sharing of leading and emerging practices in management consulting. Working in and around consulting since the early 1980s, Nick has consulted to organisations in sectors from chemicals to communications, government and financial services. He currently focuses on providing support to non-profit organisations as both an advisor and trustee.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/34WtJp0
Bob Garratt is increasingly referred to internationally as ‘one of the founders of modern corporate governance practice – the unconventional one’. From a background in architectural and organisational design he became interested when working with Sir Adrian Cadbury in how ‘top’ people often had no training for such crucial posts and tended to learn bad behaviours that failed to develop their organisations effectively. It was not that they were inherently bad people but that they had few role models, and even less support, to develop themselves as effective direction-givers. The paradox is that the UK and the Commonwealth, under Common Law, has one of the most advanced legislative frameworks for effective corporate governance. But it is not implemented and so few legal precedents have been created.
His new book agues that there are four distinct types of boards ranging from: the plain ignorant; to the grudgingly compliant; to the dawning of enlightenment as a Learning Board; to the goal of a becoming a Professional Board. His current work takes him to East Asia and China, The Arabian Gulf, Australia, Southern Africa and the Caribbean.
He is highly critical of the development of corporate governance internationally because it is over-focused on the financial world, shareholders and listed companies, leaving over 90% of organisations, including charities, mutuals, family offices, beyond its scope. He argues that there are seven easily understood and implementable director’s duties, and only one purpose for a board of directors to achieve. Preferring to obey the law, he knows that shareholders do not own companies.
Speaker:
Professor Bob Garratt is one of the world's foremost practitioners, academics and authors on corporate governance. He has consulted at the highest levels in some 40 countries and been chairman of consultancies in Hong Kong, Singapore and London. He gave evidence to the UK Treasury Select Committee on the Restructuring of the corporate governance of the Bank of England. His academic positions include Professor Extraordinaire at the University of Stellenbosch where he chairs its centre for Corporate Governance in Africa and Visiting Professor at Bayes Business School, London University. He is the author of highly acclaimed books including "The Fish Rots from the Head" and "Stop the Rot" and he is currently working on his latest book about corporate governance, "A Shining Light on a Naughtie World".
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3IhWryn
At times it seems that the only thing more popular than crypto is stealing it. 2020 and 2021 have been bumper years for thieves, fraudsters and scammers at both ends of the spectrum – swindling pensioners for pocket change and hacking exchanges for hundreds of millions. The technology underpinning many cryptocurrency networks – the indelible, pseudonymous blockchain – is both a blessing and a curse for victims and lawyers trying to recover stolen assets. On the one hand, victims can often see exactly where their stolen crypto has gone. On the other, without the equivalent of a bank to trace them to, a dose of luck is required to be able identify the wrongdoer and recover the assets. If a victim gets lucky, then the courts can offer invasive and effective tools to make the victim whole.
Speaker:
Sam Roberts is a partner and litigator at City law firm, Cooke, Young & Keidan. Sam specialises in finance and technology disputes and fraud. Sam’s cases frequently involve injunctions over stolen property, and multi-jurisdictional asset tracing. He has worked on a number of asset-recovery claims involving pioneering legal developments, frequently making innovative use of technology platforms to advance the practice of litigation. In the technology sphere, Sam is regularly instructed in software licensing and development disputes, payment and crypto thefts and frauds, and M&A claims. Sam co-founded the Tech Disputes Network, a networking and education group for professionals in the sector.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3teDuIo
The world has changed and is changing ever faster. New generations expect the organisations they work for and with, and buy from, to have a purpose and possess a moral compass. And yes, even work for the greater good! Leaders can make new commitments, organisations can adjust their marketing and advertising, but real change and transformation must start within the individual before it can transfer to organisations and society, authentically. As Tolstoy wrote, “Everyone wants to change the world, but no one wants to change himself [herself]”. The traditional leadership we see in typical hierarchical organisations have a short shelf life remaining. Increasing complexity in our societal expectations, fast changing technology and the climate crisis all demand a leadership approach that is more decentralised and distributed, more inclusive yet emergent. More values based! This requires leaders that have reached a higher level of human development. How do we do that? It requires leaders, especially the next generation of top leaders, to become more self aware, more emotionally intelligent, and able to bring their values to full consciousness in all they do. This journey is often counter-intuitive and requires leaders to overcome those strong human defaults that were ingrained in our DNA way back in the stone age. This webinar will provide some insights into how this can be achieved.
Speaker:
John Knights, Chairman of LeaderShape Global is an engineer turned businessman who followed an international corporate career being appointed first a Corporate VP of a Fortune 100 company and then a main board director of a FTSE100 firm before he was 40. His next career was as an entrepreneur where he founded eight companies, primarily in environmental technology and IT.
In 1998, his life changed when he learned to coach and in working with other CEOs started to understand what was missing in both his own and others leadership capabilities. He has spent the last 20 years working with colleagues to develop a journey of development to become a Transpersonal Leader1. This culminated in 2018 with the acclaimed and evidence-based text book “Leading Beyond the Ego” being published by Routledge. A sequel, “Transpersonal Leadership in Action” was launched by the same publisher in February 2022.
John has coached many senior leaders globally and been involved in the design and delivery of state-of-the art leadership programmes using advanced andragogic methodologies. This includes the latest Open Global Program which is fully remote and online, mixing leaders from around the world.
Note 1: Transpersonal Leaders operate beyond their ego, continuing personal development and learning. They are radical, ethical and authentic while emotionally intelligent and caring. They create performance-enhancing and sustainable cultures.
For more information: https://www.leadershapeglobal.com/john-knights-1
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3tP0a17
The rising value and frequency of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) fines has hit global headlines, with European and UK regulators sending a strong message on non-compliance and effective AML programmes. Even the largest global institutions in these markets, with major departments and resources dedicated to AML operations have fallen foul of the long arm of the law. If the giants of the banking and fintech scene cannot manage to avoid the fines and bad press, how can other institutions, such as national, savings, or high street banks and building societies remain compliant in this ever-changing regulatory landscape?
This podcast will offer practical advice from financial crime experts:
- How to modernize AML systems without risky or costly rip and replace projects
- Extracting more value from current investments
- Layering new technologies for operational efficiency
- Improving the efficacy of AML transaction monitoring
- Taking advantage of machine learning
- Embracing data science within AML teams to improve outcomes
- Managing the costs of compliance and non-compliance
Speakers:
Annegret Funke joined Featurespace in 2019 as Senior Solutions Consultant and has since transitioned to Head of Financial Crime, advising institutions bringing advanced analytics into their AML transaction monitoring programmes. She has 7 years' experience working in the Regtech space, working closely with tier-1 financial institutions to successfully deploy innovative AML and EDD solutions in commercial and product management roles. She holds a MSc in Security Studies from University College London and is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS).
Mark Gregory is a Director in PwC's forensics practice specialising in the design and implementation of technology and analytics solutions to detect and prevent fraud and financial crime. Mark has over 12 years’ experience working in both public and private sectors and supports clients in areas such as strategy, design, review, implementation and optimisation of controls.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3HNpOZf
We’re poised between two futures. One: a breakthrough future of chaos, conflict and collapse. The other: a breakthrough future of safety, restoration, and flourishing. The choice between them starts in our minds. Whether we’re able to manage our mental states, at a moment of extraordinary turbulence. Whether we react to people who disagree with us with empathy or enmity. Whether we see ourselves as part of a polarised them-and-us, or an inclusive Larger Us. Join Alex Evans to explore how psychology and politics are converging to shape the 21st century.
Speaker:
Alex Evans is the author of The Myth Gap: What Happens When Evidence and Arguments Aren’t Enough?, a book about the power of deep stories to overcome political polarisation and unlock systemic social and political change; a senior fellow at New York University; and founder of Larger Us, a non-profit startup exploring ways of working for a larger us rather than a them-and-us world at the places where psychology and politics meet.
Until March 2018, Alex was a Campaign Director at Avaaz, the 50 million member global citizens’ movement, where he ran its Brexit campaign as well as work on tax havens and human rights. He has previously been a special adviser to two UK Cabinet ministers, a policy expert in the UN Secretary-General’s office, and a research fellow for organisations from the Brookings Institution to the US National Intelligence Council.
Chairman:
Dr Ariel Sergio Goekmen-Davidoff After an uninterrupted, successful and exciting banking career spanning over 34 years in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, which took him from the level of office clerk to Member of the Executive Board and CEO of prestigious private banks, Ariel is now self-employed as a partner in a law firm, where he looks after the interests of an international UHNW entrepreneur clientele. He holds positions on several boards of directors in the Swiss wealth management industry and others. He serves inter alia as Vice Chair for the Swiss Capital Market Forum and is an expert for the annual STEP Awards in London. He is a Doctor of Business Administration (Australia), holds an LL.M. degree (Switzerland) and is a STEP member. Ariel is a regular speaker, panelist and moderator at (web-) conferences about the wealth management industry, its trends as well as risk management and wealth protection for the UHNW investor.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3vFN3C8
As technology strives ever forward, mobile apps, the internet, and social media are becoming more important than ever in our daily lives. As we spend more time online, and store more of our private data there, we must take more time to consider our online security. In this webinar, we will discuss some of the simple techniques that you can apply to keep yourself and your company safe online.
Speaker:
Andi Mercer has been a member of McAfee for over 9 years and has been involved in cybersecurity presentations to Schools, Parents and Organisations for 7 of them. Previously he has worked in a number of FTSE 100, FTSE 250, NASDAQ and Fortune 100 companies, typically market leaders within their field [Internet Security, Banking, Publishing and Children's TV Production]. Outside McAfee, Andi is an active member of The Scout Association in his role as Section Leader of his Local Explorer Scout Unit.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3vEHDqG
Capitalisation leads to "fake news" (it hides too much). Simple and simplistic, discount rates are dangerous in everybody's hands. For long-term projects with specified intended outcomes, actuaries should stop using discount rates alone because cashflows are the key elements. If we can't do simple (discussed in presentation), can we really do complex?
Speaker:
After 4 years with Duncan C Fraser and 12 years with Clay & Partners, Jon Spain spent 28 years at GAD. His whole career was spent in DB pensions, previously advising a range of private sector trustees and sponsors on scheme funding and M&A. At GAD, he acted for a wide range of public sector pension clients with diverse problems. Apart from gaining his FIA in 1977, he qualified as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in 1997. No longer acting for clients, he is continuing personal research, focussing upon long-term budgeting. Since the late 1990s, he has volunteered for IFoA, being a member of the “Pension Fund Valuations And Market Values” working party (paper presented 25 October 1999) and of the follow-up working party set up in 2003 but discontinued in 2004. Formerly on Pensions CPD Committee, he was a member of the “Risk Measures” working party (paper presented 18 March 2019), Funeral Plans MIG and SIAS Committee and he has spoken at conferences. As far back as 1983, he had been working independently, trying to bring “long-term” back to UK actuarial thinking, currently focussing upon discount rates (DiscRate.Com).
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/35opClo
Z/Yen and the China Development Institute (CDI) host a regular series of open discussions on technology and financial futures. This event is going to explore how to make the global energy system more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient by looking to develop a Renewable Energy Internet with the right financial interconnectors. Renewable Energy Internet thinking has emerged strongly from central Asia, where landlocked countries such as Kazakhstan want to connect their renewable generation to an energy market largely based on shipborne fossil fuels.
While many thinkers see the future as 'electric', much of this has been based on national grids. Meanwhile, heavy industry, aviation, and shipping need to consider both hydrogen and ammonia to become more sustainable, as 'new nuclear' such as small modular reactors also gain the attention of forward thinkers. Finance and financial centres have a significant role to play in providing smooth, liquid, and efficient markets allocating money, resources, and energy. However, the existing international energy trading market is inefficient, largely paper-based, and unable to fulfil the types of services a Renewable Energy Internet requires.
This webinar will explore what can be done jointly by financial centres to provide better energy markets from simplification of contracting, standardisation of documentation, creation of central clearing & counterparty services, or combining foreign exchange and energy trading contracts.
Speakers: Professor Alexander Van de Putte PhD FCG CDir FIoD is Chief Strategy Officer, Chairman of Corporate Governance & Stewardship, and Chairman of the Academic Council of the Astana International Financial Centre. He is also the Chairman of the Board of the AIFC Bureau for Continuing Professional Development (BCPD) and an independent director of the AIFC Authority and of Eurasian National University. At IE Business School, one of Europe’s top business schools, he is Professor of Strategy and Strategic Foresight.
In December 2020, he was awarded with the high state award - the order of Dostyk of Degree II by decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Previously, Professor Van de Putte was a Member of the Board of the National Investment Corporation of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, a Managing Director with the Kazakhstan Development Bank, Principal Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Senior Director and Head of Global Practices with the World Economic Forum. At Shell, Alexander was the Senior Strategy and Portfolio Advisor to the Chairman and the Committee of Managing Directors. Prior to Shell, Alexander was Executive Director and co-leader of the shareholder value practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers. At McKinsey, Alexander was a core team member of the European Corporate Finance and Strategy Practice.
Zhuang Liu is the General Manager of Energy China Group International Engineering Corporation, who used to undertake responsibilities including as Deputy Director of Energy China Group Northwest Power Grid Design Institute, Director of Energy China Group International Department, etc. Under the current many uncertainties of the industries in the world, Mr Liu is dedicated to the promotion of international cooperation via innovation of business channels and developmental methods, facilitated the international business growth of Energy China which would other wise deemed as unachievable facing the various global difficulties and challenges.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/35hAnGh
Business and politics are inseparable. The relationship is as complex as it is dynamic. And it is becoming ever more relevant to sustainable business success. Our current model of financialized capitalism is transmogrifying into the new age of political capitalism. This is not a superficial development that will pass. It is rooted in the belief that our system of political economy is now failing too many. That the 21st century business model must tackle many of the political issues now facing our societies – from climate change to inequality; from new geostrategic challenges to globalization to the renewed quest for identity related to brands; from gender bias to the ethics of Artificial Intelligence; and very many others. The inter-relationship between business and politics is in the eye of that storm. The world is changing – fast. The shape and nature of that change will have the characteristics of politics not business. Volatile, emotional, complex, multi-directional and multi-dimensional, full of the unexpected, not comfortably linear. Success will come to those business leaders who develop a deep understanding of how politics works, how it drives as well as follows contemporary culture, and how to embed these understandings into the core of their business models.
Speaker:
Dr Joe Zammit-Lucia has had extensive experience both in the business and the political worlds. He is a founder of RADIX– a not-for-profit public policy think tank based in London, and the RADIX Centre for Business, Politics & Society based in Amsterdam. He is a regular commentator on business and politics in the media. His new book "The New Political Capitalism" is published by Bloomsbury Business in February 2022.
Following an executive career within multinational industry he founded his own strategic advisory firm with offices in Cambridge (UK), New York and Tokyo, achieving sector leadership in its areas of expertise. On divesting his firm, he continued to act as a leadership advisor to senior business leaders. He also acted as a Special Advisor to the Director General at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and was a member of the Dean's Advisory Board at the College of Arts, Sciences and Education, Florida International University. He is currently on the Advisory Board of the Singapore Forum for long-term investors and business leaders.
Previous books include "The Death of Liberal Democracy?" and "Backlash: Saving Globalisation from Itself".
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/33H2q1n
In this episode, Dr Saskia King will be covering the following points in relation to financial services and UK competition law.
- Who's watching you? Why you need to care about competition law
- Developments in tech innovation and the FS sectorData, digitisation, and open banking
- Data access issues
- Partnering and the pitfallsCollaborations, partnerships, fora/networks, mergers
Speaker:
Dr Saskia King is a legal director in the Competition & EU Law team at Bird & Bird London, with over 15 years' experience at the cutting edge of UK and EU competition law and policy, having worked at regulators, competition authorities, in academia and private practice, with a particular focus on regulated sectors such as payment systems as well as financial, retail, consumer, sport, technology and communications markets more widely.
Dr King has particular expertise as a competition enforcement specialist having joined Bird & Bird from the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) where she was a senior lawyer leading the PSR's first competition cartel investigation in the payments space. Dr King also worked for several years at the Competition and Markets Authority, where she was the legal adviser on a broad range of complex and high profile antitrust investigations and mergers (both at Phase 1 and 2). Dr King also represented the UK's interests internationally at the OECD Competition Committee.
Chairman:
Robert Pay has extensive experience in both professional and financial services. His chief interest is building both business and brand for know-how rich businesses. His roles have included being a Marketing Manager for a "Big Four" banking and securities practice, and a seven year stint as the Global Chief Marketing Officer of leading international law firm, Clifford Chance. He was Head of Marketing at the London Stock Exchange where he was responsible for the marketing launch of AIM, the smaller companies' market, on whose Board he served; he developed a successful marketing campaign aimed at attracting foreign issuers to London; and marketing of introduction of order-driven trading. He then ran the European arm of a US-based professional services consulting firm for several years before moving back in-house as Global Marketing Director of BSI Management Systems where he introduced an NPD process, and refocused the global marketing function on new product development. Immediately prior to relocating to the United States he was the Chief Marketing Officer for European law firm Taylor Wessing, where he worked with Z/Yen to create the Global IP Index.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/36dvChm
Over the last 30 years, since the end of the cold war, the lowering of global barriers and the growth of global public and private Research and Development (R&D) to almost US$2 trillion per year has forever altered global geopolitics and economics. Cross-border research and innovation collaborations and the growth of cross-border supply chains as innovative ecosystems means that no country goes it alone in science and engineering. To illustrate, in the 1960s the USA undertook 70% of global R&D. It is now less than 30% with 20 countries now matching or exceeding the USA in R&D intensity. In the decentralized but densely networked 21st century world of Science & Engineering (S&E) how does each country ensure benefit from its R&D spend? What is the “national interest” role of universities, funded largely by national taxpayers, and of multinationals, with their international footprint, in the new order? These questions have been the focus of a 2-year international project exploring global innovation and national interests exploring these issues. China, of course, poses a special case and challenge for the liberal democracies. It is the fastest growing R&D powerhouse but with a political system quite different from the liberal democracies; there is no presumption of consent of the governed and some high-tech multinationals are more agents of the state than private enterprises. The challenge for the liberal democracies and their S&E institutions is to navigate the necessary cross-border collaboration, particularly on ‘Grand Challenges’ such as climate change, while keeping an eye on national economic and geopolitical interests. This is a huge challenge for the UK S&E community, long accustomed to thinking of global collaboration – beyond defence secrets – as net positive engagements benefitting all humankind.
Speaker:
Professor David Bogle studied Chemical Engineering at Imperial College at both undergraduate and graduate levels, receiving his PhD in 1983. Following this, he worked on modelling and control projects for British Gas before taking a position as lecturer at the University of Adelaide , a position he held from 1986 until 1990. Prof Bogle joined UCL as a lecturer in 1990. He was appointed Professor in 2000. He was Technical Programme Director for the 2005 World Congress of Chemical Engineering. In 2005 he was appointed Head of the UCL Graduate School. Since 2008 he has been chair of the Steering Group of the LERU Doctoral Studies Community. In 2005 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/36mPdfe
The emergence of a networked world has created a core framework for a relational economy, but this shift is frustrated by the lack of institutions, procedures and rules necessary for its management. Emerging technologies provide an opportunity for new thinking and to turn the theory of relational economics into practice. The intersection of a relational approach to contracting and digitisation creates a perfect environment for relational economies to be measured as ecosystems of contracts. Join Sally Guyer, CEO of World Commerce & Contracting and Adrian Furner, Fellow of World Commerce and Contracting as they present the findings of a major EU Commission Study and specifically how a dataset of AirBnB contracts and innovative friction point analysis was used to demonstrate the way contractual networks impact consumer behaviour and consumer benefit; how contracts can be interpreted as boundary objects which are capable of connecting relational and transactional information in a single and unified modelling framework.
Speaker:
Sally Guyer: A boarding school education gave Sally the confidence to follow an unconventional path that has led her to being CEO of one of the world’s fastest growing non-profits. Her mission is to inspire and support the World Commerce & Contracting team and our global community to collectively drive positive change in the world of commerce of contracting.
In 2014, Sally was invited to join World Commerce & Contracting as a part-time contractor, leading its activities in Europe... a year later she became COO, charged with bringing structure and discipline to the fast-growing and entrepreneurial association. By 2018 she was leading and supporting the global team and members to pursue excellence in commercial and contract management as Global CEO.
In 2019, Sally was invited to become Chair of the Board for the Open Contracting Partnership and in May of 2021 was appointed Professor in Practice in Strategy and Innovation at the University of Durham Business School.
Adrian Furner has 30+ years' experience in the design, implementation, and delivery of commercial transactions using a wide portfolio of models from the simple traditional models though to new and novel business models. He has worked in a variety of sectors including defence and security, aviation, technology, infrastructure, banking and financial services, and natural resources.
As an experienced practitioner Adrian is focused on 'Commercial Excellence', supporting organizations in developing and leveraging their 'commercial acumen' to gain better business outcomes. This includes: raising their commercial awareness; designing and implementing innovation models; and deploying relational contracting to enhance business performance.
Adrian is a member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), and an Honorary Fellow of World Commerce & Contracting (formerly IACCM), where he is a former member elected Board Director. He has a BEng in Production Engineering and Management from the University of Nottingham, and has also completed the London Business School Corporate Finance Programme along with executive education programmes at both Wharton Business School and Oxford Saïd Business School. Adrian has contributed to a number of books on commercial and contract management and co-authored the Professional Services Leadership Handbook (www.koganpage.com/pslh).
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In this podcast, John Higgins will being looking at some of the current and likely uses of AI and examine the issue of trust. Does public trust align with business trust in AI? How are policy makers in the UK, EU and beyond responding? Will fear of AI lead to over-regulation and loss of opportunity? Are early adopters running a risk? What can be done to build trust?
Speaker:
John Higgins is President of the BCS, the UK’s Chartered Institute of IT, Chair of the Global Digital Foundation and a senior advisor to global communications company, Burson Cohn & Wolfe. He is an advisor to the European Commission’s Intelligent Cities Challenge and chairs the Advisory Board of the European University, Eutopia. He was Director General of DIGITALEUROPE, the association for the digital technology industry in Europe, until April 2017, following nine years leading its UK member association, Intellect, now TechUK. The Queen appointed him a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2005 for his services to the UK IT industry.
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In a time where there are unprecedented societal changes, does the corporate world do enough to cater for new voices? Upcoming generations are not interested in company box ticking but want businesses to recognise and adapt to this changing world. They want to work with a company that shares their values. In this webinar, Darragh explores how investing in the next generation not only supports the financial future of a company but allows it to grow and adapt in its societal responsibilities, while nurturing tomorrow’s entrepreneurial spirit.
Speaker: Darragh McCarthy is the CEO and Founder of FinTrU. He started his career at Morgan Stanley in 1994 and remained there until late 2012. During his time at Morgan Stanley, Darragh was based in London, Frankfurt and New York and held various responsibilities including Global COO for Institutional Securities, COO for EMEA, Head of Fixed Income Sales North America and Head of Fixed Income Sales EMEA. In 2013, Darragh founded FinTrU recognising the increased demand from Global Investment Banks for high-quality resources to navigate the ever-increasing regulatory landscape. While managed as a profit-driven organisation, Darragh also considers FinTrU as having a social purpose to create high-quality professional employment where the company’s cultures and values play an intrinsic part of everyday life. FinTrU is a multi-award winning RegTech company in the Financial Services sector, employing over 900 people across offices in Belfast, Derry/Londonderry, London, Dublin and New York. Darragh has been a Board Member of the Belfast Chamber since June 2020 and the Innovation and Growth Advisory Board for the City of London since June 2021. Darragh has a First Class Honours BComm International from University College of Dublin, Ireland. Originally from County Cork, Darragh now lives in Belfast. He is married with three children and speaks fluent German and Dutch.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3J39Laq
The government’s response to the covid-19 global pandemic has drawn renewed, and possibly unprecedented, attention to public procurement practice and commercial outcomes. UK annual public expenditure on goods and services routinely exceeds £206 billion per year, the risks and opportunities to deliver value for money for the taxpayer merits ongoing focus by all public authorities and their suppliers.
The National Audit Office is the parliamentary watchdog for value for money in public expenditure and the external auditor of central government, and has published a series of high-profile reports on government performance. The NAO has also published a good practice guidance that reflects upon findings and recommendations drawn from 209 reports concerning 350 commercial arrangements that it has published over the past 20 years – including recent examinations of commercial activities triggered in response to the global pandemic. Download the full report here.
Speaker:
Matthew Rees is Director of the NAO’s Commercial Hub, which leverages the NAO’s wide range of parliamentary reports about government performance to provide insights across public procurement and commercial arrangements, corporate finance and regulation. Matthew has led a wide range of NAO studies, including the use of supply chain finance in the NHS, the privatisation of Royal Mail, the UK guarantees scheme for infrastructure investment and landscapes of government companies and financial institutions. Matthew qualified at KPMG, where he worked on public sector audit before moving to corporate finance and investment banking. He has served as a NED at Gemserv Limited, a business process outsourcing company, and is a member of the ICAEW’s Supervisory Council. His public sector career spans Competition and Markets Authority, Ofwat and the Single Source Regulations Office.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3Gm5htR
Deforestation and other forms of land use change are a major cause of biodiversity loss and a large net source of anthropogenic GHG emissions, contributing about a quarter of the global total. Reducing deforestation is an essential contributor to meeting both climate and biodiversity goals. Reforestation, forest restoration and other “natural climate solutions” (NCS) are some of the few options available now to deliver negative GHG emissions at scale, relatively quickly and inexpensively. One credible estimate is that NCS could deliver 37% of the GHG reductions needed by 2030 to meet the Paris goals at less than $100/te. But NCS also raise serious concerns about the verifiability, sustainability and permanence of supply and about how NCS credits will be used and accounted for. The key questions are whether the concerns can be sufficiently addressed for the benefits of NCS to outweigh the risks. And whether voluntary or regulated markets are best placed both to manage the risks and attract the vast scale of investment that would be needed to realise the potential of NCS sustainably. Paul Jefferiss will offer his own perspective on those questions, based on thirty years’ experience working at the interface between climate change and biodiversity.
Speaker:
Dr Paul Jefferiss has over thirty years’ executive, non-executive, advisory and teaching experience in sustainability in the private sector, NGOs, government and academia. His interests lie at the intersection between energy, climate and biodiversity, and in mechanisms for valuing and controlling natural resource damage. He is currently a Non-Executive Director of the Carbon Trust and Programme Lead, Sustainability and Climate Change at the UK National Committee on China (UKNCC). He recently stepped down as bp’s global Head of Policy and Partnerships, where he managed the company’s positions and relationships on energy, climate and the environment for over a decade. Previously, he worked as Executive Director of the Green Alliance in London and as Energy Programme Director at the Union of Concerned Scientists in the US. He has advised the Clinton and Blair governments on energy and climate policy and was a UK Regulator of Renewable Fuels. He has given evidence on energy and climate to numerous Parliamentary committees and published and spoken and widely on these topics. He has degrees from Cambridge, Harvard and Tufts, where he lectured on Environmental Management for UNEP. He has been honoured by the Queen as a “Pioneer to the Life of the Nation” for services to the environment.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3r3tGzV
David regularly kicks off the FS Club annual events by updating us on the EU financial services regulatory agenda. This year, Dr Doyle considers the EU’s strategic goals of further embracing digital and sustainable models of growth for the economy, society, and business; encompassing the EU’s aims to strengthen anti-money laundering laws and accomplish a greening of the Union’s economy.
Speaker:
David Doyle is known across Europe as a leading expert on EU financial services regulation and long-standing speaker at the Financial Services Club. A former diplomat with over 20 years of service on mainland Europe at bilateral and multilateral level, he now acts as an EU Policy Advisor between Brussels and London, specialising in regulatory developments in banking, fund management and insurance.
He is a member of the Executive Board of the joint MEP-EU industry advocacy body, The Kangaroo Group at the European Parliament, holds a seat on the Board of Directors of the Genesis Initiative at Westminster that promotes entrepreneurship and SME policy, as well as being active in the Transatlantic Business Council on Capital Markets and the Conference Board Corporate Governance Council.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3H6v3n7
This podcast offers an examination of the economics and culture of gig working, and consideration of the prospect for an expansion of the gig economy in the UK. Moreover, there will be an exploration of the key themes within the gig economy, such as: the international comparison with gig working in the USA and lessons to be learnt for gig working in the UK; the release of entrepreneurial energy; the concept of the capitalist narrative and the freedom culture; the dynamic opportunities for growing cooperation among gig workers.
Speakers:
David Craddock is an independent consultant specialising in employee share ownership and reward management. A recognised authority on the subject, he is the author of The Tolley’s Guide to Employee Share Schemes , along with many other essential books and courses. David’s clients range from major public limited companies with international considerations to smaller private companies where the requirements are for Enterprise Management Incentives, tax-unapproved share scheme arrangements and market-making employee share trust structures. David has successfully established employee share schemes and employee benefit arrangements worldwide and to date has travelled to over 30 countries to personally facilitate their introduction. He enhances his service through a long experience in share reconstructions and share valuation.
Ian Harris specialises in strategic planning and systematic performance improvement in both the civil society sector practice (which he leads) and also commercial sectors. Ian regularly leads award-winning work, such as Charityshare's partnership award, Ideal Hardware's HR Award for its rewards framework and the Marine Stewardship Council's Best Practice award for its strategic planning and governance review. He designed and manages Z/Yen’s employee incentives and share ownership programme. Ian is a former chair of the judging panel for the National Payroll Giving Awards and of BCS The Chartered Institute for IT's Ethics Group. His third book, The Price Of Fish: A New Approach To Wicked Economics And Better Decisions written jointly with Michael Mainelli, won the Independent Publisher Book Awards Finance, Investment & Economics Gold Prize.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3Iq5KwB
The Metaverse is a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space, including the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the Internet. Although the Metaverse is still evolving, companies and entrepreneurs at the bleeding edge of technology are getting very excited about it. Move beyond the CGI and flights of fancy and increasingly people are being wrapped in a cloak of internet linked technologies – health and fitness monitors, personal assistants, internet enabled domestic goods, smart TVs and smart watches. The plumbing for the metaverse is rapidly being installed, but how will its users be protected? What challenges does the insurance industry face in mitigating risks for its digital denizens? In this pioneering piece of research, we will explore the scope and scale of the challenge facing the insurance sector as the Metaverse gradually coalesces. What are the risks and how can they be modelled and quantified? What products and services are required? And how can the UK insurance service sector gain first mover advantage in this new space?
Speakers:
Professor Alistair Milne is Professor of Financial Economics at the School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University, He previously worked at Cass Business School, the Bank of England; the University of Surrey, London Business School, HM Treasury and for the Government of Malawi. He holds a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics. He has conducted research for more than three decades on financial technology, bank capital and risk management, macroeconomics and financial regulation. He is the author of a comprehensive account of the 2007-08 global financial crisis “The Fall of the House of Credit”. His current research focus on the emerging innovations in banking and insurance including the application of AI, distributed ledger and related data technologies. He is the principal investigator of the TECHNGI project www.techngi.uk part of the £20mn Next Generation Services Research Challenge supported by the UK government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. He has also worked on disaster risk finance https://floodfinjava.lboro.ac.uk/ and this has led him to write on the potential application of insurance solutions to the current Covid-19 and future pandemics.
Professor Michael Mainelli FCCA FCSI(Hon) FBCS, Executive Chairman, Z/Yen Group, is a qualified accountant, securities professional, computer specialist, and management consultant, educated at Harvard University and Trinity College Dublin. Michael gained his PhD at the London School of Economics where he was also a Visiting Professor of Innovation & IT. Michael is Emeritus Professor, Fellow, & Trustee at Gresham College where he created the London Finance initiative asking “when would we know our financial system is working?” His third book, The Price Of Fish: A New Approach To Wicked Economics And Better Decisions, won the Independent Publisher Book Awards Finance, Investment & Economics Gold Prize. Michael is an Alderman and Sheriff of the City of London 2019-2021.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3Ilz875
The last twelve months have been a testing period for many in the business community in the UK, not least because of the continued repercussions of Covid-19 and Brexit. For Chinese businesses operating in this environment, escalating geopolitical headwinds have further added to the challenges. Despite this, they have demonstrated significant resilience with an unwavering commitment and ongoing contribution to the UK economy. This webinar will give an overview of the findings in the “2021 Report on the Development of Chinese Enterprises in the UK” by the China Chamber of Commerce (CCCUK).
Speaker:
John McLean OBE is a Non-Executive Chairman and Independent Director who has extensive public and capital market experience including a specific knowledge of China where he has worked for over 20 years. John’s background covers operations, acquisition integration and management internationally in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia (Japan, China and Thailand) and Australasia. Additionally, through his capital market experience, he has a strong practical knowledge on corporate governance John was on the board of CBBC (China Britain Business Council) for 8 years until 2019 and continues to contribute to the promotion of UK/China relations. More recently, he was appointed Senior Advisor to the China Chamber of Commerce in the UK (CCCUK). John is also Chair for the Institute of Directors (IoD) for the City of London.
In 2007 John joined the board of Humberts plc (subsequently Chesterton), the estate agent, and became its Executive Chairman to lead its rescue and ultimate disposal. Prior to this, he carried out a strategic review for Gamma Holdings NV of their UK textile, wallpaper, retail and brand companies, including Sanderson and William Morris, and as the CEO he successfully implemented the turnaround and disposal plan. Along with operations in Australasia, America and Canada, Sanderson established global trading partnerships in China and Japan, which included the setting-up of a manufacturing joint venture, brand licensing agreements and numerous retail franchises.
In the 2014 New Year’s Honours list, John was honoured with an OBE for services to British business interests and the development of civil society in China.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3zSEp39
Across our already troubled world, there are big population changes afoot, with dramatically falling birth rates in some countries and rising in others, but all with increasing lifespans – virus and obesity notwithstanding – meaning changes in “old-age dependency ratio,” and a radical new world order in 80 years’ time. This brings challenges for all nations, and for the financial sector, with the potential for fiscal strains, labour shortages, economic stagnation, and the certainty of increased spending on healthcare and pensions.
Simon Culhane invites us to think of the challenges, and opportunities in the UK for wealth management, financial planning and capital markets.
Speaker:
Simon Culhane was appointed CEO of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment in May 2004, having previously worked both with a number of blue-chip financial companies and in Central Government. His previous role was at Deutsche Bank where he worked as Director, Chairman’s Office, Global Investment Banking. For three years prior to this, Simon was Deputy Director, Prime Minister’s Efficiency Unit, Cabinet Office where he was responsible for the Unit’s work in a number of major Government Departments. Simon achieved his professional banking qualifications whilst in his early career with Lloyds Bank plc, undertaking a number of roles including Senior Group Manager, Retail Banking and in Chicago, USA. A Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment, Simon was educated at St Paul’s School London and the University of Surrey. He is married with four children and his interests include sailing and supporting AFC Wimbledon.
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Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) was globally accepted in the mid 1990's. PKI can be thought of the Authentication, Encryption and Decryption of all digital devices and all data. Think modern day Enigma or Lorenz encryption machines as used in the Second World War that Alan Turing and William Tutte cracked the codes on and you're thinking on the right lines.
PKI is made up of Digital Certificates and Encrypted Keys. It is used to identify and encrypt billions upon billions of messages daily in the totally reliant, digital world of communication. Digital certificates in essence take Plain Text data, just like this sentence, and encrypt it into Ciphertext. Once it is received, the recipients PKI, (if trusted) deciphers the text back into plaintext. This exchange of data is seamless. However, if either part is insecure, a Man in the Middle attack (MiTM) can easily be achieved and result in plain text exfiltration. Ransomware has become so popular because organisations have unfortunately a lack of PKI controls and their data can be accessed, at rest (on a server) or in flight (being sent to or from a server) and remain in plain text throughout. Criminals can capture or exfiltrate that data and then hold it to ransom. This situation then quickly, and unequivocally falls foul of all Privacy laws including UKDPA and GDPR.
Certificate Authorities (CA's) issue digital certificates in their billions and certificates typically last for 12 months. Many CA's have become household names such as Digicert, GoDaddy and Let's Encrypt. Certificates, have access, and privileges and due to their sheer numerical scale, few, if any companies know what digital certificates make up their PKI or Network. It is why the world's first digital cyberattack (cyber warfare) used digital certificates and weaponised them to create Stuxnet by planting malicious code into them. These weaponised (Microsoft) digital certificates were readily accepted by the Iranian Nuclear power facility in Natanz and used. After 13 days they triggered the malicious code. This resulted in centrifuge disruption resulting in mass destruction through harmonic rupturing. Stuxnet, and more latterly, SolarWinds' cyberattack in December last year, the worlds largest ever cyberattack on thousands of consequential hacks including the US Government, both used the lack of PKI management to disguise and Trojanized their attacks.
Speaker:
Andy Jenkinson is a senior and seasoned innovative Executive with over 30 years' experience as a hands-on lateral thinking CEO, coach, and leader. A 'big deal' business accelerator, and inspirational, lateral thinker, Andy has crafted, created, and been responsible for delivering 100’s £millions of projects within the Cyber, Technical, Risk and Compliance markets for some of the world's largest, leading organisations. Andy has a demonstrable track record of large-scale technical delivery and management within many sectors including, Professional, Managed, and Financial Services.
More latterly Andy was one of the first, and very few people to discover the plethora of insecure SolarWinds domains post their massive cyberattack last year. It has since been proven that Andy’s version of the attack (and many others) of an insecure subdomain being hijacked and a nefarious website being stood up, has now become common knowledge, and widely accepted as being the initial access and root cause of the initial infiltration (Sunburst). Andy’s research and paper was presented to the United States Senate Intelligence Committee overseeing the SolarWinds breach earlier this year.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3yXMkeX
As you age, you tend to look at new new things with an old pair of eyes. What have these got in common? Faxes, telex, mobile phones, online shopping, streaming video, internet-enabled devices, machine learning (AI), 3D printing, IBM punchcards, PCs, minicomputers, microcomputers, internet for trading, cloud, blockchain, DeFi... Yes they're all much older than they look. They are all subject to Bannister's laws of technology. Join a fun discussion on what goes round comes round again a second time in a different way.
Z/Yen conducts an irregular series of short webinars, CommunityZ Chest, featuring people from its various communities and clubs, viz. technology, financial services, civil society, and business. These webinars provide an opportunity to meet people from the wider CommunityZ, to share ideas, and to make connections.
Speaker:
David Bannister has been writing about technology for 40 years having started on Personal Computer World in 1979, and has specialised in financial services technology for nearly 30 years.
For the past five years, David has worked as an industry analyst covering wholesale payments, transaction and corporate banking, financial market infrastructures and regulation, and analysis of the fintech sector. In this role he joined Ovum, part of Informa plc, in 2016 and between 2019 and 2021 worked as a senior analyst in Boston-based Aite Group’s wholesale banking and payments practice, providing both firms’ prestigious international banking and financial infrastructure clients with insightful analysis of market developments. He currently works at UK-based Bloor Research, focussing on the rapid acceleration of change technology is having on the way business and commerce function.
He has contributed to Dealing with Technology, Waters magazine, Financial Markets IT, Financial News, as well as The Daily Telegraph, The Financial Times, The Times, and BBC Radio 4, Channel 4 News, BBC Newsnight and Sky News. David spent 12 years as the editor of Banking Technology magazine.
He’s a well-known moderator, panellist and speaker and has taken part in many international conferences, including Swift's Sibos, EBAday, Finextra’s NextGen Banking and Finovate events in Europe and Asia.
David has provided consultancy and training for leading IT and financial technology providers including IBM, HP, Misys (now Finastra), Temenos, and many others, including several of the world’s Top Five banks.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3st8vsp
Dr Robert Barnes is a lifelong champion of listening to customers and innovating in partnership to achieve greater market efficiencies on a global scale. As Group Head of Securities Trading at London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), he is responsible for the Capital Markets Securities Trading business globally for London Stock Exchange plc, including Equities, Exchange Traded Products, Fixed Income and Alternatives, and CEO of Turquoise, the UK Swiss & European share trading platform regulated by UK’s FCA and majority owned by LSEG that offers a universe of 4300+ Equities of more than 20 countries with links to 21 settlement destinations, including recent expansion to the US. Turquoise is an industry leader, winning the Financial News Award for Innovation in 2015, The TRADE Award for Best Block Trading Venue in 2017, and in November, The TRADE Award for Outstanding Equities Trading Venue overall in 2021.
Dr Barnes started his financial career at UBS in 1994 and has extensive and varied experience of leading business and providing strategic direction, having become a Managing Director, Equities, by 2005 and in 2010 founding CEO of UBS MTF which grew to #1 among peers. His industry roles while at UBS include having served as Chairman of the Securities Trading Committee of the London Investment Banking Association, Member of UK FSA’s Capital Markets Senior Practitioner Committee and European Commission’s Clearing and Settlement Expert Groups (CESAME1&2). He was among the invited industry contributors to Foresight: The Future of Computer Trading in Financial Markets (2012) Final Project Report by The Government Office for Science, London.
LSEG hired Dr Barnes as CEO of Turquoise Global Holdings in 2013 and added to his responsibilities those of Global Head of Primary Markets at LSEG from 2016 until end of 2020 when LSEG announced its divestment of Borsa Italiana to complete its merger with Refinitiv. LSEG then appointed Dr Barnes Group Head of Securities Trading. He participated as invited Member of the European Commission Directorate General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union in 2019 that led to the Study on Primary and Secondary Equity Markets in the European Union published in 2020 that cites from his articles and interviews. Dr Barnes represents LSEG on TheCityUK Switzerland Advisory Group and represented UK Financial Market Infrastructures during the Swiss UK Financial Services Industry Round Table with HM Treasury and Swiss Authorities in 2020 that in clear alignment with Swiss peers, contributed to prompt renormalisation of stock exchange relations and re-admission of Swiss securities onto UK trading venues within one month of Brexit, February 2021. Dr Barnes is a widely published thought leader on market structures and delivered in September 2021 the Keynote Address at the annual CordaCon Conference on digital assets and DLT, “Orchestrating the Regulated Digital Ecosystem.” His most recent article features in the December 2021 edition of Global Trading.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3qqw1TY
This webinar presentation will highlight Birkbeck’s history and its importance to working Londoners in its near 200 year history. The history is important to understand in the context of more contemporary policy challenges such as how the London workforce can be reskilled after the covid pandemic, the emerging Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), and London’s post Brexit future. Professor Latchman will go on to give an overview of specific measures currently being considered by the UK Government such as the Augar Review of Post 18 Education, the Skills and Post 16 Bill, and ‘Levelling Up’ and what all of this means for employees and businesses in London.
Speaker:
Professor David Latchman has been Vice-Chancellor of Birkbeck since 2003. His advocacy for lifelong learning has resulted in further funding for part-time students and the universities that serve them. These include fee and maintenance loans being made available to part-time undergraduate and postgraduate students and the raising of eligibility for such assistance to 60 years of age– a raise of 30 years on the previous upper age limit.
During his time at Birkbeck, he has overseen significant development of the College’s estate including the research facility of the Wohl Wolfson Toddler Lab and enhanced teaching facilities at 373 Euston Road. The most recent acquisition is the former University of London owned Student Central Building. This is scheduled to re-open in 2024 and will result in the further enhancement of existing teaching, learning and student social space.
Birkbeck has continually been rated highly in successive government research and teaching assessment exercises and there has been a significant increase in income from philanthropic sources.
Professor Latchman has published extensively in the field of Genetics and Molecular Biology and also has significant experience of the commercial exploitation of intellectual property, having obtained Venture Capital funding to found a Company (BioVex Ltd) on the basis of patents developed by his laboratory in the area of gene therapy. The Company was subsequently acquired by Amgen Ltd and its viral vector is now used in an approved treatment for patients with melanoma.
Professor Latchman was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2010 for his services to Higher Education.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3pGxdDJ
Following the last great recession of 2008 there was a dramatic increase in suicides in North America and Europe: an extra 10,000 people in those regions killed themselves between 2008 and 2010 and the latest estimates from the experts is that the Corona crisis could result in 50,000 extra suicides worldwide. While the media and public health officials pay lip service to the fact the pandemic's most dramatic impact is likely to be on global mental health, there has been woefully little practical advice on how to cope with covid-19. This is partly because for a once in a century event, it is difficult for any field to develop specific coping strategies. However, Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Raj Persaud, author of the new forthcoming book, The Mental Vaccine for Covid-19 - The Streetwise Guide to Coping with Corona, will be discussing practical steps you can take to build resilience and nurture well-being through the various predicaments of the pandemic.
Speaker:
Dr Raj Persaud is a Consultant Psychiatrist who has worked as a Consultant at the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley NHS Hospitals in London from 1994-2008, and as an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London. These are the premiere research and training institutions for Psychiatry in Europe.
He was also Research Fellow at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the USA and Institute of Neurology at Queens Square. His training in psychiatry since leaving UCH medical school in1986 was entirely at the Institute of Psychiatry and the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals. Unusually for a psychiatrist, he also holds a degree in psychology, obtained with First Class Honours, and 8 other degrees and diplomas including a Masters in Statistics. He was awarded the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Research Prize and Medal as well as The Maudsley Hospital's own Denis Hill Prize, and The Osler Medal. The Royal College of Psychiatrists' recently also awarded him the Morris Markowe Prize.
In 2004 he was appointed Visiting Professor for Public Understanding of Psychiatry at Gresham College, and he was asked by the Royal College of Psychiatrists to edit its first book aimed at educating the public on psychology and psychiatry. 'The Mind: A Users Guide’ was published in 2007 and reached the top ten best-seller list. All of his 5 previous books have been top ten best-sellers. He has contributed a chapter to the Royal College's latest book - 'The Female Mind - A Users Guide'.
His writing is in several established textbooks, including the Oxford Companion to the Mind and he has contributed a chapter in the latest comprehensive textbook of psychiatry for trainees: Psychiatry – An Evidence Based Text. He has approaching 100 publications in Journals such as The British Journal of Psychiatry, British Medical Journal and The Lancet.
Recently he was elected Fellow of University College London and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He is patron or supporter of numerous mental health charities including OCD-UK, The Manic Depression Fellowship, Association of Post-Natal Illness, Childline, ActionAid and The Samaritans.
The Independent on Sunday Newspaper conducted a poll amongst members of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Institute of Psychiatry to discover who were the top ten psychiatrists in the UK as rated by fellow psychiatrists. Dr Raj Persaud was the youngest doctor to make it into this esteemed list. The Times Newspaper also recently placed him as one of the Top Twenty Mental Health Gurus in the world.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3mwQVQm
We've misplaced the building blocks of the cosmos - and particle physicists like Claire Malone are on a mission to find them with the aid of the ATLAS detector at CERN. However, as she explains, some of the most crucial measurements performed by this ground breaking experiment are enhanced by thinking laterally about the technologies we have available to us. She draws analogies between her research into this subject and how she has also had to use a wide range of technologies to adapt how she accesses her research due to her physical disability.
Speaker:
Ever since childhood, Claire Malone was curious about the world around her and what really made it. Physics, in particular particle physics, quenched her desire for knowledge. Our incomplete understanding of the universe motivates her to search for evidence of new particles and how they interact.
Malone believes that we need to make science as accessible and diverse as possible. She believes being able to benefit from many different insights is possibly the best route to find solutions to the biggest problems that we face today. Her thoughts have also been influenced through conducting her research with her own physical disabilities. She is passionate about communicating her enthusiasm for physics to a wide audience and advocating for the inclusion of groups that are typically under-represented in STEM subjects.
In her spare time, she also enjoys reading (and sometimes writing) sci-fi novels.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3evPEVt
We are a society that increasingly demands instant gratification and minimum waiting time for many processes that are part of our everyday lives. Now with the need for remote interaction foisted on much of the global population by covid-19, organisations are under increased pressure to facilitate secure digital onboarding of customers to services. Business functions which rely on in-person implementation have been impaired by the pandemic, while remote onboarding and service delivery have experienced dramatic growth in many areas.
A major challenge in online onboarding is proving the identity of the person signing up. Often the proof-of-identity process relies on the presentation of documents assumed to be under the control of the person being signed up, such as a driver’s licence or passport. With the understanding that there are bad actors who may attempt to sign up imposters comes the responsibility of the organisation to make the misuse of identities as difficult as possible.
The challenge, therefore, is being able to confirm with more confidence that the person signing up is the one whose identity is being used.
Speakers:
Isabelle Moeller has played a key role in the establishment of the Biometrics Institute, the independent and international impartial membership organisation which is promoting the responsible and ethical use of biometrics worldwide. She has created a global network of diverse stakeholders bringing together technical, research, privacy and public policy people all joining forces to make the world a better place through the responsible use of biometrics.
Isabelle has successfully managed many government-funded projects in this field, including the Biometrics Vulnerability Assessment Project, the Biometrics Institute Privacy Guidelines, the Three Laws for Biometrics, Ethical Principles for Biometrics, the Good Practice Framework and the UN Counter Terrorism Compendium on Good and Recommended Practices for the Use of Biometrics in Counter-Terrorism, where the Institute was the penholder.
She received the SIA Women in Biometrics Award in 2017 for her contribution to the biometrics community in promoting the responsible and ethical use of biometrics. The award is dedicated to recognising innovative women creating a more secure world by guiding the biometrics technology market.
She has spoken at many of the Biometrics Institute events but also at important meetings of the United Nations, Interpol, OSCE, ICAO and Frontex to name a few.
Brett Feldon is a Biometrics Institute Advisory Council member and is Head of the Digital Identity Expert Group. He was previously on the board of the institute from November 2011 until March 2019 and is based in Sydney, Australia.
Brett’s experience includes management and oversight of deployments of voice biometrics solutions in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the US, across a range of industries and government departments. He ran various aspects of what is now Probe Group’s speech and biometric business across geographic regions including EMEA and Australasia from 2007 to 2019.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/32GOUtO
The world is changing and the effect on people is only just starting to be felt: it is hard to make sense. Patricia and Gill’s new book New Shoots provides evidence of the forces at work to help people make sense of the changes. It builds on our view that people are essentially decent and want to be happy. It explores levers for change. It includes snapshots of projects and people innovating and adapting. The book is designed to empower people to take action. The co-authors will use some examples from the book to explain why a combination of social change and technology makes them optimistic about the future.
Speakers:
Patricia Lustig has recently been named as one of the world’s 42 top Futurist authors. Links to some of her podcasts and videos can be found here.
She has worked across the world and is multilingual. She is Managing Director of LASA Insight Ltd and on the Board of the Association of Professional Futurists (APF).
Patricia has written many articles and is the author of four books including the award winning Strategic Foresight: Learning from the Future. Her next book (with Gill Ringland) is New Shoots – people making fresh choices in a changing world.
Patricia has held senior positions (OD, software development) at blue-chip companies such as BP, Motorola and Logica. She was a Programme Director at Management Centre Europe, a Visiting Executive Fellow at Henley Business School, and CIPD Faculty for Scenario Planning and Foresight. She edited a professional journal for 14 years. She oversees the APF Emerging Fellows programme.
Patricia has a BA (joint Hons) from the University of St. Thomas. She is a member of The World Future Studies Federation (WFSF), The Society of Authors, and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.
Gill Ringland
Gill has over 100 publications: Her books on Scenario Planning and strategy are used at Business Schools including Harvard. Her next book, the 9th, with Patricia Lustig is New Shoots – people making fresh choices in a changing world.
Gill’s early career included the Universities of Bristol, Edinburgh, Newcastle, California at Berkeley and Oxford. She did pioneering work in IT on systems and data architecture, at CAP, Inmos and Modcomp. She has been active in seven start-ups and built a £3bn new business at computer firm ICL.
She was CEO, Director and a Fellow of SAMI Consulting (Strategy with a view of the future) from 2002 to 2017, with clients in the public, private and NGO sector from Mexico to Malaysia. From September 2017 to February 2021 she was a Director of Ethical Reading.
She has B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees, is a Fellow of the British Computer Society, an Emeritus Fellow Emeritus of SAMI and ICL, and a Fellow of the World Academy of Art & Science. She is a graduate of Stanford University's Senior Executive Program; and a Liveryman of the City of London. She has been co-opted for various UK and EC advisory roles.
Speaker:
Richard Harvey is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of East Anglia, where he studies problems in AI often with applications in security. He is also the Worshipful Company of IT Professor at Gresham College London, where he is required to give public lectures on issues in IT. He has been involved in several business start-ups and has Chaired a successful Venture Fund Investment Committee for a while. He lives in Suffolk and in his spare time he is a Ranger for the Broads Authority. He also enjoys messing about in boats.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3swoC8l
For many observers, the European Union is mired in a deep crisis. Between sluggish growth; political turmoil following a decade of austerity politics; Brexit; and the rise of Asian influence, the EU is seen as a declining power on the world stage.
Columbia Law professor Anu Bradford argues the opposite in her important new book The Brussels Effect: the EU remains an influential superpower that shapes the world in its image. By promulgating regulations that shape the international business environment, elevating standards worldwide, and leading to a notable Europeanization of many important aspects of global commerce, the EU has managed to shape policy in areas such as data privacy, consumer health and safety, environmental protection, antitrust, and online hate speech. And in contrast to how superpowers wield their global influence, the Brussels Effect - a phrase first coined by Bradford in 2012- absolves the EU from playing a direct role in imposing standards, as market forces alone are often sufficient as multinational companies voluntarily extend the EU rule to govern their global operations.
In this webinar, Bradford will explain how the EU has acquired such power, why multinational companies use EU standards as global standards, and why the EU's role as the world's regulator is likely to outlive its gradual economic decline, extending the EU's influence long into the future.
Speaker:
A leading scholar on the EU’s regulatory power and a sought-after commentator on the European Union and Brexit, Anu Bradford coined the term the Brussels Effect to describe the European Union’s outsize influence on global markets. Most recently, she is the author of The Brussels Effect: How the European Union Rules the World , named one of the best books of 2020 by the Foreign Affairs.
Bradford is also an expert in international trade law and antitrust law. She spearheads the Comparative Competition Law Project, which has built a comprehensive global data set of antitrust laws and enforcement across time and jurisdictions. The project, a joint effort between the Law School and the University of Chicago Law School, covers more than a century of regulation in over 100 countries and has been the basis for Bradford’s recent empirical research on the antitrust regimes used to regulate markets.
Before joining the Law School faculty in 2012, Bradford was an assistant professor at the University of Chicago Law School. She also practiced EU and antitrust law in Brussels and has served as an adviser on economic policy in the Parliament of Finland and as an expert assistant at the European Parliament. The World Economic Forum named her Young Global Leader ’10.
At the Law School, Bradford is the director of the European Legal Studies Center, which trains students for leadership roles in European law, public affairs, and the global economy. She is also a Senior Scholar at Columbia Business School’s Jerome A. Chazen Institute for Global Business and a nonresident scholar at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3Hdm5E6
In this webinar, we launched the fourth edition of the Smart Centres Index (SCI 4). The SCI is designed to track the development of technology and financial centres across the world in their support for and readiness for new technology applications.
Investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, media, academics, governments, and regulators can attune their cities to attract innovation and growth in Science, Technology, Energy Systems, Machine Learning, Distributed Ledgers, or Fintech. Tuning a city for innovation is complex. Z/Yen began studying successful and unsuccessful business innovation clustering some 15 years ago, and published in 2018 the Smart Jurisdictions Index. Building on the results of that research we have created a novel factor assessment index based on three dimensions - innovation support, creative intensity, and delivery capability.
The SCI is designed to track the readiness of business centres across the world to support new technology businesses. The SCI uses assessments from private and public sector individuals, along with over 120 instrumental factors, to rate the centres. This important project that will grow substantially as more people pay attention to the ways centres can help globally innovative businesses thrive in rapidly changing times.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3mwsq5H
Consequent upon the Brexit withdrawal agreement, from 1 January 2023 the CE mark on products will no longer be allowed. New products coming onto the market will instead have to be labelled with the UK Conformity Assessment mark (UKCA mark). This apparently simple change could place a heavy burden on UK product testing capabilities and result in delays in bringing new products to market. The CE mark applies to products which fall within the scope of 23 different EU Directives and associated regulations. These cover a wide variety of products from ‘white goods’ and electronic goods to lawnmowers, toys and fireworks. Application of the CE mark requires products to be tested for compliance to the relevant EU standards by EU approved, accredited testing laboratories.
The process to be introduced in the UK is very similar except that products must be tested to British Standards by approved and accredited UK labs. An important change is that UK test labs will no longer be recognised by the EU. Anyone wishing to place a product on the EU market after 1 January 2023 must have it tested by an EU Lab. Conversely all new products coming into the UK must be tested by a UK approved laboratory irrespective of their country of origin. There are 148 testing laboratories approved in the UK but they are not evenly distributed across all 23 sets of UK regulations. Some areas such as construction products are well served, but for others, for example cableways and fireworks, there are no UK approved test labs. For a number of other areas there are only a handful. Even in well served areas like construction products there is such a wide range of products regulated that for some products there isn’t a lab with the appropriate testing capability. The UK’s ability to test products coming onto the market after 1 January 2023 is both capacity and capability limited. Given the very large number of types of product that will need testing there is very likely to be a bottleneck in the product labelling process. Any hold up will inevitably lead to delays in getting products to markets and gaps on shelves.
This webinar sets out the problem, discusses the implications for UK markets and supply chains and proposes some solutions.
Speaker:
Dr Jeff Llewellyn is a chemist by profession. Since 2008 he has been President of the British Measurement and Testing Association (BMTA) and was Chief Executive from 2009 until 2019 when the post was abolished. He has been a Non-Executive Director of the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) since 2016 and was a Board member of EUROLAB aisbl (a European Trade Association for testing and calibration laboratories) from 2010 until 2017 serving as Vice President for 6 years. Prior to that from 2002 to 2007 he was Chief Executive of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory, an Executive Agency of the former Department of Trade and Industry. Previous experience was as a research director, manager and research scientist at BRE Ltd (formerly the Building Research Establishment), the Department of the Environment and the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC). His main research interest was in air pollution in buildings and sustainable construction whilst his early career was in food analysis. In 1972 he obtained his Ph D in carbohydrate chemistry from the University of Wales, Swansea (now Swansea University) which was followed by 2 years Post Doctoral research until joining LGC at the end of 1973. He is married with 2 children and 4 grandchildren. His main interests are sailing and railways.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/32utMH5
With under 6 months to go until new FCA regulations governing Digital Operational Resilience come into force (March 2022), and with the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) on the horizon in 2023, can you be certain your complex IT estate is up to scratch?
Join Cloudsoft's Vicky Glynn and Alasdair Hodge, as they discuss the complexity crisis facing technology teams in Financial Services, and how embracing continuous resilience can not only help you to meet regulatory requirements but also unlock new efficiencies in your technology teams - saving cost and boosting revenue through automation and innovation.
Cloudsoft specialise in automation, applications and the cloud. Our top-down, application-centric approach is what sets us apart and empowers our customers to tame the complexity of their IT estates to deliver real business value.
Speakers:
Vicky Glynn has spent 20 years driving success for private and public sector customers with large and complex IT estates. Vicky brings a wealth of experience in managing, marketing to and delivering products for large enterprise accounts, specialising in regulated industries. She is passionate about the benefits cloud and infrastructure solutions can bring, and on delivering technology solutions and services, in a no nonsense way, that help customers grow and innovate, ensuring they remain competitive and resilient in an increasingly complex market.
Alasdair Hodge is a Solutions Architect with 25 years’ experience. An authority in cloud, software applications and automation across all major cloud platforms, he has been engaged in the design and optimisation of cloud services in banking and finance and other service-based sectors such as telecoms, electronic design and supply-chain automation for over 12 years.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3FqQdvf
A recent report from Entrust found that 91% of employees are in favour of a hybrid work environment but cite challenges to security and productivity. Leaders cited the security of home internet connections, leaked sensitive company information and cyberattacks from bad actors as their top security concerns — all of which are closely tied to data remaining secure outside the office and potential challenges to the hybrid work model. In this webinar, Jenn Markey will discuss the challenges faced by businesses, and answer questions on how to optimise the security of the New Hybrid Workplace to ensure ease of transition, data and personnel security, and maximised productivity.
Speaker:
Jenn Markey leads product marketing for Entrust’s payments and identity business units. She is responsible for developing and driving the implementation of go-to-market strategies to grow Entrust’s share of this rapidly transforming market. Jenn brings 25+ years of high-tech sector experience to her current position, predominantly in senior marketing and product management roles across many different technology domains including cybersecurity, SaaS, IoT, telecom, and semiconductors.
About Entrust: Entrust keeps the world moving safely by enabling trusted identities, payments and data protection around the globe. Today more than ever, people demand seamless, secure experiences, whether they’re crossing borders, making a purchase, or accessing corporate networks. With our unmatched breadth of digital security and credential issuance solutions, it’s no wonder the world’s most entrusted organizations put their trust in Entrust, including Visa, NASA, Siemens, US Bank, Deloitte, and Barclays.
Find our more on our website: https://bit.ly/3FrcTvJ
Background: In our next newspad review webinar, panellists including Lyn Colloff, Company Secretary at Wincanton, Charlotte Fleck, Associate Director Tax & Legal, Deloitte and Colin Kendon, Partner at Bird & Bird will discuss the burning issues in employee share ownership, picked from the September, October and November editions of “It’s Our Business - newspad of the Esop Centre" . Global Shares’ Darren Smith will chair the discussion on topics such as concern over claims that the Employee Ownership Trust is being promoted as a tax avoidance vehicle, and asking whether private equity is killing off UK share schemes.
Panellists:
Lyn Colloff was appointed Company Secretary at Wincanton in April 2020. Her previous post as Company Secretary at Cobham plc for over 10 years gave her a wealth of experience. Lyn is a qualified Chartered Secretary and worked exclusively in the Financial Services sector before joining Cobham from the Financial Services Authority (now the Financial Conduct Authority), where she also performed the role of Deputy Company Secretary. Lyn sits on the Forum of the ICSA and the Governance Institute and completed an MBA at Aston University in 2004.
Colin Kendon is an incentives lawyer and Partner who heads the Employee Incentives & Benefits Group at Bird & Bird. He advises a wide range of clients from start-ups to multi-nationals on incentives issues and on the incentives aspects of corporate transactions, including valuations, tax, company law, employment law, accounting, financial services regulation, investor guidelines and market practice, to name just a few. He deals constantly with founders and key members of management teams - getting incentives right is at the heart of most businesses.
Colin has been at Bird & Bird since 2006 and has specialised in incentives since 1990. He wrote the incentives section of 'Internet Business, Commerce And Tax' in 2012 and speaks at numerous conferences and seminars. He became head of the incentives team in 2008 and has been ranked in the directories ever since.
Charlotte Fleck is an Associate Director at Deloitte. She advises on share plans and employee incentives from a tax and legal perspective and has experience with the establishment and operation of both onshore and offshore employees’ trusts in a range of contexts, from routine employee share scheme matters to complex negotiations with HMRC.
Chairman: Share plans sector stalwart Darren Smith joined the Global Shares team in July 2021. Darren worked with YBS Share Plans for more than 20 years as share plans consultant, client relationship manager and most recently as national sales manager, until it announced that it was pulling out of share scheme administration. Darren is a well-known and regular industry host, speaking on topics including share plans and financial wellbeing, bringing fun and an engaging style to events. Martin Osborne-Shaw, Global Shares’ head of UK & EU sales, said: "Darren’s drive and enthusiasm for share plans are infectious and he will feel at home at Global Shares. His nationwide reach and track record in this business will be a huge asset in establishing Global Shares as a go-to share plan provider in the UK at a time of great change in the marketplace."
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3sHu091
Zero day: a software bug that allows a hacker to break into your devices and move around undetected. One of the most coveted tools in a spy's arsenal, a zero day has the power to silently spy on your iPhone, dismantle the safety controls at a chemical plant, alter an election, and shut down the electric grid (just ask Ukraine).
For decades, under cover of classification levels and non-disclosure agreements, the United States government became the world's dominant hoarder of zero days. U.S. government agents paid top dollar—first thousands, and later millions of dollars—to hackers willing to sell their lock-picking code and their silence.
Then the United States lost control of its hoard and the market.
Now those zero days are in the hands of hostile nations and mercenaries who do not care if your vote goes missing, your clean water is contaminated, or our nuclear plants melt down.
In this webinar, Nicole Perlroth will be taking us through her new book This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends. Based on years of reporting and hundreds of interviews, she will lift the curtain on a market in shadow, revealing the urgent threat faced by us all if we cannot bring the global cyber arms race to heel.
Speaker:
Nicole Perlroth covers cybersecurity and digital espionage for The New York Times. She has covered Russian hacks of nuclear plants, airports, and elections, North Korea's cyberattacks against movie studios, banks and hospitals, Iranian attacks on oil companies, banks and the Trump campaign and hundreds of Chinese cyberattacks, including a months-long hack of The Times. Her first book, “This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends,” about the global cyber arms race, was published in February 2021. The book, and several of her Times articles, have been optioned for television, with Ms. Perlroth producing.
A Bay Area native, Ms. Perlroth is also a guest lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a graduate of Princeton University and Stanford University.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3svtJ8V
The decisive questions of the 21st century can only be addressed by new knowledge and new ideas coming from leading research institutions. The most significant transnational threats to global economic and political stability are in areas of intense academic research: covid-19, climate change, emerging technologies, cyber operations/intrusions, to name only the most prominent as defined by the US Intelligence Community. The traditional peer review process in scientific journals offers valuable curation and validation oversight, but it comes at the price of many months, and even years, of delay. Early stage research (commonly referred to as “preprints”) offers access to data and conclusions prior to the full editorial process. This immediacy makes it a kind of actionable business intelligence. Find out how SSRN, the world’s most interdisciplinary early research platform, can both inform decision-making and serve as an effective venue for demonstrating your organization’s expertise to an international community of thought-leaders and policy makers.
Speaker:
Michael Magoulias has spent over 30 yrs in the information/publishing industry in a variety of roles all of which involving the transition of print media to digital formats. Prior to joining SSRN he was Director of Journals at the University of Chicago Press, where he oversaw a publishing program of over 75 titles across all disciplines. He had previously served as Publishing Director of The Lancet family of journals. At SSRN, he is responsible for user-facing initiatives and academic partnerships.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3mvmY3h
One eternal constant is Change. We witness such changes everywhere in our lives, yet some changes are thrust upon us, and we readily become compliant. Yet others which can be just as impactful go under the radar. One such area of change is the jobs market. At a junior level, large corporates now rely on technology to present to and pre-select future talent supply. At mid-management level many organisations now adopt hybrid schemes incorporating RPO, in-house talent teams, agencies, and career portals. At the executive level we see a lot of contradictory actions of executive job seekers relative to the noise of the marketplace that disseminates from prospective employers. So, what is the truth?
Morphosis Partners will deliver an insightful and interactive presentation that will challenge many of the presumptions which may have been appropriate the last time you undertook an executive job search. But what is the state of play today?
Collectively, the presentation will focus on the importance of connectivity and preparedness as the cornerstones for a successful and sustainable future determined by you. In the jobs market you have two available games. The 1st is one where you react to a job and aim to ‘fit the job’ where hiring is based on certainty, comfort, ticking boxes and potentially diminishing returns in terms of your own personal professional growth, engagement, and reward opportunity. OR you have the 2nd which is proactive and aligned to support your future desires and intentions where future facing networks are curated and nurtured in sync with hiring where you are wanting to go. In this game the highest level of reward is the availability and attainability of opportunities ‘right for you’ defined around your skills and offer. Which game would you rather play? Fit the job description or Fit You?
This talk will give you the understanding of how to play both games in the current landscape to position your brand and reputation in such way that you become the preferred choice.
Speakers:
Jo Rawcliffe has lived internationally and worked across the private, voluntary, and public sectors that included 20 years military association. Ahead of co-founding Morphosis Partners Jo spent much of her corporate career challenging the norm, delivering across innovation, change and transformation, operational excellence, learning and development, stakeholder development and relationship management. For 15 years Jo has provided discrete counsel to senior executives as both a mentor and coach helping them to make better leadership decisions, from succession or severance. Also at a team or organisational level regarding workforce planning around organisational change, talent restructuring, redeployment, and severance/transition.
Simon Hudson prior to co-founding Morphosis Partners had worked predominantly within the private, owner managed, family and investor businesses as retained ally, strategic external advisor, and tactical delivery resource in the areas of talent attraction, assessment/retention, and severance transition where innovation and disruptive thinking was sought. Simons’ knowledge around business, culture and human behaviour combined with leadership candour and integrity has made him highly sought after to support at individual, team and organisational level.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3qlNgpx
In this webinar, we examine the role of discount rates in IFRS19 (Employee Benefits) in the reporting of defined benefit pension schemes. We consider the fundamental properties of discount rates and uncertainty and go on to demonstrate that the approach in the current standard produces liability values which are counterfactual to the true liabilities of a DB scheme. Crucially, as a result of the decades-long declines in interest rates, the standard has and continues to overstate the magnitude of pension liabilities. We consider a range of alternate methods which are in use, e.g. those utilising the expected return on assets as the discount rate, and show that all of these rates are exogenous and produce counterfactual values for liabilities. We finish by proposing a new method, the contractual accrual rate (CAR), to evaluate pension liabilities. This rate is endogenous to the pension contract(s) and accurately reflects the accrued value of pension liabilities of the scheme’s sponsor employer.
Speaker:
Dr Con Keating
In the seven years since retiring, Con has restricted his advisory activities to projects for friends, former colleagues, and old clients. He remains active in a number of pro bono roles, including chairing the Bond Commission of the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies. For the past five years, with Professor Iain Clacher, he has been researching the design and operation of collective defined benefit pensions schemes.
He has taught courses as a visitor, at undergraduate and post graduate levels, at universities in the UK, US, Asia and Europe, and continues to supervise two doctoral candidates. The subjects taught and researched have included international and development finance, financial economics, mathematical finance and actuarial science, risk management and pensions design and modelling.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3FqhzSw
There is fast-growing interest in taxonomies that categorise and describe the skills that individuals deploy at work, to enable digital applications that engage with skills and to facilitate reskilling and upskilling required by a fast-changing job environment. Maury Shenk explores the emerging landscape of traditional and new skills taxonomies, and explains how artificial intelligence and related techniques can make these taxonomies more useful - drawing on his experience as CEO of LearnerShape, which is developing the world's first AI-driven, open source learning infrastructure.
Speaker:
Maury Shenk's experience focuses at the intersection of technology, law and education. He is co-founder and CEO of edtech start-up LearnerShape, director of global testing and certification company PeopleCert, and founder and managing director of Lily Innovation, through which he handles a portfolio of other investment and advisory activities. Maury is a dual-qualified US/UK lawyer and former managing partner of the London office of global law firm Steptoe & Johnson, where he remains an advisor. He has a deep practical understanding of technology, especially artificial intelligence, IT, telecommunications and information security. Maury is a graduate of Harvard College and Stanford Law School. He is a lover of languages – a native speaker of English (the American version), proficient in French and Russian, comfortable in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish, and dilettante in German, Italian, Norwegian and Greek. He is also a guitar player and an avid competitive and recreational sailor.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3EE1ya6
This major Cityforum project looks at what can be done to make life safer and more secure in the face of unprecedented security and environmental challenges. Focused less on analysis of the problems and more on hard-headed discussion of what can be done to deal with them. This opening webinar will take place on the eve of the COP26 conference in Glasgow. Opinions vary on what COP26 can achieve, but it will at the very least draw attention to the pace of climate change and environmental degradation. It is increasingly clear that there can be no winners from climate change; and that there are no quick fixes. The world has failed to limit emissions of greenhouse gases, and the consequences of climate change are combining with shifts in economic and geopolitical power to exacerbate tensions.
This opening session is developed and chaired by Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chairman, Z/Yen Group, bringing together the Cityforum defence, security and resilience constituency and Professor Mainelli’s wider international financial, economic and technological networks.
Speakers:
Hon Franklin D Kramer is a distinguished fellow and board director of the Atlantic Council. Mr. Kramer has served as a senior political appointee in two administrations, including as assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs. At the Department of Defense, Mr. Kramer was in charge of the formulation and implementation of international defense and political-military policy, with worldwide responsibilities including NATO and Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Mr. Kramer’s areas of focus include defense, both conventional and hybrid; NATO and Russia; China, including managing competition, military power, economics and trade, and China-Taiwan-US relations; cyber including resilience and international cyber issues; innovation and national security; and irregular conflict and counterinsurgency.
Isabel Hilton is a London based writer and broadcaster. Isabel is a visiting professor at the Lau Institute at Kings College London, is founder and senior advisor to the China Dialogue Trust and is the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Centre for Investigative Journalism. Isabel also serves on the board of E3G.
Debora MacKenzie was raised in Canada and trained as a biomedical researcher, but since 1982 she has been based in Europe and has worked as a science journalist, mostly for the British magazine New Scientist. Since the 1990s she has increasingly focused on stories about infectious disease, covering crises from mad cow disease to various kinds of flu, and from SARS to covid. She has also written about social complexity and risk, which we must understand to solve global governance problems like disease, climate, arms and migration. She is based in France near the border with Geneva, Switzerland.
Air Marshal Edward Stringer Until April 2021, Director General of Joint Force Development, and DG Defence Academy, within UK Strategic Command, responsible for the conceptual element of UK fighting power: concepts and doctrine, training and education, exercise and experimentation, lessons learned and innovation. Before that he was Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Operations) in the MOD in Whitehall, essentially the MOD’s operations director – from UK flood-relief to the Deterrent. A previous Commandant Air Warfare Centre and head of RAF Intelligence he has had operational commands in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Balkans.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3eiMnbX
Mathematical models help us understand and predict the future evolution of complex systems like the covid-19 pandemic, aspects of the economy, or the earth's climate. But there are dangers of becoming trapped in Model Land: over-confidence in modelled outputs typically leads to underestimation of real-world risk. I will discuss two possible quantitative escape routes from Model Land and reflect on the necessary nuances of implementing these strategies for real-world prediction questions.
Speaker:
Dr Erica Thompson works on Ethics of Modelling and Simulation at LSE's new Data Science Institute and is also a Fellow of the London Mathematical Laboratory. With a background in mathematics and physics, she is engaged in fundamental research about the applicability of modelling and simulation methods to real-life prediction questions including applications in climate change, pandemics, economics and anticipation of humanitarian crises.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3mvlMNl
The eighth edition of the Global Green Finance Index provides the world’s most authoritative measure of the performance of financial centres in delivering green finance services.
The report, assembled by combining the views of financial professionals from around the world, with quantitative data commissioned and curated from over 130 sources, uses advanced statistical techniques to map the global spread of green finance.
Speakers:
Mike Wardle, Director & Head Of Indices, Z/Yen Group
Simon Mills, Senior Consultant, Z/Yen Group
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3HDcxmr
A global debate is in full swing about when and where we should work and it's playing out in organisations of all sizes across the world. Who has the power to decide? Who wins and who loses out in different time / space configurations? Why do we work like this anyway? In the rapid move to remote working companies have largely done a "lift and shift" of work practices according to what we have historically considered to be necessarily same time/same place work. The result is overburdened diaries, endless meetings, cognitive overload and no time in which to actually complete our work. Based on extensive, hands-on research into the implications of new trends in collaborative working practices, this webinar explores how we can radically rethink the most precious resource any of us have - our time - in order to make space for the most value-adding work to get done.
Speaker:
Victoria Ward works as a coach, strategic adviser, convenor for, and companion to those who seek to create lasting change, in themselves, in their teams and networks, in the organisation as a whole, or in the system in which the organisation plays a part. She left NatWest in 1997 to set up a radical new multi-disciplinary practice, specialising in knowledge, narrative, knowledge networks and cultural transformation. Before acting as Chief Knowledge Officer at NatWest Markets, Victoria acted as Chief Operating Officer, Capital Markets, and Managing Director, Global Futures. She joined NatWest from the London International Futures Exchange working as head of R&D, education and statistics, as well as working with Exchange members, and with regulators internationally to change the tax and regulatory regime for index futures and options, and, among other things, to provide a robust response to regulatory enquiry into the role of index futures and options in the market crash of 1987. A 20+ year portfolio includes work in the public, private, not for profit and cultural sectors, with development banks and agencies, financial institutions, government agencies and departments, regulators, international manufacturing and pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions and museums. Victoria is internationally recognised as being at the forward edge of thinking and practice in knowledge management, communities of practice, narrative research, technology-enabled collaborative and storytelling approaches to complex organisational challenges and transformation.
Dr Caitlin McDonald is the DXC's resident Digital Anthropologist. She helps business leaders and teams learn to step outside their version of ‘normal,’ suspend judgement, and consider things from many different perspectives. This gives businesses the leading edge through boosting customer empathy, finding new solutions to old problems, and enriching the insight power of big data through multidisciplinary approaches. Recognised for her domain knowledge in qualitative methods like ethnography and participant-observation, Caitlin spent six years at the quantitative coal face developing analytical models and designing dashboards for the world’s largest collaboration and talent network for education professionals. Before that Caitlin earned her PhD following dancers around the world and across the internet, understanding how information flows for cultural bodies of knowledge like dance are impacted by technoscapes (the digital world around us.) Her combined expertise gives her a uniquely balanced perspective for gleaning wisdom from the intersection between human imagination and digital systems.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3qAn4Yt
When working with NLP, there are two key AI techniques that can be used to extract insight and understanding from unstructured language data: symbolic and machine learning. Symbolic is a knowledge-based approach, leveraging knowledge graphs, linguistic feature engines, and reasoning engines. Machine Learning is an inference-based approach using deep learning neural networks, and constructs such as transformers for feature engineering. Both methods have their benefits and challenges. A symbolic approach depends upon the creation of a knowledge graph, while machine learning requires the annotation of large amounts of data. Despite their differences, both approaches complement each other, allowing more to be done with real-world datasets. In this webinar we draw on insights from previous FS Club webinars, discuss both NLP approaches, and provide examples from our research into HybridNL.
Speaker:
Iain Wadie has been passionate about technology since he was young, he brings experience from research, systems integration and process re-engineering to robotics and automation. He started out working on EU funded research to enable robots to work in abattoirs deconstructing carcasses; this is where he first came across neural networks. He worked in consulting for many years, initially as a developer, then as a programme manager delivering large systems implementation projects, and ultimately as head of a consulting practice for a global software vendor. A role leading the operational control team in group finance for a large UK bank gave him good insight into identifying and delivering the value from digitising business processes. Over the last 5 years Iain has specialised in Cognitive Automation, applying AI to extracting data from the written word. He is pleased to be able to pursue his passion at expert.ai, a company at the forefront of natural language understanding research.
Chairwoman:
Zoë Buckingham is an international marketing consultant, commercial writer and presenter who has worked with businesses and national governments across the Middle East, Europe and North America. She helps organisations of all sizes identify their market positioning and the strategies that will enable them to grow. She has supported business leaders across Fintech, technology, professional education, home entertainment and healthcare with imaginative campaigns that set them apart from the competition.
Expert.ai has specialised in Natural Language Processing for 20+ years and lists leading global financial services companies amongst its customers. They are the leader in Hybrid NL.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3HoYqRg
Background: Employee share schemes offer employees the opportunity to buy shares in the business they work for. Owning part of a business offers a great incentive for employees to contribute to the success of the business and remain loyal to the business. There are “approved” and "unapproved" employee share schemes, this references HRMC’s view of a share scheme and whether or not it comes with tax statutory advantages as a result. However, outside the “approved” schemes it is possible to construct schemes that embody significant tax efficiencies.
In this webinar, share schemes expert David Craddock explores innovative strategies based on tax-efficient solutions in employee share ownership programmes. He explains the tax efficient elements of LTIPs, share purchase arrangements that use various share classes, so-called “share loan” schemes, growth share models, JSOPs, tracker shares and subsidiary company schemes.
Speaker: David Craddock is an independent consultant specialising in employee share ownership and reward management. A recognised authority on the subject, he is the author of The Tolley’s Guide to Employee Share Schemes , along with many other essential books and courses. David’s clients range from major public limited companies with international considerations to smaller private companies where the requirements are for Enterprise Management Incentives, tax-unapproved share scheme arrangements and market-making employee share trust structures. David has successfully established employee share schemes and employee benefit arrangements worldwide and to date has travelled to over 30 countries to personally facilitate their introduction. He enhances his service through a long experience in share reconstructions and share valuation.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/31geVjq
The imminent threat of climate change requires the financial sector to play a crucial role in the transition to a net-zero carbon economy. In this webinar, BCS Consulting will provide an overview of climate change and the role financial institutions can play; the drivers of risk and opportunity and key industry initiatives, trends, and regulations gaining momentum. Additionally, BCS will share insights from their second comprehensive review of climate disclosures in the banking sector, exploring the progress across regions, challenges, and examples of emerging best practice.
Speakers:
Hector Fontaine is the Sustainable Finance Lead for BCS Consulting. He has deep expertise in risk, finance and sustainability, advising and supporting many of the world's largest financial institutions as well as smaller financial firms in these areas for many years. Hector is a frequent speaker in industry events and has authored numerous ESG publications. In 2018 he directed and co-authored the BCS Consulting ESG Banking Benchmark Report and in 2019 and 2021, Hector directed and co-authored the BCS Consulting TCFD Global Progress Report for the Banking Sector publications. Hector holds an APRM qualification by the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association and a masters in Finance from London Business School.
Joe Lovatt is a Sustainable Finance Senior Consultant at BCS Consulting. He has a strong background in ESG and risk management. Joe has advised many financial institutions in sustainability topics, particularly in ESG Governance and IT enhancements for effective ESG management. Joe has also supported the development of BCS climate research in areas such as TCFD reporting and PRA compliance.
Hannah Peter is a Sustainable Finance Consultant at BCS Consulting. As both an industry professional and management consultant she has developed deep risk management and ESG experience within financial services. She has a Green Finance Certificate from the Chartered Banker Institute and co-authored the BCS Consulting TCFD Global Progress Report for the Banking Sector publications in 2019 and 2021.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3FW38WF
Society is beset with human engendered climate and ecosystem issues, which are approaching existential. Solutions for such are sought, and from the experience with renewable energy development, such solutions are instituted far more readily if they are profitable. Halophytes - salt plants grown on cheap land (deserts and wastelands) using cheap water (saline, seawater) pumped by cheap photovoltaics - uniquely provides the requisite scale and effects to solve land, water, food, energy, and climate problems.
The use of Halophytes as a solution to climate and ecosystem issues brings into production vast new regions; some 44% of our land is deserts/wastelands. There are some 10,000 different Halophyte, which can grow massive amounts of food, release large amounts of the 70% of fresh water now used for agriculture to direct human use. We could literally green the planet and remove CO2 from the atmosphere since Halophytes sequester some 18% of their CO2 uptake. Halophytes are biomass, and can be used for green fuels and petrochemical feed stocks, obviating the need for petroleum based production of such. Overall, the business, climate, and ecosystem benefits are extraordinary. No new technology is required, impacts on climate and ecosystem are prompt and inexpensively obtained.
Speaker:
Dennis Bushnell is responsible for Technical Oversight and Advanced Program formulation for a major NASA Research Center with technical emphasis in the areas of Atmospheric Sciences and Structures, Materials, Acoustics, Flight Electronics/Control/Software, Instruments, Aerodynamics, Aerothermodynamics, Hypersonic Airbreathing Propulsion, Computational Sciences and Systems Optimization for Aeronautics, Spacecraft, Atmospheric Science, Space Exploration and Space Access .
He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, Honorary Fellow of the AIAA, Fellow of ASME and the Royal Aeronautical Society. AIAA Sperry and Fluid and Plasma Dynamics Awards , AIAA Dryden Lectureship, Royal Aeronautical Society Lanchester, Swire and Wilber and Orville Wright Lectures, ICAS Guggenheim Lecture, Israel Von Karman Lecture. His contributions to National Programs include Sprint, HSCT/SST, FASTSHIP, Gemini, Apollo, RAM, Viking, X15, F-18E/F (patent holder for the “fix” to the wing drop problem), Shuttle, NASP, Submarine/Torpedo Technology, Americas’ Cup Racers, Navy Rail Gun, MAGLEV Trains and Planetary Exploration. Dennis' technical Specialties include Flow Modelling and Control across the Speed Range, Drag Reduction, Advanced Configuration Aeronautics, Aeronautical Facilities, Advanced Power and Energy, Planetary Exploration, Commercial Deep Space, Future Warfare and Hypersonic Airbreathing Propulsion.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3pBk3Ia
Warren Mosler is known for his writings on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), a description of the way fiat money is originated and utilized in modern economies. His previously unorthodox views have now gained a substantial following among financial professionals and academics along with participants in Internet discussion groups. In this webinar, Warren will discuss Modern Monetary Theory's contributions to our understandings of Sequence, Inflation, Unemployment and Interest rates and their implications for the future as world economies recover from Covid-19.
Speaker:
Warren Mosler is an American economist and theorist, and one of the leading voices in the field of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). Presently, Warren resides on St. Croix, in the US Virgin Islands, where he owns and operates Valance Co., Inc.
An entrepreneur and financial professional, Warren Mosler has spent the past 40 years gaining an insider’s knowledge of monetary operations. He co-founded AVM, a broker/dealer providing advanced financial services to large institutional accounts and the Illinois Income Investors (III) family of investment funds in 1982, which he turned over to his partners at the end of 1997. He began his career after graduating from the University of Connecticut with a B.A. in Economics in 1971 and has been deeply involved in the academic community, giving presentations at conferences around the world and publishing numerous articles in economic journals, newspapers, and periodicals.
He is attributed with creating Mosler’s law that states, “there is no financial crisis so deep that a sufficiently large fiscal adjustment cannot deal with it.”
In addition to his work in the field of economics, he developed (and later sold) his own automobile line, Mosler Automotive, responsible for producing the Mosler MT900 and the Consulier GTP. He also designed his own 'tandem catamaran' configuration that's lightweight, fuel efficient, and eliminates the accelerations that cause sea sickness and that also cause boat hulls to fail.
Mosler is the author of “The Seven Deadly Innocent Frauds of Economic Policy” that has been translated into Italian, French, German, Arabic, Polish, Chinese, and Spanish.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3sL2c3y
The Global Financial Centres Index has been tracking the development of the world’s financial centres since 2007 and is the authoritative guide to financial centre success.
In this webinar, Z/Yen will formally launch the 30th edition of the index. We are partnering for this launch with Busan Metropolitan City and Busan Finance Center to bring a Korean perspective to the development of financial centres.
Programme:
- 09:00 - Welcome & Introduction
Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chairman, Z/Yen Group * 09:05 - Opportunities In Busan
Heenam Choi, Ambassador For Financial Cooperation, Republic of Korea * 09:15 - GFCI 30 Results
Mike Wardle, Director & Head Of Indices, Z/Yen Group * 09:35 - Observations
Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chairman, Z/Yen Group * 09:45 - Questions, Comments, & Answers * 10:00 - Close
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3FNf8tu
Investing is a people business; but sadly, people lie. Most investment professionals think that the correct way to deal with this problem is to trust their instincts, or to examine body language. These are pan cultural fictions that do not work. After exhaustive testing, science concludes that people are only able to discern lies 54% of the time, with trained professionals shockingly scoring even lower. But there are techniques that do work. In this workshop learn about two deception detection techniques that work: S.U.E., at 88% accuracy, and D.A.T.A., with 87.5% accuracy.
As a unique opportunity, there will be a live competition for all who register: we will be giving you the chance to submit your reports, briefings and transcripts for live testing during the webinar. Up to 3 documents will be chosen and results will be shared live during the show, with full transparency!
Speaker:
Jason A Voss, CFA, is the CEO of Active Investment Management (AIM) Consulting, a firm dedicated to helping investment managers to deliver alpha for the benefit of their clients. He is the retired co-portfolio manager of the Davis Appreciation and Income Fund. During his tenure the Fund bested the S&P 500 by 49.1%, was Lipper #1, a Morningstar Analyst Pick, and one of the first ten funds awarded Morningstar’s Stewardship Grade “A.”
He is the inventor of Deception And Truth Analysis, a library of algorithms developed to rapidly assess the deceptiveness or truthfulness of a text. With criminal justice professionals, he conducted history’s first research into the deception detection capabilities of investment professionals, resulting in two pieces of research published in the Journal of Behavioural Finance. Among his many publications is the co-authored Lie Detection Guide: Theory and Practice for Investment Professionals.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3EGktBt
There are over 500 All Party Parliamentary Groups, including 130 country groups ranging from the Channel Islands to Azerbaijan. They cover everything from aerospace to wrestling to jazz appreciation, but they are not without controversy. This webinar will unpick how they operate and what part they play in parliamentary life.
Speaker:
Anthony Belchambers is a barrister and Chairman of the Advisory Group to the APPG for Financial Markets and Services. He is also Chairman of TFS-ICAP, a Non-executive director of Westpac Europe and a trustee of Speakers Trust.
He was previously founder and CEO of The Futures and Options Association (now the FIA) and co-founder and deputy chairman of the European Parliamentary Financial Services Forum.
He is also a Freeman of the City of London
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3eGhmyw
Deforestation is a significant problem for the world – accelerating climate change and threatening the natural capital base that underpins the economic strength of a number of countries. A Deforestation-Linked Sovereign Bond (DLSB) can help countries with valuable state-owned forests to fund their transition to a sustainable economy. A DLSB would align the government’s fiscal and sustainability incentives, and boost the country’s sovereign health.
A Deforestation-Linked Sovereign Bond is a type of Performance Bond, a flexible financial instrument that does not restrict a government in terms of the use of proceeds, but which commits the sovereign to coupons which vary depending on its success or failure in meeting specific Sustainability Performance Targets (SPTs), in this case, deforestation.
In this webinar, we will use Brazil as a DLSB case study. Increasing deforestation remains the biggest threat to Brazil’s natural capital base, accelerating global warming, harming biodiversity, and impacting Brazil’s rainfall and temperature patterns. As a result, Brazil’s current climate trajectory is rated ‘highly insufficient’ by ClimateActionTracker.org (on a path to 3-4oC by 2050 compared to the Paris target of 2oC).
Speaker:
Peter Elwin is Director of Fixed Income, and Head of the Land Use and Textiles Programmes, at financial think tank Planet Tracker and has over 20 years of financial markets experience in senior management and functional roles on the buy side and sell side. His experience covers equity and credit research, accounting, valuation, natural capital, sustainability, strategy, and operations.
Peter was previously Head of Research at the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), one of the largest UK private pension schemes with over £60bn under management. Before joining USS, Peter was Deputy Head of European Research and the #1-rated Global Head of Pensions, Valuation, & Accounting research at JP Morgan.
Find out more here: https://bit.ly/32ublmt
Background: Employee share ownership has the greatest impact on company productivity and performance when participation rates are high, but a major challenge currently facing employee share plans is the changing nature of the labour market. The rise of the gig economy, outsourcing and the demise of a “job for life” have served to diminish access to share plans for a significant proportion of the workforce.
Gig economy workers: freelancers; independent contractors; consultants etc, are treated as self-employed rather than employees of a company.
In this webinar, share schemes expert David Craddock explores the considerations that apply to the involvement in company share schemes of individuals who are not employees or executive directors of the company.
Speaker: David Craddock is an independent consultant specialising in employee share ownership and reward management. A recognised authority on the subject, he is the author of The Tolley’s Guide to Employee Share Schemes , along with many other essential books and courses. David’s clients range from major public limited companies with international considerations to smaller private companies where the requirements are for Enterprise Management Incentives, tax-unapproved share scheme arrangements and market-making employee share trust structures. David has successfully established employee share schemes and employee benefit arrangements worldwide and to date has travelled to over 30 countries to personally facilitate their introduction. He enhances his service through a long experience in share reconstructions and share valuation.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3sLo12Y
What is it that transforms a simple object, an idea, or a promise to pay into an asset that creates wealth? The source code for capital is law, a social resource that is used to create private wealth. By coding critical legal attributes onto the assets of their clients, attorneys for well-paying clients ensure that they are equipped with stronger and more durable rights that can be defended against anybody. The coding techniques for placing simple assets on legal steroids were first developed for land. Today, intellectual property rights and financial assets make up the bulk of private wealth, assets that owe their very existence to the law. Mitigating inequality will therefore require targeting the source code of capital.
Speaker:
Katharina Pistor is the Edwin B. Parker Professor of Comparative Law at Columbia Law School, where she teaches, corporations, law and development and law and finance in theory and practice. Her most recent book, "The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality” was first published in English by Princeton UP in 2019. She loves music, new and old, and plays the harpsichord.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3sIt301
We will explore the dictum “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” from perspectives of both the scientific method and modern social/political discourse.
In assessing such claims, it often is necessary to reconcile and combine information from both objective and subjective sources. In theory, this can be handled elegantly through the formal Bayesian paradigm; but in practice, one usually must resort to more informal methods such as those employed by professional actuaries.
To illustrate hurdles encountered in pursuing the truth behind extraordinary claims, we will consider a curious problem that may well be the most intellectually important, yet unresolved, actuarial question today.
Speaker:
Michael R Powers is the Zurich Insurance Group Chair Professor at Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management. He also holds a dual appointment as professor of economics and business at Tsinghua’s Schwarzman College. From 2012 to 2015, he was the first foreign faculty member to serve as chair of Tsinghua’s finance department.
In 2013, Powers won the Kulp-Wright Book Award for Acts of God and Man: Ruminations on Risk and Insurance, in which he proposes a new “science of risk”. He is co-editor of three academic books – The Political Economy of Chinese Finance; Global Risk Management: Financial, Operational, and Insurance Strategies; and The Economics and Politics of Choice No-Fault Insurance – and author of the science-fiction novel, Icons.
Professor Powers joined Tsinghua from Temple University’s Fox School of Business, where he was professor of risk management and insurance. Prior to that, he served as deputy insurance commissioner for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and was responsible for designing Pennsylvania’s current “choice” no-fault automobile insurance system.
Powers provides regular commentary for CGTN's Global Business program and China Radio International’s World Today and Biz Today programs, and frequently is interviewed by major international media organizations. Over the past 15 years, he has given speeches and seminars at numerous academic and business conferences throughout China.
He received his BS in applied mathematics (summa cum laude) from Yale University, and his PhD in statistics from Harvard University.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3HmWN6F
Why do we stop growing, live for 100 years and sleep 8 hours a day? Why do people, and almost all companies, die whereas cities keep growing as life continues to accelerate. Is this sustainable? And how are these related to innovation, wealth creation, “singularities” and social networks? These are among the questions Geoffrey West will discuss in the context of the universal scaling laws that govern all of life. These laws originate in the dynamics and structure of the networks that sustain life at all scales from circulatory to social systems; they underlie the big, urgent questions of urbanization, lifespan, cancer, pandemics, the increasing pace of life, and global sustainability.
Speaker:
Geoffrey West is the Shannan Distinguished Professor and former President of the Santa Fe Institute and an Associate Senior Fellow of Oxford University’s Green-Templeton College. West is a theoretical physicist whose primary interests have been in fundamental questions ranging across physics, biology and the social sciences. His research includes metabolism, growth, aging & death, sleep, cancer, innovation, cities, companies, the accelerating pace of life and global sustainability. West has lectured at many high profile events including TED and Davos. He has received many awards and his work featured in numerous publications, podcasts and TV productions worldwide, including being selected as a breakthrough idea by the Harvard Business Review. He is the author of the best-selling book Scale; The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies and was named in Time's list of "100 Most Influential People in the World" in 2007.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3pDwLG9
Sandbox technology provides corporations an easy way to integrate third-party suppliers into their technology stack. Find out how governments and financial institutions are implementing sandboxes and Digital Twins to enable rapid experimentation and accelerate digital transformation through improved data agility. Matt Allan, Founder at Sandpit, will discuss these issues, and how Sandboxes can be used in other industries like healthcare, telecommunications, and manufacturing.
Speaker:
Matt Allan is the Founder & CTO at Sandpit, helping financial institutions accelerate their digital transformation through faster collaboration.
In 2020, Sandpit launched Europe's first Digital Sandbox with the Financial Conduct Authority and City of London Corporation. With over 200 companies involved, the Digital Sandbox was recommended by the Kalifa review to permanently support the UK economy.
Previously, Matt worked in institutional banking in London and Sydney in cybersecurity and then in fintech partnerships. While helping FinTechs grow, he experienced first-hand the challenge FinTechs face to partner with banks. With this experience, he set up Sandpit to help accelerate digital transformation for banks and regulators.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3Jxbczk
Henry Tapper has written an exemplar summary of Dr Con Keating's webinar. Read it here.
With the over-arching UK legislation now in place and regulations expected shortly, the webinar will discuss the design and operation of collective pension schemes which are fair, efficient and sustainable. The webinar will discuss a novel form of risk-sharing among the members of a long-term mutual body. With these attributes assured, it is expected that CDC schemes will become the preferred method of pension provision displacing both individual defined contribution and defined benefit schemes.
Dr Keating has recently co-authored a paper with Iain Clacher - Collective Defined Contribution Pensions: An Overview
Speaker:
Dr Con Keating
In the seven years since retiring, Con has restricted his advisory activities to projects for friends, former colleagues, and old clients. He remains active in a number of pro bono roles, including chairing the Bond Commission of the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies. For the past five years, with Professor Iain Clacher, he has been researching the design and operation of collective defined benefit pensions schemes.
He has taught courses as a visitor, at undergraduate and post graduate levels, at universities in the UK, US, Asia and Europe, and continues to supervise two doctoral candidates. The subjects taught and researched have included international and development finance, financial economics, mathematical finance and actuarial science, risk management and pensions design and modelling.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3Jtvqtr
Background:
In our next newspad review webinar, Global Shares’ Darren Smith will chair a panel of share schemes experts for in depth discussion of their pick of articles featured in recent editions of “It’s Our Business”, newspad of the Esop Centre.
Panellists will include Julie Shepherd, Director of Share Plans at The Sage Group plc, Arran Simpson, Partner – Global Employer Services, Deloitte and Sonia Gilbert, Partner at Clifford Chance.
Featured items include: the threat to share schemes from private equity take overs; warning signs among the latest HMRC stats; and the Centre’s response to the Chancellor’s call for evidence on EMI plans, along with newspad's regular items: companies, ESG, and global employee equity updates.
Panellists:
Julie Shepherd has worked in the share plans sector for over 20 years in both provider and issuer roles. Having worked previously for the Abbey National building society, and then Computershare as an Account Manager responsible for both existing client relationships and business development opportunities, Julie moved to her first issuer role as an interim in the share plan team at Kingfisher in 2014. In 2016, she joined The Sage Group plc, where she is now Director – Share Plans, responsible for the management of all the company’s equity plans including a Global Employee Share plan in 17 countries supported by a team of two share plan specialists.
Arran Simpson is a partner in Deloitte’s reward practice, advising companies on all aspects of reward from overall reward strategy, through executive pay, long term incentives and all employee incentive arrangements. He has a particular focus on working with management teams to implement equity based incentive arrangements, covering design, tax, legal and accounting aspects. Arran works with a wide range of companies that include a large number of high growth technology businesses, supporting them from the early phases of the business through investment rounds and to eventual exit, dealing with the challenges that arise as businesses experience rapid growth and change.
Sonia Gilbert, partner at Clifford Chance, specialises in advising companies on remuneration issues, incentive arrangements and employment tax matters. She has particular expertise in remuneration regulation and governance and the design and operation of incentive arrangements. She also advises on global incentive plans, alternative remuneration structures including employee trusts and share plan hedging. Sonia sits on the executive committees for the Employee Share Ownership Centre and the Share Plan Lawyers’ organisation. She also chairs the Financial Services Group of ifs ProShare, an industry body supporting employee share ownership. She is a leading individual in Chambers and is ranked by Legal500 2021 in the “Hall of Fame” for Employee Share Schemes.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3ESjjmx
In this webinar, Grace Blakeley, leading economics commentator and author of The Corona Crash, theorises about the epoch-making changes that the coronavirus brings in its wake. We are living through a unique moment in history. The pandemic has caused the deepest global recession since the Second World War. Meanwhile the human cost is reflected in a still-rising death toll, as many states find themselves unable—and some unwilling—to grapple with the effects of the virus. Whatever happens, we can never go back to business as usual.
This crisis will tip us into a new era of monopoly capitalism, argues Blakeley, as the corporate economy collapses into the arms of the state, and the tech giants grow to unprecedented proportions. We need a radical response. The recovery could see the transformation of our political, economic, and social systems based on the principles of the Green New Deal. If not, the alternatives, as Blakeley warns, may be even worse than we feared.
Speaker:
Grace Blakeley is the author of The Corona Crash: How the Pandemic Will Change Capitalism. She is a staff writer at Tribune magazine, host of the 'A World to Win' podcast and author of 'Stolen: How to Save the World from Financialisation'.
Grace previously worked as a research fellow for the Institute for Public Policy Research and as the New Statesman’s economic commentator. She appears regularly in the media as a political and economic commentator, including appearances on Question Time, BBC This Week, and BBC Breakfast.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3sGRZFj
Biodiversity loss is moving up the agenda of governments, civil society and financial institutions. Billed as the ‘Year of Biodiversity’ because of the biodiversity COP in Kunming, 2020 saw biodiversity in the headlines for other reasons as a type of disease made more likely by nature loss emerged to cause a global pandemic. As efforts intensify through 2021, including the Dasgupta Review of the Economics of Biodiversity and launch of the Taskforce for Nature-related financial disclosures (TNFD), there is a growing need to increase knowledge, explain terminology and map how nature loss poses risks to financial institutions. CISL has done exactly this, building on the Dasgupta review to produce a handbook, in collaboration with financial institutions and University of Cambridge academics, for identifying nature-related financial risks that explains key concepts and provides a framework for risk identification. This webinar will discuss sources of nature-related financial risks: physical, transition and liability as well as how these sources become financial risks.
Speaker:
Dr Nina Seega is a Research Director for Sustainable Finance at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). At CISL, she leads a broad portfolio of engagements across a variety of sustainable finance themes, including nature-related finance. Nina has worked with De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) on the financial impact of disruptive energy transition, collaborated with the South African National Treasury and Banco de Mexico on embedding environmental scenarios into financial risk frameworks and was the knowledge partner for the G20 Green Finance Study Group in 2016 and 2017. Previously, Nina was the Head of the London Traded Products Desk for Dresdner Kleinwort, where she was responsible for credit risk management of traded products. In addition to her role at University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Nina is an academic visitor at the Bank of England, as well as a member of the Strategic Advisory Board on Sustainable Finance at the British Standards Institute, the Sustainable Finance Scientific Council at S&P Ratings and the Board of Directors at the Global Research Alliance for Sustainable Finance. Nina has defended her PhD on strategic practices that drive resilience in finance at the University of Cambridge. She also holds an MPhil in Innovation, Strategy and Organisation from University of Cambridge, an MSc in Information Systems from the London School of Economics, and a BSc in Mathematical Methods in Economics from the State University of Management in Moscow.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3zbCC8O
While most AI technologies aim to replace humans with algorithms, Swarm AI is a unique method that amplifies the combined intelligence of human teams, enabling significantly more accurate predictions, forecasts, estimations and decisions. In recent studies performed in collaboration with MIT and Oxford University, financial teams using Swarm AI boosted their accuracy by over 20% when predicting the price of gold, oil, and equity markets. The same technology has been used to forecast product sales, movie box-office, professional sports and political elections, all with significant increases in accuracy. This webinar will introduce the concept of Swarm AI and demonstrate how easy it is for networked business teams to quickly use the technology to amplify the accuracy of their combined insights.
Speakers:
Dr Louis Rosenberg
Dr Louis Rosenberg is the CEO and Chief Scientist of Unanimous AI, a California company that amplifies human intelligence using AI algorithms modeled after natural swarms. Rosenberg earned his PhD from Stanford University focusing on robotics and human-computer interaction. While working as a researcher at U.S. Air Force Laboratories in the early 1990’s, Rosenberg created the ‘Virtual Fixtures’ system, the world’s first Augmented Reality platform. Rosenberg then founded Immersion Corporation (NASDAQ: IMMR), an early Virtual Reality company, and Outland Research, an early Augmented Reality company. Rosenberg also worked as a professor at California State University (Cal Poly), teaching design and entrepreneurship. He has been awarded over 300 patents for his technological efforts across various fields
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3ezSXdZ
Nick will share insights for finding, developing and supporting excellent leadership teams, drawn from years of experience resolving conflict in family businesses and helping private equity partners assess and turn around leaders of portfolio companies.
Speaker:
Nick Mayhew is the founder and managing director of Alembic Strategy, a specialist leadership advisory business that helps investors, leaders, and their teams transform performance. He leads the strategy, change, coaching and M&A work at Alembic Strategy, teaching hundreds of CEO's and senior leaders how to improve their leadership. Nick is an FCA and has a career which includes holding roles as a head of consulting and main board member for a major accounting firm.
Chairman:
Ian Aitchison is a strategic communications specialist and senior advisor to the global shipping industry. A Chartered PR consultant, founder and managing director of Scotch Communications Ltd, Ian draws on a diverse professional background. From Scottish agriculture and land management, military service in the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm and Media Operations, and international corporate management, to his current mission of cutting the pollution impact of deep-sea shipping by advocating LNG as a marine fuel, Ian is driven by a passion for the natural world and corporate social responsibility.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3JFfJQj
Imagine a world in which everyone has a stake in the great tech firms that serve them each day, and where dividends are gradually replacing wages to provide regular income for everyone, as work becomes scarcer as a result of automation?
Imagine a world where every young person not only has a small inheritance with which to start their adult life, but also the opportunity to build its value by learning and by being mentored, in order to develop their life skills?
That's the vision of egalitarian capitalism, of which you can hear more at 11 am on Thursday 5th August from Gavin Oldham OBE. Following a career in retail investment, he now runs The Share Foundation, which manages asset accounts for young people in care on behalf of the Department for Education. He's also helping Cambridge University to introduce a four-year research project in order to provide this new perspective in economics with some real academic rigour.
Gavin is helping recruit for a Stipendiary Research Fellowship in the Economics of Inequality, at Kings Collage Cambridge - www.kings.cam.ac.uk/research/research-fellowships. Please contact him for more information.
Speaker:
Gavin established The Share Foundation, the registered charity which operates the DfE’s Junior ISA & Child Trust Fund arrangements for young people in care, in 2005. The Share Foundation is now also undertaking a major recovery campaign for the Child Trust Fund throughout the UK through its search facility https://findCTF.sharefound.org .
He was founder, former chief executive - then chairman - and controlling shareholder of Share plc/The Share Centre, the retail stockbroker which provided investment and trading services for over 300,000 personal investors, employees and shareowners, until July 2020,when it merged with interactive investor (of which he is now a director and a minority shareholder).
From 1995 to date he has been an elected lay member of the General Synod for the Oxford Diocese. He was a Church Commissioner and a member of its Assets Committee until December 2018, serving also on the Ethical Investment Advisory Group and the Church Urban Fund. He is also founder and director of Share Radio.
The theme of egalitarian capitalism and inter-generational rebalancing has been the principle driver throughout his adult career.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3qC3nQ8
In this webinar, Jeremy Silver, CEO of Digital Catapult - the UK's authority on advanced digital technologies - discusses how innovation in the UK needs to evolve for the 21st century. What impact has covid-19 had on speeding up innovation and adoption of cutting edge technologies like virtual and augmented reality, 5G, the internet of things, and artificial intelligence? How will these technologies combine in the future to affect dramatic change and further development and investment in the UK economy.
Speaker:
Jeremy Silver is an entrepreneur, author and angel investor. He is a Trustee of the British Library and a member of the UK Creative Industries Council. Jeremy sits on the boards of HammerheadVR Ltd, Imaginarium Studios Ltd and FeedForward.AI. He was previously Executive Chairman of Semetric (acquired by Apple), Founder CEO of Featured Artists Coalition (FAC), a strategic advisor to Shazam (acquired by Apple), and CEO of Sibelius Software (acquired by Avid). Jeremy was Worldwide Vice-President of New Media for EMI Group in Los Angeles and Head of Media at Virgin Records where he worked with Genesis, Massive Attack, Brian Eno and Bryan Ferry, among others. His book “Digital Medieval” is a history of the music industry online. He has spoken at TEDx Houses of Parliament, the CBI, SXSW and Midem among many trade events. He is an Industry Fellow at the University of Glasgow.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/32yWx5T
What are the live issues in central clearing and what is just noise? And why is it important to know the difference? In a world that is (in the technical sense) over-collateralised, the CCP stands out as the only bit of the market that reduces strain on the system. Even so, there are limits to what any CCP can do; and pretending that there aren’t is perhaps the most dangerous idea doing the rounds at the moment. Fortunately, wise heads are holding the line, for the moment.
Speaker:
Richard Metcalfe is a senior executive, specialising in financial services and regulation.
Mr Metcalfe is currently Head of Regulatory Affairs for the World Federation of Exchanges – the global trade association for CCPs and stock and derivatives exchanges. Before joining the WFE in 2018, he worked on a range of live regulatory issues at BNY Mellon in London, covering capital markets generally and their intersection with custody in particular. He has also worked at ISDA, the UK Investment Association and SWIFT, and has deep expertise on practical and policy matters internationally in each of central clearing, asset management and derivatives, among other things.
Leading a dedicated team of specialists, Mr Metcalfe drives WFE policy and outreach on a diverse range of topics, with particular emphasis on the unique role that ‘market infrastructure’ plays in the financial system: creating positive externalities and supporting stability while maintaining an impartial role relative to market participants. The WFE’s work aims to address legitimate regulatory concerns in a way that furthers social welfare.
Mr Metcalfe is based in the UK but has lived as well as travelled overseas and he studied Russian and Spanish at Oxford University. He initially worked as a journalist, covering the emergence and growth of derivatives and the measurement and management of all types of risk. He is a married, horse-riding ornithologist who has a side-line in cooking.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3HrXoEn
Privacy Enhancing Technologies, or PET’s, are a class of Advanced Cryptography that will enable data collaborations without the need to share or expose sensitive data.
We believe that Confidential Collaborative Computing is the next major development that will take place in the growth cycle of decentralised computing services. It will enable organisations to work together to provide services, solutions and advanced analytics that require inputs from a variety of different organisations without the need for those organisations to aggregate, share or expose their organisation’s data. We will explore how confidential data collaborations will become possible using a combination of technologies such as Secure Multiparty Computation, Zero Knowledge Proofs, Homomorphic Encryption and Trusted Execution Environments.
Speaker:
Rob Leslie is the Founder and CEO of Sedicii. Sedicii was founded in 2013 and has won over 20 technology and innovations awards to date including the BBVA Open Innovation “Fintech for Future” Award. BBVA is the oldest and largest Fintech Innovation Program in the world. Sedicii has developed and patented Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) to help people and businesses build secure data collaborations without compromising confidentiality or privacy. Rob is a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer for his work on PET’s and has spoken at Davos on cybersecurity, digital identity and other technology issues affecting the world’s economies. Prior to Sedicii, Rob co-founded Kyckr (ASX:KYK) which is now listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and provides organisational identity services for KYC & AML services to banks and other regulated financial institutions across the globe. Previously he spent 20 years in Japan and was part of the original management team in Dell Japan that set Dell on the path to becoming a multi-billion dollar business there. He also was a partner in a Japanese technology start-up that was acquired in the early 2000’s.
Robert Pay has extensive experience in both professional and financial services. His chief interest is building both business and brand for know-how rich businesses. His roles have included being a Marketing Manager for a "Big Four" banking and securities practice, and a seven year stint as the Global Chief Marketing Officer of leading international law firm, Clifford Chance. He was Head of Marketing at the London Stock Exchange where he was responsible for the marketing launch of AIM, the smaller companies' market, on whose Board he served; he developed a successful marketing campaign aimed at attracting foreign issuers to London; and marketing of introduction of order-driven trading. He then ran the European arm of a US-based professional services consulting firm for several years before moving back in-house as Global Marketing Director of BSI Management Systems where he introduced an NPD process, and refocused the global marketing function on new product development. Immediately prior to relocating to the United States he was the Chief Marketing Officer for European law firm Taylor Wessing, where he worked with Z/Yen to create the Global IP Index.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3qDBV4e
Cryptocurrency is the biggest challenge and opportunity ever seen by the incumbent financial system. Crypto has built a parallel financial world independent from existing financial markets. As a non-sovereign currency based solely on maths and algorithms, the cryptocurrency and decentralized finance protocols built on blockchain have been a game-changer and brings a paradigm shift. What does blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, and decentralized finance mean for individual investors, financial professionals, corporates, and government? How do we understand and evaluate the investment opportunities in this emerging asset class and parallel financial system. In this webinar, Cynthia will endeavour to answer these questions.
Speaker:
Cynthia Wu is a Founding Partner of Matrixport, responsible for overseas business development and sales. Prior to Matrixport, she was Investment Director at Bitmain Technologies, the largest crypto mining equipment manufacturer, focusing on investments in the blockchain financial services sector. Before joining crypto space, she was Vice President at HKEX, responsible for derivatives product development and institutional sales from 2012-2019 and a commodity trader in her early career at one of the global trading houses.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3JtPFan
The island of Guernsey is a leading global finance centre with a respected reputation. Guernsey has more than 50 years’ experience in providing specialist wealth management services. Guernsey is a secure and stable jurisdiction of substance.
Guernsey is a global funds specialist and a leader in private equity and alternatives, and Europe’s leading centre for captive insurance.
In recent years, the island has assumed the position as a leader in the sustainable finance space, having developed the world’s first regulated green fund regime in 2018. Guernsey is a founding member of the UN’s Finance Centres for Sustainability, its regulator, the GFSC is a member of The Network for Greening the Financial System and the island’s stock exchange, The International Stock Exchange (TISE), has a dedicated sustainable market segment.
Guernsey Finance is a joint industry and government initiative established to promote Guernsey's financial services sector internationally, under the brand WE ARE GUERNSEY.
In this webinar, Rupert Pleasant, CEO of Guernsey Finance, will discuss Guernsey’s place and role in the world, covering:
- Guernsey’s political and economic stability in its capacity as a Crown Dependency of the UK;
- The island as a leading centre of economic substance;
- Guernsey as a bridge for global investment between the world’s major economies;
- Various financial services offerings;
- And Guernsey’s leadership in the development of green and sustainable finance.
Speaker:
Rupert moved to Guernsey as a boy and was educated in the island. His career in financial services has taken him globally, working and living in London, Hong Kong, Cape Town, Zurich and Geneva, before returning to Guernsey. His background is in private banking and trust and corporate services, where he has held a number of senior management roles in global companies. As well as an MBA from the University of Cape Town, Rupert holds a law degree, and is a member of STEP, CISI and the Institute of Directors.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3JpDiwl
Meritocracy is a hot topic, central to books within the last year from Michael Sandel and Gary Hamel (no, they didn't write together but maybe we could sponsor them?). Up to now, analyses of 'glass ceilings' have treated them as bugs, not features, of meritocracy: the consequence of bad ideology or unconscious bias. Douglas Board argues the reverse. A clearer understanding of glass ceilings means we can tackle them better .
Speaker:
Douglas Board (@BoardWryter) is an executive coach and a writer and thinker on leadership. After switching from the Treasury to executive search, becoming deputy chairman of a top ten UK search firm, he did a doctorate in the selection of people for senior roles. He has held board roles in two major charities, is one of the non-lawyer members of the QC Selection Panel and a senior visiting fellow of the nearly-Bayes Business School. The FT called his current book Elites: can you rise to the top without losing your soul? 'profound', 'subversive' and 'often very funny'.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3pEhF3m
In 2016, The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published a report on the UK’s retail banking market. The report found that older, larger banks don’t have to compete hard enough to gain customers’ business, while newer banks find it difficult to access the market and grow. One of the CMA’s recommendations to tackle this problem was open banking.
Since 2018, the open banking ecosystem has enabled customers and SMEs to share their current account information securely with third party providers, who use that data to tailor their apps and services to peoples’ specific financial circumstances.
Speakers:
David’s role at the OBIE is to lead the growth and development of the open banking ecosystem. His key objective is to facilitate and encourage end user adoption of products and services powered by open banking. This includes all marketing and events, bringing new participants into the directory, and developing effective propositions which allow consumers and businesses to derive maximum benefit from sharing their transactional data.
His 25 years in data-driven insight and marketing have seen him work with many leading brands in multiple sectors and countries. In addition to working for some of the largest players in the data world such as Experian, Callcredit and Telefonica, David also ran his own boutique data insight business, Thinkdata, for 5 years before its acquisition by Bertelsmann. Prior to joining OBIE, David spent 3½ years as the Commercial Director at The Open Data Institute where he also led their work on open banking, helping governments and regulators in Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Canada. David regularly speaks on open banking at conferences in the UK and internationally, has co-authored a number of reports on Open Banking, and was interviewed on BBC TV on the day it officially launched in the UK.
Originally a classically trained musician, David has a Master’s from Cambridge University and an MBA in Marketing. He sits on the board of Open Data Australia, and also as a non-executive director for Boundless, a theatre company for young people. Ever the optimist, he continues to hold a season ticket at Nottingham Forest Football Club.
Robert Pay has extensive experience in both professional and financial services. His chief interest is building both business and brand for know-how rich businesses. His roles have included being a Marketing Manager for a "Big Four" banking and securities practice, and a seven year stint as the Global Chief Marketing Officer of leading international law firm, Clifford Chance. He was Head of Marketing at the London Stock Exchange where he was responsible for the marketing launch of AIM, the smaller companies' market, on whose Board he served; he developed a successful marketing campaign aimed at attracting foreign issuers to London; and marketing of introduction of order-driven trading. He then ran the European arm of a US-based professional services consulting firm for several years before moving back in-house as Global Marketing Director of BSI Management Systems where he introduced an NPD process, and refocused the global marketing function on new product development. Immediately prior to relocating to the United States he was the Chief Marketing Officer for European law firm Taylor Wessing, where he worked with Z/Yen to create the Global IP Index.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/32LnseC
The British Virgin Islands has well-developed offshore financial services and prides itself on an innovative regulatory regime and business-friendly environment. In this webinar, we will hear more about the BVI’s financial services and recent developments from Simon Gray, Head of Business Development and Marketing at BVI Finance. Join us to learn more about how BVI is positioning itself to offer value to investors and business.
Speaker:
Simon Gray is Head of Business Development and Marketing at BVI Finance, the organisation responsible for managing and maintaining the BVI’s reputation as a leading international financial centre. As part of his role, he leads BVI Finance’s efforts to promote the territory’s international business and finance services locally and overseas. Prior to joining BVI Finance, he was Special Adviser to the Chief Executive Officer of the BVI Financial Services Commission (FSC). Gray is an expert in Islamic Finance, a public speaker and a published author. He has spent much of his career in the private sector with senior roles at Baring Asset Management and Barclays Wealth.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3ezuNk3
Busan has developed strongly as a financial centre in recent years. With a focus on maritime finance and derivatives, and at the centre of an area of industrial and technology development, it is well-placed to act as a hub for global logistics. Busan has a special status as a blockchain regulation-free zone, and has well-developed technology offerings across tourism, finance, logistics and real estate.
With highly developed financial services and regulation, Busan offers a home for financial services businesses that are ready to capitalise on Busan’s expertise, its geographical position, and its strong connections with trade and ship financing.
This webinar was aimed at organisations that wish to explore the benefits of Busan as a location for business and for partnership. We heard both from Busan and from the Financial Supervisory Service of Korea about their ambitions and offering to new businesses.
Programme London/Busan
09:00/17:00 Welcome And Introduction
09:05/17:05 Busan As A Global Financial Center, Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chairman, Z/Yen Group
Session: Opportunities in Busan As A Global Financial Hub 09:15/17:15 Navigating Towards a Better Future, Park Sung-hoon, Special Advisor For Economy, Busan Metropolitan Government, ROK
09:25/17:25 Global Financial Hub Of Asia,Yang Ji-young, Head Of Financial Hub Support Team, International Affairs Department, Financial Supervisory Service, ROK
Panel Discussion 09:35/17:35 Questions, Answers, And Observations
10:00/18:00 Close
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3pHaIia
As the major US stock indices have continued to reach new record highs in recent years, many commentators and market participants have discussed similarities between today and the early 1970s stock market bubble known as the Nifty Fifty. However, few people either remember the market of that period or have studied it in any detail. This webinar is based on a careful study of historical sources to tell the true story behind the Nifty Fifty stocks: how they rose, why they fell, and what lessons the bubble might hold for investors today. Simon will be presenting work done jointly with Joseph von Zanten.
Speaker:
Simon Pryke joined Findlay Park Partners in 2016 and succeeded James as CEO later that year. He is a member of the American Fund Investment Committee.
Previously Simon spent nineteen years at Newton Investment Management, initially as a global banks analyst, then as Head of Global Research, Head of Private Clients and Charities and finally as Chief Investment Officer.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3sGIiGQ
How was lockdown love for you? In his new book, The Mental Vaccine for Covid-19: Coping With Corona - A Guide To Pandemic Psychology, Psychiatrist Dr Raj Persaud explains why our seduction skills were tested by the virus and how we can learn to be better at the psychological life skill of igniting desire in others - which is as useful in the boardroom as it is in the bedroom...
Speaker:
Dr Raj Persaud is a Consultant Psychiatrist who has worked as a Consultant at the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley NHS Hospitals in London from 1994-2008, and as an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London. These are the premiere research and training institutions for Psychiatry in Europe.
He was also Research Fellow at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the USA and Institute of Neurology at Queens Square. His training in psychiatry since leaving UCH medical school in1986 was entirely at the Institute of Psychiatry and the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals. Unusually for a psychiatrist, he also holds a degree in psychology, obtained with First Class Honours, and 8 other degrees and diplomas including a Masters in Statistics. He was awarded the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Research Prize and Medal as well as The Maudsley Hospital's own Denis Hill Prize, and The Osler Medal. The Royal College of Psychiatrists' recently also awarded him the Morris Markowe Prize.
In 2004 he was appointed Visiting Professor for Public Understanding of Psychiatry at Gresham College, and he was asked by the Royal College of Psychiatrists to edit its first book aimed at educating the public on psychology and psychiatry. 'The Mind: A Users Guide’ was published in 2007 and reached the top ten best-seller list. All of his 5 previous books have been top ten best-sellers. He has contributed a chapter to the Royal College's latest book - 'The Female Mind - A Users Guide'.
His writing is in several established textbooks, including the Oxford Companion to the Mind and he has contributed a chapter in the latest comprehensive textbook of psychiatry for trainees: Psychiatry – An Evidence Based Text. He has approaching 100 publications in Journals such as The British Journal of Psychiatry, British Medical Journal and The Lancet.
Recently he was elected Fellow of University College London and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He is patron or supporter of numerous mental health charities including OCD-UK, The Manic Depression Fellowship, Association of Post-Natal Illness, Childline, ActionAid and The Samaritans.
The Independent on Sunday Newspaper conducted a poll amongst members of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Institute of Psychiatry to discover who were the top ten psychiatrists in the UK as rated by fellow psychiatrists. Dr Raj Persaud was the youngest doctor to make it into this esteemed list. The Times Newspaper also recently placed him as one of the Top Twenty Mental Health Gurus in the world.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3eDxOQq
Covid-19 has tossed us into a digital world, in many spheres - including finance. But we forget the human factor at our peril. As we return to offices we need to recognize the vital insights that anthropology can offer to finance and businesses as they try to navigate the future
Speaker:
Gillian Tett serves as the chair of the editorial board and editor-at-large, US of the Financial Times. She writes weekly columns, covering a range of economic, financial, political and social issues. She is also the co-founder of FT Moral Money, a twice weekly newsletter that tracks the ESG revolution in business and finance which has since grown to be a staple FT product. In 2020, Moral Money won the SABEW best newsletter.
Previously, Tett was the FT’s US managing editor from 2013 to 2019. She has also served as assistant editor for the FT’s markets coverage, capital markets editor, deputy editor of the Lex column, Tokyo bureau chief, Tokyo correspondent, London-based economics reporter and a reporter in Russia and Brussels.
Tett is the author of The Silo Effect, which looks at the global economy and financial system through the lens of cultural anthropology. She also authored Fool’s Gold: How Unrestrained Greed Corrupted a Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe, a 2009 New York Times bestseller and Financial Book of the Year at the inaugural Spear’s Book Awards. Additionally, she wrote the 2003 book Saving the Sun: A Wall Street Gamble to Rescue Japan from its Trillion Dollar Meltdown. Her latest book, Anthro-Vision, A New Way to See Life and Business came out in June 2021.
Tett has received honorary degrees from the University of Exeter, the University of Miami, St Andrew’s, London University (Goldsmiths), Carnegie Mellon, Baruch and an honorary doctorate from Lancaster University in the UK.
In 2014, Tett won the Royal Anthropological Institute Marsh Award and was named Columnist of the Year at the British Press Awards. Her 2012 article “Madoff spins his story” won the SABEW Award for best feature article. Other awards include a President’s Medal by the British Academy (2011), being recognized as Journalist of the Year (2009) and Business Journalist of the Year (2008) by the British Press Awards, and as Senior Financial Journalist of the Year (2007) by the Wincott Awards. In 2017, Tett won the commentator of the year from Editorial Intelligence.
Before joining the Financial Times in 1993, Tett was awarded a PhD in social anthropology from Cambridge University based on field work in the former Soviet Union. While pursuing the PhD, she freelanced for the FT and the BBC. She is a graduate of Cambridge University.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3pFhUv3
Fraud is often mistakenly treated as a homogeneous phenomenon, whereas it actually consists of many different stocks and flows of activities and our responses to them. Drawing on work conducted for the British Academy, Economic and Social Research Council and the Australian Institute of Criminology, Professor Mike Levi from Cardiff University examines the evidence on changes in fraud during pandemics and economic crises since Spanish Flu; whether there is good evidence that frauds were particularly impacted by the covid-19 pandemic, either positively or negatively; and what lessons can be learned for our responses to frauds of different types.
Speaker:
Michael Levi has a distinguished track record of transnational and multidisciplinary research. In particular, he has built an international reputation for excellence in both fundamental and policy-oriented research on money laundering, corruption, cybercrimes, transnational organised crime and white-collar crimes.
Michael has played an advisory role both internationally (with the European Commission and Parliament, Europol, Council of Europe, UN and World Economic Forum) and nationally (with the UK Home Office and Cabinet Office, and with the Crime Statistics Advisory Committee).
Michael recent research paper on the subject is free to access:
Levi M & Smith R 2021. Fraud and its relationship to pandemics and economic crises: From Spanish flu to COVID-19. Research Report no. 19. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
Chairman:
Graeme Gordon is a chartered accountant and prior to joining Praxity was Managing Director and Senior Tutor of Emile Woolf Group, the international training and development firm. He was also previously Group Finance Director of a technology company listed on the London Stock Exchange. Graeme has extensive international experience including in Europe, Russia, North America, the Far East, the Indian Sub-Continent and the Middle East. Before becoming a chartered accountant Graeme served as an officer in the Royal Navy. He is a member of the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and formerly twice President of the Thames Valley Chartered Accountants.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3JvUFeC
The impact investing sector is growing rapidly, and the pandemic and accelerating climate crisis has shone a light on the way society’s negative impacts – for example, carbon emissions, biodiversity loss and poor governance – pose systemic risks to the broader economy. Sarah Gordon will explore how mobilising large pools of capital to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals represents not just prudent risk management, but one of the greatest commercial opportunities of our time.
Speaker:
Sarah Gordon is the first chief executive of the Impact Investing Institute, which launched in November 2019. The Institute exists to accelerate the growth and improve the effectiveness of the impact investment market in the UK and internationally. Previously, she spent 18 years at the Financial Times, where she ran the paper's corporate coverage during the financial crisis, and was business editor. Before journalism, she worked in fund management in the UK and the US, and at the UN Conference for Trade and Development in Geneva. She is a non-executive director of Social Finance, a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute and a visiting professor at Kings College London.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3pFnvl3
Since 2009, Busan Metropolitan City has been developing a financial hub specialising in maritime finance and derivatives. With its strategic location in the center of the southeast economic block of Korea and the crossroads of a global logistics route, Busan envisions growing into an international financial city in Northeast Asia.
In this webinar, we heard from Busan Finance Center (BFC) to understand current developments to develop and implement measures to bolster the local financial industry, while working together with various local economic players to pursue sustainable growth of the financial sector including FinTech.
Speaker:
SB Shin is Director, International Finance Division, Busan Finance Center.
His previous career was spent at Kookmin Bank and then at Standard Chartered Bank in Korea, as Head Of Group Market Risk, Head Of Asset And Liability Management, and then as Managing Director.
He holds an MBA from the American Graduate School of International Management, Arizona and was Professor at Baewha Women's University from 2017-2018.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3qDOgFR
Over 75% of the S&P 500 index value relates to intangible assets yet insurance only covers 5% of this. Join this presentation to hear from the Head Of Innovation at Lloyd’s of London to find out how they have been working with underwriters to close the gap. The talk will give an overview of innovation at Lloyd’s and then deep dive into how risk transfer can help protect company reputation, intellectual property and even human capital assets.
Speakers:
Dr Trevor Maynard is head of Innovation at Lloyd’s. Trevor’s team launched the Lloyd's Lab in 2018, the technology incubator at the heart of the Lloyd’s market. The lab has helped many insurtechs grow to commercial success over the past two years. The Innovation team is also responsible for product development related thought leadership and works closely with the Product Innovation Facility a collection of 25 Managing agents at Lloyd’s committed to collaborative product development to meet the changing needs of its global customers.
Trevor sits on the Insurtech Board run by Technation and supported by the UK Treasury. This board aims to develop collaborative initiatives that promote the UK Insurtech ecosystem. Trevor is also a member of the Oxford University Statistics Industry advisory board and a member of the Cambridge Centre for Risk studies advisory board.
Trevor has a Phd in Statistics from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Masters degree in pure Mathematics from the University of Warwick. He is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries in the UK.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3mIodvS
In the last few years, the Chinese capital market has accelerated its opening-up pace. As a leading financial infrastructure in China, the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) has established co-operation relations with 53 overseas counterparts, many of which are European exchanges. The co-operation programs between these exchanges and the SSE have contributed considerably to the opening up of China’s capital market. An increasing number of global investors, as well as international financial institutions, have benefited from the Chinese economic growth partly due to such cooperation programs. What are the on-going schemes between European exchanges and the SSE. How are their prospects for success? What are the challenges for further cooperation between the UK and China in the post Brexit era and post pandemic world? Madam Christina Yang, Chief Representative of SSE London Office would like to share with the FS Club community her thoughts on these topics and look forward to hearing yours.
Speaker:
Madam Christina Zhiying Yang is Director and Chief Representative of Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) London Office. Before she joined the SSE in March 2018, Madam Yang worked as Deputy Secretary General for China Association for Public Companies (CAPCO) in Beijing. Between 2003 and 2012, she was a former regulator, responsible for bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the International Division of China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). Madam Yang was born in Shanghai. She has an MA degree in language and literature at Beijing Foreign Studies University and an MPA degree at Peking University.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/32z6HDq
In this webinar, we launched the third edition of the Smart Centres Index (SCI 3). The SCI is designed to track the development of technologh and financial centres across the world in their support for and readiness for new technology applications.
Investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, media, academics, governments, and regulators can attune their cities to attract innovation and growth in Science, Technology, Energy Systems, Machine Learning, Distributed Ledgers, or Fintech. Tuning a city for innovation is complex. Z/Yen began studying successful and unsuccessful business innovation clustering some 15 years ago, and published in 2018 the Smart Jurisdictions Index. Building on the results of that research we have created a novel factor assessment index based on three dimensions - innovation support, creative intensity, and delivery capability.
The SCI is designed to track the readiness of business centres across the world to support new technology businesses. The SCI uses assessments from private and public sector individuals, along with over 120 instrumental factors, to rate the centres. This important project that will grow substantially as more people pay attention to the ways centres can help globally innovative businesses thrive in rapidly changing times.
We presented in the webinar the latest results from our research and the factors driving the development of smart centres across the world.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3zbrKYB
The search for answers to deep questions, motivated solely by curiosity and without concern for applications, often leads not only to the greatest scientific discoveries but also to the most revolutionary technological breakthroughs. In short, no quantum mechanics, no computer chips; no DNA, no covid vaccine. Basic research is an essential precondition of innovation and the first step in social and cultural change. What are the current “known unknowns" at the frontier of knowledge. And how can we articulate more clearly the need for truly valuing and substantially funding the curiosity-driven “pursuit of useless knowledge” in both the sciences and the humanities.
Speaker:
Professor Robbert Dijkgraaf is the director and the Leon Levy Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, one of the world’s foremost centers for curiosity-driven basic research. He is a mathematical physicist whose research focuses on the interface between mathematics and particle physics. He has made significant contributions to string theory and the advancement of science education. Robbert is a distinguished public policy adviser, as well as a trained artist.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/31ghLF6
Speakers:
David Buchler, Chairman of Buchler Phillips, is a Chartered Accountant and Insolvency Practitioner, with some 35 years of experience in the field of corporate turnaround. He was a Partner at Arthur Andersen prior to becoming a Founding Partner of Buchler Phillips, one of the UK’s leading financial recovery and restructuring specialists, which was acquired by the Kroll Inc. Company in 1999, the world’s leading risk mitigation firm.
Until 2003, David was Chairman of Kroll for Europe and Africa. He is a former R3 President, the association of business recovery and turnaround professionals, former Vice-Chairman of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and former Deputy Chairman of the English National Opera, as well as Producer of the London International Opera Festival from 1984 to 1993. He is currently Chairman of a number of different companies, both public and private, including Buchler Phillips, Volvere Plc, Puma VCT 13 Plc and the English National Opera Directors Emeriti.
In addition, David Buchler is a Trustee of Syracuse University and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Insolvency Practitioners Association and the Institute for Turnaround, as well as Director of the Peres Centre for Peace.
Mark Field, who recently joined Buchler Phillips as a Consultant, is a former MP and FCO Minister who represented the prestigious central London constituency of the Cities of London and Westminster in the UK Parliament between June 2001 and November 2019. A graduate of St Edmund Hall, Oxford, he practised as a solicitor with Freshfields in the early 1990s and also set up, ran and sold two start-up businesses before embarking on a political career.
He developed an in-depth and widely recognised expertise of the City, financial and professional services at home alongside leading for the UK government’s economic diplomacy in international energy strategy, cyber security and fintech/green finance during spells on the Intelligence and Security Committee, Chairman of the Conservatives’ International office and as an FCO Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific.
Since leaving parliament he has embarked upon a portfolio career, which already includes roles as the non-executive Chairman to the Isle of Man based Capital International Bank; Chair of the Advisory Board to independent HE provider, the London School of Commerce, and Senior Advisor to the Cayman Island Government Office in London and an independent non-executive Director with AIM-listed wealth manager, Frenkel Topping where he is Chairman of the Audit Committee.
Chairman:
Robert Pay has extensive experience in both professional and financial services. His chief interest is building both business and brand for know-how rich businesses. His roles have included being a Marketing Manager for a "Big Four" banking and securities practice, and a seven year stint as the Global Chief Marketing Officer of leading international law firm, Clifford Chance. He was Head of Marketing at the London Stock Exchange where he was responsible for the marketing launch of AIM, the smaller companies' market, on whose Board he served; he developed a successful marketing campaign aimed at attracting foreign issuers to London; and marketing of introduction of order-driven trading. He then ran the European arm of a US-based professional services consulting firm for several years before moving back in-house as Global Marketing Director of BSI Management Systems where he introduced an NPD process, and refocused the global marketing function on new product development.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3sIzQH3
In this webinar, Alan Hughes will be considering covid's long term impacts on digital healthcare:
- Has AI in healthcare arrived?
- From Big Data to Real Data
- Has the care workforce challenge been solved?
- Regulatory and policy moves underway
Speaker:
Alan Hughes brings 20 years of international healthcare advisory, working alongside policymakers on the latest international trends. He is a regular panellist and healthcare commentator at summits across Europe and the Gulf.
In 2020 he commenced an independent consultancy, LIT Healthcare Ltd. For 14 years prior he worked as a healthcare management consultant and policy strategist at KPMG. Prior to this he was in Investment Banking on Wall St and the City of London at Lehman Brothers and Dresdner Kleinwort working on 30 M&A healthcare transactions and five IPOs. Sectors included Life Sciences, nursing, community and acute care. He also worked on Global Strategy projects for Novartis in Switzerland.
Chairwoman:
Zoë Buckingham is an international marketing consultant, commercial writer and presenter who has worked with businesses and national governments across the Middle East, Europe and North America. She helps organisations of all sizes identify their market positioning and the strategies that will enable them to grow. She has supported business leaders across Fintech, technology, professional education, home entertainment and healthcare with imaginative campaigns that set them apart from the competition.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/33Zk0xm
In early 2020, as Covid-19 swept through Western Europe, stock markets tanked, the mergers & acquisitions (M&A) market froze and corporate valuations plummeted. Promptly, governments started imposing lock-downs and intervening massively through unheard-of financial support packages to prevent the total collapse of Western economies. As the year passed and stock markets recovered (and government budget deficits grew), sometimes reaching new record highs (both of them), the worst seemed to be behind us. But, how has the M&A market reacted? Was it possible for an entrepreneur to sell her business last year? Would her business be more valuable today or less? Will European M&A surge or retreat?
[This webinar was rescheduled from April due to connectivity problems.]
Speaker:
Emmanuel Antmann joined FDC in 2011 after spending six years at IXIS CIB, now Natixis, in Paris to develop Corporate Finance activities in the energy & infrastructure sector. Previously, he had spent eight years in London working in Anglo-Saxon investment banks, including Deutsche Bank and ING Barings, where he also advised energy and utility companies across Europe. Emmanuel has worked on a wide array of mandates spanning M&A, corporate reorganization, and financing, in particular in the decentralized power generation, especially from renewable energy sources, in the energy distribution and retail, in the maritime transportation & services. Since early 2019, an increasing share of the advisory assignments he has worked on have either a strong technology or digital angle. Emmanuel graduated from ESSEC Business School.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3sFTnrH
The future of the financial services industry – centred in the City of London – matters enormously to the health of the United Kingdom’s economy. The Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA) has few provisions on financial services and the UK now appears set to drive a wedge between EU and British rules so it can “benefit” from its new-found Brexit freedom. In reality, this “wedge” is unlikely to benefit the economic prospects of the City or the United Kingdom.
There can be no doubt that the EU will use the “autonomy of its decision-making process” – as stressed in the TCA. If the UK wishes to row alongside the EU super-tanker and “take” its rules, then the UK will remain “equivalent”. But current UK policy intentions suggest there will be an ever-widening gulf by the end of this Commission’s term in 2024 – as the logical outcome of UK policy. The internationally mobile financial services industry will undoubtedly take account of this probability in planning the location of future business opportunities.
How might this play out by say 2024? Could the divergence cause the end of the City’s dominance of European finance? It might well do.
Speaker:
Graham Bishop is renowned for his vision and the courage to propose radical ideas, yet ground them in a mastery of the technical details of the financial system... to the extent that he has even been referred to as a one-man think tank. He was elected as Chairman of the National Council of the UK branch of the European Movement in 2020, after many years on the National Council, Executive and Vice-Chairman.
Due to his influence at the meeting point of politics, economics and finance, President Barroso appointed him in 2013 to be a member of the European Commission's Expert Group looking into initiatives for the joint issuance of debt in the form of a redemption fund and eurobills (Commission press release; Graham’s press release).
For the past five years, Graham has been developing a proposal for a ‘Temporary Eurobill Fund’. He has already presented the idea to both the European Commission and European Parliament, as well as around the EU. As a result, the concept has evolved substantially. Such a development would change the euro area government debt market dramatically and mark another step towards "Completing the Economic and Monetary Union." Graham Bishop’s Plan for a Temporary Eurobill: 30 FAQs
A dedicated Europhile, Graham offers his experience and insights on a pro bono basis in key fields to EU policy-makers. His influence with them has built up since the early 1990s, when he pointed out to the Maastricht Treaty negotiators that government debt would have a fundamentally different quality in a common currency. He went on to play a key role in designing the changeover to the euro of national currencies, and of Europe’s capital markets.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3JwxKjm
“All the business of war, and indeed all the business of life, is to endeavour to find out what you don't know by what you do; that's what I called guessing what was at the other side of the hill." The Duke of Wellington. The Library of Mistakes exists to further the study of human decision making under uncertainty through the study of history- primarily financial history. Those who guess what is on ‘the other side of the hill’ often get it wrong and for the same reasons that their ancestors got it wrong. Perhaps in our common errors we can found a common discipline that involves economics, history, philosophy, psychology, sociology and more? In an age when ones and zeroes seemingly become dominant it is also evident that they explain less about how our economies actually work than the high priests of the binary assert. To the distilled product of ones and zeroes the Library of Mistakes seeks to add back everything else that while it cannot necessarily be counted still counts. Join Russell Napier , Keeper of The Library of Mistakes, for a trip through the world of mistakes that are , perhaps more than we would care to admit, all, well at least some, of ‘the business of life.’
Speaker:
Professor Russell Napier is author of The Solid Ground investment report for institutional investors and co-founder of the investment research portal ERIC- a business he now co-owns with D.C. Thomson. Russell has worked in the investment business for over 30 years and has been advising global institutional investors on asset allocation since 1995. Russell is author of the book Anatomy of The Bear: Lessons From Wall Street’s Four Great Bottoms (‘a cult classic’ according to the FT) and is founder and course director of The Practical History of Financial Markets at The Edinburgh Business School.
Russell is chairman of the Mid Wynd International Investment Trust a closed end investment vehicle listed on the London Stock Exchange. He is a member of the investment advisory committees of two fund management companies, Cerno Capital and Kennox Asset Management.
In 2014 Russell founded the charitable venture The Library of Mistakes a business and financial history library in Edinburgh that now has branches in India and Switzerland.
Russell has degrees in law from Queen’s University Belfast and Magdalene College Cambridge. He is a Fellow of The CFA Society of the UK and is an Honorary Professor at both Heriot-Watt University and The University of Stirling. He also writes a regular monthly column for The Toronto Star newspaper. His second book which covers the events of the Asian financial crisis and the lessons to be learned from it is due to be published in summer 2021. His investment research is also available for sale to the public at russellnapier.co.uk .
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3HmDGcT
This webinar will consider key legal and regulatory developments in the area of blockchain technology around the world. The talk will include a discussion of the regulatory response by several notable jurisdictions, key litigation cases, and also the legal issues and challenges that are raised by this highly novel technology as well as methods to overcome these challenges.
Speaker:
Usman Sheikh is a partner in Gowling WLG’s Toronto office. Named in 2018 as one of the “Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers” by Canadian Lawyer and in both 2020 and 2021 as the top fintech lawyer in Canada by Chambers, he serves as the national head of the firm’s Blockchain & Smart Contracts Group, as well as the national litigation lead of the firm’s Securities, Compliance & Investigations Group. Usman’s practice focuses on providing legal advice on blockchain advisory mandates, including cutting-edge token sales, cryptocurrency exchanges and others. He also specializes in securities litigation and crypto litigation (Bitcoin, Ether and other cryptocurrencies). His clients include Canada’s largest banks, the co-founders of Ethereum, nine of the largest cryptocurrencies in the world, as well as several blockchain pioneers.
A highly sought-after thought leader on blockchain and distributed ledger technology, Usman has briefed the offices of several prime ministers, as well as ministers, on blockchain’s disruptive power, and is regularly invited to speak to business leaders and at global blockchain conferences throughout the world. He has lectured at the International Monetary Fund and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, co-lectured with the heads of blockchain for Nasdaq and the TMX, and has also presented to the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, the Law Society of Ontario, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada, and several other regulatory organizations. In 2021, Usman is set to publish The Law of Blockchain Technology (Thomson Reuters).
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3eAZANj
Despite all the talk, the international community is abandoning the commitment to cap the increase in the average global temperature to 1.5°C (IPCC, 2018). One critical reason is that while all of humanity will be affected by climate change, someday, the initial impact is highly differentiated.
Higher temperatures will first become insufferable where it is already warm. Warming will initially benefit places that are currently cold. And because of the earth’s rotation, when the polar ice caps melt, sea levels will rise near the equator (Spade et al. 2013). North of the Tropic of Cancer and south of the Tropic of Capricorn, the horror of climate change is forecast, not current, and based on models and theories few understand. Consequently, the sense of urgency is not there from those who need to make a difference today.
The frontline in the war against climate change currently lies between the tropics. Extreme weather events caused $320 billion of losses and damage around the world in 2017, but $215 billion, or 67%, occurred in the Atlantic hurricane belt, with a country like Dominica losing 226% of GDP in a few hours (Löw 2018). Climate change is the lived reality for these places; denial is rare.
Those in northern climes tell them they should insure themselves more, try catastrophe bonds, or other forms of parametric insurance. But increasingly known wipe-out risks with rising intensity, frequency and correlation are in essence uninsurable. Rather like someone with a pre-existing life threatening disease looking for medical insurance. What should they do and what role can finance play?
Speaker:
Avinash Persaud's career spans finance, public policy and academia. He is Emeritus Professor of Gresham College and an advisor to Governments on financial policy. He was Chair, CARICOM Commission on the Economy and is currently Special Envoy to Prime Minister Mottley, the current Chair of the Development Committee of the IMF and World Bank.
He is a former senior executive at GAM London, State Street, J. P. Morgan and UBS. He was Chairman, regulatory sub-committee of the UN Commission on Financial Reform; Chairman, Warwick Commission; Member of the UK Treasury’s Audit and Risk Committee and the Pew Task Force to the US Senate Banking Committee; Visiting Scholar at the IMF and ECB and Distinguished Advisor, Financial Sector Law Reform Commission of India.
He is a former Governor, London School of Economics and 2010 President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (Section F). He was elected Trustee of the Global Association of Risk Professionals and the Royal Economics Society. He won the Jacques de Larosiere Award in Global Finance from the Institute of International Finance and was voted one of the top three public intellectuals in the world on the financial crisis by a panel for Prospect Magazine.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3zi8LM7
Background: The use of Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) by private companies has seen a considerable rise in 2020 and is expected to continue in 2021. A well-run employee-owned company could benefit from a longer-term business strategy and not have to consider the conventional exit routes of a trade-sale or a flotation, with the EOT giving the alternative succession opportunity. In turn, a more engaged and more secure workforce could lead to higher productivity and profitability. The business ethos that lies at the heart of the EOT is that it is set up to hold shares on behalf of all the employees of the company. As a business succession tool, supporting the sale to an EOT, the transaction is free of capital gains tax and facilitates income tax-free bonuses to employees. The EOT structure is, therefore, a formidable element within a management buyout arrangement. The most tax-efficient and motivation-maximising EOT will require a structure that allows the EOT to work alongside the tax-advantaged tax approved employee share schemes, possibly with linkage to meaningful and measurable performance conditions.
The Key Headline Advantages of the EOT for Exit:
(1) Zero capital gains tax for the selling shareholders;
(2) No trade-sale acquiring company required for the exit;
(3) Income tax exemption for bonuses to employees;
(4) Establishing the independence of the company in perpetuity;
(5) Security of employment for the employees going forward;
(6) Can work alongside traditional employee share schemes.
In this talk, employee share schemes expert, David Craddock, will demonstrate how the EOT has become the credible alternative to succession.
Speaker: David Craddock is an independent consultant specialising in employee share ownership and reward management. A recognised authority on the subject, he is the author of The Tolley’s Guide to Employee Share Schemes , along with many other essential books and courses. David’s clients range from major public limited companies with international considerations to smaller private companies where the requirements are for Enterprise Management Incentives, tax-unapproved share scheme arrangements and market-making employee share trust structures. David has successfully established employee share schemes and employee benefit arrangements worldwide and to date has travelled to over 30 countries to personally facilitate their introduction. He enhances his service through a long experience in share reconstructions and share valuation.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3HmvGJ8
It is no secret that implementing new technology, especially a transaction monitoring solution, in a large financial institution can be a lengthy and complicated endeavour.
Is the perfect delivery possible? And how is it achieved?
Featurespace, HSBC and NatWest discuss how to successfully deliver a transaction monitoring solution in a large financial institution.
Lee Ashmore, Global Head of Anti-Money Laundering Technology & Head of Compliance IT - Asia Pacific at HSBC joins Gavin Coull, Fraud and Customer Authentication Strategy Lead at NatWest and Karthik Tadinada, Data Scientist Director at Featurespace, to consider:
- The common challenges with large scale deliveries
- How smart financial institutions and vendors overcome them
- How to manage the relationship between vendor and customer, with real life examples of the projects these experts have worked on.
Register now to gain indispensable insights from these industry experts.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3pEdZ1o
Biodiversity is declining faster than at any time in human history with one million animal and plant species at risk of extinction within decades.
Grounded in ecology and the earth sciences, the Dasgupta Review – an independent review commissioned by HM Treasury published in February – interprets biodiversity loss as an asset management problem, which puts our economies and livelihoods at risk.
Calling for urgent, transformative change in how we act and measure economic success, it offers a new framework for understanding the sustainability of our engagement with nature and the place of nature in economics.
Join Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta, the Review’s author, to hear how economic and financial actors can improve their decision-making processes to enhance the state of nature, and our prosperity at the same time.
- What changes should be made by the multilateral development banks?
- What changes does this Review potentially mean for large portfolio investors and asset managers?
- How confident should we be in the measurements used to assess biodiversity? Where is the data that can be relied upon to measure it?
- What are the limits to a market-based approach to biodiversity?
You can find various versions of the Review to read yourself here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/final-report-the-economics-of-biodiversity-the-dasgupta-review
Speaker:
Professor Dasgupta has been a Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge since 1985, serving as Chairman of the Faculty of Economics from 1997 to 2001. He has won numerous awards and in 2002, he was named Knight Bachelor by the Queen for services to economics. His research interests have covered welfare and development economics, the economics of technological change, population, environmental and resource economics, the theory of games, the economics of undernutrition, and the economics of social capital.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3FI3W0W
Over the past decade, Indonesia and Malaysia have developed into major tech hubs, attracting VC, PE and corporate capital globally. Indonesia ranks 7th in the world with 8 unicorns, the same number as Israel. Grab (Singapore) is close to completing a $40 billion US listing via a SPAC - all good news for 3 of Indonesia’s largest tech companies.
While Malaysia does not yet have any unicorns, it has over 3,500 tech companies, of which are soonicorns – or soon to be unicorns. Both countries have built world class ecosystems which have attracted global investors leading to heightened competition, especially over the past few years.
This webinar examines the rapid growth of VC investments- increasing volumes of IPOs and corporate M&A activity- over past 3 years in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Sri Lanka – markets which we believe could produce similar success in the future.
Most of these markets still possess relatively low valuation levels, but as you will see, the majority of the recent investments in these markets has come from international investors, some of which date back to the Indonesian and Malaysian hubs of over a decade ago. As such, we recommend that now is the time to begin to understand/invest in these markets before they become highly competitive
As evidence of this increasing activity – with global investors – last week Fintech Ecosystem Development, a blank check company targeting the fintech sector in South Asia, filed with the SEC to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering.
Speaker:
Henry Tillman has had a 35+ year international banking career, with ExCo positions at Barclays and ABN Amro and a NED role at Wells Fargo EMEA. In 2003, he formed Grisons Peak LLP, a UK based merchant bank, focussed on UK/Tech partnerships with Asia, which advised on over $25 billion completed transactions before being wound down in 2018. In 2008, Mr Tillman launched a global China macro research product, China Outbound Investments, driven from a bespoke database launched in 2008, five years before the launch of the One-Belt-One-Road Initiative, later recast as the Belt Road Initiative (OBOR/BRI). Over the past few years, the firm’s business has shifted from large cap M&A advisory to BRI research/consultancy with related private placements operated within Grisons Peak Services. Mr Tillman is recognised as a western BRI expert and presents and writes on the BRI globally.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3mLPSMF
In this Webinar, Robert Iliffe will discuss new findings about Newton’s three-decade career at the Mint that have emerged from the online edition of Newton’s financial and administrative papers. Robert places Newton’s time at the Mint in a number of different social and economic contexts (e.g. the ‘Glorious' and Financial revolutions) and looks at various aspects of his working life as Warden and then Master of the Mint (1696-99 and 1700-27). These include his management of Mint buildings and personnel; his economic assumptions; his role in designing new coins and medals; his knowledge of the various technologies involved in making money; and his prosecution of clippers and coiners. To end, Robert will discuss the ways in which the digital publication of these papers, especially when considered alongside his scientific, mathematical and religious writings, provides new insights into Newton’s general working habits.
Speaker:
Rob Iliffe is Professor of the History of Science at the University of Oxford and co-Director of The Newton Project. He has published a number of works on the history of science, particularly on the life and work of Newton, relations between science and religion, and voyages of scientific discovery. He is author of A Very Short Introduction to Newton (Oxford, 2007) and Priest of Nature: the Religious Worlds of Isaac Newton (Oxford, 2017), and is currently writing a history of attitudes to scientific creativity.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3qzhXI6
Human intelligence has developed over thousands of years. Meanwhile, AI, including deep learning algorithms, is the result of just a few decades of work and development. There is no doubt that this snowball cannot be stopped. Artificial intelligence already has a huge impact on key areas of the economy. It also raises a number of critical legal issues, including those relating to innovation and creativity, faced by states, regulators and competent authorities. During the webinar, the current legal approach on the issues concerning AI made inventions and AI created works in Europe will be presented as well as practical aspects of the impact of this phenomenon on running a business in various sectors of the EU economy.
Speaker:
Marek Oleksyn is a co-founder and partner at ROA Rasiewicz Oleksyn & Associates. He is a qualified Polish attorney-at-law.
Marek has almost two decades of experience in a broad range of intellectual property matters, including trademark, patent, design, unfair competition, copyright, domain names, plant variety, databases, and IP customs protection. Marek represents clients in court litigation, domain name disputes, and arbitration as well as trademark invalidation and revocation matters. He also prepares and negotiates agreements on IP/technology assignment and licensing, prepares opinions on IP-related and sector-specific regulatory matters, and drafts agreements with key personnel re: the assignment of intellectual property rights. He assists clients in R&D projects. Marek advises entities from various market sectors, including chemical, construction, IT, financial, automotive, FMCG, and luxury goods.
Marek is the author of numerous publications on the protection of intellectual property and advertising law. He lectures at Lazarski University in Warsaw.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3zeHyKb
As the capital and largest city of Russia, Moscow, unsurprisingly, is the country’s chief commercial and financial centre. Most foreign investment in the Russian economy passes through Moscow’s financial institutions and as the hub of Russia’s transportation network, Moscow enjoys supremacy as the country’s centre for domestic and foreign commerce. Moscow currently ranks 57th in the Global Financial Centres Index, though the centre has been rising steadily and surely as it continues to expand its financial capabilities. In this webinar, Evgeny Dridze will cover:
- The scale and make up of financial services in a Moscow
- Latest developments in financial services and regulation
- The scope for inward investment
Speaker:
Evgeny Dridze is Deputy Head of the Department of Foreign Economic and International Relations for the City of Moscow. In this role, he oversees the relations of the Moscow Government with foreign investors and businesses on financial and property issues, and resolution of disputes; the organization of bilateral working groups with partner countries on mutual promotion of manufacturing and technology; attracting foreign investment to the city of Moscow; legal support for the Department's activities, and organization of legislative work in the Department, including legal acts regulating the support of compatriots abroad and control of the Department's international activities, regulation of the Department's relations with subordinate organizations and development of the foreign economic action plan for the city of Moscow.
He previously worked in various roles in the Control Committee of the city of Moscow and Department of Foreign Economic and International Relations of the City Of Moscow, following his early career in the telecoms and technology sector.
Dr Dridze holds a Degree in Applied Linguistics, a Masters Degree in International Finance and Trade Law, and a PhD in Economics
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3sKT9PW
In this webinar, Andy will explain another concept which is arguably even less well known and even more important for your ability to build wealth over time: Something called "sequence risk".
As you will hopefully gather from this presentation, this is one of the very most important ideas to understand if you want to succeed with investment. Amazingly, it is also an idea that is hardly ever contemplated or even discussed by most of the finance industry, which means that the vast majority of “normal” people will have no idea about it at all.
Join this webinar to hear Andy’s techniques on how to combat this risk and help fortify your personal investments.
Speaker:
Over twenty years in the city, Andrew Craig has met with the senior management teams of over one thousand companies and with several hundred professional investors. He has regularly been involved in high profile stock market transactions including the Kingdom of Sweden’s sales of Nordea Bank AB in 2013 (totalling $7.6 billion) and the stock market flotation of several dozen companies including the likes of: easyJet, Burberry, Campari, the Carbon Trust and lastminute.com. Andrew’s mission is to spread financial literacy as far and wide as possible. He believes that everyone owes it to themselves to learn about money and investment because doing so is life-changing. Since founding Plain English Finance and releasing his book, he has appeared in numerous publications including: The Mail on Sunday, The Telegraph, The I, CityAM, The Spectator, Shares Magazine, MoneyWeek, YourMoney, This Is Money and Money Observer. He has been interviewed on Bloomberg and Shares Radio and on IG TV, was featured in Russell Brand and Michael Winterbottom's 2015 film “The Emperor's New Clothes” and interviewed by Eamonn Holmes for the Channel 5 programme “How the Other Half Live”.
Andrew Craig is the author of No. 1 best-selling finance book, “How to Own the World: A Plain English Guide to Thinking Globally and Investing Wisely”, founder of personal finance website, www.plainenglishfinance.com, fund manager of the VT PEF Global Multi Asset Fund and a partner at boutique life sciences investment bank, WG Partners.
Dr Ariel Sergio Goekmen-Davidoff
After an uninterrupted, successful and exciting banking career spanning over 34 years in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, which took him from the level of office clerk to Member of the Executive Board and CEO of prestigious private banks, Ariel is now self-employed as a partner in a law firm, where he looks after the interests of an international UHNW entrepreneur clientele. He holds positions on several boards of directors in the Swiss wealth management industry and others. He serves inter alia as Vice Chair for the Swiss Capital Market Forum and is an expert for the annual STEP Awards in London. He is a Doctor of Business Administration (Australia), holds an LL.M. degree (Switzerland) and is a STEP member. Ariel is a regular speaker, panelist and moderator at (web-) conferences about the wealth management industry, its trends as well as risk management and wealth protection for the UHNW investor.
Itching to hear Andrew present? Watch a previous presentation he gave to the Financial Services Club on "Immunising Your Investments: Sensible Investing Through A Global Pandemic (And Everything Else Besides)" below:
In 2017, Andrew was honoured to contribute a guest chapter to Harriman House’s prestigious “New Book of Investing Rules” alongside investment greats such as John Bogle, Anthony Bolton and Gervais Williams. The title of the chapter was: “How to invest so that crashes don’t matter."
Andrew believes that the unprecedented volatility in so many financial market so far in 2020 have served as a reminder of how important this idea is. It is crucial that we calibrate our investments for all seasons - that we “immunise” them. In this timely talk, Andrew will explain how anyone can build a suitably “immunised" portfolio by using two fundamental and elegant approaches to how they invest:
First, broadly optimised asset-allocation based on the idea of “100 minus your age”. Secondly, ensuring that you “own the world” - that is to say that you ensure that you have investments in all major asset classes and in all major regions of the world. When used together, these two broad approaches to investment will maximise your chances of making consistent and significant investment returns and, arguably even more importantly, minimise your stress levels along the way. As part of his talk, Andrew will explain how important it is to invest rather than to trade and the importance of completely and utterly ignoring "the news” as part of that process. He will also explore the role of technology and the importance of "Moore’s law" for your thought process - arguably the most important theme in human history - for investment and for lots else besides.
Speaker:
Over twenty years in the city, Andrew Craig has met with the senior management teams of over one thousand companies and with several hundred professional investors. He has regularly been involved in high profile stock market transactions including the Kingdom of Sweden’s sales of Nordea Bank AB in 2013 (totalling $7.6 billion) and the stock market flotation of several dozen companies including the likes of: easyJet, Burberry, Campari, the Carbon Trust and lastminute.com. Andrew’s mission is to spread financial literacy as far and wide as possible. He believes that everyone owes it to themselves to learn about money and investment because doing so is life-changing. Since founding Plain English Finance and releasing his book, he has appeared in numerous publications including: The Mail on Sunday, The Telegraph, The I, CityAM, The Spectator, Shares Magazine, MoneyWeek, YourMoney, This Is Money and Money Observer. He has been interviewed on Bloomberg and Shares Radio and on IG TV, was featured in Russell Brand and Michael Winterbottom's 2015 film “The Emperor's New Clothes” and interviewed by Eamonn Holmes for the Channel 5 programme “How the Other Half Live”.
Andrew Craig is the author of No. 1 best-selling finance book, “How to Own the World: A Plain English Guide to Thinking Globally and Investing Wisely”, founder of personal finance website, www.plainenglishfinance.com, fund manager of the VT PEF Global Multi Asset Fund and a partner at boutique life sciences investment bank, WG Partners.
Interested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3JtnsR3
As China actively pursues ecological and sustainable development, green finance serves a core function in the country’s financial ecosystem. In August 2016 the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and seven Chinese ministries issued a guidance on building a green financial system. China’s green finance landscape has grown rapidly since then. This year, green finance development has been put forth as one of the key priorities for China’s 14th Five-Year Plan over the period of 2021–25, along with China’s recent commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, which has set a clear direction for its economy. The webinar will discuss the progress of green finance that have been made in China and shed light on the implications of China’s green finance future agenda.
Speakers:
Mr Wenjian Fang was appointed General Manager of Bank of China Limited London Branch and Chief Executive Officer of Bank of China (UK) Limited in November 2018. He served as the Deputy General Manager and the Chief Risk Officer of Bank of China USA from 2015 to 2018. He was the General Manager of Bank of China Limited London Branch & the Chief Executive Officer of Bank of China (UK) Limited from 2011 to 2015. Mr. Fang joined Bank of China Head Office in 1996. Educated at Beijing Foreign Studies University in China to postgraduate level, Mr. Fang also received his MBA with Distinction from University of Hertfordshire, UK in 1996. He has been a CFA Charter Holder since 2008.
Dr Gerard Lyons is Chief Economic Strategist at Netwealth, an independent non-executive director at the Bank of China, and a Senior Fellow at the think tank Policy Exchange. Lyons also sits, since 2008, on the Advisory Board of the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and Environment; and has been a member of the Advisory Board of Warwick Business School since 2014.
Dr Lu Li joined Bank of China’s London Research Centre in 2018 and has been a China Economist since then, mainly covering China’s macro economy, banking sector, and green finance. She holds a PhD degree on Finance from the Durham University and a Master degree on Banking and Finance from the University of Glasgow.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/32G8tT3
We're on track towards a world where everything can be tokenized. Tokenization plays a critical part in enabling more equitable value creation for people, organisations and things. Providing the means to issue and store value, trace provenance, and most importantly achieve consensus to instantly trust. In order for this tokenized world to emerge we will need the infrastructure for people and their digital twins to participate. This will include digital identity, verifiable credentials and payments. Since 2012, Meeco has been pioneering the collection, protection and value exchange of personal data and identity. Over the past year we have been working towards making much of this possible, and this webinar will feature some of the use-cases and practical steps along the way.
Speaker:
Katryna Dow is the founder and CEO of Meeco; a personal data & distributed ledger platform that enables people to securely exchange data via the API-of-Me with the people and organisations they trust. Katryna has been pioneering personal data rights since 2002, when she envisioned a time when personal sovereignty, identity and contextual privacy would be as important as being connected. Now within the context of GDPR and Open Banking, distributed ledger, cloud, AI and IoT have converged to make Meeco both possible and necessary.
Katryna has been consecutively named as one of the Top 100 Identity Influencers. She is the co-author of the blockchain identity paper ‘Immutable Me’ and co-author/co-architect of Meeco’s distributed ledger solution and technical White Paper on Zero Knowledge Proofs for Access, Control, Delegation and Consent of Identity and Personal Data. Katryna speaks globally on digital rights, privacy and data innovation.
She is a founding member of The Council of Extended Intelligence (CXI), a joint initiative between the IEEE Standards Association and MIT Media Lab. She served on two IEEE standards working groups; Co-Chair for the Personal Data and Privacy Committee, part of the Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in the Design of Autonomous Systems, and Chair for the new P7006 - Standard for Personal Data Artificial Intelligence (AI) Agent.
In January 2020 she joined the MyData Board as a Director with a strategic focus is on jurisdictional approaches to personal data rights and business models. In late 2020 Katryna joined Data Sovereignty Now, as Meeco’s representative to advocate for standards and soft infrastructure to enable a more equitable European digital economy.
Prior to Meeco she founded and operated a strategy consulting practice, with extensive global experience in strategy to execution roles in start-ups to major corporate change and implementation and projects. Katryna has held leadership positions and delivered projects in the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, United States and India. Her industry sector experience includes information technology, financial services, health services and human resources. Katryna currently splits her time between Australia, Belgium and the UK, where Meeco has offices and development teams.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3mLbMPX
Join us for an interactive, virtual session on how leading with compassion & empathy impacts the algorithm for building successful teams and influencing change. Building successful teams and relationships starts with understanding where you are in any given moment as a leader, and the science behind compassion and empathy. Immerse in the ways that connection & psychological safety impact collaboration, innovation and results. Experience practices to integrate into life that increase awareness, empathy, and trust to positively impact outcomes in your organization and in all facets of life.
Speakers:
Anuka Gazara-Anthony is an Inseus Partner, Search Inside Yourself (SIY) Certified Teacher, and Life Coach, with a mindfulness and meditation practice spanning over 20 years. Born in Sri Lanka, she holds degrees from the University of London (BA from the University of Queen Mary and MA from the School of Oriental and African Studies) and the University of Oxford (Postgraduate Diploma in Business Organizational Leadership, Said Business School) and has worked in organizations across the globe, including in both Europe and Africa. Utilizing her diverse background, Anuka is committed to strengthening the effectiveness of individuals and organizations through mindfulness-based leadership and emotional intelligence training.
Search Inside Yourself Leadership Training Learn more about Inseus here The recording shown during the webinar can be viewed here Chairwoman:
Zoë Buckingham is an international marketing consultant, commercial writer and presenter who has worked with businesses and national governments across the Middle East, Europe and North America. She helps organisations of all sizes identify their market positioning and the strategies that will enable them to grow. She has supported business leaders across Fintech, technology, professional education, home entertainment and healthcare with imaginative campaigns that set them apart from the competition.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3EEb1hW
Financial and corporate sentiment has tipped with growing regulatory, investor and wider pressures on climate and FOMA on future market developments, trends and opportunities. What is less well known is the role that policymakers and regulators see for the financial sector as stewards of the whole economy, net zero resilient transition. Updated risk frameworks and the reinterpretation of mandates in a Climate Emergency will provide the means to shape the dynamics of credit, investment, insurance markets and regulatory capital to align with current and future climate risks. This climate-energy / risk-sustainability system reset offers opportunities and disruption for incumbents and new entrants. In 2012-2015 Rowan was involved in the early stages of what has become mainstream climate stress testing, disclosure and TCFD, in this seminar he will look ahead to how the next chapter may unfold to 2030 and beyond.
Speaker:
Rowan Douglas is the Head of Climate and Resilience Hub at Willis Towers Watson, supporting the management, regulation and financing of risks from climate, terrorism, cyber and other perils. Previously, he served on the Board of the Group's reinsurance division, Willis Re, as CEO Global Analytics and was appointed onto the UK Prime Minister's Council for Science & Technology 2011-2016. He founded the Insurance Development Forum with the World Bank, UN and global industry leaders in 2015 to address the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Agreements. He was made CBE in 2016 for services to the economy through risk, insurance and sustainable growth.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3sK9qEN
Part of the Swiss UK Dialogue series with the Embassy of Switzerland in the UK Both Switzerland and the UK are leading green finance centres according to the Global Green Finance Index. The event aims at having a closer look at the key success factors and challenges of leading green finance centres. This topic is particularly relevant in view of COP26 later this year. By having leading Swiss and UK representatives on the panel, we can look forward to a stimulating discussion with new ideas.
Speakers:
Sabine Döbeli has worked in the field of sustainable finance for over 20 years in different roles. She is the CEO of Swiss Sustainable Finance (SSF), an organization that was established under her lead in 2014 with the objective of making Switzerland a leading voice and actor in sustainable finance.
Previously, she was Head of Corporate Sustainability Management at Vontobel where she was responsible for the sustainability strategy at group level and sustainable investment services in asset management. At Zürcher Kantonalbank she built up the sustainability research unit within the financial research department and contributed to the launch of various sustainable investment products.
A recent report from Swiss Sustainable Finance, "Financing instruments for a low carbon economy"
Claudia Bolli is responsible for the development and the implementation of the Responsible Investing strategy with Swiss Re since 2014. As part of that, she was instrumental in Swiss Re's switch its investment portfolio to ESG benchmarks as one of the first re-/insurance companies.
In June 2018, she was selected by the European Commission to join the Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance. Concretely, she participated in the development of the requirements for the "Climate transition and Paris-aligned" benchmarks as well as the ESG disclosure on benchmarks.
Dr Ben Caldecott is the founding Director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme at the University of Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. At the University of Oxford, he is the inaugural Lombard Odier Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow of Sustainable Finance, the first ever endowed professorship of sustainable finance, and a Supernumerary Fellow at Oriel College. Ben is also the founding Director and Principal Investigator of the UK Centre for Greening Finance & Investment (CGFI), established by UK Research and Innovation in 2021 as the national centre to accelerate the adoption and use of climate and environmental data and analytics by financial institutions internationally. Since 2019, he has also been seconded to the UK Cabinet Office as the COP26 Strategy Advisor for Finance.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/32G7S3Y
Sustainability is one of the most overused terms, and yet, so very important. Drawing on a 30+ year career in this field Tim Mohin will explore the roots of the movement, why it is so ubiquitous today and share perspectives on where it is going. Once considered a niche field, in 2021 the world’s largest investors have become champions of sustainability. What does this mean for companies today and how will this trend shape capitalism going forward?
Speaker:
Tim Mohin is the chief sustainability officer for Persefoni AI and author of Changing Business from the Inside Out. Formerly, Tim served as the chief executive of the Global Reporting Initiative. He also held sustainability leadership roles with Intel, Apple and AMD and worked on environmental policy within the US Senate and US EPA.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3sK9Nzb
Nur-Sultan established its new financial centre, Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), in July 2018. Almost two years on, we spotlight latest developments and plans in Nur-Sultan and Kazakhstan.
The webinar heard from Professor Dr Alexander Van de Putte, Chairman of Corporate Governance & Stewardship and Chief Strategy Officer, Astana International Financial Centre, Baur Bektemirov, Chief Economist, Astana International Financial Centre, and Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chairman of the Z/Yen Group.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/342TAe5
The global pandemic ushered in a revolution in the ways and places we work. For the first time in modern history, work and family life for many people are taking place primarily in the home. Yet despite the switch to remote working, and forecasts about the demise of the physical workplace, most companies are developing hybrid models of work: a blend of employees working in home offices, satellite offices, co-working spaces, and headquarters. The pandemic also further exposed conditions that have led to allegations of systemic racism, making business leaders and their employees increasingly sensitive to racial, gender, and other forms of inequality in the workplace. Given all these changes, this webinar will explore the following questions:
- What will post-covid hybrid workplaces look like and feel like?
- To what extent are workplace experts re-designing work environments that address the needs of different genders and races?
- How will employees navigate the new digital and material terrains of work?
- And what will the impact of all of these changes have on people’s career experiences and opportunities for occupational mobility?
Speaker:
Melissa Fisher, a cultural anthropologist, is a Visiting Scholar at New York University’s Institute for Public Knowledge, a Distinguished Principal Research Fellow at the Conference Board, and an Adjunct Professor in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. Previously she taught at the University of Copenhagen, New York University, and Georgetown University. She has also worked as an independent consultant, applying anthropological and cultural approaches to workplace strategy for the past two decades.
Melissa is an expert on globalization, organizations, technology, work, and culture. Her first book, Frontiers of Capital: Ethnographic Reflections on the New Economy explored economic and technological innovations at the turn of the millennium. Wall Street Women, her second, examines the first generation of women in finance (1956-2010). She is working on a book about the future of work in the age of pandemics, political unrest, and social movements.
Melissa has given hundreds of key notes and talks nationally and internationally. Her research has been profiled by The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, The Guardian, CNBC, NPR, and the BBC. She is currently a US Delegate to the Women's 20, a policy group that advises the G20 on gender issues on financial, digital, labor inclusion and environmental sustainability. She serves on a number of advisory bodies, including the Women Creating Change Leadership Council at Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Social Difference. She is also a member of The Global Foresight Project based out of Stockholm University.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/32zj4iZ
The seventh edition of the Global Green Finance Index provides the world’s most authoritative measure of the performance of financial centres in delivering green finance services. The GGFI 7 report launch took place on 29 April 2021 at 09:00 GMT, in partnership with We Are Guernsey.
The report, assembled by combining the views of financial professionals from around the world, with quantitative data commissioned and curated from 140 sources, uses advanced statistical techniques to map the global spread of green finance.
Dr Andy Sloan, Chair, Guernsey Green Finance
As Chair of Guernsey Green Finance, Andy is responsible for coordinating the development of financial services strategy. Andy established and chairs Guernsey Green Finance, the island’s sustainable finance initiative, and represents Guernsey at the UN’s Finance Centres for Sustainability Network. He is an expert reviewer for the International Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report and a Non-Exec Director of ESI Monitor, an environmental assessment company. He is a member of the BVCA’s Channel Islands Working Group, the CityUK’s IRSG’s regulatory coherence working group, and is a member of the Institute of Directors and Institute of Risk. He joined Guernsey Finance in August 2018 from the Guernsey Financial Services Commission, where he was Director of Financial Stability and International Policy Adviser. He was previously GIBA’s first technical advisor and prior to this was States of Guernsey Economist and Head of Policy and Research. Andy has a PhD in Macroeconomics.
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People need the ability to add value to society, the ability to take their ideas and sell them in a way that's borderless and global. True data ownership allows people to control where their data goes and who gets to see it. Ocean Protocol allows people to buy and share data securely while preserving privacy. Data is a new asset class, and Ocean gives people the power to unlock the value of data.
Speaker:
Sheridan Johns is a founding team member of Ocean Protocol and covers Ecosystem and Collaboration. His main focus is building strategic partnerships with enterprise and impact-oriented initiatives and leading support programs for early stage projects building on Ocean.
Prior to joining Ocean, Sheridan launched several Berlin based start-ups including a mobility marketplace and The Berlin School of Creative Leadership. Born in Durham, North Carolina, Sheridan earned his MA from Johns Hopkins University and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to attend the Freie Universität Berlin.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/349xaYR
At the core of the UN’s sustainable development agenda are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals which are an urgent call to action for all countries, whether developed or developing, in a truly global partnership.
The 17 Goals recognise that to bring to an end deprivations in the world, whether poverty or otherwise, the approach must include strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, encourage economic growth and, at the same time, tackle climate change and work to protect the environment, particularly working to preserve the oceans and the forests.
The question is: How can employee share ownership help?
Although the particular Sustainable Development Goal that this employee share schemes talk is addressing is Goal 10: “Reducing inequality within and among nations”, the goals interact with each other and the solutions that employee share schemes offer are integrated in their impact on a range of Sustainable Development Goals.
In this webinar, share schemes expert David Craddock will explain the role of employee share ownership in macro-economics; the application of employee share ownership to any national economy; the economics credentials of employee share ownership; the analogy between the company economy and the national economy; and why employee share ownership recommends itself to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Speaker: David Craddock is an independent consultant specialising in employee share ownership and reward management. A recognised authority on the subject, he is the author of The Tolley’s Guide to Employee Share Schemes , along with many other essential books and courses. David’s clients range from major public limited companies with international considerations to smaller private companies where the requirements are for Enterprise Management Incentives, tax-unapproved share scheme arrangements and market-making employee share trust structures. David has successfully established employee share schemes and employee benefit arrangements worldwide and to date has travelled to over 30 countries to personally facilitate their introduction. He enhances his service through a long experience in share reconstructions and share valuation.
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We have now passed the first anniversary of lock down, during which time working remotely has become the new norm and the daily routine. This has changed our perspective on how we can work together, the future of the working environment, the role of the office building and the role of real estate in this changing world. Recent surveys confirm that companies are looking at space requirements with a view to reducing the amount of office space occupied. What is actually happening? Is the city centre office building obsolete or is this merely lock-down chatter which will dissipate when Covid is firmly under control and normal working routines restored? If the flight from the city office is reality, what will the new world of work look like and how should investors ride this wave ?
Speaker:
Tim Stocks is a corporate financier, lawyer, and founder/managing director of James Stocks & Co. Incorporated in 2014, James Stocks & Co was established to provide corporate finance and fund raising services to the real estate and infrastructure sectors. James Stocks & Co has been active in the; residential (social housing, PRS and affordable sectors), leisure and hospitality, office development, self-storage and logistic sectors of real estate. James Stocks & Co publishes a highly regarded monthly newsletter on the Real Estate Investment Trust sector.
Before establishing James Stocks & Co, Tim was a lawyer and head of corporate finance at international law firm Taylor Wessing LLP. In this role he advised substantial listed and private companies on corporate transactions, corporate policy and strategy. Tim is the author of “Corporate Finance Law and Practice” and has contributed on corporate finance topics to the news media including The Financial Times, and CNN.
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The UK opened the North Sea to oil exploration in the 1960’s. Well, if “data is the new oil”, in this webinar Lord Holmes takes the concept of a digital services bill for the new economics seriously. A financial services bill contains provisions on regulated entities, regulated activities, passporting, competition, mutualisation, reporting, investigations, enforcement, and sanctions. There are strong analogues for a Digital Services Bill, well beyond those of any Data Protection Act. Lord Holmes would like to explore with the FS Club community what should such a hypothetical bill cover, what should it exclude, where is it obvious, where is it dangerous to tread. This discussion takes place against a complex changing background of superpower standards, international norms, trade relationships, and, of course, Brexit. The decisions the UK makes could dictate success or failure in financial services, but also health, consumer sales, information processing, and all the technology wrapped up in the “4th Industrial Revolution” hype. Join us and share your thoughts.
Speaker:
Lord Chris Holmes is Britain’s most successful Paralympic swimmer winning a total of 9 golds, 5 silvers and 1 bronze. He was also Director of Paralympic Integration, responsible for the organisation of the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.
Chris is a passionate advocate for the potential of technology and the benefits of diversity and inclusion. He campaigns for more accessible environments for disabled people and has conducted an independent review for the government that made recommendations on opening up public appointments to disabled people.
In Parliament he has been a member of House of Lords Select Committees: Democracy and Digital Technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Skills, Social Mobility and Financial Exclusion. He is co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on: Assistive Technology, Fintech, Blockchain, AI and the 4th Industrial Revolution. Through his Private Members Bill Chris is working to end the injustice of unpaid internships. Chris is also Deputy Chair of Channel 4, Diversity Adviser to the Civil Service and Chancellor of BPP University.
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Speakers:
Paul Dondos works in Market Intelligence & Strategic Advisory for the EMEA region at Equiteq and, in the UK, is a primary point of contact for the client.
Prior to joining Equiteq Paul worked in corporate development for a global engineering consultancy, where he helped evaluate and realize UK and international growth opportunities and was responsible for business planning and intelligence across a group of over 6,000 employees, spanning more than 80 countries. He previously held positions in corporate finance at Salomon Smith Barney and at a leading European Internet incubator, specializing in valuations for private equity clients and digital strategy for start-ups and blue-chip companies. Paul holds an MBA with distinction from Cass Business School, City University London and an MA in English Literature from Trinity College, Cambridge.
Phil Baxter is part of the M&A transactions team and leads deals or supports clients in a sale process. He has built an extensive track record in this role at Equiteq over the last 6 years. A management consultant by background, with deep commercial, operational and financial experience, he is an advisor you want on your side in a deal.
Phil was originally a management consultant, latterly specialising in Supply Chain Management. In that domain he has led and supported both global strategic change programmes and local improvement processes. Over the years, Phil has supported household names, such as Ray-Ban sunglasses, and in his own consultancy company, the Toyota Motor Corporation. In Equiteq he has supported several mid-size consultancies in the sale of their businesses, providing advice and leadership from the start to the end of the process.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3eBmh3T
Background: In this second newspad review webinar, YBS Share Plans’ Darren Smith and guest panellists: Jonathan Sturman, Governance Manager – Public Service Pensions & Share Schemes at Kier Group; Jennifer Rudman, Industry Director (Share Plans) at EQ; and Matt Hunter, Managing Associate at Tapestry Compliance, discuss in depth, their pick of articles featured in recent editions of “It’s Our Business”, newspad of the Esop Centre.
Featured items include the government’s call for evidence on the Enterprise Management Incentive’s future; the success of the Centre’s Capital Gains Tax campaign; further concerns over the Roadchef compensation tax dispute; share plans, Brexit and GDPR; a full report on the Centre’s Share Plans Symposium – our first virtual conference; and the report of winning and commended share plans in the 2020 Newspad Awards.
Panellist: Jonathan Sturman, Governance Manager – Public Service Pensions & Share Schemes, Kier Group. Jonathan is responsible for the company’s share schemes, focusing on providing both all-employee and discretionary schemes that are attractive and engaging to the wide range of employees in Kier. Includes management of the third party providers & benefit trusts, award & vesting of share options and treatment of exiting employees.
Panellist: Jennifer Rudman, Industry Director (Employee Share Plans), EQ. Jennifer has responsibility for defining EQ’s share plan strategy and enhancing its employee share plan services. She is a member of a number of employee schemes working groups, liaising regularly with industry bodies. Jennifer acts as a point of reference for issuers and journalists, analysing market data to identify trends and informing the market of current practice.
Panellist: Matthew Hunter, Managing Associate, Tapestry Compliance. Matthew specialises in all aspects of global incentive arrangements and works with clients in a range of sectors. Matthew has a particular focus on financial services remuneration and has significant experience advising global banks, asset managers and insurers on EU and global remuneration regulation compliance.
Chairman: Darren Smith, National Sales Manager, YBS Share Plans, has worked in the Share Plans industry for over 20 years. In this time he has worked on all the operational teams including management, relationship management and most recently business development. He is a regular industry host and speaker on topics including share plans and financial wellbeing, bringing a fun and engaging style to events.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3Jr2y57
Frankfurt has been a leading financial centre in Western Europe for many years and is home to both the Deutsche Bundesbank and the European Central Bank. In this webinar we will hear about the latest developments in Frankfurt, including the effect of Brexit on the city’s financial system.
Speaker:
During his 12-year tenure at Deutsche Bank, Hubertus Väth held the positions of Analyst, Head of Communications and Chief Economist for Asia and Global Head of Marketing for Wealth Management at offices in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Singapore. He is the Founder of the NewMark Group and CEO of NewMark Finanzkommunikation GmbH, established in 1997 and specialized in market research, business consulting and financial communication. In 2008, Väth was appointed as Managing Director of Frankfurt Main Finance, the Financial Centre initiative for Frankfurt and the leading Financial Centre in Germany and the Euro Zone. In July 2018, he was appointed as the Board of Directors of World Alliance of International Financial Centers (WAIFC), which was created to facilitate cooperation and exchange of best practices among international financial centres. From 2021, he is the Member of the Fintech Germany Award jury and FrankfurtForward jury.
Väth regularly speaks at international financial conferences on Brexit, FinTechs and Financial Centre Development, Euro Clearing and Green Finance. Väth is a Special Fellow of the Financial Think Tank of Asian Financial Cooperation Association and publishes regularly in this capacity. He is a member of Rotary Club and has a Diploma in Economics from the University Mainz, Germany. Väth is an occasional lecturer at Universities and Business Schools.
John Kay, one of Britain’s leading economists, and an adviser to major institutions and governments, and Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England for 10 years, through the height of the last financial crisis, have published a fascinating new book on “Radical uncertainty: decision-making beyond numbers.” The Financial Times called the book “eloquent, highbrow, entertaining and enlightening.” Join John and Mervyn on this guided tour of these very uncertain times.
Produced in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment (CISI)
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The rapid pace of digital transformation is catalysing the increased need for cyber risk protection. However, insuring cyber exposure is challenging due to the risk of accumulation (both in terms of the intended targets as well as collateral damage) and terminological ambiguity surrounding cyber policy wording, especially in the context of war and terrorism. Such collateral damage affects corporations (or other entities such as non-profit organisations, healthcare providers etc.), governments and individuals located in or connected to the target state.
The challenge of insuring cyber terrorism and hostile cyber activity (HCA) thus depends upon the ability of the industry to
- Accurately and clearly articulate the risks and any parameters or limits on coverage to stakeholders.
- Identify the responsible actor or type of actor (terrorist, state actor, criminal etc).
- Discern the type of attack, whether it be cyber terrorism, HCA or cyber war.
In addition to clarity around coverage, the outcome of the attribution process is an important factor in determining whether insurance will ultimately cover a loss or who should ultimately pay. This also relates to issues associated with how malicious actors can be held accountable.
To better understand what is clearly insurable and what is not, as well as any protection gaps, global dialogue between different stakeholders, primarily to promote international consensus, is needed. This should involve contextualising the risk in terms of the potential impact and losses (both insured and economic) and exploring potential solutions, e.g. the capacity for commercial insurance coverage.
Speaker:
Dr Rachel Anne Carter is the Director (Cyber) for the Geneva Association. As Director (Cyber) she helps stakeholders understand cyber risks. With greater understanding, she hopes the cyber research program can assist the insurance industry to devise ways they can respond, bringing the issues of insurability to the forefront.
Rachel comes to the Geneva Association with a variety of different research, strategy, underwriting, policy, consulting, regulatory and corporate experience. She co-founded and manages the Journal of Terrorism and Cyber Insurance.
She has worked with the OCED, Pool Re, Lloyd’s, Tokio Marine Kiln, AmTrust International and was a subject matter specialist in cyber terrorism for Cambridge University Centre for Risk Studies. Her experience has predominantly been specialist and catastrophe risk (re)insurance solutions or alternatively disaster risk financing options. She has worked on natural catastrophes, terrorism risks and cyber risks. She began her career as a university academic.
She is a regular speaker at conferences globally and regularly publishes articles and research primarily on issues associated with cyber insurance and terrorism insurance.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3Jxa7Yi
The Economist magazine has referred to Australia as the “Wonder Downunder”, clocking up the longest consecutive period of economic growth in the western world’s history. The record ended a year ago with the onset of COVID. But Australia (so far anyway) has managed to minimize COVID deaths. How can Australia’s handling of the COVID crisis provide lessons for the renewed attention to building up resilience as the world prepares for further crises?
Speaker:
Dr Keith Suter is the managing director of the Sydney-based Global Directions think tank. He is a broadcaster (appearing on radio an average of once per day). His third PhD was on scenario planning. He has been a member of the international think tank The Club of Rome since 1993.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3sKJTLS
An emerging topic within the A.I domain is the subject of Enterprise Knowledge Graphs. The use of Semantic graphs is a long-standing theme within computational systems, stretching back to the 1960’s. However, the construction of semantic or knowledge graphs was a manual and time-consuming process. Two converging technological developments have transformed the process of creating knowledge graphs and offer the possibility to automate their creation and application.
Since 2000 the field of Network Dynamics has formed a solid foundation for applied graph theory and analytics. Combined with the recent developments in advanced natural language processing (NLP), and Deep Learning, we now have the means to translate large volumes of raw text into knowledge graphs with strong semantic structure.
This emerging capability is opening new commercial opportunities for Enterprise Knowledge graphs (EKG) and associated applications. This presentation will cover some of the EKG applications in development within BT Laboratories.
Speaker:
Dr Robert Hercock has over twenty years’ experience in leading security research projects in the UK and was theme leader for Cyber Security in the UK MOD Information Fusion Defence Technology Centre.
Robert’s research interests include cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics and Complex Adaptive Systems. He has also served as a member of the Royal Society Science and Industry Committee.
Robert has chaired international workshops on adaptive cyber defence. He has over twenty international publications in AI and security concepts, in addition to over thirty filed patents, and he frequently provides expert advice to government on defence, cybersecurity and AI issues.
Professionally, Robert is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the IET. He also serves as an independent technical expert for the UK Defence Science Expert Committee (DSEC) and was a Business Research Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico.
In 2020, Robert was appointed as Fellow at the Oxford Changing Character of Warfare Centre, Pembroke College.
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As technology accelerates forward, lawyers and professionals must become familiar with DLT, smart legal contracts, and cryptoassets – conceptually and functionally.
In this webinar, Anne Rose outlined Tech London Advocates Blockchain Legal and Regulatory Group's next steps following the publication of the "TLA Blockchain Legal & Regulatory Guidance" report in September 2020 with the Law Society.
The Guidance:
- explains use cases for both DLT and smart contracts, and considers their commercialisation.
- considers how cryptoassets will enter the mainstream, and analyses the interaction between intellectual property and cryptoassets.
- raises significant issues as to data protection and data governance that every lawyer will face in the immediate future.
- illustrates the uses and pitfalls of blockchain consortia.
Most critically, perhaps, "TLA Blockchain Legal and Regulatory Guidance" suggests best practice for legal practitioners working on transactions involving smart contracts, and raises questions concerning the need for the development of on-chain dispute resolution mechanisms.
Speaker:
Anne Rose is an Associate in the Commercial team and Co-Lead of the Blockchain Group at Mishcon de Reya She has experience in advising on data and privacy, IP and IT-related contractual issues for clients, with a particular focus on the retail, adtech and betting/gaming sectors, as well as advising a number of sports technology (including esports) clients. She is a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals and holds a CIPP/E certification. She also has a diploma in Fintech from the Säid Business School, University of Oxford.
Anne is a leading individual in the blockchain legal ecosystem and Chairs the Legal & Regulatory sub-working group of TLA Blockchain. She is also a director of thinkBlockTank, a non-profit organisation. Anne has mentored a number of early stage businesses through various incubator programmes, including MdR Lab. Anne also sits on the M:Tech panel, responsible for overseeing the firm's M:Tech initiative.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3qydxB7
In this webinar, Ned contends that Gold is the true risk-free instrument of the system (rather than US Treasuries) and as such is the correct measuring tool for real rather than nominal performance. Most investors think of Gold ‘going up’ in Sterling, Dollars or Euros but is Gold actually the constant, just measuring your true loss of purchasing power? This observation has wide implications for performance measurement and may explain the rise of populism in the context of low statistical inflation but continued rises in the true cost of living. That Central Banks hold Gold in large quantities as primary reserve asset and in light of Gold not having or needing a credit rating (unlike Government bonds) it appears that the masters of the monetary universe may already agree behind closed doors.
Speaker:
Ned Naylor-Leyland is a Fund Manager (Head of Gold & Silver) in the Gold & Silver team.
Before joining Jupiter in July 2020, Ned worked at Merian Global Investors as a portfolio manager in the Gold & Silver Team. Prior to this, he worked at Quilter Cheviot where he founded a dedicated monetary metals fund in 2009. He began his investment career at Smith & Williamson in 2001.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3qyc65H
Lord Deben has spent a lifetime as a conscientious environmentalist, and a stalwart conservative. Lord Deben chairs the Climate Change Committee, the independent, statutory body established under the Climate Change Act 2008. The Committee advises the UK and devolved governments on emissions targets and reports to Parliament on progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as preparations for adapting to the impacts of climate change. As Chairman of the UK Climate Change Committee he brings some unique insights. In this webinar he will explain why he believes that returning to true, free-market, conservative roots is an essential step to meeting the environmental challenges of climate change.
Speaker:
The Rt. Hon John Gummer, Lord Deben, set up and now runs Sancroft, a Corporate Responsibility consultancy working with blue-chip companies around the world on environmental, social and ethical issues. Lord Deben is Chairman of the Committee on Climate Change, Valpak Limited, and the Personal Investment Management & Financial Advisers Association. He was the longest serving Secretary of State for the Environment the UK has ever had (1993-97). His sixteen years of top-level ministerial experience also include Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries & Food, Minister for London, Employment Minister and Paymaster General in HM Treasury. He has consistently championed an identity between environmental concerns and business sense.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3JvJ7rM
At Beacon we are exploring the commercial and technical viability of combining three innovative technologies - Artificial Intelligence, Digital Journey Mapping and Smart Ledgers - to create a Digital Humanity Determination Platform. The objective is to bring about a step-change in significantly reducing online fraud from non-human actors by verifying whether a specific digital action is carried out by a human being. At Beacon we believe that 'proof of humanity' in the transaction is a more certain and consistent approach, rather than engaging in a never-ending war of 'bot-detection' attrition with the criminal actors and bots often one step ahead.
In this webinar we examine the economic, technical, and societal impacts of digital advertising fraud, and discuss the scope for humanity detection in other industries and market sectors.
Speakers:
Nigel Bridges an experienced executive and advisor with a successful track record of growing technology businesses internationally. His key focus is on the Scale-Up stage of Software and Services businesses, transforming them through a clear agreed strategy, designing and delivering robust sales, delivery and operational processes to provide the platform for transformation and growth.
Nigel has worked at senior leadership level in both larger corporates and SMEs; and has been the CEO of a number of high-growth technology and services companies including Brains Direct / Endava, DTM, and Whitespace before co-founding Beacon.
Stewart Boutcher has experience of working within agencies and enterprise clients since 1995 at project manager and board level; leading the delivery of coherent, measured digital strategies to effect organisational change and enable cohesive digital communications, focused on effective user engagement strategies through big data, solid machine learning & data science disciplines.
Complementary to his position as Chief Technology Officer and Data Lead at Beacon, Stewart is a member of DMA North Council, leading their “Artificial Engagement” project. He is also Digital Project Lead for the nationally important UK Police Memorial, where Beacon provide technology and data support.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/32ugdIh
Technology and policy changes are driving peak demand for fossil fuels and massive growth of renewables. There is an enormous fossil fuel system at risk from the peak and fortunes to be made in building out the new renewable system. Many investors remain in denial, clinging to old beliefs and defunct models. This creates excellent investment opportunities on the long and the short side.
Speakers:
Mark is the Founder of the Carbon Tracker Initiative and conceived the ‘unburnable carbon’ capital markets thesis. He commissioned and was editor of Unburnable Carbon – Are the World’s Financial Markets Carrying a Carbon Bubble? In November 2011. More recently, Mark co-founded ‘Planet Tracker’ which focuses on agriculture, seafood, forestry, water and textiles. Mark is responsible for management strategy, board matters and developing their capital markets framework analysis. Their goal is to align capital markets with natural ecological limits to growth.
Prior to forming these groups, Mark had twenty five years experience in sustainable financial markets working for major institutional asset management companies. Mark is a co-founder of some of the first responsible investment funds firstly at Jupiter Asset Management in 1989 with the Ecology Funds, NPI with Global Care, the AMP Capital Sustainable Future Funds, and Henderson Global Investor’s Industries of the Future Funds.
Kingsmill Bond, CFA, is the Energy Strategist for Carbon Tracker. He believes that the energy transition is the most important driver of financial markets and geopolitics in the modern era.
Kingsmill has worked as a sell-side City equity analyst and strategist for 25 years, including for Deutsche Bank, Sberbank and Citibank in London, Hong Kong and Moscow. He has written research on emerging market and global themes, including the wider significance of the shale revolution and the impact of US energy independence.
At Carbon Tracker he has written about the impact of the energy transition on financial markets, domestic politics and geopolitics, and authored a series of reports on the myths of the energy transition, looking at the many arguments made by incumbents to deny the reality of change.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/32wgOJs
Markets were primarily designed to help buyers and sellers discover prices and volumes of traded items. But, market deregulation, technological innovation and ideological changes, have led to an epic financialisation of stock and commodity trading. These developments have led to frequent booms and busts both at the local level and sometimes globally as well. With our age of nudging, framing, and fungibility, psychologists and computer professionals are creating market models where knowledge based on experience, codified as rules of thumb, outperforms sophisticated econometric models, and we have algorithmic trading where the reactions of the adversaries are anticipated like moves on a chess board. Decisions based on emotional intelligence, that is on working out the sentiment – hopes and fears - of others, appears to supplant decisions based on rational behaviour, so say the high priests of behavioural finance –including Nobel Laureates Daniel Kahneman, Robert Shiller, and Richard Thaler, inspired in different ways by Benoit Mandelbrot. Artificial intelligence systems now exist that can detect emotional language in reports and comments, and can detect leakage of ‘true’ emotions in voice and facial expressions. These sentiments are quantified and used in conjunction with econometric models. The hybrid behavioural finance models have a 5-10 basis points advantage in stock and indices trading, and up to 10-15 basis advantage in commodity trading. These AI-based models do move the markets in laboratories, can these models survive in the hustle and bustle of the (virtual) trading floor? That is the question for you to ask and for me to speculate.
Speaker:
Professor Khurshid Ahmad is the Professor of Computer Science in the School of Statistics and Computer Science, Trinity College Dublin. His research areas include artificial intelligence, neural networks, fuzzy logic, social media analytics and behavioural finance. He was trained as a nuclear physicist and has worked in high-performance computing covering areas such as forecasting, computer-assisted learning, engineering design, and information extraction from continuous information streams comprising texts, images and numbers. His work seeks to maximise the potential of computing systems by enabling these systems to deal with different modalities of human communications, language, vision, symbolic including numerical information exchange. He has designed and implemented systems that learn to deal with the different modalities of communications. His work has been supported by research councils, EU Programmes, and venture capital funds. He is a former Visiting Professor at Copenhagen Business School and the University of Surrey, and has worked with UN FAO and UNDP. He has published over 200 research papers and his work has appeared in journals in AI and in corporate finance. His latest book is on the topic of Social Computing and the Law (Cambridge University Press). He is a Fellow of the British Computer Society and of Trinity College, Dublin. He is a member of the Board of Trinity College Dublin.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3sPhVhV
As professions go, it’s probably one of the most high octane. Trying to keep track of financial criminals, their next moves and how you can protect customers and your financial institution means for many, it’s not a 9-5 job. So, what are the issues keeping financial crime professionals awake at night? And what needs to be done?
This webinar highlights key points:
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Sophistication: attacks from well-organised and well-funded global criminals are getting increasingly sophisticated and difficult to spot
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The role of the dark net: pre-packaged attack methods that are tried, proven and then sold on the dark net
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Scatter gun approach: volume plays rely on massive data breaches leading to hundreds of thousands of email addresses and passwords being sold - these are then used by bots for phishing and other scams that rely on low overheads and a tiny percentage success rate
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Weak links in the chain: no matter how good an organisations defences are there is a real risk from institutions with lower defences allowing criminals into the financial network
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Uplift in tech: to keep up with the volume and scale of attacks more tech investment is needed to avoid exponential growth in back office support i.e. automation not people
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Big data and better data quality: these are key in the fight against financial crime – analytics for trend detection and ensuring all data is tip top is paramount
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Collaboration: between financial institutions, regulators and Government will be key
Speaker:
Phil has worked in financial services for over 30 years, having first qualified as an accountant at Eagle Star, before moving to KPMG. After five years of working for the consultancy in Europe and the Middle East, Phil moved to RBS/ NatWest Group to run the mortgages, collections and recoveries team. After 12 years Phil became Global Head of Anti Money Laundering for the RBS/NatWest Group with teams in the UK, Poland, Singapore, USA and India, a position which he held for eight years. Phil then set up his own financial crime consultancy FS101, which supported large organisations navigating the choppy waters of regulatory change. FS101 was acquired by P2 Consulting in 2015. Phil originally led the financial services practice at P2 before becoming CEO in 2019.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3FKA44i
The traditional approach to risk management of using probabilities and discounting to assess frequency and impact works well with repeatable risks, such as mortality, theft, and weather events, but it becomes more problematic with long term systemic risks such as climate change and biodiversity. In this webinar, I’ll discuss the challenges of dealing with these risks, and the role of the financial services industry in addressing them.
Speaker:
In the course of a varied career as an actuary, software engineer and academic, Louise Pryor has led the development of the UK’s Technical Actuarial Standards while she was at the FRC, practised as an independent consultant in the areas of software risk and sustainability and worked on financial modelling for social security and pensions reform in a number of emerging economies. She is currently President-elect of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, Chair of the London Climate Change Partnership and a non-executive director at the Ecology Building Society. Dr Pryor became a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries in 1987 and a Fellow of IEMA in 2019. She has a degree in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge, and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from Northwestern University.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/32MuM9E
Join us in conversation with author Harold James, to discuss his key takeaways and learnings from his new book Making a Modern Central Bank.
Making a Modern Central Bank examines a revolution in monetary and economic policy. This authoritative guide explores how the Bank of England shifted its traditional mechanisms to accommodate a newly internationalized financial and economic system. The Bank's transformation into a modern inflation-targeting independent central bank allowed it to focus on a precisely defined task of monetary management, ensuring price stability. The reframing of the task of central banks, however, left them increasingly vulnerable to financial crisis. James vividly outlines and discusses significant historical developments in UK monetary policy, and his knowledge of modern European history adds rich context to archival research on the Bank of England's internal documents. A worthy continuation of the previous official histories of the Bank of England, this book also reckons with contemporary issues, shedding light on the origins of growing backlash against globalization and the European Union
Speaker:
Harold James, the Claude and Lore Kelly Professor in European Studies at Princeton University, is Professor of History and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School. His books include a study of the interwar depression in Germany, The German Slump (1986); an analysis of the changing character of national identity in Germany, A German Identity 1770-1990 (1989); International Monetary Cooperation Since Bretton Woods (1996), and The End of Globalization (2001), which is available in 8 languages. He was also co-author of a history of Deutsche Bank (1995), which won the Financial Times Global Business Book Award in 1996, and he wrote The Deutsche Bank and the Nazi Economic War Against the Jews (2001). His most recent books include Family Capitalism, Harvard University Press, 2006; The Creation and Destruction of Value: The Globalization Cycle, Harvard University Press, 2009; Making the European Monetary Union, Harvard University Press, 2012; The Euro and the Battle of Economic Ideas (with Markus K. Brunnermeier and Jean-Pierre Landau), Princeton University Press, 2016; Making A Modern Central Bank: The Bank of England 1979-2003, Cambridge University Press 2020. He is the official historian of the International Monetary Fund. In 2004 he was awarded the Helmut Schmidt Prize for Economic History, and in 2005 the Ludwig Erhard Prize for writing about economics.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3sHjVIX
The Global Financial Centres Index has been tracking the development of the world’s financial centres since 2007 and is the authoritative guide to financial centre success.
The 29th edition of the index, produced in partnership with the China Development Institute in Shenzhen, was launched on 17 March 2021 through a webinar organised between London and Hong Kong, with the support of the Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council.
At the webinar we heard from colleagues in Hong Kong about latest developments, presented the results of GFCI 29 and the progress of financial centres, and heard about the development of Chinese financial centres more widely.
AGENDA
08:00 Welcome & Introduction, Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chairman, Z/Yen
08:05 Developments In Hong Kong Financial Services, Mr Christopher Hui, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Hong Kong SAR Government
08:20 GFCI 29 Results, Mike Wardle, Director & Head Of Indices, Z/Yen
08:40 Observations, Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chairman, Z/Yen
08:50 Developments In Chinese Financial Centres, Dr Yu Lingqu, Vice Director of Center for Financial Studies, China Development Institute, and Dr Au King-Iun, Executive Director, Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council
09:00 Questions, Comments And Answers
09:15 Close
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3sLjSMu
Launched in 2014 Allia’s RCB Bonds provide charitable organisations with a simple and affordable way to raise medium or long-term fixed-rate debt whilst offering a transparent and liquid market for investors seeking investments that deliver attractive yields alongside tangible social impact. Admission to trading on London Stock Exchange’s Order book for Retail Bonds enables investors to buy and sell these social investment products in the secondary market.
Allia is a charity that supports impact ventures driving positive change and addressing local and global challenges. It launched its first bond to tackle unemployment in 1999 going on to establish innovative forms of social finance since. Its 20th year saw it expanding its social finance capabilities by taking a majority stake in institutional fixed income broker City & Continental to form Allia C&C.
Allia C&C works with charities, social enterprises and corporates, offering expert advice, funding solutions and unrivalled access to capital markets.
Speaker:
Chief Executive of the Allia Group until 2019 Tim now chairs City and Continental Ltd (Allia C&C) and is the Senior Advisor to Allia’s Trustees. He has overseen a range of new thinking and new financing solutions to address social challenges including Employment Bonds, Housing Bonds and retail charity bonds. Also Chairman of Treatt plc and of TMJ Interiors Tim is a Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments (MCSI) and an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute (ACII). A Fellow in Entrepreneurship at Cambridge Judge Business School, in his spare time he chairs the Communications Committee at the International Bankers livery company.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3Hk85IY
We need to work out how sustainable products and services can cost less than unsustainable products and services and make it happen. Delivering sustainable products and services is difficult enough in the developed world, try emerging economies compounded with current value chain and supply chain challenges. Worldwide African shea butter derived fats are used extensively in food and confectionery and in at least 1950 cosmetic products. Now 10 years into a 20 year strategy, Serious Shea and Cleo Organics is one of the examples of practical action from grass roots in Burkina Faso that aims to scale up globally. Cleo Organics delivers 100% pure, organic, vegan, zero carbon, deforestation free shea and includes African women's groups as shareholders.
Speakers:
Dr Sarah Jones started her career as a marine biogeochemist and experimental biologist for the Uk’s National Environmental Research Council (NERC). She went on to be the face of campaigns for WWF in Europe and internationally, pioneering multi-disciplinary partnerships and delivering multi-million dollar projects for bridging economic and ESG gaps in policy, business and industry, for nature conservation and for investment. Sarah has served on boards for WWF and most recently for a global investment fund managed by Cognis Capital. When asked where she comes from Sarah replies that she was born in The World and her families include those of 300 ex-shanty town children from the outskirts of Buenos Aires City. In 2012 Sarah co-founded the (now) Clarity Coalition: Bridging the Gaps Between Investment and Global Resource Trends.
William Kwende is a leading sustainable business entrepreneur. Born in Burkina Faso, he is a descendant of the royal family of the capital of (now) Benin and works seamlessly at all levels in the most challenging circumstances. William spent over 10 years working for the UN Organisation on Migration before founding Agritech in 2005. Since its beginnings Agritech has focused on achieving ESG sustainability for the water-energy-food nexus, including by developing and training clusters of farmers in the West African Sahel though to global trading. Agritech's first joint venture with the Temasek subsidiary JOIL generated the investment for Agritech subsidiary Golden Organics to pump-prime the public-private partnerships of the Serious Shea production company. William created Burkina Golden Oils in 2010 focused on empowering rural women and is now leading Africa’s Consortium for Clean Food Processing Infrastructure.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3FAGcMh
Why is happiness so elusive that there has to be so much advice, so many books, so many seminars on... how to be happy? Dr Raj Persaud a top Harley St Psychiatrist and Psychologist draws on the latest neuroscience research and also the ancient wisdom of Aristotle and Socrates to explain the true very simple secret behind happiness and how to attain it, plus he demonstrates the fatal flaw behind all the pop psychology advice you have been hitherto the victim of.
Speaker:
Dr Raj Persaud is a Consultant Psychiatrist who has worked as a Consultant at the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley NHS Hospitals in London from 1994-2008, and as an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London. These are the premiere research and training institutions for Psychiatry in Europe.
He was also Research Fellow at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the USA and Institute of Neurology at Queens Square. His training in psychiatry since leaving UCH medical school in1986 was entirely at the Institute of Psychiatry and the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals. Unusually for a psychiatrist, he also holds a degree in psychology, obtained with First Class Honours, and 8 other degrees and diplomas including a Masters in Statistics. He was awarded the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Research Prize and Medal as well as The Maudsley Hospital's own Denis Hill Prize, and The Osler Medal. The Royal College of Psychiatrists' recently also awarded him the Morris Markowe Prize.
In 2004 he was appointed Visiting Professor for Public Understanding of Psychiatry at Gresham College, and he was asked by the Royal College of Psychiatrists to edit its first book aimed at educating the public on psychology and psychiatry. 'The Mind: A Users Guide’ was published in 2007 and reached the top ten best-seller list. All of his 5 previous books have been top ten best-sellers. He has contributed a chapter to the Royal College's latest book - 'The Female Mind - A Users Guide'.
His writing is in several established textbooks, including the Oxford Companion to the Mind and he has contributed a chapter in the latest comprehensive textbook of psychiatry for trainees: Psychiatry – An Evidence Based Text. He has approaching 100 publications in Journals such as The British Journal of Psychiatry, British Medical Journal and The Lancet.
Recently he was elected Fellow of University College London and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He is patron or supporter of numerous mental health charities including OCD-UK, The Manic Depression Fellowship, Association of Post-Natal Illness, Childline, ActionAid and The Samaritans.
The Independent on Sunday Newspaper conducted a poll amongst members of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Institute of Psychiatry to discover who were the top ten psychiatrists in the UK as rated by fellow psychiatrists. Dr Raj Persaud was the youngest doctor to make it into this esteemed list. The Times Newspaper also recently placed him as one of the Top Twenty Mental Health Gurus in the world.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3JpV5U9
In the latest international wealth management centre report of Deloitte’s, Switzerland remains by Assets under Management (AUM) the largest centre worldwide, closely followed by the UK. Considering performance, Switzerland is leading before Singapore, Luxembourg and the UK, and whilst comparing competitiveness, Switzerland is again leading, closely followed by Singapore and Hongkong. In Z/Yen's Global Green Finance Index (GGFI 6), which measures the quality and depth of green financial products across the world’s financial centres, according to quality, Zurich is in the lead, followed by Amsterdam and London. With depth, Amsterdam is in the lead, followed by Zurich, Copenhagen and then London. In the Global Financial Centre Index (GFCI), which evaluates and ranks 111 major financial centres, London is in 2nd and Zurich in 10th place. With regards to Brexit, arrangements have already been made between Switzerland and the United Kingdom: in a joint declaration of intent, the two nations reaffirmed the goal of a liberalisation and expansion of mutual market access in financial services. Whilst the regulatory environment in general tightens, Switzerland is the world leader in global cross-border wealth management, with a market share of about 27%. Total AUM in Switzerland grew by 13.8% in 2019 to CHF 7,893bn – but how does it look today and what does this mean for you?
Speaker:
Dr Ariel Sergio Goekmen-Davidoff
After an uninterrupted, successful and exciting banking career spanning over 34 years in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, which took him from the level of office clerk to Member of the Executive Board and CEO of prestigious private banks, Ariel is now self-employed as a partner in a law firm, where he looks after the interests of an international UHNW entrepreneur clientele. He holds positions on several boards of directors in the Swiss wealth management industry and others. He serves inter alia as Vice Chair for the Swiss Capital Market Forum and is an expert for the annual STEP Awards in London. He is a Doctor of Business Administration (Australia), holds an LL.M. degree (Switzerland) and is a STEP member. Ariel is a regular speaker, panelist and moderator at (web-) conferences about the wealth management industry, its trends as well as risk management and wealth protection for the UHNW investor.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3sKA3JW
The 3 lines of Defence model is no more – abandoned by the IIA in July 2020. Is there a credible alternative?
Chris Burt, co-founder of the Risk Coalition, will discuss why a risk model designed to prevent recurrence of the failures in risk management, which took place prior to the GFC of 2007-8, has been in need of a major overhaul for many years. He will elaborate on an objective centric model to replace conventional risk management approaches.
Peter Neville Lewis will provide an overview of a proposed Integrated Assurance model, which links the reporting of the 3 Lines more closely, to present the Board with more holistic oversight of the risk/certainty of achieving strategic objectives and creating/preserving value.
Speakers:
Chris Burt is the principal of Halex Consulting and a co-founder of the Risk Coalition, thought leaders in risk governance and publishers of the acclaimed risk guidance Raising the Bar (our own Professor Mainelli wrote the foreword). He focuses on working with boards and executive management, and has over 25 years’ experience delivering governance, risk management and assurance consultancy (including S166 work) to leading UK and European businesses. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and holds a degree in Industrial Economics from the University of Nottingham and a masters in secure e-commerce from Royal Holloway, University of London.
Chris qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG where he specialised in technology risk and information security (cyber) consulting, later extending his expertise into enterprise risk management and internal audit consulting with Deloitte. He then worked for several years with a highly regarded London-based boutique governance consultancy, first as a senior associate and then as a partner.
Peter Neville Lewis is the principal of Principled Consulting, a practical think tank for behavioural change and values based decision-making and also a co-founder of the Risk Coalition. He is a highly experienced business adviser to boards and senior management teams with over 30 years’ practical delivery at Managing Director level himself, specialising in principled leadership, governance, culture, strategic and conduct risk. He is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Risk Management (CMIRM). He currently holds the post of Honorary Research Fellow at Brunel University London.
Joint author of numerous publications on the measurement and impact of culture for IRM, CMI, EOA, ERMC, ProShare etc.
Peter originally trained at The Royal Military Academy, before working in the City and then establishing his own business which was eventually purchased by a PLC. His interest in behavioural psychology dates back over 25 years and he is a licenced practitioner in various psychometric instruments.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3zf589F
Longlisted for The Financial Times and McKinsey business book of the year award, Money for Nothing dives into the most famous financial scandal in the history of modern capitalism, the South Sea Bubble. The South Sea Company had been formed to trade with Spanish America. But it had almost no ships and did precious little trade. Instead it got into financial gambles on a massive scale, taking over the government’s debt and promising to pay the state out of the money received from the shares it sold. And how they sold. In the summer of 1720 the share price rocketed and everyone was making money. Until the carousel stopped, and thousands lost their shirts. This account of the South Sea Bubble is not just the story of a huge scam, but is also the story of the birth of modern financial capitalism. These dreamers and fraudsters may have bankrupted Britain, but they made the world rich.
Speaker:
Tom Levenson is Professor of Science Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, teaching mostly in the Graduate Program in Science Writing. He has recently published his newest book, Money for Nothing, June, 2020, on the South Sea Bubble, the Scientific Revolution, and the birth of the modern idea of money.
Levenson’s career has been split between writing, mostly long-form but including some science journalism, and documentary film making, emphasizing books for the last decade. One of his most recent work is The Hunt for Vulcan, (Random House, 2015), short-listed for the Royal Society’s science book award. It’s a cautionary tale of the discovery and undiscovery of a planet that should have been there, but wasn’t. His Newton and the Counterfeiter (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009) centers on Isaac Newton’s second career as a real-world scientific detective. Einstein in Berlin, (Bantam, 2003, reissued in 2017 by Random House in its first electronic book), is a critically acclaimed account of Albert Einstein’s eighteen years in the German capital.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3mJroTY
"Turtles all the way down" is an expression of the problem of infinite regress. The saying alludes to the mythological idea of a World Turtle that supports the flat earth on its back. It suggests that this turtle rests on the back of an even larger turtle, which itself is part of a column of increasingly large world turtles that continues indefinitely (i.e., "turtles all the way down").
The exact origin of the phrase is uncertain. In the form "rocks all the way down", the saying appears as early as 1838. References to the saying's mythological antecedents, the World Turtle and its counterpart the World Elephant, were made by a number of authors in the 17th and 18th centuries."
Read more...
However, "tuttle" is not a typo.
Archibald “Harry” Tuttle stars in the 1985 film, Brazil. You may remember the tagline of Brazil - “It's about flights of fantasy. And the nightmare of reality. Terrorist bombings. And late night shopping. True Love. And creative plumbing.” The hero, Sam Lowry, played by Jonathan Pryce, finds he has become an enemy of the state simply because he takes it into his own hands to correct an administrative error. In the film, Tuttle, played by Robert de Niro, is the rogue heating engineer out to solve people’s real plumbing problems “without filling out a 27b/6... Bloody paperwork”. He explains his motivation, “Why? I came into this game for the action, the excitement. Go anywhere, travel light, get in, get out, wherever there's trouble, a man alone".
Thus, Tuttle is a long-running conversation about interesting stuff with people who aren’t afraid to think about or work on radical new plumbing, such as new user interfaces, smart ledgers, artificial intelligence, financial innovation, scientific discovery, disaster relief, music, film, art, and where everything meets up in the Great Café that is London. Z/Yen was proud to host the peripatetic Tuttle Club for a few months back in 2016 - Z/Yen & Long Finance Bid Farewell To The Rogue Plumbers - The Tuttle Club.
Speaker:
As Chief Client Officer of 10x Banking, Dr Leda Glyptis focuses on driving client success for existing and new 10x clients.
Leda is a former banker, technology executive and founding CEO of 11:FS Foundry, where she led the growth of its modular core digital banking offering. Prior to that, Leda was Chief Innovation Officer at Qatar National Bank, the largest bank in the Middle East and North Africa, with responsibilities for employee-driven and market-led innovation strategy and execution.
Before QNB, Leda was a Director at business and technology consulting firm Sapient, focusing on digital transformation and emerging technologies, and led EMEA innovation at BNY Mellon. Leda joined BNY Mellon from fintech start-up Great East London Software, where she served as head of services development.
Leda holds an MA from King’s College, Cambridge, and an MSc and PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has taught politics, global governance and management principles, while working in management roles across various industries.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3EzRizO
Nick will provide an overview of how the space and satellite industry touches all of our lives on a daily basis, the services we experience that are provided by satellites, the wider space and satellite community, and funding sources and issues facing new space projects large and small.
Du Chongzhuang, from Xi’an Yangliang National Aviation High-tech Industry, will provide an overview of developments and new innovations in China’s space and aviation industry.
Speaker:
Nick Flitterman is Managing Partner and Head of Telecoms at Portland Advisers, a financial advisory firm focused primarily on project and structured finance across the Telecoms, Infrastructure and Energy sectors. Nick has over 20 years experience acting in senior advisory and lending roles across the spectrum of communications, technology and satellite sectors. He previously held senior roles at the Royal Bank of Scotland, PricewaterhouseCoopers and as Head of Telecoms for the Project & Export Finance team at HSBC. He has advised a broad range of public and private sector clients, with a particular focus and expertise in securing debt finance to fund major infrastructure roll out for start-up businesses in the satellite sector. His recent clients include OneWeb, Iridium, Seaborn Networks and O3b Networks. Nick has a BA (Hons) in International Economics and a Maitrise in International Commerce. He is also an associate of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (ACMA, CGMA) and a regular speaker on the telecom & satellite sector conference circuit.
Mr Du is currently the Deputy Director of China Aviation Industrial Base (CAIB), which is China’s largest aviation industrial cluster. His major responsibility includes investment attraction and international cooperation promotion. He has profound understanding and strong expertise in aviation and is also very well connected in China’s civil aviation industry.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3qz88K8
The future of digital finance in Europe runs through public policy. While there is much excitement about technological advances and the promise they might offer, the primary driver of the future shape of digital finance and whether it will deliver meaningful social benefit or merely reproduce, in digital form, the strengths and weaknesses of the current financial system, depends heavily on the direction of public policy and the regulatory framework. This is the main conclusion of a paper titled "Building Digital Finance in Europe: FinTech for Social Value" by Ismail Ertürk and Joe Zammit-Lucia for the RADIX Centre for Business, Politics & Society.
In this event, Ismail and Joe will be discussing the state of the 'FinTech' industry in Europe and what it will take for Europe to catch up with the US and China and deliver a digital finance ecosystem that lives up to the promise of market disruption digital technology that democratises finance, increases competition, and better align the financial system with broader societal goals.
Speakers:
Ismail Ertürk is a Senior Fellow at RADIX, Senior Lecturer in Banking and Director for Social Responsibility and Engagement at Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester. His research interests are financialised capitalism, post-crisis central bank unconventional policies, social value of finance and banking, corporate governance and cultural political economy. He has published widely in these areas.
He has undertaken advisory work for companies and government institutions internationally, has developed and directed senior banking programmes for the leading international banks and regularly comments on banking and international economics in the international media.
He co-authored After the Great Complacence: Financial Innovation and Politics of Financial Reforms Oxford University Press 2011 and co-edited Routledge Companion to Banking Regulation and Reform, Routledge 2017, Central Banking at a Crossroads Anthem Press 2014, Financialization at Work, Routledge 2008.
Joe Zammit-Lucia is a co-Founder and Board member at RADIX. Trained as a physician at the University of London he had a career in industry spanning Research & Development, marketing, strategic planning and industry economics. An entrepreneur whose business grew to be market leader in its field, he is an investor in early stage companies.
His interest is in the relationship between policy, business and the economy and he is a regular commentator on the subject in the UK, USA, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands and Malta. He was Special Advisor to the Director General at the International Union for Conservation of Nature and a member of the Dean's Advisory Board at Florida International University. He is an Advisory Board member of the Singapore Forum for long-term investors focused on building an SDG-driven world economy.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3HmpNLP
As well as small and exciting, the world is a big and dangerous place. Businesses round the world have been encouraged for the past few decades to pay more and more attention to risk and governance issues. Volatility and surprises persist (we didn’t even mention covid-19) while smooth waters ever recede. Survivability doesn’t seem to improve. Yet our approaches to non-financial risk are largely manual, mostly qualitative, and full of paperwork that no-one fully understands or reads. Is there an opportunity for automation?
This webinar will explore some existing automated approaches to handling operational risks of a wide variety:
- Riskintel turns unstructured open source data into intelligence reports, for example on supplier-induced reputational risks;
- Apomatix provides risk, asset, and control management systems for reporting and analysis.
Speakers:
Asad Ansari - Having worked within the consulting world for a number of years, Asad founded RiskIntel to help clients mitigate third-party reputational risk. This fit in well within his portfolio, as he's advised top tier institutions; banks, insurance companies; technology and pharmaceutical companies within risk and regulatory affairs.
He is also a Partner at AccrediNation, a global accreditation provider across multiple sectors with the aim to improve education standards and bring integrity and quality to Human Resources.
Away from business, Asad is a board member for the British Armed Forces interfaith and Defence communication group committee, candidate for City of London’s 2022 general elections and an Ambassador for Graham Layton Trust. More recently Asad is supporting the British Asian Trust on their Mental Health project in Pakistan.
Vartan Sarkissian - Prior to launching Apomatix (a Risk Data Company with Next Generation Risk Management software), Vartan was the founder and CEO of two software companies, both successfully sold in 2009. HighTechTA (2004), an R&D lab, provided acoustic recognition and behavioural modelling technology for the growing mobile industry. RawRip.com (2006), a music streaming company in 2006 was the first to offer Hybrid Recommendation technology and a disruptive business model of 100% royalties.
After the sale of both companies, Vartan became the Founding Director of the first Worldwide Cybersecurity Initiative (EastWest Institute), engaging 41 countries and C-Level executives of 300 critical organisations. Vartan has also held positions as Senior Advisor to Ernst & Young on Digital Transformation; he became a Founder in two cybersecurity encryption labs which he successfully exited within two years of founding. After which, he became the Founding Partner of KCS, an early-stage venture fund. Earlier in his career Vartan was an Executive in Finance and Corporate Development at MGM Studios. Educated at the London School of Economics (LSE) Vartan holds a degree in Management Sciences and a double Master’s in Media and Communications.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3qxSSgM
The Luxembourg financial centre offers a diverse range of financial services connecting investors and markets around the world.
The financial centre’s unique cross-border expertise attracts financial service providers from around the globe, while Luxembourg’s capital markets infrastructure makes it the ideal place for companies of all sizes to finance their European and global activities.
In this webinar, Philipp von Restorff, Deputy CEO, Luxembourg for Finance, will focus on Luxembourg's successes and its ambition to finance a sustainable future.
Speaker:
Philipp von Restorff currently serves as Deputy CEO at Luxembourg for Finance (LFF), the agency for the development of the Luxembourg financial centre. He represents LFF as member of the Board of Directors of the Luxembourg Sustainable Finance Initiative as well as of LuxFLAG, the Luxembourg Finance Labelling Agency. He also holds the Chairmanship of the Management Committee of the "Stiftung Pflanzen für Menschen", a foundation supporting non-profit organisations active in the areas of health care and climate change related education.
Prior to his appointment as LFF Deputy CEO, he has been serving as Head of Communication of the Luxembourg Bankers' Association (ABBL), where he also held the position of Secretary of the Board of Directors. From 2014-2018 Philipp has been Chairman of the European Banking Federation's Communication and CSR Steering Committee.
Philipp is lecturer at the Luxembourg House of Training and a volunteer for different programs at "Jonk Entrepreneuren Luxembourg", a branch of the Junior Achievement Network (JA).
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/349w67j
Working practices have been fundamentally changed by the pandemic. The end of lockdown may be in sight but the office environment has changed forever.
Employers and Senior Managers need to know how these changes affect their legal rights and obligations. This is particularly so with respect to the specific challenges of the regulated environment of workers in the City. This webinar will explore the key themes of the “new normal” and provide practical advice on staying on the right side of the complex arena of employment law and consider management obligations to employees and workers.
Speaker:
Alexandra Carn is an employment lawyer with a specialism in the financial services sector, often acting for PRA and FCA regulated individuals and companies. She is highly experienced in advising on all employment-related claims, including whistleblowing, discrimination and equal pay. She also advises on High court litigation including breach of contract, post-termination restrictions, and shareholder and board disputes.
Alexandra also assists with the employment-related elements of corporate transactions such as collective redundancies and TUPE.
Cordelia Rushby is a specialist Insurance and Health lawyer. She advises on a wide range of commercial issues connected with the management of workforce injury and health, often bridging the gap between compliance, human resources and claims. She works with employers on health and safety strategy, undertakes audits of health and safety documentation, drafts and advises on risk assessments, and assists with the management of long-term sick absence and the defence of litigated claims.
Cordelia also has a substantial practice advising income protection providers on the enforceability of claims, policy wording disputes, and medical and financial fraud. She has successfully defended insurers on many appeals referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Cordelia is also a part-time Tribunal Judge of the Social Entitlement Chamber.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3FWwAfb
For much of the twentieth century, London was the global centre for disposable latex condom production, and the London Rubber Company was the biggest and the most successful condom manufacturer ever to operate in Britain. Thanks to its historic distribution network, amplified wartime production, sophisticated and innovative production techniques, notorious anti-competitive practices, and a careful play-off between extra-marital and ‘respectable’ markets, the company enjoyed a near monopoly on supply and distribution during it’s heyday in the 1950s and 1960s. But London Rubber was also, in many ways, a socially progressive company for the time, offering a profit-share scheme and many benefits to employees, including time off for working mothers. London Rubber chemists and engineers offered a free R&D service to surgeons and other medical interest groups, while ordinary employees could expect regular rewards for service, theatre trips for their children, and an array of social activities and dances, and flexible time off for parents. Join Jessica for a discussion on the surprising ways in which this historic and notoriously secretive firm created a memorable community spirit.
Please find here a recently published story from Jessica on Yahoo News: Durex condoms: how their teenage immigrant inventor was forgotten by history
Jessica Borge is an interdisciplinary researcher in the field of Contemporary British History, with a specialism in the intersection of business, society and media. Her book, Protective Practices. A History of the London Rubber Company and the Condom Business is published by McGill-Queen’s University Press. For more information, see www.londonrubbercompany.com.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/32wbOoc
In this webinar, we launched the second edition of the Smart Centres Index (SCI 2). The SCI is designed to track the development of technology and financial centres across the world in their support for and readiness for new technology applications.
Investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, media, academics, governments, and regulators can attune their cities to attract innovation and growth in Science, Technology, Energy Systems, Machine Learning, Distributed Ledgers, or Fintech. Tuning a city for innovation is complex. Z/Yen began studying successful and unsuccessful business innovation clustering some 15 years ago, and published in 2018 the Smart Jurisdictions Index. Building on the results of that research we have created a novel factor assessment index based on three dimensions - innovation support, creative intensity, and delivery capability.
The SCI is designed to track the readiness of business centres across the world to support new technology businesses. The SCI uses assessments from private and public sector individuals, along with 126 instrumental factors, to rate the centres. This important project that will grow substantially as more people pay attention to the ways centres can help globally innovative businesses thrive in rapidly changing times.
We presented in this webinar the latest results from our research and the factors driving the development of smart centres across the world.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3eyzNVY
Pundits (often with equity investments to sell) have been predicting the demise of the bond market for decades. Bond investment is often seen as the dowdy, less exciting sibling of the equity market. Yet, when executed properly, bond investing can perform well against equities in all but the most soaring equity bull markets. Will this always be the case or is this just a fallacy? And how will London’s role change in a post-Brexit Britain? Join this webinar to hear why Alastair believes the opportunities in fixed income as we start 2021 remain as compelling and fascinating as they ever have before.
Speaker:
Alastair King is founder of the Naisbitt King Group. Alastair originally qualified as a solicitor and practiced with Baker & McKenzie in London and in Asia. He moved into venture capital/private equity with NewMedia Spark (now Spark Venture Management) and then, with a small investor group, took control of Galahad Capital PLC which became a successful publicly quoted investment vehicle, with Alastair as Managing Director. He then founded Glendevon King Limited, a fund management company, and Eredene Capital PLC, an AIM-quoted investment company specialising in Indian Infrastructure projects prior to starting Naisbitt King Group. Alastair also has an MSc in Finance from London Business School.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3HmYEZ9
Many systems using AI make remarkable claims of accuracy. Regularly you see claims of 95, 98 or even 99% accuracy. Yet, if this was the case then why are AI systems regularly breaking, why do you frequently need a new model and why are not all the data analysts and AI experts redundant. Also, why does frequently the user experience not live up to expectations. It suggests many times the accuracy bandied around is an illusion or a sale pitch out of context. Yes, sometimes, AI can achieve remarkable feats. Feats we could previously have not imagined and indeed even sometimes feats of remarkable accuracy. However it is not always the case and when it goes wrong it can be disastrous. Here, I will present current understanding of why these systems are not preforming as expected, some thoughts on how to spot AI systems that are less likely to not perform as expected and some of our recent work on developing a system to evaluate the AI system for its performance even if you do not have access to the core algorithms.
Speaker:
Kevin Maynard is a co-director at the Institute of Ethical AI at Oxford Brookes University. The Institute is working with the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation to develop systems that can evaluate and regulate AI systems. This will contribute to the development of systems that set standards of performance for emerging AI systems particularly those which evaluate humans. Other work is focusing on tools which can constrain the behaviour of AI systems to perform within expected boundaries and be able to learn from multiple databases.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3JraumZ
With the price of bitcoin breaking through $20,000 and heading into uncharted territory, private investors and institutions are now flocking to this new asset class that many were disparaging just a couple of years back. Why are cryptocurrencies and digital assets proving so popular in these times of global crisis and what does the future hold for global digital finance?
Please read GDF's Annual Report by way of background: GDF 2020 Annual Report
Speaker:
Lawrence Wintermeyer is a globally recognised digital finance advocate with a track record as an advisor, executive, and board member working with global brands and startups. Based in London, he is the Principal of Elipses, a digital investment management firm focused on sustainable investments, systematic investment management strategies, big data analytics, machine learning, and DLT technologies. He is the co-founder of Global Digital Finance, a not for-profit promoting fair and transparent markets for crypto and digital assets, and is the former CEO of Innovate Finance. Lawrence has an MBA and is a regular Forbes contributor. He promotes ethical and sustainable finance policies for a transparent, secure, and quality digital future for everyone.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3mDODiv
Background: In this webinar, YBS Share Plans’ Darren Smith and guests Amanda Flint of Mercer, William Franklin of Pett Franklin and Peter Smith also of YBS Share Plans, will discuss in depth, articles of interest featured in recent editions of “It’s Our Business”, newspad of the Esop Centre.
Speaker: Darren Smith, Corporate Relationship Manager, YBS Share Plans, has worked in the Share Plans industry for over 20 years. In this time he has worked on all the operational teams including management, relationship management and most recently business development. He is a regular industry host and speaker on topics including share plans and financial wellbeing, bringing a fun and engaging style to events.
Panellist: Amanda Flint, Corporate Reward & Executive Compensation Lead, Mercer, has over twenty five years’ experience in advising organisations on executive compensation. She has a wide-ranging knowledge of the tax, legal, regulatory and accounting issues relating to reward and uses this knowledge to give pragmatic, commercial advice.
She works with Remuneration Committees of UK and international companies advising on all types of executive remuneration, including the design and implementation of incentive plans. She also works with a variety of financial services institutions and private equity/investment funds, and has extensive experience in transactions including mergers, acquisitions and IPOs.
Amanda has an MA in Law from Cambridge University. She originally qualified as a solicitor. She joined Mercer after spending 15 years as a Reward partner in KPMG and Tier A accounting firms.
Panellist: William Franklin, Partner, Pett Franklin, is an experienced share schemes practitioner and a Chartered Accountant who is widely recognised as a leading adviser on the valuation, accounting and financial aspects of all forms of remuneration, incentive and employee share schemes.
He is a member of the HMRC Employment-Related Securities & Valuations sub-group, a Board Member for the Lexis PSL Share Incentives Consulting Editorial Board and he contributes to Tolley’s Guidance on Employment Taxes and to PLC. William has been appointed as Chairman of the Worked Examples Group, a group of experts who work with HMRC to publish examples of share valuations over a wide range of employee share ownership and employee ownership arrangements. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow for the Esop Centre and a regular speaker at conferences on share schemes and employee ownership. He has a wide background in tax advice and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation.
Panellist: Peter Smith, Future Planning Manager, YBS Share Plans, is an employee share plans expert with 15 years’ experience, particularly in global discretionary share plans for FTSE100 and FTSE250 companies. He is a passionate advocate of the opportunities for employers in enabling financial wellbeing for their employees and has played a key role in shaping and delivering innovations in this space such as direct from salary workplace savings. His role includes: Leading research into future share plans requirements; staying abreast of industry and HMRC developments informing future investment requirements and system developments; future-proofing share plans technological capability; and forecasting, monitoring and evaluating commercial performance.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3pDmWbi
The slowdown in economic growth that started around the turn of century was driven by demographic changes and a shift towards producing services. Those phenomena were a consequence of high living standards, and in the case of demographic change also of expanded opportunities for women to control their careers and family size. Slow growth isn’t something we can fix with policies related to taxes, regulation, inequality, trade, or market power. Moreover, once you appreciate the underlying reasons for slow growth, it becomes apparent there is nothing to fix.
Speaker:
Dietrich Vollrath is Professor of Economics at the University of Houston, where he has been since 2005. He has a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan, and a PhD in Economics from Brown University. His research interests are in growth and development, with a focus on structural transformation, agricultural productivity, and urbanization. He has published articles in a number of leading economics journals, and is the co-author (with Charles I. Jones) of a textbook on economic growth, Introduction to Economic Growth. His most recent book is Fully Grown: Why a Stangant Economy is a Sign of Success, on the slowdown in growth in the United States. He teaches courses in economic growth and macroeconomics at the undergraduate and graduate level, and is the author of the Growth Economics Blog.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3eChPlw
Mutual and cooperative insurers are responsible for one-third of all insurance premiums in Europe. Their status belies their size: they range from some of the smallest to some of the largest European insurers, and with no external shareholders to satisfy, they are able to apply their profits to the benefit of their policyholders. As major stakeholders in the social economy and with strong ties to local markets, mutual and cooperative insurers responded quickly to the COVID-19 crisis to help their customers and wider society. Working often under the radar, the mutuals are continuing to provide support in all sorts of ways to boost resilience for people, businesses and economies across Europe.
Speaker:
Sarah Goddard is Secretary General of AMICE, the Association of Mutual Insurers and Insurance Cooperatives in Europe. AMICE focuses on advocacy to European institutions to ensure a fair and appropriate environment for its members. Sarah sits on the board of Social Economy Europe, which continues to grow in importance with the re-established European Parliament Social Economy Intergroup. Before joining AMICE, Sarah was CEO of DIMA, a representative body for international re/insurers in Ireland, where she was identified as a member of the “power 50” in global captives. Her earlier career included editor positions with international re/insurance publications and at Lloyd’s.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3JFDszR
The year of the pandemic has also been the year of the young investor, with both established platforms and challenger apps seeing an upsurge in millennial customers. In her forthcoming book ‘Own It’, Iona Bain makes the case for why her generation can and must invest its way to a better future. She asks whether you can invest for your first home, advises how to ‘woke up’ your pension, examines the FIRE movement, and navigates the tricky waters of robo advice, free trading, and influencers pushing forex and Bitcoin. Come and find out what makes young investors tick today!
Speaker:
Iona Bain is a financial writer, blogger, speaker, commentator and broadcaster. I founded the Young Money Blog in 2011 and am now widely considered the UK's go-to voice on millennial money. She is a regular presence on TV and radio, and am quoted frequently in national and online press. She is a writer for the FT Money section in the Financial Times and she recently became Money Hacker in residence at BBC Radio 1’s Life Hacks show, regularly broadcasting money advice to young people across the UK.
Recent online appearances include VICE UK, Vogue UK and Refinery 29, while her journalism and commentary has appeared extensively in national and Scottish titles, including the Times, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Independent, New Statesman, Scotsman, Herald and Spectator.
Iona was shortlisted for a UK Press Award in 2020, where she was nominated by Women in Journalism for the Georgina Henry Award, and she was named IPSE’s Freelancer of the Year in 2018. She was named one of Onalytica’s top 20 most influential women in finance in 2019.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3qG0eP6
David regularly kicks off the Financial Services Club annual events by updating us on the EU financial services regulatory agenda. This year will be no different, with David updating us on the effects of Brexit and Covid 19.
David Doyle is known across Europe as a leading expert on EU financial services regulation and long-standing speaker at the Financial Services Club. A former diplomat with over 20 years of service on mainland Europe at bilateral and multilateral level, he now acts as an EU Policy Advisor between Brussels and London, specialising in regulatory developments in banking, fund management and insurance.
He is a member of the Executive Board of the joint MEP-EU industry advocacy body, The Kangaroo Group at the European Parliament, holds a seat on the Board of Directors of the Genesis Initiative at Westminster that promotes entrepreneurship and SME policy, as well as being active in the Transatlantic Business Council on Capital Markets and the Conference Board Corporate Governance Council.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3Hpd6A1
Dubai International Financial Centre is the leading financial hub in the Middle East & Africa in the Global Financial Centres Index, and has a 15-year track record of facilitating trade and investment flows across the region, connecting local markets with the economies of Asia, Europe and the Americas.
In this webinar, Salmaan Jaffery, Chief Business Development Officer, DIFC Authority, will focused on Dubai’s successes and future development.
Programme
09:00 Welcome, Mike Wardle, Director and Head Of Indices, Z/Yen Group
09:05 Dubai International Financial Centre: Overview and Development, Salmaan Jaffery, Chief Business Development Officer, DIFC Authority
09:25 An External View, Mike Wardle, Director and Head Of Indices, Z/Yen Group
09:30 Questions, Comments, Answers
09:45 Close
Speaker
In his capacity as Chief Business Development Officer, Salmaan Jaffery is responsible for developing and executing business strategies aligned with the DIFC’s 2024 growth ambitions. The business development team, under Mr. Jaffery’s direction, identifies and evaluates potential partnership opportunities that serve business and client growth within the DIFC community.
Mr. Jaffery has 20 years of extensive operating and advisory experience working with global financial services and consulting firms across the Middle East & North Africa, Asia and North America. During this time, he has established a track record for earning trust and delivering value to clients by developing new revenue opportunities, improving performance and driving organisational change. Mr. Jaffery has cultivated a vast network of peer and C-Suite relationships and is an accomplished thought leader in customer centricity and Islamic finance.
Before joining the DIFC Authority, Mr. Jaffery held leadership roles in Conventional & Islamic Finance at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young Middle East. Prior to that, he held operating and finance roles at Citibank and American Express in New York. Mr. Jaffery has also led client teams at Oliver Wyman focused on customer driven growth strategies and new venture analyses.
Mr. Jaffery holds an MBA from Cornell University and a BA in International Relations (Phi Beta Kappa) from Colgate University in the United States. He is President of the Cornell University and Johnson School Clubs, Middle East and serves on the Boards of several non-profit organisations.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3FEnUd0
Hybrid Working - providing a mix of home and office working - will be with us for the long-term. This presents a number of new challenges for leaders:
- How can leaders continue to effectively motivate and communicate with hybrid teams so that everyone feels equally connected to the organisation?
- How will the organisation design support the effectiveness of hybrid teams?
- How can leaders help their team members come through the emotional fall-out that people will have experienced as a result of Covid?
- How autonomous will teams be in the future and how will Leaders balance between more traditional control and the increased empowerment of a hybrid?
- How can leaders overcome their unconscious biases about the two different groups? (working from home or in the office)
To learn more about the psychology of hybrid working and the impact that is having on leadership, join us on 19th January 2021 for a webinar with specialist firm OE Cam. Julie Brophy and Gary Ashton will share their insights and provide practical tools and techniques to enable you to more effectively lead your hybrid workforce.
Speakers:
Julie Brophy is a highly experienced consultant working in OE Cam's Organisation Development practice. She specialises in helping clients to improve the effectiveness of individuals, teams and organisations through re-designing and implementing organisation structures and management processes, post-merger integration and culture change.
As a Business Psychologist, she has a particular interest in communication to support change programmes, natural language processing (NLP) and the impact of AI on organisations and employees. She is an active member of the British Psychological Society and a founder member of their Qualitative Research Division.
Julie has delivered OD projects globally across a range of industry sectors including Retail, FMCG, Financial Services, Manufacturing and Government.
Gary Ashton leads OE Cam’s Organisation Development practice.
He consults in the re-design and implementation of organisation structures and management processes, post-merger integration, improvement of joint venture organisation capability, and board and senior management team assessment and development.
He has presented at seminars on organisation change, business partnerships, has led a Retail HR Forum, and has been a visiting lecturer at the University of Cambridge Institute of Manufacturing.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3EHpoSy
Technology, policy and capital are the they keys to achieve a transition to a low carbon economy. But both business leaders, policy makers and investors are facing increasing short term pressure. These pressures often materialize in impatient capital leading to a bad capital allocation (fossil fuels, derivatives, etc.). How could we encourage patient capital to rebalance financial markets? Are there accounting norms, prudential regulation and asset classes avenues we could explore to achieve this objective?
Speaker:
Combining expertise in finance with strong strategic focus, Djellil Bouzidi executed and managed several assignments for leading investment banks and asset managers in Europe. Before creating Emena Advisory, a consulting firm, he also worked as a senior manager in charge of new products within a large investment bank.
Specialized in capital markets, green finance and industrial economics, he wrote several papers and gave lectures on those topics in several journals and universities. He recently co-wrote a book on green financial innovation with Pr. Michael Mainelli recommending the launch of a new asset class. He also contributed to the first report on positive economy submitted to the French President.
A graduate from Catholic University of Leuven and Paris Dauphine University; Abdeldjellil received his Ph.D. in industrial economics from Paris Sorbonne University and completed several executive education programs at IMD Lausanne and London Business School. Abdeldjellil is also a member of the French Official Statistical Authority (Autorité de la Statistique Publique), of several leading think tanks and associate researcher at Sorbonne Paris Cite.
Djellil's recent co-authored report on green financial innovation can be found here.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3eFkLxG
Making finance consistent with the delivery of a net-zero and resilient economy is the crucial third goal of the Paris Agreement. As the UK seeks to deliver its target of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050, a more systematic approach to financing is now needed.
Net-zero is increasingly recognised as an important goal by leaders within the UK’s financial community, but it is not yet embedded into routine decision-making and policy. Strikingly, COVID-19 has deepened rather than deflected financial sector commitment to climate action. The way the UK exits from COVID will profoundly shape its ability to meet its climate targets and achieve wider economic goals, not least in terms of levelling up prosperity across the country. An ambitious green recovery plan that accelerates investment in a net-zero, resilient and just transition is not just needed, but is also called for by business, finance and citizens.
Building on the recent report, The Road to Net-Zero Finance, produced for the Climate Change Committee, this webinar will delve in to how we can kickstart the process in 2021.
Speaker:
Nick Robins joined the Grantham Research Institute in February 2018 as Professor in Practice for Sustainable Finance. Nick leads the sustainable finance research theme. The focus of his work is on how to mobilise finance for a just transition, the role of central banks and regulators in achieving sustainable development and how the financial system can support the restoration of nature.
From 2014 to 2018, Nick was co-director of UN Environment’s Inquiry into a Sustainable Finance System. As part of this, Nick led country activities in Brazil, the EU, India, Italy and the UK, as well as thematic work focused on investors, insurance and green banking.
Before joining UNEP, he was Head of the Climate Change Centre of Excellence at HSBC. Prior to HSBC, Nick was head of Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) funds at Henderson Global Investors. Nick has also worked at the International Institute for Environment and Development, the European Commission and the Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Nick has a BA in History from Cambridge University and an MSc in International Relations from LSE.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3qFFcjx
Increasingly issues are being raised around risks relating to data, which can have a significant impact on current and future valuations and liabilities.
Due diligence assessments play a vital role in understanding potential risk, liability and reputational exposure coming out of a transaction. Understanding and assessing these risks involves a combination of due diligence in privacy, data protection, cyber security and data management skills.
This webinar brings together experts from the cyber, privacy and legal worlds covering topics on:
- How future liability may arise in a deal involving the transfer of data assets.
- Future liability where revenue forecasts may be based on the monetisation of data sets or a business model which fail to meet baseline GDPR or CCPA requirements.
- Understanding how to assess your potential exposure to cyber- exploitation or legal claims based on historic data breaches; and
- How this is critical to determining the extent to which future fines or legal liability have been factored into revenue and cost models.
Speakers:
Kevin Hall is a Senior Director with Alvarez & Marsal's Cyber Risk Services practice in London. He has twenty years’ experience working in technology and over fourteen years’ focusing on cyber security risk management, security strategy and governance, cyber security and data protection due diligence, incident and crisis management, and multi-jurisdiction digital forensic investigations and disclosure of electronic documents in Regulatory matters.
Matthew Negus is a Senior Director with Alvarez & Marsal’s Disputes & Investigations practice in London. He brings more than 15 years of experience in complex privacy and data protection matters. He specialises in leading privacy compliance assessments and global change programs driven by GDPR, specifically in the design of privacy governance arrangements including resourcing levels, reporting lines, DPO designation and allocation of privacy responsibilities across business areas and back-office functions. Mr. Negus has worked with clients across a range of industries such as banking, insurance, technology, property development, retail and leisure.
Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Negus spent more than five years in the Global Privacy & Data Protection consulting practice at Promontory (an IBM Company). He began his career at the Information Commissioner’s Office and held a number of in-house and consulting roles, including more than four years as the EMEA Privacy Compliance Lead at BNY Mellon.
Hazel Grant is the head of the Privacy, Security and Information group at Fieldfisher, specialising in data protection and information law.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3mN0ESJ
In a hyper connected digital world identification becomes foundational for all that we do. This is frequently friction-filled, troublesome and insecure, characterized by hundreds of accounts and passwords, and undermined by a rising tide of identity fraud and data breaches.
In this new world, Mastercard seeks to lead the creation of a collaborative user centric new trust ecosystem, to allow all types of digital interactions, where user data will be verified in a secure and privacy sensitive way. From getting access to public services like education or health, to seamless travel around the world, to interacting with financial services. That is ID by Mastercard.
In strong collaboration with government and other private sector partners, we are providing a service where you as user will create your own digital identity, based on the data that you choose to share, having always full control of it, at your hand, only stored in your mobile device and your direct control over the way to simply and securely validate that you are you. Protecting your right to decide what to share and when to share it. Because you should be the owner of you.
www.idservice.com
Speakers:
Dan Johnson is vice president, Identity Products for Mastercard based in London. He is a key leader in Mastercard’s initiative to create an effective, efficient and principled model of digital identity in an increasingly connected world. His team is helping to define how a person’s identity, and the entities operating on their behalf, can be verified immediately, safely and securely, across multiple touchpoints in both the digital and physical worlds.
Prior to joining Mastercard, Mr. Johnson was head of digital identity at HSBC Digital Solutions, where he worked with the UK government and a public/private consortium to define a multi-sector, multi-jurisdiction digital identity ecosystem designed to streamline cross-border bank account opening. He has also held senior IT and project management roles at Credit Suisse, Barclays Capital and the General Medical Council.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3eDGpmc
AkinovA is a neutral, regulated and digital first marketplace where capital can meet insurance and reinsurance risks directly, advised by data driven brokers and powered by insights from third party data and analytics providers. AkinovA is used to transfer indemnity re/insurance products but we see a real demand for parametric products. Parametric risk transfer is not new. It is typically used in insurance linked securities including catastrophe bonds and industry loss warranties. Those have been used to transfer risks between capital markets and the insurance sector over the last 25 years. But this is changing. An assortment of insured dissatisfaction with complex wordings, delayed payments, a need to create innovative products and underwriting capacity for risks which are not traditionally thought to be insurable, all mixed with a post pandemic world where viruses, whether digital or not, pose a clear and present danger, where intangible assets now make 4/5th of the value of most corporates without obvious ways to cover intangible risks all combine to become a powerful platform for change. Parametric risk transfers are spreading to SMEs, corporates and beyond.
In this presentation we will cover:
- the basics of parametric vs indemnity products;
- the basis risks/basis chance terms often put forward as issues with such products;
- the rationale behind the need for both indemnity and parametric products right across the re/insurance and capital markets landscapes as investors seek a new source of alpha decorrelated or time shifted from capital markets movements;
- if time permits, we will also explore how new data sources already enable new entrants operating on modern technology infrastructures to deliver new products and, in doing so, compete effectively with incumbents (or become M&A targets for incumbents where they seek to access new products more effectively).
Speaker:
Dr Henri Winand is a growth and change oriented CEO with a passion for scaling up a broad set of technologies globally using different business models and team-based delivery. He serves as CEO for AKINOVA Ltd, an insurance technology company he co-founded with a specialist insurance linked securities and related insurance products fund manager. Prior to this, Henri served as CEO of a British tech company listed on the London Stock Exchange Main Market (a $1bn tech IPO) with, over time, in excess of $250m raised from a broad range of sources, leading to strong top line growth, largely from internationally-based customers.
Henri has served on several Boards in the UK, Singapore, India, Japan and the US in the energy, software services, film contents publishing and automotive sectors. He also served on the Board of an EU funded €1bn+ public private tech partnership (PPP), served on several advisory bodies to Ministers, Secretaries of State and Officials in the new energy, automotive and materials science sectors in the UK as well as on the Alumni Advisory Board of the Warwick Business School and of the University of Cambridge.
He has more than a dozen patents granted and pending and several papers published in well-known, peer reviewed, scientific journals, topics including composite materials, neutron diffraction and processes to improve industrial product development cycles. Henri is regularly invited to speak at international conferences and spoke in the US Senate and French Sénat. He provides advice to selected major global institutional, venture capital and private equity funds.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3eBnLv0
The aim of the Share Valuation Worked Examples Group (WEG), a joint initiative with HMRC, is to improve understanding and reduce uncertainty for share valuations for employee share schemes. It follows the withdrawal of the HMRC non-statutory ITEPA Best Estimate and Post Transaction Valuation Check (PTVC) procedures by creating more Share Valuation Worked Examples for general guidance.
An initiative by William Franklin of Pett Franklin with advice from the Esop Centre, the Worked Examples Group (WEG) was formed with expert members nominated by the leading share scheme bodies: ESOP centre; ProShare; Employee Ownership Association (EOA); Share Plans Lawyers Group (SPLG).
In this webinar, William explains the role of the WEG and is place in the changing tax valuation landscape.
Speaker:
William Franklin is an experienced share schemes practitioner and a Chartered Accountant who is widely recognised as a leading adviser on the valuation, accounting and financial aspects of all forms of remuneration, incentive and employee share schemes.
He is a member of the HMRC Employment-Related Securities & Valuations sub-group, a Board Member for the Lexis PSL Share Incentives Consulting Editorial Board and he contributes to Tolley’s Guidance on Employment Taxes and to PLC. William has been appointed as Chairman of the Worked Examples Group, a group of experts who work with HMRC to publish examples of share valuations over a wide range of employee share ownership and employee ownership arrangements. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow for the Esop Centre and a regular speaker at conferences on share schemes and employee ownership. He has a wide background in tax advice and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3EMKyOZ
In this webinar, Edward Wild, founder of Wild Search, an executive search and advisory firm now in its 10th year, will share his experience of advising on non executive and trustee appointments over more than a decade. It will be useful to those either considering their first non executive role, or seeking to combine a number of such roles following their executive career. It will also be of use to those seeking non executives or trustees for their organisation, as it is important to understand the motivations of those taking this route so as to secure the best people and retain them.
A report on these themes can be downloaded from the Wild Search website
Speaker:
Edward Wild led the formation of Wild Search in 2010 following his earlier career in executive search with Odgers Ray and Berndtson. Prior to Wild Search he established and led the Board and Non Profit practices at an established boutique firm, specialising in appointments of executive and non executive directors, chairs and trustees. He has worked for a wide range of membership, professional and trade bodies, arts and tourism organisations, charities, educational organisations and housing providers; in addition to work for corporate clients on national and international searches.
He brings clients 25 years’ experience in education as both a practitioner and adviser, with a growing interest in international education, both within the UK and in the growth of British schools and colleges abroad. He recently took part in the Education Investor Global Summit in Singapore and visited a number of Wild Search’s international partners and colleagues to develop his knowledge and insights.
His early career was pursued in secondary education and charities (including Cancer Research UK and Addaction). He combined this experience to become the first ever Development Director of Hampton School in 2001.
He is the author of 'School by the Thames' (James and James 2005) and, with Neil Carmichael MP, 'Who Governors the Governors?' (Wild Research 2011), 'Stronger Boards, Better Education' (2012) and 'Building Better Boards: An Opportunity for Education' (2015). He has edited a number of Wild Research publications, including three reports on portfolio careers, Charting a New Chapter (2020) being the latest one.
He has been a columnist on politics and education for regional newspapers and magazines, in addition to being regularly quoted by The Sunday Times on senior appointments and the rural economy. He was educated at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and has completed an executive education programme at Harvard Business School.
Edward is an experienced charity trustee member of the RSCM Council.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/32RlgSQ
Whatever the outcome of leaving the EU we will have new ways of trading, accounting for those trades and dealing with the additional paperwork. This jaunt through the outcomes and eventualities of trading with our neighbours will help you understand the impact of the new regimes and how to record and evidence the transactions. We will look at Rules of Origin and Free Trade Agreements, examining how they impact on business and everyday life. When to access a Free Trade Agreement will soon be on the 'to-do lists' of many CEOs across the country, whatever size their business.
Speaker:
Lesley Batchelor OBE is a champion of UK exporters, with a powerful track record in enhancing the international performance of hundreds of businesses.
From a blue-chip background, she worked as director general of the Institute of Export (IOE) for 12 years promoting professionalism and the need for qualifications and support for businesses. Co-Chair of the Bribery Act 2010 Scrutiny expert panel working with DFID and the Gov. Anti-corruption Champion; advising on APPG Advisory Panels on Trade & Investment and Manufacturing and Select Committees supporting SMEs. ICC/WTO MSME trade negotiation. WTO Alliance & Trade & Investment Committee.
Lesley now runs Export Boot Camps an ICC and ILM accredited training company with a real difference. Using years of experience teaching and training businesses owners and managers to trade competently internationally the Boot Camp approach guarantees engagement and results. She also acts as a board advisor to Bridgehead International Agency and Open Borders Direct. With invaluable expertise in intellectual property, global licensing and marketing Lesley has been awarded CBI Real Business First Woman in Business Services and CEO of the year from Trade Association Congress in 2015.
Lesley is often sought out for comment on Brexit and international trade issues writing thought leadership pieces for many journals, TV and radio stations.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3qBlsxM
The integration of China and the improvements in the workforce among the advanced economies produced a demographic ‘sweet spot’ that led to falling inflation and interest rates, steady growth and rising asset prices – an era that Mervyn King labelled the NICE (No Inflation Constant Expansion) years. The bad news was that debt and inequality within the advanced economies rose, but even there, global inequality fell as emerging economies benefited from globalisation.
That sweet spot is now turning sour. Saddled with even more debt because of the pandemic, and unable to lift growth at all and productivity by much, the advanced economies will have little choice but pursue inflation. If demography provides a ‘real’ explanation for why inflation will rise, the recent dramatic increase in monetary aggregates ensures that inflation will rise within a year of the vaccination of our populations. Central banks and markets will initially welcome higher inflation, but soon despair at their inability to control it.
Of one thing we are sure, the future of ageing societies will be nothing like the past.
Speakers:
Manoj Pradhan is the founder of Talking Heads Macroeconomics, an independent research advisory for global macroeconomics. He was most recently Managing Director at Morgan Stanley. Prior to that, he served on the faculty of the George Washington University and the State University of New York. While at Morgan Stanley, Manoj worked on quantitative macroeconomics, emerging markets and global economics. He has a Ph.D. in economics from George Washington University and a masters in finance from the London Business School.
Charles Goodhart's career has alternated between academia (Cambridge, 1963-65; LSE, 1967/68; again 1985-date), and work in the official sector, mostly in the Bank of England (Department of Economic Affairs, 1965/66; Bank of England, 1968-85; Monetary Policy Committee, 1997-2000). He has been a specialist monetary economist, focussing on policy issues and on financial regulation, and has written more books and articles on these subjects than any sane person would want to read.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3eU3sJD
What would be today’s response, in a world with Covid-19 and Brexit, if we had a 2007-2010 style crash?
Speaker:
Nicolas Véron co-founded Bruegel in Brussels in 2002-05, joined the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington DC in 2009, and is currently employed on equal terms by both organizations as a Senior Fellow. His research is primarily about financial systems and financial services policies, with a main geographical focus on Europe. A graduate of France’s Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole des Mines, his earlier experience includes senior positions in the French government and private sector in the 1990s and early 2000s. He is also an independent board member of the global derivatives trade repository arm of DTCC, a financial infrastructure company that operates on a non-profit basis. In September 2012, Bloomberg Markets included Véron in its yearly global “50 Most Influential” list with reference to his early advocacy of European banking union.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3qVrh9x
This webinar looks at the evolution of the post-Brexit financial services regulatory landscape, with a key focus of what firms should expect in 2021 in terms of regulatory policy developments. This webinar will also look at issues relating to remuneration in the financial services sector.
Speakers:
Jeremy Edwards is a partner and the head of the Employee Benefits Group in Baker McKenzie’s London office. He advises on all aspects of employee share plans and employee taxation. Jeremy has over 24 years’ experience as a share plan lawyer and two years’ experience as a corporate lawyer. He is currently serving on the advisory panel of ProShare and is a regular speaker at share plan conferences held in the United Kingdom.
Jeremy has substantial UK experience, including implementing plans for UK-listed companies and dealing with issues arising for UK-listed companies, including advising on executive remuneration developments, UK tax issues and the position on cessation of employment and dealing with share plans in the context of corporate transactions.
He has extensive experience in connection with the implementation of share plans globally and working with multinational clients.
Mark Simpson is a partner in the Financial Services & Regulatory Group in the London office where he practices in the areas of financial regulation, financial crime, and regulatory investigations. He is a member of the Firm's EMEA Financial Services & Insurance Steering Committee, as well as its Global Funds and FinTech Groups. He participates actively in industry bodies including the Alternative Investment Managers Association. He has authored a number of articles and other publications, most notably acting as a general editor of and contributor to the International Guide to Money Laundering Law and Practice, and A Practitioner's Guide to the Law and Regulation of Financial Crime.
Mark advises on a wide range of financial services legal and regulatory issues. Clients who he works for include asset managers, banks, broker-dealers, payment and e-money institutions, insurers and brokers, and FinTechs. He advises throughout the lifecycle of regulated businesses - on launch and authorisation, global expansion, business and product innovation, new regulatory developments, and on responding to regulatory enquiries and investigations. He also advises on corporate and commercial transactions in the financial services sector. His experience spans the full scope of EU and UK financial regulations, covering prudential as well as conduct of business requirements, anti-money laundering and financial crime. As well as his commercial client base, Mark has advised governmental bodies on the development of financial services laws.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3zeOTtf
Estates and Infrastructure Exchange (EIX) was created to be the leading global exchange for Infrastructure, providing our clients with liquidity and pricing transparency. It focuses on operational resilience, affordability of Infrastructure, the deployment of new technology & data with world-class partners and delivering sustainability.
As a part of the mission to bridge the USD2tn infrastructure investment funding gap per annum, EIX is also committed to improving the lives of global citizens and the unprecedented climate change challenge – through thoughtful infrastructure investment. To help achieve this, EIX works with global organisations including the United Nations, the World Bank and the Climate Bonds Initiative to ensure projects funded through EIX positively contribute to tackling global issues.
Speaker:
Mark Worrall - Multi-lingual entrepreneur Mark Worrall began his career at Thomson Reuters, holding a number of senior management roles before moving to Algorithmics, specialising in enterprise risk, as director responsible for European expansion. Mark founded Expand Consulting, providing intelligence, business development and decision support services globally, acquired by Boston Consulting Group. He was also MD of Route Group, a wealth club, and in 2008 he founded Propel Capital Partners, which raised funds for corporates and projects.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/31cyybY
Michael asserts that despite decades of news media attention, many remain ignorant of basic facts. Carbon emissions peaked and have been declining in most developed nations for over a decade. Deaths from extreme weather, even in poor nations, declined 80 percent over the last four decades. And the risk of Earth warming to very high temperatures is increasingly unlikely thanks to slowing population growth and abundant natural gas.
Curiously, the people who are the most alarmist about the problems also tend to oppose the obvious solutions.
What’s really behind the rise of apocalyptic environmentalism? There are powerful financial interests. There are desires for status and power. But most of all there is a desire among supposedly secular people for transcendence. This spiritual impulse can be natural and healthy. But in preaching fear without love, and guilt without redemption, the new religion is failing to satisfy our deepest psychological and existential needs.
Speaker:
Michael Shellenberger is a Time Magazine "Hero of the Environment," Green Book Award winner, and the founder and president of Environmental Progress.
He is author of the best-selling new book, Apocalypse Never (Harper Collins June 30, 2020), which has received strong praise from scientists and scholars including Harvard’s Steven Pinker, MIT climate scientist Kerry Emanuel, and the former CEO and Chief Scientist of The Nature Conservancy. “This may be the most important book on the environment ever written,” writes leading climate scientist Tom Wigley.
Michael has been called a “environmental guru,” “climate guru,” “North America’s leading public intellectual on clean energy,” and “high priest” of the environmental humanist movement for his writings and TED talks, which have been viewed over five million times.
Shellenberger advises policymakers around the world including in the U.S., Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Belgium. In January, 2020, Shellenberger testified before the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change invited Michael in 2019 to serve as an independent Expert Reviewer of its next Assessment Report.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3JufV4G
Speakers:
Dr Dionysios Demetis is a Senior Lecturer at the Business School of the University of Hull in the United Kingdom and an active research member of the Centre for Systems Studies. He holds a PhD in Anti-Money Laundering and Information Systems from the London School of Economics, a Masters from the LSE in Information Systems. He has a background in Physics from the University of Crete as well as a Degree in Music (Piano) from the National Conservatory of Athens. At the LSE, he taught on Information Systems Management, Information Systems Security and Research Methods. He has contributed on 3 major EU-funded AML research projects, two of which are on the intersection between Information Systems and Anti-Money Laundering (projects Spotlight and GATE), and another one on Information Society (FIDIS). His research on AML and Risk has been featured in the select bibliography of the United Nations, while his work on ‘Data Growth and the Consequences to Anti-Money Laundering’ has won the Emerald Highly Commended Award from the Journal of Money Laundering Control. He has co-authored a large number of research deliverables on Anti-Money Laundering for the European Commission and the Future of Identity for the Information Society (FIDIS), a large scale 6-year EU-funded project with 25 academic/industry participants across the EU (including Microsoft and IBM), for which he was a Convener of its Steering Group. Additionally, he is the author of two books: Science’s First Mistake (on Methodology, Systems Theory, and the creation of Epistemological Paradoxes alongside Prof Ian Angell), published worldwide by Bloomsbury Academic, and ‘Technology and Anti-Money Laundering: A Systems Theory and Risk-Based Approach’, a monograph published worldwide by Edward Elgar. His book on AML entitled ‘Technology and Anti-Money Laundering’ is the first book to provide a coherent theoretical structure for Anti-Money Laundering research and practice based on Systems Theory, and the first book to provide an Information Systems perspective on Anti-Money Laundering.
Ian Angell is a forecaster of the socio-political and business consequences of Information and Communication Technologies, with over four decades of research experience into the impact of computerization on society. He is an Emeritus Professor of Information Systems in the Department of Management at the London School of Economics.
Angell is well known for his pragmatic, down-to-earth and outspoken views on electronic commerce. However, his reputation is based on his radical no-nonsense support of Capitalism in the Information Age, which he portrays in his books The New Barbarian Manifesto, and Flight of the Golden Geese. Angell features routinely in the press and media worldwide (noteworthy are his views on “off-planet banking,” and the future of money), and he is a stalwart of the international lecture circuit - he has stepped in at short notice to cover for the absences of both President Mikhail Gorbachev (for Stern Stewart in Chartes) and Senator Edward Kennedy (for Zefer at Harvard).
Angell has acted as a consultant on managing the complexity of information systems to a large number of companies, and to governments and the EU. He was a personal advisor to the Cabinet of Federico Mayor when the latter was Director General of UNESCO, and he has consulted for the Russian Ministry of Science, and the Malaysian National IT Council.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3JwyvsP
Many countries have adopted or have started to draft laws which restrict the transfer of certain data outside of the jurisdiction. The recent CJEU decision invalidating certain EU to US data transfers demonstrates how privacy and data protection laws can impact on your global technology and data strategies. With many organisations leveraging the benefits of global centres of excellence, near and offshore service centres, as well as moving more of their data services to specialist vendors and cloud based platforms, this webinar will analyse developments and trends in global data regulation and provide practical steps that can be taken to quantify and mitigate your organisation’s compliance exposure including the role of data compliance frameworks, cross border data transfer mechanisms and data management technologies.
Speaker:
Samita Patel is a Director with Alvarez & Marsal’s Disputes & Investigations practice in London. She is experienced in developing scalable privacy programs and solutions suited to the risk profile, privacy maturity and complexity of organizations. Samita has significant expertise in working with clients and industry vendors to operationalise key privacy requirements and processes including data flow mapping, and advising on end-to-end solutions around manging international data transfers. Samita has designed and led several multi-year international privacy change programs and engagements across a range of sectors including technology, media and entertainment, publishing, education, logistics, asset management, life sciences, retail and insurance.
Gordon Nardell QC is a barrister practising at Twenty Essex in London and Singapore and Alphalex-Avocats in Brussels. He handles confidentiality and privacy issues as part of his international disputes and advisory practice. He combines extensive experience of commercial claims for misuse of confidential information with expertise in the privacy rules under EU law, the European Convention of Human Rights and national regulatory regimes in Europe and Asia. Gordon works with the finance, utility and other sectors on data privacy and compliance. He acts in high-profile cases about surveillance and covert data-gathering as well as dealing with confidentiality, privilege and disclosure issues in commercial litigation, arbitration and regulatory investigations. Gordon is a former litigation solicitor. In the 1990s he practised international law at the Council of Europe and went on to serve as UK Parliamentary Counsel before moving to the Bar. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and an accredited mediator. Gordon is a regular contributor to professional publications, debates and seminars.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3FYnL4x
The gravity of the shift to cloud is palpable for financial services. Organizations are balancing customer and security demands. Those who do it well are able to differentiate and excel, leaving those who don’t far behind. Expanded development and access to best practices is giving rise to the question, “what’s possible for fintech?” But moving forward means thoughtful planning and careful consideration of how to move people, process, and technology into its next iteration. Find out how cloud is propelling financial services into the next century by joining the webinar to hear about the impact, missteps, and future visions of cloud and fintech. Read more about Interxion's Data Gravity Index.
Speaker:
Bill Fenick has over 25 years of financial services and enterprise experience in a variety of strategy, sales and marketing roles at Tibco Inc, Thomson Reuters and Interxion.
Before taking up his current VP Enterprise position in September 2017, Bill led the Financial Services segment at Interxion. At Thomson Reuters, Bill drove business development for Elektron Managed Services, where he drew on his successful track record in developing and marketing services for low latency data feeds and colocation, data distribution platforms and managed services in the global marketplace. Prior to starting to work in the financial services industry, Bill was a lecturer at the University of Vienna and held a post-doctoral post at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Bill holds a PhD from the University of Vienna and a BA from UCLA.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3eCkviS
The UK is a global FinTech leader and a top destination for investment into the sector, setting the pace for innovation in financial services across the globe. Covid-19 has presented the sector with challenges, but also many opportunities, thanks to an acceleration in the pace of digitisation. FinTech is now one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK with wide-scale adoption from industry and consumers, and has a vital role to play in global economic recovery from the pandemic crisis. But with Brexit fast approaching, Innovate Finance CEO Charlotte Crosswell will discuss why we need to ensure our start-ups can scale up and expand internationally to ensure the UK retains its crown long into the future.
Speaker:
Charlotte Crosswell is the CEO of Innovate Finance, the industry body representing the UK FinTech sector. Prior to joining Innovate Finance, she spent the majority of her financial services career in market infrastructure roles. Charlotte has held a number of management positions at Nasdaq and London Stock Exchange across international capital markets, equities, fixed income, OTC derivatives trading and clearing.
In addition to her work with Innovate Finance, Charlotte is on the board of UK Finance, and also advises and sits on the boards of Government FinTech advisory groups, technology companies and FinTech startups. Charlotte holds a BA (Hons.) in French from the Southampton University. She has been included in the list of top 100 Women in Finance over many years.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3ED3n7f
It’s proven that an engaged workforce outperforms a disengaged workforce. Research tells us that an company with an engaged workforce is 21% more profitable. How do you create and maintain the type of culture and environment that employees will wish to experience?
For financial services executives a key consideration is understanding not only where their people are today, but also where they want to be and encourage active participation and engagement within the company.
In this webinar, Pat Luther, Vice President & Industry Principal at Ceridian, will draw on his extensive experience in financial services and the software industry by sharing four ways how investing in technology can improve the employee experience so that you can retain the very best talent in this fast moving sector.
Speaker:
Patrick Luther - Leveraging his extensive experience in Financial Services and the Software Industry, Patrick is responsible for shaping how Ceridian addresses this key industry sector, working with customers and prospects to understand their challenges and bring forward strategic solutions to address them.
Prior to joining Ceridian, Patrick held several senior positions at leading technology and consulting organizations including Deloitte, IBM Software and most recently as Industry Principal for Financial Services at Infosys Consulting.
Patrick is a former Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rochester and an MBA from Yale University.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/32wiu5K
Speakers:
Dr Anthony H Cordesman is the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at CSIS. During his time at CSIS, Cordesman has been director of the Gulf Net Assessment Project and the Gulf in Transition Study, as well as principal investigator of the CSIS Homeland Defense Project. He has led studies on national missile defense, asymmetric warfare and weapons of mass destruction, and critical infrastructure protection. He directed the CSIS Middle East Net Assessment Project and codirected the CSIS Strategic Energy Initiative. He is the author of a wide range of studies on U.S. security policy, energy policy, and Middle East policy and has served as a consultant to the Departments of State and Defense during the Afghan and Iraq wars. He served as part of General Stanley McChrystal’s civilian advisory group during the formation of a new strategy in Afghanistan and has since acted as a consultant to various elements of the U.S. military and NATO. Current projects include ongoing analysis of the security situation in the Gulf, U.S. strategic competition with Iran, the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, a net assessment of the Indian Ocean region, Chinese military developments and U.S. and Asian assessments of these developments, changes in the nature of modern war, and assessments of U.S. defense strategy, programs, and budgets. His recent paper, "Setting New U.S. Strategic Priorities for a Post-Trump World" (9 November 2020) is well worth reading as the world looks to a new Biden Administration.
Ms Madeleine Moon represented the Bridgend constituency at Westminster from 2005 to 2019. She joined the Defence Select Committee in 2009. She chaired sub-committees reporting on the safety and welfare of military personnel on training and exercises, the use of Remotely Piloted Air Systems and defence in the Arctic. Madeleine was a member of the UK Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from 2010, serving as a member of the Defence and Security Committee. She was elected President in November 2018. Since leaving Westminster Madeleine has continued to work defence facing organisations including Cityforum and joined the European Leadership Network.
Mr Carl Miller is a technology author and researcher. His first book is The Death of the Gods: The New Global Power Grab. An examination of the new centres of power and control in the twenty-first century, it was published by Penguin Random House in August 2018. In 2012 he co-founded the first UK think tank institute dedicated to studying the digital world at DEMOS, and has written for the Economist, Wired, New Scientist, the Sunday Times, the Telegraph and the Guardian. He’s also a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London.
Dr Catarina P Thomson is Senior Lecturer in Security and Strategic Studies in the Politics Department of the University of Exeter. Her background is in clinical psychology and international relations. Her recent work compares the foreign policy attitudes of security elites and the general public in the UK, Europe, and the United States. Her work has been funded by the American National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Minerva Research Initiative, and the Economic and Social Research Council among others.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3Hr7zsy
Speakers:
Michael Grant first entered the technology field in the flight simulation industry. He then spent 25 years’ working in a variety of international marketing and corporate communications roles at director and vice-president level within six global IT companies. During this period he lived and worked in Australia, the Republic of Ireland and the USA.
- Michael is a strong supporter of charity and the City of London. He was Clerk (CEO) and later became Master of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, a City Livery Company. Michael still sits on the Court of the Company and assists in their Education and Employment work through mentoring of schools and the men and women of the Forces.
- Michael is the Immediate Past President of the BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, whose purpose is to promote and advance the education & practice of computing for the benefit of the public. Today he Chairs the Nominations & Remunerations Committees and is a Trustee Board member of the BCS.
More recently Michael became a founding advisor of ‘The Positive Transformation Initiative’, where he Chairs the ’PTI Impact for Good, Resources & Approval Board’, which comprises senior Legal General Counsels and CTO/CIO/CISO’s.
Dr Sam Muller
“I am both perplexed why change in the justice sector is so tough and deeply convinced that justice systems can offer much more value than they do now. That’s why I founded HiiL in 2005, after having worked at the forefront of developing the Yugoslav Tribunal and later the International Criminal Court. As a UN and later ICC official I saw the flame of the Middle East peace process gradually go out. I saw the effects of wars in the former Yugoslavia, northern Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. These situations show when rules designed to protect human dignity don't work. They're extreme, I know. But I carry them with me always to keep me focused on what matters: effective rule systems that support human dignity, every day, in daily life. The users of the justice system come first."
Sam Muller is the founding director of HiiL. It’s mission is to empower 150 million people to prevent or resolve their most pressing justice problems by 2030. An international lawyer by training, Sam works on justice strategy and innovation at the highest political levels, connecting knowledge about needs and what works with change processes that make a difference. The clients he has worked for include governments, international businesses and leading civil society organisations. Sam also led the setting up of the Justice Leadership Foundation and the Wildlife Justice Commission.
Before his work at HiiL he was closely involved in building the International Criminal Court. He worked as legal adviser at UNRWA and the then newly established ICTY. He holds a law degree and a doctorate from Leiden University and taught there. He has published and spoken extensively on various topics: legal trends and strategy, justice leadership, justice innovation, and international justice issues. Sam has served on many boards. He is currently chair of the supervisory board of World Wildlife Fund - The Netherlands and a member of the International Board of WWF. He is also chair of the supervisory board of the Wildlife Justice Commission. He served as Senior Adviser to the Task Force on Justice that published a ground-breaking report in July 2019. In addition, he is a member of the Advisory Board of the Impact Investment Exchange, IIX. He was active within the World Economic Forum on the topics of rule of law and justice, chairing two agenda councils.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3EGs7M8
The second in the Long Lessons series of webinars, looking into what the religions of the book can teach modern finance. Christian teachings in the Old & New Testament have long encouraged the importance of honesty, good stewardship and generosity, and as asserted in Proverbs 13:11, dishonest money dwindles away. In this webinar, we will be joined by his Grace the Archbishop John McDowell to explore Christian thinking on finance, how this has influenced our development, and what lessons can be learned for those working in finance today.
Speaker:
John McDowell worked in the aerospace industry and as Assistant Director of the CBI(NI) prior to his ordination in 1996, following which he served in parishes in Northern Ireland. Immediate before his election as bishop John served for nine years as rector of St Mark’s, Dundela, the Belfast parish where CS Lewis was born and where Lewis’ grandfather served as rector. John was elected Church of Ireland Bishop of Clogher (a cross border diocese) in 2011, and Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland in March 2020 – the 106th in succession to St Patrick. He is Church of Ireland lead on Christian Unity and Dialogue, NI Political Affairs and Brexit. He was educated at Queens University, Belfast (History), the London School of Economics (Business Studies) and the University of Dublin, Trinity College (Theology).
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/32OILvE
Banking has been around for centuries to encourage trade, finance, business, commerce and economic prosperity. Yet, in recent years, banking came to stand for shareholder return. And that seemed about it. Due to the singular focus on shareholder return, banks behave badly ripping off customers with unnecessary products and even falsifying account opening forms. Why has banking sunk so low and how can it reach new heights? This discussion focuses upon the new world of banking: purpose-driven, process-structured and platform-based. It's about digital banking with meaning. What does this mean for you?
Speaker:
Chris Skinner is known as one of the most influential people in technology. He is an independent commentator on the financial markets and fintech, through his blog theFinanser.com and author of the bestselling books Digital Bank, ValueWeb and Digital Human. He chairs the Financial Services Club and Nordic Future Innovate, is a non-executive director of 11:FS and on the advisory boards of various firms. Mr. Skinner has been an advisor to the United Nations, the White House, the World Bank and the World Economic Forum and is a visiting lecturer with Cambridge University as well as a TEDx speaker. He is also co-founder with renowned artist Basia Hamilton of The Portrait Foundation, http://portraitfoundation.com/, a non-profit platform to encourage children and the arts.
In recent years, he has been voted one of the most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal’s Financial News and Thomson Reuters, as well as:
- Most Influential Fintech Commentator of the Year 2020 - Finance Monthly Fintech Awards
- Financial Markets Advisor of the Year UK 2020 - Corporate America Today
- Best CEO of the Year UK 2020 - Global 100
- CEO of the Year 2020 – Corp Today Global Business Awards
- Ones to Watch 2020: Finance Advisory Services 2020: France – Corp Today Global Business Awards
- 50 Leading Companies of the year 2020 – The Silicon Review
- Most Outstanding Finance Blog 2020 Poland – CV Magazine
- Portal to the Knowledge Base of the Financial Services Club UK 2020 - M&A Today Global Awards
- Financial Markets Advisor of the Year UK 2020 - M&A Today Global Awards
- Financial Markets UK 2020 - Finance Monthly Legal Awards
- Best CEO of the Year 2019 - by Lawyer International and Global 100
- Best Financial Markets Adviser of the Year 2019 - by M&A Today, Corporate America Today and Global 100
- Most Influential Fintech Advisor 2019 - by CV Magazine
- Best Fintech Keynote Speaker 2019 – by Global Business Insight
- Ones To Watch in Financial Services 2019 – by Global Business Insight
- Financial Markets Advisor of the Year 2019 - by ACQ5 Global Awards 2019, The Global Venture Annual Awards 2019, Global 100 Awards 2019 and Lawyer International Global Awards 2019
- Best FinTech Author 2019 – AI International Finance Awards 2019
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3FLhokH
Digital transformation affects all aspects of a business’s operations, including contracts, internal documentation and employment relationships. The covid-19 pandemic has heightened the need for contactless and remote contracting, as a result of which businesses are turning to digital contracting and electronic signatures. Using the appropriate form of e-signatures helps businesses save time and money, increase security, and enhance their environmental credentials. During the webinar the speakers will discuss which electronic signature and electronic contracting solutions are accepted as legally binding in the CEE. They will also share practical information on the acceptance and enforceability of contracts and legal statements signed with electronic signatures, the type of electronic signatures which are legally binding, and other digital solutions for contracting and making legal statements.
Speakers:
Dóra Petrányi is a partner and CEE Managing Director at CMS. She heads the Commercial, Competition, Technology, Media, Telecommunications (TMT) and Intellectual property (IP) practices in the Budapest office.
Dóra is the Co-Chairman of the Regulatory Committee of the Hungarian AI Coalition and leads formulating the response of the Hungarian AI Coalition to the EU consultation request regarding the EU White Paper on Artificial Intelligence, A European Approach to Excellence and Trust. She is also a member of the Hungarian Council of Copyright Experts and a member of the Digital Civil Code Review Working Group, being the only outside counsel in the team. She is the first and only lawyer to be a member of the co-regulatory committee between the local telecommunications’ regulatory authority and the Association of Hungarian Content Providers. She is also a member of the supervisory committee of UNICEF.
Dóra is a co-author of the CMS publication The Cybersecurity Challenge in Central and Eastern Europe, CMS’s Network Sharing Studies and several other publications. She is a regular speaker at key international conferences, including the World Economic Forum (Davos), the Mobile World Congress, and ECTA.
Marek Oleksyn is a qualified Polish attorney-at-law and a Partner at CMS IP/TMC practice in the Warsaw office. He has over 16 years of experience in a broad range of intellectual property matters, including trademark, patent, design, unfair competition, copyright, domain names, plant variety, databases and IP customs protection. Marek represents clients in court litigation, domain name disputes and arbitration as well as trademark invalidation and revocation matters. He also prepares and negotiates agreements on IP assignment and licensing, prepares opinions and memoranda on IP-related matters and drafts agreements with key personnel re: assignment of intellectual property rights. He assists clients in R&D projects.
Marek is author of numerous publications on the protection of intellectual property and advertising law. He lectures at Lazarski University, including “Law in New Technologies” postgraduate studies. Marek is a recommended lawyer in the field of intellectual property by Legal 500, WTR 1000, Chambers and IAM Patent 1000.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3mNQWj7
There are many innovative fintech organisations in the UK. Successful growth however requires a combination of factors. It requires an ecosystem that offers access to talent, investment, support from local and national government and, of course, the opportunities to sell services to financial services institutions. This session will focus on how fintech organisations can help themselves, help each other and how they can be supported by the wider public and private sector to grow successfully .
Speakers:
Ian Laverty is Regional Director for Invest Northern Ireland’s FDI team, encouraging businesses from across GB and Europe to look at Northern Ireland as an expansion or relocation opportunity. Ian has a background in Financial Services having worked with Lloyds Banking Group and Scottish Widows for 11 years before moving into economic development. Invest Northern Ireland is the economic development agency for Northern Ireland. The region has a thriving financial services ecosystem and boasts impressive clusters of innovative fintechs. Invest Northern Ireland supports the growth of these organisations with a range of grants and financial assistance interventions.
John O'Hara is CEO of Taskize, which he co-founded to streamline workflows between financial firms, that account for a larger percentage of post-trade spend. John has a financial technology background with 16 years at JPMorgan culminating as Chief Architect for the Investment Bank, and subsequently at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in leadership of Global Equities and Commodities Technology, and finally at RBS. John has driven open innovation, helping create FPML and inventing the AMQP technology used in Amazon and Microsoft cloud services.
Kirk Wylie is a technology executive at NatWest Group. Starting his career in Silicon Valley, Kirk founded his first technology startup at the age of 23. After moving to London 16 years ago, he moved to working in financial services. He's worked at hedge funds, derivative dealers, and two of the world's largest financial services firms (State Street and NatWest) where he has specialized in technology, cloud, and DevOps methodology transformations. In addition, he founded OpenGamma in 2009 to bring Open Source to the world of derivatives trading and risk management and has advised extensively in FinTech organizations in Europe.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/32QvMcJ
The South African Chamber of Commerce (UK)
in association with
Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli & Christopher Hayward CC, Sheriffs of the City of London present at the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey)
and
Alderman John Garbutt JP, High Sheriff of Greater London
Invite you to an online screening of the film followed by an interactive discussion with the creator and director of
‘Life is Wonderful: Mandela’s Unsung Heroes’
Wednesday, 18 November 2020, from 18:00 to 20:15
(access will be open from 17:50)
Life is Wonderful is a documentary film by Sir Nicholas Stadlen, former judge of the High Court of England and Wales. He has captured the personal experiences of the last remaining trialists and their defence lawyers, sharing the human stories and the legal arguments used in the Rivonia Trial.
The welcoming address will be delivered by the
Rt Hon The Lord Mayor Of The City Of London, Alderman William Russell
Closing remarks will be given by
HHJ Mark Lucraft QC, The Recorder of London
The Rivonia Trial, which sentenced Nelson Mandela and 9 other anti-apartheid activists to life in prison, took place in 1963 and 1964.
The ten men convicted either died during their imprisonment or spent 27 years of their lives in prison, most of them on Robben Island with Mandela.
They emerged in the beginning of the 1990’s to win their life’s struggle for a multiracial democracy in South Africa in the 1994 election.
2020 has seen the passing of the last two living trialists and last defence lawyer, all of whom feature in the film.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to understand the complexities of the times and to engage with Sir Nick who has so much more to share that did not make the final cut.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3qzHxNb
Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Realities are significantly different technologies. The webinar will review these differences and where these technologies stand today. Focus will be given to the challenges and techniques of replicating real world experiences in VR, the role profoundly immersive VR is playing now, and where we are heading. In particular, the webinar will highlight applications that many overlook, e.g. rehabilitation, and the significant advances in integration with the real world and immersive kinaesthetics, e.g. walking.
Speaker:
Dr Charles King is a serial entrepreneur and start-up junkie, with a keen sense of the value in building cohesive management teams. He read Physics and then a Material Science PhD through Johnson Matthey at the University of Birmingham followed by an Honorary Research Fellowship in Chemical Engineering. Charles’ corporate years were with JM, ERA Technology and Cookson Group plc in the UK and USA. For the past 20 years Charles has worked in tech start-ups from Harwell, Porton and Oxford and two he cofounded. The first, a UK / Chinese flat screen tech business, and now Wizdish Ltd making Virtual Reality treadmills (ROVRs), a company started presciently in 2009 from an idea spawned in 2001. Charles is a Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence at Oxford Brookes University, a Fellow of the IOM3 and a Chartered Physicist.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3EJNNqq
Share valuation is a key step in the design and implementation of an employee share scheme for an unquoted company. Tax or fiscal valuations in the UK are subject to special rules which have evolved over time out of a combination of case law and legislation. Whether a valuation is acceptable for tax purposes is ultimately a matter for HMRC.
HMRC’s Shares & Assets Valuation Office reviews and agrees on share valuations for the tax-advantaged employee share schemes, previously known as tax-approved schemes. Since HMRC withdrew its facility for Post-Transaction Valuation Checks and PAYE Health Checks for valuation, it is vital that your valuation is rigorous in order to ensure that it is credible and capable of a robust defence if subsequently challenged by HMRC.
Following up his “Wisdom Of Price Setting For Your Employee Share Schemes” webinar in July, David Craddock, who is technical secretary as well as a member of the Share Valuation Worked Examples Group, will guide us on share valuation for Esops through a series of case studies.
Speaker:
David Craddock is an independent consultant specialising in employee share ownership and reward management. A recognised authority on the subject, he is the author of The Tolley’s Guide to Employee Share Schemes, along with many other essential books and courses.
David’s clients range from major public limited companies with international considerations to smaller private companies where the requirements are for Enterprise Management Incentives, tax-unapproved share scheme arrangements and market-making employee share trust structures. David has successfully established employee share schemes and employee benefit arrangements worldwide and to date has travelled to over 30 countries to personally facilitate their introduction. He enhances his service through a long experience in share reconstructions and share valuation.
David is a regular conference speaker for the Esop Centre and senior examiner for The ESOP Institute in London in relation to The Certificate in Employee Share Ownership Studies, the material for which he is author and principal authority.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/31cmQ0X
It’s time to get serious about the green crime threat to the environment, business and security. In addition to environmental crime and wildlife trafficking, green crime also includes the flouting of regulations designed to prevent harm to the environment. As such, it is closely linked to corruption, organized crime and money-laundering. It impacts supply chains, poses a danger to security around the world, and it threatens our ability to meet the sustainability goals set by the UN.
With regulatory and law enforcement bodies acknowledging the burgeoning threat, what are tools we need to help disrupt criminal networks? This event is part of CISI’s contribution to London Climate Action Week, from 15 to 20 November 2020.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3Jzlmz9
Functional programmers have long claimed that languages such as Haskell and O'Caml allow one to write code more quickly and more reliably. Widespread uptake of functional programming among the financial community supports that claim, and this talk will examine a few cases.
Speaker:
Philip Wadler is Professor of Theoretical Computer Science at the University of Edinburgh and Senior Research Fellow at IOHK. He is an ACM Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and editor-in-chief of Proceedings of the ACM for Programming Languages. He is past chair of ACM SIGPLAN, past holder of a Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Fellowship, winner of the SIGPLAN Distinguished Service Award, and a winner of the POPL Most Influential Paper Award. Previously, he worked or studied at Stanford, Xerox Parc, CMU, Oxford, Chalmers, Glasgow, Bell Labs, and Avaya Labs, and visited as a guest professor in Copenhagen, Sydney, and Paris. He has an h-index of over 70 with more than 25,000 citations to his work, according to Google Scholar. He contributed to the designs of Haskell, Java, and XQuery, and is co-author of Introduction to Functional Programming (Prentice Hall, 1988), XQuery from the Experts (Addison Wesley, 2004), Generics and Collections in Java (O'Reilly, 2006), and Programming Language Foundations in Agda (2018). He has delivered invited talks in locations ranging from Aizu to Zurich.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3qDdDYf
In this webinar, Anita and Palvinder seek to:
- Put the incoming UK operational resilience regime in context and provide a view of its key elements;
- Give a flavor of BOE/PRA/FCA expectations; and
- Highlight why this framework is multidisciplinary and requires a change in perspective.
Speakers:
Anita Millar is a risk and public policy professional with over 20-years of experience working in the financial services sector. Her career spans risk management, audit, and consulting on regulatory change. She has held roles at ISDA, HSBC, Insight Investment, AFME, Northern Trust, and RBS. Her regulatory work spans cross-border regulation, Basel II (credit & operational risk), Basel III (capital & liquidity), MiFIR, EMIR, EU Banking Union and a proposed EU Financial Transaction Tax (FTT). She has also written research reports for City of London Corporation/TheCityUK and Invest Europe (previously EVCA).
Palvinder Gill is a senior prudential and risk practitioner having held roles at Credit Suisse, Macquarie Group, Morgan Stanley, Nomura and Wells Fargo. He has also worked as a policy maker at the Bank of England and FSA and as a regulatory consultant at EY. His regulatory and risk prudential capital and liquidity projects including Basel II, Basel III, ICAAPs, ILAAPs, Recovery Plans, FRTB, IFR/IFD, Pillar 3 Disclosures and TCFD Climate disclosures.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/32IKdzH
Herbie's Alma Mater Reuters has a proud history of pushing technical boundaries to their limits to build unique global products with high standards for availability, speed, accuracy and, latterly, openness. In the early days, they had to use in-house developed technology building their own hardware and operating systems. They kept up with the cutting edge of technology through in-house research and leveraging developments coming out of universities, research outfits and the proverbial two guys in a garage.
The fundamental challenges have not changed much over the last hundred years. In the 1850s the avalanche of market data was a problem that the London Stock Exchange had to tackle as the telegraph networks became congested.
Herbie will present a quick tour of some areas where he and his former colleagues have used technology with varying levels of success and then finish with a discussion of where today’s technology – especially technology from academia and research houses - can be deployed.
Speaker:
Herbie Skeete is the founder and managing director of Mondo Visione, the leading source of insight and knowledge about the world’s exchanges and trading venues. Skeete also organises the Mondo Visione Exchange Forum. Formerly a senior Reuters executive, and a main board director of Multex pre and post IPO, Herbie is an adviser to two FinTech companies, Senasen and CryptoCompare.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3Jy0fgE
Recent, current, and even expected global lockdown’s have forced the business world to test whether widespread remote work is possible, and whether employees can adapt to working from home effectively. Despite overall positive uptake, certain adaptive measures have needed to be considered by global companies and across industries. Among the challenges which have emerged, we have seen that remote working has exacerbated the risks involved with effective share plan management and employee communication. While adopting various measures to overcome such challenges, companies have also been required to ensure continued compliance with governing regulation and standards.
In this panel discussion, ShareForce’s Adva Lewitte and guests Graeme Cook of Eximia and Lynette Jacobs of Pinsent Masons explore how the latest specialised technologies give businesses the flexibility they need to adapt in a thought-out and compliant manner.
Speakers:
Adva Lewitte, Senior Global Manager, ShareForce
Adva is a one of ShareForce’s senior global business and client managers. She has over 15 years experience and suitably qualified to enhance the company's digital incentive management solution’s global reach. She is instrumental in the development and tailoring of ShareForce’s product offering to cater for regional and global client requirements. Adva’s previous experience in the investments and financial markets, specifically in the development and implementation of multi-managed solutions for both retail and institutional clients, adds to Shareforce global expertise.
Lynette Jacobs, Partner, Pinsent Masons LLP
Lynette is a Partner in the Employment & Reward group at international law firm, Pinsent Masons. She leads the Share Plans and Incentives team, advising clients across all sectors on all aspects of their domestic and international incentive arrangements including the establishment of new plans, ongoing operation of existing plans, corporate transactions, international operation of plans, use of employee trusts and corporate governance.
Graeme Cook, Head Of Communications, Eximia
Graeme is Head of Communications at Eximia, a creative communications consultancy specialising in bringing very technical topics – such as governance, share plans and rewards – to life with campaigns that simplify the complex and drive greater employee engagement. Previous to this role, he was EMEA Strategic Communications Manager at Microsoft, devising and orchestrating campaigns that effectively reinforced and built brand images, utilising his public relations and design experience. A journalist by trade, Graeme has over 13 years’ communications experience, working for the likes of Heathrow Airport, BT, DMGT and QVC.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3qDA7bF
Z/Yen conducts an irregular series of short webinars, CommunityZ Chest, featuring people from its various communities and clubs, viz. technology, financial services, civil society, and business. These webinars provide an opportunity to meet people from the wider CommunityZ, to share ideas, and to make connections.
This CommunityZ Chest features Ekhosuehi Iyahen.
Ekhosuehi is the Secretary General of the Insurance Development Forum (IDF), a Public-Private Partnership led by the insurance industry and supported by the World Bank and the United Nations, aiming to enhance the use of insurance to build greater resilience against disasters and to help achieve the United Nations Global 2030 Agenda.
Ekhosuehi was directly involved in establishing and operationalising two pioneering initiatives - the African Risk Capacity Agency (ARC) and the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF). She has extensive experience working with Governments, international development agencies, private sector entities and academic institutions on public financial management and strengthening risk management and financing systems and the role of insurance.
She is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government and was selected as a 2018 Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Centre Resident Practitioner Fellow. She also serves as an expert advisor to the Centre for Disaster Protection and is a member of the SOAS Centre for Sustainable Finance Advisory Board.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3JxUL5s
The proliferation of challenger banks and banking services providers (i.e. fintechs that do not own their own banking licence) is given us mixed feelings: on the one hand, the excitement about innovation, change & better choice for customers, and on the other a healthy dose of scepticism – do we actually need that many offerings, and are they as revolutionary as they claim to be?
Sharon Kimathi and Tanya Andreasyan, editors of global fintech publishing platform FinTech Futures, delve into the good, the bad and the ugly of the UK challenger banks world, focusing on the three C’s: core, culture and challenges.
Core
There is no one universal approach for start-up banks picking their “engines” – some have gone for in-house built tech, some have turned to long-standing legacy tech, and some opted for younger third-party solutions. And then there are curious cases of a mix of a bit of everything… We put a spotlight on who’s using what and why.
Culture
Fintech often comes with a promise of transparency and social responsibility. Is this really so? We look at the sector’s culture, diversity and inclusion efforts… as well as examples of hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Challenges
Challenger banks are not exempt from challenges (excuse the pun!) – both common to the industry and specific to the newcomers. The lack of profitability (and an unclear path towards it), growing pains, technology fails, carving their own niche and more – nothing escapes our watchful eye!
Speakers:
Tanya Andreasyan is Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of FinTech Futures. She joined the company in early 2016, overseeing the its digital and print publishing operations and strategy.
Prior to that, she was at IBS Intelligence (a UK-based fintech publishing house and analyst/consultancy firm) for nearly a decade in a variety of roles, including research & consulting, writing for and editing in-house publications.
Tanya has extensive understanding and knowledge of the banking and financial services technology industry and its participants, including vendors, financial institutions, consultants and other third parties, on global, regional and domestic levels. She focuses on banking tech, fintech and paytech sectors.
She is a regular speaker at industry events, and has appeared as a guest expert on radio and TV, including BBC.
Sharon Kits Kimathi is the Editor of Fintech Futures and Banking Technology magazine since May 2019, having been Deputy Editor at the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) and a capital markets Reporter at Global Capital and mtn-i.
She has worked as a Paralegal for Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; as a Legal Compliance Associate for Goldman Sachs; and Paralegal at Reed Smith LLP. She enjoys writing about compliance and diversity issues affecting the financial industry.
Her work on crypto and digital currencies has been published in the Oxford Political Review and Compliance Elliance Journal.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3FK46Fe
Climate finance is driven by policy but how do you deal with policy risk? Join Julian Richardson in this webinar as he shares his thoughts and ideas.
Speaker:
Julian Richardson is full time CEO of Parhelion Underwriting, with 19 years’ experience in climate finance and 25 years’ experience in the re/insurance sector. He is a recognized innovator in climate risk and sustainable finance. He is a Specialist advisor on insurance and resilience to the UK government Department for International Trade. He spent 12 years as a broker at Marsh responsible for Middle East energy business before moving to GE where he was the senior underwriting risk manager responsible for the Global Markets portfolio. Parhelion is a mission orientated business working at the nexus of policy makers, private sector investors, re/insurers, development finance institutions and NGOs. Parhelion uses private sector insurance underwriting capital to support the deployment of other forms of capital in to sustainable development investment opportunities.
Julian has an MBA from Cranfield School of Management and is a Research Associate of the Geochemical and Environmental Research Group at Texas A&M University. He is also an INSEAD Alumni and has spoken at numerous international conferences on climate finance and risk.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3Jwb6HR
This webinar features Sir Roger Gifford, Chair of the UK Green Finance Institute and past Lord Mayor of the City of London. Roger will share his thoughts on GFI’s work, focussing on practical ways for changing the way we live and consume, and how the institute is supporting the race to transition the global economy towards a less carbon-intensive future.
To learn more and register for the Green Horizon Summit on November 9-11, click here: Green Horizon Summit
Speaker:
Sir Roger Gifford is a Senior Banker at SEB in London. He read Chemistry at Oxford University and began his career in the financial sector at S.G. Warburg & Co, joining SEB in 1982. Prior to his appointment as UK Country Head (2000 – 2016) Roger headed the bank's operations in Japan for six years. He has worked in and around the primary debt and equity capital markets most of his career.
Roger is Vice Chairman and past Chair of the Association of Foreign Banks (AFB) in London and Chair of the Advisory Board of the International Business and Diplomatic Exchange (IBDE). He was Chair of the London Green Finance Initiative launched in 2016 to further the contribution of the financial sector to the G20 climate agenda and chaired the UK Government’s Green Finance Taskforce in 2018. Roger is also Chairman of the Green Finance Institute, launched in 2019, which has the economics, risk and commercial opportunity of meeting the challenge of climate change as its main focus.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3n7637x
Intelligence officers discern the truth... Looking through the eyes of one of Britain's most senior ex-intelligence officers, Professor Sir David Omand's, How Spies Think shows how the big decisions in your life will be easier to make when you apply the same frameworks used by British intelligence.
In everyday life, you are faced with contradictory, incomplete information, too. Reading the news on social media, figuring out the next step in your career, or trying to discover if gossip about a friend is legitimate, you are building an image of the world and making decisions about it.
Looking through the eyes of one of Britain's most senior ex-intelligence officers, a new book by Professor Sir David Omand, How Spies Think, launched on 29 October, shows how the big decisions in your life will be easier to make when you apply the same frameworks used by British intelligence. Full of revealing examples from his storied career, including key briefings with Prime Ministers from Thatcher to Blair, and conflicts from the Falklands to Afghanistan, Professor Omand arms us with the tools to sort fact from fiction, and shows us how to use real intelligence every day.
Please note: this event is hosted in partnership with the CISI. While it is free to join, if you are not a CISI member, you will have to make a customer account before you can watch this and other CISI events. This is free to do.
Speaker:
David Omand was the first UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator, responsible to the Prime Minister for the professional health of the intelligence community, national counter-terrorism strategy and "homeland security". He served for seven years on the Joint Intelligence Committee. He was Permanent Secretary of the Home Office from 1997 to 2000, and before that Director of GCHQ.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3HsPZV0
In this talk, Chiara Rustici explains how the risks of taking the financial services sector outside of the EU legal framework could be mitigated by adherence to a so-called Art 40 Code of Conduct. The requirements, binding nature and enforcement obligations of such a professional Code on the whole sector are illustrated via the example of The City of London, but equally applicable to other financial centers round the world wishing to trade with the European Economic Area without data flows barriers.
About the speaker:
Chiara Rustici is a cross-border GDPR and EU data regulation analyst. As an independent academic researcher, she is affiliated with the Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione, Elettronica e Telecomunicazioni (DIET), the telecommunication engineering department of "La Sapienza" University of Rome. As a professional director, she lead business units for Euromoney Financial training, Metal Bulletin, Steel Business Briefing and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
On a volunteer basis, she is immediate past Chair of the BCS Law Specialists Group, sits on the BCS Programme, Practice and Policy Committee and is part of the BCS working party on data flows.
Formerly an International Law tutor for the University of Edinburgh, research fellow with Italy's CNR, teaching fellow in Jurisprudence at the University of Genoa, and Philosophy of Law research scholar at the university of Milan, she has published extensively on Common Law, the role of judicial precedent and case-based legal reasoning.
Chiara helped launch a GDPR Art. 40 Code of Conduct at Duke University's Center for Judicial Studies and organise in-depth GDPR workshops at the BCS. She also sits on the editorial board of the journals Frontiers in Blockchain (Smart Contracts) and Journal of Data Protection and Privacy .
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3pI6Flw
This webinar will explore the controls and technologies that compliance professionals can employ to detect and prevent financial crime conducted through Cryptocurrency exchange.
You will learn:
- The controls specialists in this area are employing
- What the future of KYC and AML for Cryptocurrency looks like
- How AI can support these processes by surfacing new risks
Further Reading:
Control Frameworks For Cryptocurrencies: An Initial Evaluation
Speakers:
Trevor Barritt joined Featurespace in September 2020 from NICE Actimize, where he worked as an AML SME for 16 years. Before that he was Head of Money Laundering Control, MLRO and Compliance Officer at Prudential Securities, CIBC, ING, Credit Suisse, Gen RE and Morgan Stanley. He was also a Senior Inspector at two forerunner regulators of the FCA.
He is a published author on compliance and money laundering matters and has served as a lecturer and examiner in money laundering and compliance for the International Compliance Association, in affiliation with Manchester University. He has also acted as a consultant for several European Regulators.
Stephen Ryan is a founder and COO of CipherTrace. He has 25 years of experience in the security and payments markets. Ryan is the inventor of 3-D Secure, the largest consumer payment authentication solution in the world, with over 150 million consumer users.
Mr. Ryan is a Fintech/Security executive and serial entrepreneur and has experience with a variety of internet-based security initiatives as well as experience with productizing government-funded initiatives. Additionally, Ryan has been an early stage advisor to some very successful Silicon Valley companies including PayPal and Splunk.
As a seasoned entrepreneur, Mr. Ryan helped build and bring to market mobile security company Marble, which is now part of security leader Proofpoint (NASDAQ: PFPT). Prior to Marble, Ryan was an Executive Vice President at Online Resources and was responsible for Digital Banking and Payment Operations, which was sold to ACI Worldwide. Before Online Resources, Ryan was a co-founder of IronKey, which productized DHS S&T research and ultimately sold over 2 million IronKey devices, the world’s most secure flash drive. The company became a part of iMation (NASDAQ: IMN). Previously, Ryan was Senior Vice President at First Data where he was responsible for Product Management and Marketing. Ryan began his career in the Fintech industry at Bank of America, where he developed and managed the bank’s credit card processing systems.
Mr. Ryan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Systems from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3FIYZFj
The sixth edition of the Global Green Finance Index provides the world’s most authoritative measure of the performance of financial centres in delivering green finance services.
The report launch took place via webinar on 27 October 2020 at 09:00 GMT.
The report, assembled by combining the views of financial professionals from around the world, with quantitative data commissioned and curated from over 130 sources, uses advanced statistical techniques to map the global spread of green finance.
Programme 09:00 Welcome and Introduction Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chairman, Z/Yen Group
09:05 GGFI 6 Results Mike Wardle, Head Of Indices, Z/Yen Group
09:30 Commentary Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chairman, Z/Yen Group
09:40 Questions 09:55 Concluding Remarks 10:00 Close
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3pEJeJW
Z/Yen conducts an irregular series of short webinars, CommunityZ Chest, featuring people from its various communities and clubs, viz. technology, financial services, civil society, and business. These webinars provide an opportunity to meet people from the wider CommunityZ, to share ideas, and to make connections. This CommunityZ Chest features Professor D’Maris Coffman.
If you would like to read D'Maris's suggested publications on Political Economy, you can find them below:
A European Public Investment Outlook
The Political Economy of the Eurozone
Professor D’Maris Coffman is the Director (Head of Department) of BSCPM. She is the Professor in Economics and Finance of the Built Environment at the Bartlett. She joined UCL in September 2014 as a Senior Lecturer. In February 2017, and was appointed Interim Director of BSCPM. In late January 2018, she was appointed to her professorial chair. D’Maris is Managing Editor of Elsevier's Structural Change and Economic Dynamics and on the honorary editorial boards of The Journal of Cleaner Production, Economia Politica, L'Industria and the Chinese Journal of Population, Resources and Environment. She is a Fellow of Goodenough College, where several of their doctoral students are residential members. She is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Milan (Statale), a Guest Professor at Beijing Institute of Technology and a Visiting Professor of Renmin University of China. Before coming to UCL, D’Maris spent six years as a fellow of Newnham College where she variously held a junior research fellowship (Mary Bateson Research Fellowship), a post as a college lecturer and teaching fellow, and a Leverhulme ECF. In July 2009, she started the Centre for Financial History, which she directed through December 2014. It is still going strong, but has moved from Newnham College to Darwin College in line with the affiliation of its new director. D’Maris did her undergraduate training at the Wharton School in managerial and financial economics and her PhD in the School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania. While at Penn, her doctoral research in the UK was funded in part by the Mellon Foundation under the guise of an IHR pre-doctoral fellowship and an SSRC international dissertation fellowship. She has lived in the UK more or less continuously since 2005 (with a brief nine-month stint back at Penn in 2007/8 to finish her PhD and teach as a departmental lecturer), and thus holds both American and British citizenship.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3eEaPEL
Around three quarters of Europeans live in cities. Many of these cities are dealing with the effects of climate change such as heat stress, air pollution and flooding. The high density of paved surfaces, roads and buildings further increase these effects.
Trees, rain-gardens, green roofs and walls, and other vegetation help to cool cities on hot summer days, capture heavy rainfall and improve air quality. Research shows that green infrastructure provides a range of other benefits such as increased biodiversity and improved human health. However, cities often find green infrastructure expensive or difficult to implement.
Nature Smart Cities, is an EU Interreg 2 Seas project which brings together 11 partners across the UK, Belgium, The Netherlands and France, to develop a business model for smaller cities to enable more effective and more accurate appraisal of green infrastructure (GI) projects, particularly in comparison with more traditional, grey, approaches.
As an input to the Business Model, Z/Yen conducted a review of the various (innovative) financing options that Local Authorities could consider utilising in the future to fund their urban greening programmes. To date, Local Authorities have struggled to understand or make use of these innovative funding sources, but could unlocking them be the key to rolling out a programme of ambitious green infrastructure projects that helps the UK reach net zero by 2050.
Speakers:
Anna Oxenham has been working at Southend Borough Council since August 2019, where she manages an Interreg 2 Seas project called Nature Smart Cities. The project brings together 11 partners, across four European countries, to develop a Business Model to support Local Authorities to make the business case for Green Infrastructure. The move to Southend Borough Council was led by Anna’s ambition to be involved in more localised on the ground efforts to combat climate change and prevent biodiversity loss. Prior to her new role, Anna worked at the UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre for 11 years, where amongst other biodiversity-related projects, she managed the UN CBD mandated Biodiversity Indicators Partnership (BIP). This Partnership brings together over 60 partners from around the globe, working at the forefront of biodiversity indicator development, to communicate progress against the Sustainable Development Goals, 2020 Aichi Biodiversity Targets and for the International Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
Phil Back is a researcher working at Imperial College London, and recently completed a project studying smaller cities’ approaches to delivering green infrastructure proposals as part of a wider EU-funded initiative to develop tools to assist in this process. Phil has spent much of his career in and around local government, including ten years running a successful local authority research business, during which time he won the prestigious Market Research Society Public Policy award for his work with Braintree District Council. He graduated from Stirling University in 1974, but returned to learning later in life, securing an Advanced Diploma in Historic Landscape from the University of Cambridge in 2012, and a PhD from the University of Sheffield in 2018.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3HnNEe1
Employee share schemes expert David Craddock will present strategies and techniques that have proved by experience to increase employee take-up, thereby securing involvement in the employee share scheme for employee motivation purposes with the consequential impact on company productivity. When all the legal work has been completed the success or failure of the employee share scheme launch will depend upon the quality and the sensitivity of the employee communication process. In this webinar David will explain advanced employee communication strategies based on cultural indices that provide an understanding of national cultures and enable bespoke solutions to issues that need to be addressed when formulating the employee communications. The webinar also develops an advanced understanding of the role of employee share schemes within the overall context of human resource management and social scientific trends. It also demonstrates how the employee share scheme, when properly implemented and communicated, has the capacity to establish a unity within an international company that spans many different national cultures worldwide. The content of the webinar is all based on the personal experiences of the author and his travels into numerous countries to launch employee share scheme initiatives for many companies across many sectors.
Speakers:
David Craddock is an independent consultant specialising in employee share ownership and reward management. A recognised authority on the subject, he is the author of The Tolley’s Guide to Employee Share Schemes, along with many other essential books and courses.
David’s clients range from major public limited companies with international considerations to smaller private companies where the requirements are for Enterprise Management Incentives, tax-unapproved share scheme arrangements and market-making employee share trust structures. David has successfully established employee share schemes and employee benefit arrangements worldwide and to date has travelled to over 30 countries to personally facilitate their introduction. He enhances his service through a long experience in share reconstructions and share valuation.
David is a regular conference speaker for the Esop Centre and senior examiner for The ESOP Institute in London in relation to The Certificate in Employee Share Ownership Studies, the material for which he is author and principal authority.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3t1ZW8j
Machine learning is becoming an essential technology, no matter the industry. Data is now the heart and soul of business, and comprehending it effectively is crucial to making decisions. For that reason, financial executives need to insert themselves into the conversation about the right data to use, applying their institutional knowledge while simultaneously understanding key principles of machine learning.
The aim of this webinar is to demystify the use of ML and give finance professionals a way to decide how to use it, understand how it works, and assess outputs and the data science to make it successful.
The seminar will look at:
- The type of problems ML can solve, current attitudes to ML and an explanation of the framework that ML operates within and its potential strengths and weaknesses in application to finance problems.
- How algorithms are applied, where they come from and how financial executives without computer science backgrounds can understand and assess the algorithms being used in their business.
- Using data in machine learning solutions and how data deployment is critical to the assessment of machine learning solutions.
- How to ask the right questions, select the best data and understand how algorithms predict and classify to help financial executives make better decisions and communicate more effectively.
Download Alvarez & Marsal's recent report here: OPENING THE BLACK BOX: HOW TO ASSESS MACHINE LEARNING MODELS
Speaker:
Chandu Chilakapati is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal Valuation Services in Houston. He specializes in fair value and financial reporting of financial instruments, as well as traditional business and asset valuation advisory services; he is also the practice’s Head of Innovation. He is one of the founders of LeaseSCRE, a machine-learning software that estimates a company's incremental borrowing rate (IBR).
Mr. Chilakapati started ValSource, Alvarez & Marsal’s web-based software that delivers valuation outsourcing efficiently on a range of complex financial instruments. He has also created numerous valuation models that include Monte Carlo simulation for path-dependent instruments such as separable warrants, convertible debt and stock-based compensation.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis, and an MBA from Rice University. He has spoken at and moderated conferences related to technical accounting, machine learning, and other innovation related topics.
Chandu has recently co-authored an Alvarez & Marsal guide for finance executives, together with Devin Rochford, on the various considerations that finance professionals need to keep top-of-mind for their organizations' strategic data initiatives. 'Opening The Black Box: How To Assess Machine Learning Models'
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3qGdByM
Speakers:
Sharon Constançon is a Chartered Director, Chartered Secretary and a fellow of ICSA, a fellow of the IoD, a member of CISI International Committee, Chairman of the South African Chamber of Commerce UK and a member of the WCCSA Membership Committee.
As CEO of Genius Methods and Genius Boards, Sharon offers robust, behavior-focused board evaluations, mentoring, corporate governance services and training to many industries. Her clients include FTSE and regulated businesses, SMEs, family businesses, investment trusts, insurance, financial services, health services, charities and the housing sector.
Richard Burge has been the chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry since February 2020.
He has led four multi-million pound organisations as chief executive over a total of 18 years. They ranged from a famous charity to a UK government agency to a private company to a membership body. All of them were revenue-based operations delivering public benefits.
He has been on the Board and a non-executive chair/director of five multi-million pound operations including companies, charities, two government agencies, and a UK Russell Group university.
Richard has worked in over 55 countries, specialising in Africa, the wider Commonwealth, and post-conflict situations.
Dr Adam Marshall, as the Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) is a man with his finger on the pulse of British Business. Charged with representing the interests of many thousands of British Businesses, Adam works at the highest level of business, government and media to tackle many of the key issues facing business today.
Nigel Bacon has been CEO and Company Secretary of the Canada-UK Chamber of Commerce in London since 2005. Established in 1921 in London and located inside the High Commission of Canada in London, the Chamber is a business networking organisation with over 300 member companies and focuses on business introductions and referrals, with a very active events programme. Prior to the Chamber, he spent 15 years with the British Council in Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Oman and Bahrain, and qualified as a Solicitor with McKenna & Co (now CMS). Nigel served as Vice Chairman of the Council for Foreign Chambers of Commerce in London for 3 years.
Find out more on our website: https://bit.ly/3417EEY
Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs) provide an attractive new exit route for retiring entrepreneurs. William Franklin of the share scheme specialists PettFranklin explains how they actually work and how they differ from Management Buyouts (MBOs).
Speaker:
William Franklin is an experienced share schemes practitioner and a Chartered Accountant who is widely recognised as a leading adviser on the valuation, accounting and financial aspects of all forms of remuneration, incentive and employee share schemes.
He is a member of the HMRC Employment-Related Securities & Valuations sub-group, a Board Member for the Lexis PSL Share Incentives Consulting Editorial Board and he contributes to Tolley’s Guidance on Employment Taxes and to PLC. William has been appointed as Chairman of the Worked Examples Group, a group of experts who work with HMRC to publish examples of share valuations over a wide range of employee share ownership and employee ownership arrangements. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow for the Esop Centre and a regular speaker at conferences on share schemes and employee ownership. He has a wide background in tax advice and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation.
Labuan IBFC is an international business and financial centre located in the heart of Asia Pacific. Labuan prides itself on its broad business offering and robust legal framework enforced by its regulator, Labuan Financial Services Authority (Labuan FSA). The centre is keen on positioning itself as a key strategic location of choice for international businesses looking to tap into the Asian market. Join this webinar to learn more about Labuan and its plans for future development.
Speaker:
Farah Jaafar-Crossby is the Chief Executive Officer of Labuan IBFC Incorporated Sdn Bhd (LIBFC Inc.), the official promotion and marketing agency for Labuan International Business and Financial Centre (Labuan IBFC) since January 2018. She assumed this role after more than three years as the Director of Market Intelligence and Strategic Communications, in LIBFC Inc. Farah, a seasoned communications professional, brings with her more than 20 years of experience in capital markets and the wholesale financial services sector, putting her in good stead to promote Labuan IBFC as the preferred midshore jurisdiction in Asia Pacific. Farah was formerly attached to the Asian Institute of Finance and Bursa Malaysia, where she was involved in senior market development and strategic communications roles. She also managed the Association of Stock Broking Companies Malaysia, the industry lobby group representing Malaysian stockbrokers, allowing her a unique insight and hands on experience with issues surrounding multiple stakeholder management. Farah has a LLB (Hons) from Sheffield University, United Kingdom.
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The recent global Coronavirus pandemic has had a significant effect on the way organised criminals are operating and the crimes they are committing. Our webinar will provide an up-to-date picture on these important developments in order to inform your current work. Operational Intelligence and Threat Analysis Management Consultants The Technium Global [TTG], will discuss the importance attached to the use of Hostile Profiling by companies and organisations to help minimise risk and improve their existing security posture. The talk will provide insights into what exactly “Hostile Profiling” is, why companies and organisations use this service and for what ends. Michael will explain the importance in today's context and cover its legal application. The talk will conclude by highlighting the benefits of Hostile Profiling for companies and organisations choosing to commission such a service.
Speaker:
Michael Hoddy is a Director and co-Founder of The Technium Global [TTG]. He has many decades of extensive national and international experience working with a wide range of companies and organisations in both regulated and un-regulated markets. He is a passionate advocate in helping clients find effective solutions to problems and advises on all aspects of Information Technology, Security and Technological Innovation focusing on minimising risk and optimising efficiencies as well as challenging existing thinking to help clients identify improvements and demonstrate value where TTG excels at delivering practical and commercial advice. Besides being a Silver Sponsor of The FSC, TTG have previously sponsored, organised and delivered several innovative Cyber Security Events in The City, focussing primarily on the challenges and risks associated with Social Engineering, Supply Chain Management and Insider Threat and how criminals are focussing their efforts to monetise the intelligence they gain by conducting active reconnaissance of their targets. The jewel in this crown is the very successful Cyber Incursion event, held at The Honourable Artillery Company HQ in The City with the world famous Hacker Kevin Mitnick as the key guest speaker. https://www.cyberincursion.com/
In 1561, Thomas Gresham provided “bridging finance” and sanctuary in Antwerp to a young travelling spendthrift, Thomas Cecil; William Cecil’s son. “I see, in the end,” said the disapproving father in one of his letters: “my sone shall come home lyke a spendyng sott, mete to kepe a tenniss court.” This seems to be the only mention of tennis to be found in any biography of Thomas Gresham to date. Tennis does not seem to have been a big thing to Thomas Gresham. But it was a very big thing to the Cecil family and it was a big thing in Tudor times. So why did William Cecil, a massive tennis fan, write in such disparaging tones about tennis in this context? And how on earth did this minor Cecil family intergenerational gripe find its way, some 40 years later, into a subplot of Hamlet? Ian Harris will use the link between Thomas Gresham and the Cecil family to help describe Renaissance tennis and introduce us to some of the colourful real characters who helped to make the world of Tudor tennis what it is today.
Share plan and employee incentives specialists Fleur Benns and Lynette Jacobs will discuss the use of employee share plans amid the economic fall out of the continuing pandemic. Their talk will give an insight into institutional investors’ thoughts on share plans and how the views of institutional investors impact on their operation.
Speakers:
Lynette Jacobs is a partner in the Employment & Reward group at international law firm, Pinsent Masons. She leads the Share Plans and Incentives team, advising clients across all sectors on all aspects of their domestic and international incentive arrangements including the establishment of new plans, ongoing operation of existing plans, corporate transactions, international operation of plans, use of employee trusts and corporate governance.
Fleur Benns is a Legal Director in the Employment & Reward group at Pinsent Masons. She is a share plan and employee incentives specialist and has extensive experience advising on all aspects of employee share plans and employee taxation. She provides practical and commercial advice in relation to the structuring of tax efficient forms of share incentives and the drafting, implementation and day to day operation of all forms of executive and broad-based share plans for both listed and non-listed companies.
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The first in a series of webinars, looking into what the religions of the book can teach modern finance. We want to develop an idea from anthropologists, the idea that perhaps the Bible leading to the Koran codifies best practice in finance in pre-industrial societies. One can assert that there are some good basic ideas in the good books:
• know your counterparty;
• deals must be for mutual benefit;
• risks must be taken.
This webinar will explore what we can discern with any confidence, and what religion has to offer as guidance to those working in finance today.
Speaker:
Imam Sayed Ali Abbas Razawi is a British scholar and religious leader with a research interest in Islamic philosophy, mysticism, and comparative religion. Imam Razawi is the Chief Imam and Director General of the Scottish Ahlul Bayt Society (SABS). He is also a Director and Associate at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, as well as being a Visiting Scholar at the University of Strathclyde. Nationally, he has served as an advisor on the United Kingdom’s Independent Sharia Review commissioned by Theresa May and participates as a member of the Oxfam GB Zakat Advisory Panel. He is also a trustee for Faith for the Climate. As the Director General of the SABS, Imam Razawi has focused on charity and civic engagement; with the Imam Hussain Blood Donation Drive in partnership with the SNBTS being the largest faith-based blood donation initiative currently in Scotland. In wanting to promote social cohesion, SABS also works with the charitable arm of football clubs such as Rangers and Celtic - with the former to promote blood donation and latter to feed the homeless. Internationally, Imam Razawi is a trustee and member of multiple international organizations and non-governmental bodies including an international Trustee of Religions for Peace (RfP), a member of the European Council of Religious Leaders (ECRL), a member of the United Nation (UN) Multi-Faith Advisory Council, and an advisory board member of the Islamic Reporting Initiative (IRI).
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Monetary and fiscal constraints have been shattered all round the world. Suddenly, governments who claimed there were no magic money trees have shed their inhibitions. European nations are amongst the leaders in using this new botany and forgetting how they used to ridicule modern monetary theory. Policy-makers at the core of the EU are exploring the implications of these broken constraints in one of the trickiest environments of all, the EU’s monetary and fiscal policy. In this webinar, Benoît Lallemand, Secretary General of Finance Watch, will explain the current state of policy development, look at some of the issues ahead, and try to help viewers make sense of the implications for medium and longer term growth. In particular, he and FS Club Chairman Michael Mainelli will point to the erosion of government-private economic boundaries and the potential rise of a ‘new pervasive state’.
Speaker:
Benoît Lallemand is Secretary General of Finance Watch since January 2017. He was previously a senior policy analyst (mainly MiFID 2), senior advisor to Better Markets on EU affairs and head of strategic development and operations at Finance Watch. He also initiated the Citizens’ Dashboard of Finance, a platform allowing a broad range of stakeholders, including pioneers in sustainable businesses and financial services, academics and civil society organizations to engage on a global campaign to change finance. Before joining Finance Watch upon its creation in 2011, Benoît spent more than ten years in the financial sector – more specifically in clearing and settlement (market infrastructure). He was initially a team leader before holding senior positions in asset-servicing departments, focusing on fixed income and structured products primary markets and regulatory reporting. He was then in charge of several business steering committees and strategic projects. Benoît also has roots in the NGO world as a co-founder of ATTAC-Bruxelles.
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Background: In a reprise of the well-received 4 June webinar, YBS Share Plans’ Darren Smith will discuss the share plan administration, legal and tax burning questions with expert guests on his virtual sofa. He will be asking colleague Bryony Padgett-Jones, Deloitte’s Katie Stephens and EY’s Suzannah Crookes what they are seeing in the market and what the future holds.
Speakers:
Darren Smith has worked in the Share Plans industry for over 20 years. In this time he has worked on all the operational teams including management, relationship management and most recently business development. He is a regular industry host and speaker on topics including share plans and financial wellbeing, bringing a fun and engaging style to events.
Bryony Padgett-Jones has a wealth of administrator experience after working in a variety of roles for YBS Share Plans including: operational, client relationship management and most recently business development. Bryony has knowledge and experience in running and managing: all-employee (Sharesave & SIP), executive and international share plans.
Katie Stephens is an Associate Director who has nine years’ experience advising companies on the design, implementation and operation of UK and global incentive plans. She works with multinationals to address a broad range of incentive plan issues including tax, legal & regulatory compliance, employee communications and corporate recharges/ deductibility/ accounting for share based payments. Katie also supports a number of companies who use Deloitte's GA Incentives technology to manage on an automated basis the employer payroll obligations for expatriates. She has a degree in Economics from the University of Manchester and is a member of the Association of Tax Technicians.
Suzannah Crookes is a Director focussing on incentive arrangements for UK and overseas private and listed companies. She trained as lawyer and has supported many companies in adopting and operating long-term and short-term incentives, both at executive level and for the wider workforce. Suzannah’s broad experience of equity plans together with a strong tax background enables her to focus on the design and implementation of effective incentive arrangements, as well as review and support with compliance.
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San Francisco has been rising as a financial centre for some years. From 15th in 2010, San Francisco has risen to 8th place in Global Financial Centres Index 27 (March 2020). Part of this is attributable to the increasing power of technology companies in payment markets, but quite a bit is equally due to San Francisco’s increasing mergers & acquisitions (M&A) activity and its rising importance as a hub for investment in technology. In turn, as San Francisco extends its international reach it finds itself increasingly using London as a hub for global technology & financial connections. In this webinar, we will explore the opportunities and ongoing projects in both centres and discuss where this strong trend may lead for both centres as bridges between technology & finance. The webinar will consist of:
• a quick recap of London’s role as an international hub, including its technology and finance sectors, including fintech
• an overview of San Francisco as a financial sector • some examples of businesses using these connections to ‘bridge’ global technology opportunities
• a discussion with the audience of ways to increase opportunities to work together
Speaker:
Jeffrey Sweeney, Chairman & CEO, US Capital Global. Jeffrey is a lifelong entrepreneur with extensive experience in leading firms with a forward-thinking approach. Currently Chairman and CEO of US Capital Global, a full-service private financial services group headquartered in San Francisco, Jeffrey is a keen supporter of technological innovations that can help to improve and grow the finance sector. Now in its twentieth year, US Capital Global has established itself as a FinTech investment bank through deploying a successful strategy that leverages technological innovation (FinTech) and regulatory developments (RegTech). The group is a leading provider of sophisticated financing solutions and investment opportunities for lower middle market businesses. Under Jeffrey’s leadership, the group consistently fulfils its commitment to doing well by doing good through facilitating profitable economic development that also has a positive social and environmental impact. Prior to being a financier, Jeffrey served as a principal and CEO of Machine Works Corporation, a lower middle market aerospace manufacturing company. His experience leading a business in the highly-regulated aerospace manufacturing industry has led to his appreciation of the need to work closely with regulators while adopting technological solutions to innovate in the sector. This successful approach has been brought over to US Capital Global, where leveraging innovation and regulatory developments has been a key driver in the firm’s growth as a FinTech investment bank.
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The Global Financial Centres Index has been tracking the development of the world’s financial centres since 2007 and is the authoritative guide to financial centre success. The 28th edition of the index, produced in partnership with the China Development Institute in Shenzhen, was launched on 25 September 2020 through a webinar organised between London and Seoul, with the support of the Seoul Metropolitan Government. At the webinar we presented the results of GFCI 28 and how financial centres are progressing.
It is critical that governments apply a meaningful carbon price. But if we are to move money at the pace and scale required to deal with climate risk, governments also need to reconsider the entire architecture of markets. This means focussing a climate lens on prudential regulation, listing rules, accounting standards, investment standards, valuation conventions, governance codes, and stewardship codes – as well as building on new interpretations of legal fiduciary duty, such as those set forth by the UK Government. In this webinar, Steve will outline how we might collectively make use of the combination of COP26 and the UK-hosted G7 in 2021 to move this important work forward.
Speaker:
Steve Waygood chairs the ESG Senior Leadership Team at Aviva Investors, and is a member of the CIO Investment Committee. Steve founded Aviva Investors’ Sustainable Finance Centre for Excellence. This Centre seeks to transform capital markets so that they support long term sustainable development. He also co-founded the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, the World Benchmarking Alliance, the UN Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Coalition. He was also part of the group that helped write the Principles for Responsible Investment. Steve was appointed to the European Commission High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance, and the UK Green Finance Taskforce, and is also a member of the Financial Stability Board Taskforce on Climate Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD). Steve started his career at the World Wide Fund for Nature in 1995, where he chaired the business and industry core group and oversaw the ethical investment policy. He also served on the board of the UK Sustainable Investment & Finance association (UKSIF) from 2003 to 2010, serving as its Chairman from 2006.
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Chicago Quantum have recently been publishing some interesting results, e.g. “ Portfolio Optimization of 40 Stocks Using the D-Wave Quantum Annealer ”. They’ve investigated the use of quantum computers for building a portfolio out of a universe of US listed, liquid equities that contains an optimal set of stocks. Starting from historical market data, they examined formulations on the D-Wave 2000Q System (DWave) to find optimal risk vs return portfolios; an optimized portfolio based on the Markowitz formulation and the Sharpe ratio, a simplified Chicago Quantum Ratio (CQR), then a new Chicago Quantum Net Score (CQNS). Their results show that practitioners can use a DWave to select attractive portfolios out of up to 60 US liquid equities. This webinar will examine what may well be the earliest actual quantum computing application in finance since Z/Yen first looked at the implications of quantum computing back in 1998, The Potential Impact Of Quantum Computing , and the formation of the Quantum Computing in Europe Pathfinder Project for the European Commission with Charles T Ross. There will an opportunity to get a feel for the quantum computer ‘rig’ being used. The webinar will also discuss the performance outcomes of two of the portfolios, and speculate at what point we should expect to see quantum advantage in stock picking.
Speaker:
Jeffrey Cohen is an executive IT strategy management consultant. Classically educated in finance, economics and management sciences. Jeff has spent his career leading and growing IT infrastructure consulting and project businesses (largest had $447M sales globally). Jeff has changed tack and spent the past two years building a start-up in quantum computing consulting. Jeff has deep skills across the IT consulting domain, including in sales, sales management, technical pre-sales, service delivery, creating solutions, portfolio management, and analyst relations. His industry experience is deepest in financial services, but he is comfortable supporting the intersection of finance and IT infrastructure across industries and geographies. For example, Jeffrey co-led the North American Outsourcing and Offshoring practice in the McKinsey & Company BTO. Jeff’s work grows IT consultancies, typically in new areas of market innovation. He started in IT infrastructure, then moved to hybrid cloud, and is now focused on quantum computing. On a personal note, Jeffrey is involved in politics and after holding the office of Precinct Committeeman, is up for election for North Shore Water Reclamation District Trustee in Lake County, Illinois in November 2020. Jeff has a BA economics from the University of Chicago, an MM management & strategy, Finance from Northwestern University, and completed coursework towards a Ph.D. in management sciences from Illinois Institute of Technology.
The employment-related securities legislation contains essential tools for employee share scheme development and implementation. Far from limiting employee share scheme activity, a proper understanding of the employment-related securities legislation opens a vista of tax planning opportunities for practical application. Building upon the meaning of the concept, “employment-related securities”, the webinar explains how to identify restricted securities and when to make Section 431 and Section 425 tax elections as well as how to identify convertible securities with an explanation of their tax treatment. Tax planning opportunities are also available through notional loan arrangements in accordance with Chapter 3C while a careful understanding of Chapter 3D charges is required to avoid tax traps and pitfalls on the sale of employee shares. The use of alphabet shares to differentiate reward is also dealt with by the employment-related securities legislation. Often overlooked is the use of employment-related securities legislation to enable a commercially effective and tax-efficient earn-out arrangement on a change of control. Employee share schemes expert, David Craddock breaks down these complex concepts into understandable language, drawing upon his 35 years plus experience in employee share schemes and involvement with government committees at the time this highly influential legislation was developed and first implemented.
Speakers:
David Craddock is an independent consultant specialising in employee share ownership and reward management. A recognised authority on the subject, he is the author of The Tolley’s Guide to Employee Share Schemes, along with many other essential books and courses. David’s clients range from major public limited companies with international considerations to smaller private companies where the requirements are for Enterprise Management Incentives, tax-unapproved share scheme arrangements and market-making employee share trust structures. David has successfully established employee share schemes and employee benefit arrangements worldwide and to date has travelled to over 30 countries to personally facilitate their introduction. He enhances his service through a long experience in share reconstructions and share valuation. David is a regular conference speaker for the Esop Centre and senior examiner for The ESOP Institute in London in relation to The Certificate in Employee Share Ownership Studies, the material for which he is author and principal authority.
The Financial Services Group Of Livery Companies (FSG) Task Force supports the Sheriffs of the City of London in their express desire to strengthen and simplify Anti-Money Laundering (AML) within the UK. As part of the taskforce’s series of webinars exploring AML, this webinar will be exploring AML Technology. The mandatory compliance requirements set out and enforced by the FCA and other regulators are stricter than ever, but some firms have managed to deliver the regulatory tick box through an un-cumbersome and perhaps even enjoyable experience that stands out in comparison to competitors’ offerings. This webinar will provide key insights into what AML/KYC tech can do for financial services firms and will investigate how firms think about meeting compliance requirements by rethinking their systems and the data they capture from the experience layer. We welcome 3 experts from Mastercard, TruNarrative and Digital Identity Network to share their knowledge and experience and the results they have achieved. The speakers will offer their suggestions for how companies can utilise regulatory technology to cut costs, reduce errors and transform their compliance process.
Speakers:
Dan Johnson is vice president, Identity Products for Mastercard based in London. He is a key leader in Mastercard’s initiative to create an effective, efficient and principled model of digital identity in an increasingly connected world. His team is helping to define how a person’s identity, and the entities operating on their behalf, can be verified immediately, safely and securely, across multiple touchpoints in both the digital and physical worlds.
Michael Harriss has been delivering eIDV, Compliance and Fraud prevention SaaS solutions for the last 15 years. He was a member of the original team pioneering eIDV at GB Group back in 2005 – designing the original JMLSG scoring scheme. He has worked on digital onboarding projects for HSBC, conducted M&A product due diligence for fraud and compliance software businesses. Most recently, in 2016 he became a co-founder of TruNarrative, an Onboarding and Financial Crime lifecycle management platform, working with Challenger banks, Payments and FX Money transfer businesses.
Rob Kotlarz is co-founder and President of DIGITAL IDENTITY NET where he set-up from concept to angel investment, a UK platform to enable a low entry cost to participation in secure customer consent based digital identity exchange, for reducing friction fraud and improving digital customer experience.
Graeme Gordon is a chartered accountant and prior to joining Praxity was Managing Director and Senior Tutor of Emile Woolf Group, the international training and development firm. He was also previously Group Finance Director of a technology company listed on the London Stock Exchange. Graeme has extensive international experience including in Europe, Russia, North America, the Far East, the Indian Sub-Continent and the Middle East. Before becoming a chartered accountant Graeme served as an officer in the Royal Navy. He is a member of the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and formerly twice President of the Thames Valley Chartered Accountants.
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Whilst the movement to work from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic has been a great success in many ways, it has also led to a weakening of the physical connection, nonverbal feedback, and social recognition crucial to building resilience within leadership and teams. In this webinar, Anuka Gazara-Anthony and Toby Corballis provide insights into methods leaders can use to increase resilience within themselves and their teams, using proven tools developed by world experts in neuroscience, mindfulness, and emotional intelligence. The webinar will conclude with a practical demonstration from Anuka.
Speakers:
Toby Corballis is MD of StoryPositive Limited and an Organisational Change expert. He has worked with numerous Investment Banks, Exchanges, Hedge Funds, and Technology firms across the Equities, Commodities, Fixed Income, and Derivatives markets. He specialises in helping executives and senior leaders navigate new technologies and adopt efficient processes that increase profitability by reducing delay costs, lowering implementation time, and unblocking "stuck" projects, using proven techniques, including Agile practices. Toby holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Organisational Leadership from Oxford University, is a certified Kanban Management Professional, accredited Executive Coach, Affiliate Member of the British Psychological Society, and host of the Wicked Problems podcast (www.wickedproblems.fm).
Anuka Gazara-Anthony is an Emotional Intelligence and Mindfulness teacher with the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute who combines organizational leadership, programme management, and hypnobirthing in her work. She has supported and advised executives in a diverse range of organizations, including the United Nations and the International Labour Organization, with work taking her across Europe and Africa. Anuka’s work is committed to strengthening the inner resilience and wisdom of leaders. Her experience demonstrates how strategy, culture, and human connection stimulates effective leadership, from the boardroom and the conference table to the dining table. She holds a BA from the University of Queen Mary (University of London) a Master’s degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Organizational Leadership from Said Business School at the University of Oxford.
Patents are the most powerful of intellectual property rights providing a monopoly for products, processes and other inventive concepts. Whilst there are no surprises amongst the top patent filers such as Huawei, Samsung and Qualcomm, a number of financial institutions, including Bank of America and Amex, are increasing their patent filings each year. Innovators within these institutions aren’t working in laboratories wearing white coats yet they are still being named as patent inventors and adding value to their organisations. What is being patented by them and why are they doing it? How can your own financial and software innovations be protected using the patent system, and how do patents add value to an organisation? In this webinar, Howard will explain all of this and more, as well as providing you the means to keep track of your competitors’ patent filings and grants.
Speakers:
Dr Howard Sands is a Chartered Patent Attorney, European Patent Attorney and European Design Attorney and a partner of Boult Wade Tennant LLP. Howard previously worked as a management consultant in financial services of a global consultancy firm. His technical experience in banking and IT coupled with his academic physics background provides a deep understanding behind the important technological advances driving the world economy. He has particular experience with computer-implemented inventions that use machine learning and artificial intelligence, blockchain and distributed ledger, cryptography, and hardware virtualisation and works with clients across multiple business sectors from financial services, telecommunications, aviation, academic institutions and their spin-out companies. He advises on patent infringement and validity and has substantial experience in drafting and prosecuting patent applications before the UK and European Patent Offices as well as coordinating the prosecution of foreign applications as part of larger patent portfolios. Howard provides a strong commercial focus when advising his clients on their patent strategies. Whether working with patent departments of large multinationals or small start-ups, Howard’s aim is to obtain the best possible patent coverage and protect his clients’ technology investments.
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In this webinar, David will provide an update on the EUs position and institutional regulatory reactions to the Covid-19 crisis and Brexit, covering banking, fund management and insurers. David Doyle is known across Europe as a leading expert on EU financial services regulation and long-standing speaker at the Financial Services Club. A former diplomat with over 20 years of service on mainland Europe at bilateral and multilateral level, he now acts as an EU Policy Advisor between Brussels and London, specialising in regulatory developments in banking, fund management and insurance. He is a member of the Executive Board of the joint MEP-EU industry advocacy body, The Kangaroo Group at the European Parliament, holds a seat on the Board of Directors of the Genesis Initiative at Westminster that promotes entrepreneurship and SME policy, as well as being active in the Transatlantic Business Council on Capital Markets and the Conference Board Corporate Governance Council.
Turks and Caicos (T&C) is a British Overseas Territory and archipelago of 40 low-lying coral islands in the Atlantic Ocean. Over recent years, and with the aim of encouraging investment from international institutions and firms, T&C has introduced a number of legislative measures, including legislation on banking, confidentiality, companies, insurance and trusts to name a few. The desire to create a strong and reputable finance industry in Turks and Caicos remains central to Government policy. This webinar will focus on developments and opportunities in T&C and will be led by David Stewart, a UK qualified lawyer who has lived and worked in T&C since 2015.
Speakers:
David Stewart is a Turks and Caicos Attorney-at-Law, a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, and Managing Director of Coriats Trust Company Limited (“Coriats”) , a Turks and Caicos Licensed Trusts Company which has been the leading Trust Company in the Turks and Caicos for over 42 years. Coriats has Trust License Number One in the Turks and Caicos Islands, and is regulated and licensed by the Turks and Caicos Financial Services Commission. Currently David leads the Coriats Trustee team with Coriats’ Chairman, Christopher Coriat (who has over 40 years of experience as a senior trusts advisor) alongside a capable team comprising Trust Officers, compliance professionals and accounting professionals. Unusually for a professional trustee, David has a very substantial background in contentious trust matters due to his experience over 20 years as a partner in two large UK law firms. He also has a strong background in trust and estate planning for high net worth families, both in the UK and internationally, particularly in the Middle East. David has worked across the Caribbean, Asia, Africa and the Middle East as well as the Americas, and has very broad experience of a large number of common and civil law jurisdictions.
Employee ownership works. Companies perform better and employees end up with substantially more wealth. But employee ownership is still the exception. Share plans in the UK aim to replicate USA Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), but, unlike in the USA model, employee ownership trusts in the UK are not set up so that employees typically benefit from the growth in share value in their accounts over time. The model in the USA encourages focus on long-term growth; the UK model focuses on short-term dividend payouts. This webinar will look into what can be done to move employee ownership forward, what lessons can be learned from ESOPs in the USA, and what companies can do to make their own employee ownership plans more effective.
Speakers:
Corey Rosen is the founder of the National Center for Employee Ownership, a private, nonprofit membership, information, and research organization in Oakland, CA. The NCEO is widely considered to be the authoritative source on broad-based employee ownership plans. He cofounded the NCEO in 1981 after working five years as a professional staff member in the U.S. Senate, where he helped draft legislation on employee ownership plans. Prior to that, he taught political science at Ripon College. He is the author or co-author of over 100 articles and numerous books on employee ownership, and co-author (with John Case and Martin Staubus) of Equity: Why Employee Ownership is Good for Business (Harvard Business School Press, 2005). He has appeared frequently on CNN, PBS, NPR, MSNBC, and other network programs; and is regularly quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, and other leading publications. He has lectured on employee ownership on six continents.
Sheriff and Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli, Alderman of the City of London and Executive Chairman of Z/Yen Group, Emeritus Mercers’ School Memorial Professor of Commerce, Gresham College and former Director, Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, Ministry of Defence, UK
Recorded for the 38th Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime
Given the current economic outlook due to the COVID-19 pandemic, companies will be concerned with maintaining cash flow and cutting costs wherever possible. Our panel of experts from France, Germany, the UK and the US will discuss whether it would be possible, and advisable, to replace a portion of an employee’s salary with equity grants, and the related employment, securities and tax law considerations for doing so.
Speakers:
Partner, Nicholas Greenacre is EMEA Head of Employment, Compensation & Benefits at the global law firm, White & Case LLP. He has extensive experience in a broad range of employment, compensation and benefits matters for clients of all sizes, from technology start-ups to global investment banks. He advises clients from various jurisdictions on the establishment and international implementation of equity and cash-based incentive plans. This work involves investigation and analysis of the tax, securities, foreign exchange, employment, data privacy and e-commerce issues clients may encounter in each country where they operate their plans. Nicholas is a former Director of the Global Equity Organisation and a member of NASPP's Global Stock Plans Task Force. He is also a member of the Share Plan Lawyers Group and an associate member of the Association of Pensions Lawyers. Chambers UK 2020 notes “Nicholas Greenacre draws praise for the ‘quality and clarity of his advice’ as well as his ‘responsiveness and ability to turn things around quickly.’” Nicholas is named as a recognised individual by both Chambers UK2019 in Employee Share Schemes & Incentives and by Legal 500 UK, 2020 in London: Human Resources, Employee Share Schemes and Employment: employers.
Victoria Rosamond is a Partner in the New York Employment, Compensation & Benefits Group. Victoria advises public and private company clients on the design and implementation of equity and cash incentive compensation and retention programmes and the negotiation of executive employment, separation and change in control agreements. Victoria also advises clients regarding Section 409A deferred compensation arrangements, Section 280G golden parachute issues, and compensation-related corporate governance and public disclosure requirements.
Frank-Karl Heuchemer is Head of the German Employment, Compensation & Benefits practice at White & Case LLP. He advises national and international employers on all aspects of individual and collective employment and labour law. His experience also covers the employment and labour law support of corporate transactions such as mergers and demergers and issues relating to transfers of undertakings. Employers trust Frank-Karl Heuchemer with major restructuring projects and measures related thereto as well as with achieving settlements of conflicted interests and developing social plans when negotiating with works councils. Moreover, he advises companies on optimising existing systems of co-determination. He represents companies' interests in employment-related litigation before German labour and civil courts. Frank-Karl is regularly named as a highly recommended employment lawyer in Germany in Who’s Who Legal and Best Lawyers.
Partner, Alexandre Jaurett heads the Employment, Compensation & Benefits team at the Paris office of White & Case LLP. He specialises in all aspects of contentious and non-contentious employment and benefits matter. With particular expertise in the cross-border restructurings and employment aspects of both mergers and acquisitions and LBO transactions, he represents a broad list of French and international clients. He advises clients in relation to employment contracts, remuneration schemes, dismissals, secondment and expatriation of employees. On the litigation side, he represents his clients before civil, labour and criminal courts, with a particular focus on collective litigation.
Today’s international & off-shore financial centres (IFCs) contain good and bad, from money launderers and tax evaders to long-term planners and legitimate but complex wholesale financiers. The rapidly changing trade and economic environment affects financial services and thus financial centres. Perhaps no sector is likely to undergo more change than that of IFCs. For years IFCs were presumed to trade on tax minimisation and secrecy. That presumption has been unfair on most of them for some time. IFCs are valued by many for providing stable long-term financial arrangements with regulatory simplicity. IFCs exist because on-shore regulators haven’t created sensible wholesale finance regulations and are subject to bouts of rapid regulatory change in response to domestic crises. This webinar is going to explore the many changes going on with an acknowledged expert and advocate for IFCs in their relationships with the UK.
Speaker:
Mark Field is a former MP and FCO Minister who represented the prestigious central London constituency of the Cities of London and Westminster in the UK Parliament between June 2001 and November 2019. A graduate of St Edmund Hall, Oxford, he practised as a solicitor with Freshfields in the early 1990s and also set up, ran and sold two start-up businesses before embarking on a political career. He developed an in-depth and widely recognised expertise of the City, financial and professional services at home alongside leading for the UK government’s economic diplomacy in international energy strategy, cyber security and fintech/green finance during spells on the Intelligence and Security Committee, Chairman of the Conservatives’ International office and as an FCO Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific. Since leaving parliament he has embarked upon a portfolio career, which already includes roles as the non-executive Chairman to the Isle of Man based Capital International Bank; Chair of the Advisory Board to independent HE provider, the London School of Commerce, and Senior Advisor to the Cayman Island Government Office in London.
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Do your board members share the same view on risk around the table? Governance and compliance might focus attention through the risk appetite statement, but ESG and Impact investment throw up new Performance related challenges on the true level of risk understanding. Funds based on Environment, Social and Governance performance are now established mainstream, with the category catapulted into the limelight by the global pandemic. Some even say Impact investing is now an unsustainable bandwagon, but do we all agree on ‘Sustainability’ anyway? It is time to look at what ESG can mean for investors, and why the companies seeking to please investors are so nervous about which recipe of ‘alphabet soup’ will quench their appetite. Is there an optimum performance mix spanning all three E, S and G metrics, or is it best to concentrate on one of the three like Climate change? Isn’t there enough risk in backing investments that lack a solid financial return, why compound this risk using spurious metrics for the good of society or the wider economy? How can investors separate real benefits from ‘Greenwash’ in the absence of any universally recognised system? In this stimulating and provocative talk we look at how some of the largest asset management firms like Blackrock see risk, and how some big players like the mining giant RTZ have managed to create reputation damage through misinterpreting risk.
Speaker:
Garry Honey was a member of the Centre of Stakeholding & Sustainable Enterprise (CSSE) based at Kingston University at a time when the CSSE worked with the UN Environment Programme on stakeholder engagement. He was also a member of the risk modelling agency SERM (Sustainable Enterprise Risk Management) a pioneer ratings agency for sustainable investment funds looking at reputation risk. He has designed compliance training courses for bankers and was a visiting professor at the Institute of Banking & Finance in London. He currently works with Henley business school where he designed the risk module for a new programme on Board Practice & Development. This was based on his behavioural economics approach to risk governance: ‘what boards need to know about risk’. As a consultant, he advises boards on non-financial risks: reputational, political and ethical. Since the EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) came into force in 2018 he has noticed an increase in enquiries about reporting risk relating to Environmental, Societal and Governance (ESG) issues.
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Toronto has consistently ranked highly in the Global Financial Centres Index. Naturally it features highly among North American financial centres. A key player in this development has been TMX Group, owner of the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), one of the world’s largest stock exchanges. TSX plays a significant role in supporting innovation and access to capital. In this webinar, Jennifer Reynolds, President & CEO of Toronto Finance International and Robert Peterman, Vice-President of Global Business Development at TSX, join Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chair of Z/Yen, to speak about key developments in Toronto and why it shines as a Global Financial Centre.
Speakers:
Jennifer Reynolds is the President & CEO of Toronto Finance International (TFI), a public-private partnership whose mission is to promote and develop Toronto’s financial services sector, and to establish its prominence as a leading global financial centre. Jennifer’s 20 year career in the financial services industry has included senior roles in investment banking, venture capital, and global risk management. Prior to joining TFI, Jennifer was the President & CEO of Women in Capital Markets (WCM), Canada’s largest industry association and advocacy group for women in the financial sector. Jennifer is a Director on the Board of Citibank Canada, Director on the Board of the Canada Development Investment Corporation ("CDEV"), Director on the Board of Women’s College Hospital Foundation, and Director on the Board of Tourism Toronto. In 2015 and 2017, she was named a Women's Executive Network (WXN) Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner. Jennifer is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Women's Leadership program, and she received her MBA from McGill University, as well as a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Economics and Political Science from McGill University. Jennifer also holds the Institute of Corporate Directors Designation, ICD.D.
Robert Peterman is Vice-President, Global Business Development at Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV). He is responsible for domestic and international business development activities for TSX and TSXV; including South America the United Kingdom and Israel. His group covers new listings and investor development activities for TSX and TSXV. Combined, the exchanges are home to over 3,200 public issuers. During 2019 over 270 companies or ETFs went public on TSX or TSXV and $39B of capital was raised making it one of the largest exchanges in the world for raising equity capital. Robert completed his MBA at the Richard Ivey School of Business. Prior to working at TMX, Robert worked in Corporate Strategy for a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management. He was a member of the Ivey Entrepreneurship Council. Currently he is also an advisor to SVX (Social Venture Exchange) a joint venture between TMX Group and MARS; and a board member for the Canadian Council for the Americas.
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It goes without saying that in financial services, trust is a vital commodity. The potential dividends of trust and ethical conduct are significant. Employees are far more likely to be engaged and live your organization's values, be strongly committed to their job and the customers they serve. While customers are far more likely to advocate on your behalf, stay loyal, and crucially buy your products. In this interesting webinar, we will be talking to David Coe, CEO of the Fairbanking Foundation, whose presentation will explain the Fairbanking Mark, how it works, and why financial services companies should keep trust and ethics central to their culture. David will be joined by Matt Gantley, CEO of the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), which as the UK’s government-appointed National Accreditation Body oversees and accredits the Fairbanking Mark scheme.
Speaker:
David Coe is Chief Executive Officer of the Fairbanking Foundation. He leads the charity’s strategy to increase the coverage of its Fairbanking Marks scheme and the range and impact of its growing advisory and research activities. Previously David was Interim CEO of WAGGGS, the global movement for Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting. Before that David was Executive Director of Abbeyfield International (independent living and care homes provider), Director General of the International Psychoanalytical Association, and Executive Director of Orbis (blindness prevention organisation). Here he led the organisational transition from ‘Flying Eye Hospital’ to land-based blindness prevention programmes. He has also worked extensively as a Consultant and more recently, as an Executive Coach working with many charities and for-profit organisations on major change. He was also Chief Executive of the Soil Association, the organic food certifying and campaigning organisation.
Matt Gantley is the Chief Executive of UKAS, the UK’s Accreditation Body and major contributor to the national quality infrastructure. Accreditation by UKAS means that conformity assessment (testing and calibration laboratories, inspection and certification bodies) have been assessed against internationally recognised standards to demonstrate their competence, impartiality and performance capability. Matt has over 20 years’ experience in the conformity assessment and prior to joining UKAS he was the Managing Director of NQA Certification and held senior Directorship positions in certification, training and consulting enterprises. His key achievements include strategic and commercial development alongside international management in emerging markets. Matt is passionate about corporate and business strategy and served as a visiting MBA lecturer at Manchester Business School. Matt has also fulfilled Non-Exec roles for Elmhurst (EPBD Training/Certification), was a Board Director of SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) and was the Chairman of the Association of British Certification Bodies. Matt is an active member of CQI, IOSH and IEMA.
Amid the global pandemic, a financial services industry survey conducted jointly by the UK-based Financial Services Club and US-based Ravco Marketing, sponsored by Salesforce, has found that the industry sees a silver lining resulting from COVID-19. Most think the crisis has had a positive influence on their customer and employee relationships, on the market fit for their current products, and the productivity levels of work from home employees. Not all is positive, though, with the majority saying that their ability to reach this year’s business goals have been negatively affected.
The survey of executives in banking, FinTech and consulting covers six key areas:
• Crisis management preparedness
• Effects on current operations
• Working from home
• Relationships with customers and employees
• The future effects of the crisis
• Current state-of-mind
Speaker:
George Ravich is a veteran of the FinTech and InsurTech industries, having been CMO of several industry leading companies. He now leads Ravco Marketing, which is full-service marketing consultancy with fractional CMO services, specializing in the FinTech and InsurTech industries. George’s most recent assignment was at Ncontracts, a risk & compliance SaaS platform provider. George was hired by the private equity owners to reinvigorate the marketing function and prepare the company for sale, which was accomplished in six months. George is best known for his 10-year career as CMO at Fundtech, a leading global payments software provider that grew into one of the best known and most respected payments technology companies around the globe. Over this time revenues increased from $40M to $225M. The company was sold to private equity firm GTCR. George has been an active member of the FinTech and InsurTech communities in New York, Hartford, London and Israel. He was a mentor for the New York based FinTech Startupbootcamp and was a mentor for SWIFT’s Start-Up Challenge. He is currently a mentor for Startupbootcamp InsurTech events in Hartford, CT, and for the Rise, Barclay’s New York FinTech accelerator.
What does employee share ownership really mean? What opportunities are there for effective employee share ownership? Looking at the design and structure of schemes, the human resources dimension, the origins of Eso and its political appeal in the UK and internationally, employee share schemes expert David Craddock will take us to the heart of the matter on the case for employee share ownership.
Speaker:
David Craddock is an independent consultant specialising in employee share ownership and reward management. A recognised authority on the subject, he is the author of The Tolley’s Guide to Employee Share Schemes, along with many other essential books and courses. David’s clients range from major public limited companies with international considerations to smaller private companies where the requirements are for Enterprise Management Incentives, tax-unapproved share scheme arrangements and market-making employee share trust structures. David has successfully established employee share schemes and employee benefit arrangements worldwide and to date has travelled to over 30 countries to personally facilitate their introduction. He enhances his service through a long experience in share reconstructions and share valuation. David is a regular conference speaker for the Esop Centre and senior examiner for The ESOP Institute in London in relation to The Certificate in Employee Share Ownership Studies, the material for which he is author and principal authority.
Marketplaces are evolving in ways that can seem to be stacked against regular people. Some claim that aggressive new labour markets like Uber mislead work-seekers, slash pay, withhold data, systematically undermine regulation, impede training, and lobby against worker rights. They claim Uber is not an outlier; it’s a pathfinder for labour market platforms covering thousands of sectors. Some point out a link with corporate employees are increasingly deployed in line with their employer’s hour-by-hour needs. New scheduling software puts businesses under competitive pressure to adopt these one-sided efficiencies. Yet others point to some of the flexibilities and freedoms in a ‘gig’ economy. Economists might even invoke the equity that should result from open, competitive, and fair markets. Whatever, about 50% of workers now rely on at least some ad-hoc economic activity, much of it in shadow economies. A cheapened, commoditized, workforce with little chance of progression wastes economic potential. That’s a problem for governments. Many are getting increasingly radical in their thinking: Universal Basic Income, a Green New Deal free tuition, and other taxpayer-funded reform ideas are gaining traction worldwide. But Britain leads with an alternative path: comprehensive online markets that use new tools, personalised data, and interface into official facilities to unlock the economic potential of citizens and local businesses. Tony Blair’s government funded the core of infrastructure ideas behind Public Official E-Markets; David Cameron’s team advanced it further. Similar non-profit markets have been launched by public bodies in Los Angeles County. Join this webinar to explore how government support of e-markets might lead to a better result for all workers.
Speakers:
Wingham Rowan is the former anchor and producer of Britain’s longest running TV series about the Internet. While working on that series he approached the think tank Demos to develop possibilities around how any government could initiate much better markets for local businesses and people at the bottom of the economy. Books, articles, policy papers and a TED talk followed. In 2005 the UK government funded a first build of the technologies developed by Rowan’s team. Those markets – providing an empowering alternative to “gig work” platforms – were launched by 20 city authorities before being absorbed into central government’s Universal Credit scheme. Funded by four national US philanthropies, those markets have now been launched by public agencies in Los Angeles County. The launch project won US Conference of Mayors’ prize for best economic development initiative in America. Rowan has led the US launch team while running the MM4A non-profit. As governments explore increasingly radical policy possibilities post-Covid, the wider vision of governments initiating better markets across the entire micro-economy in partnership with financiers and technologists is gaining traction. Rowan has become something of an expert on this emerging area of policy. www.ModernMarketsforAll.org
Marc has spent over a decade photographing endangered and extinct species of animals and plants – specimens found in the collections of The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. He started working on www.Extinction.photo because he wanted to say something about what is happening in an age in which human activity dominates the environment on an unprecedented scale. The images and stories in the project generate an overview of the accelerating loss of biodiversity, promoting a greater understanding of conservation efforts, reasons for decline (including climate change, habitat loss and overexploitation) and mankind’s stewardship of life on Earth at a critical time in history. His project is a reminder that life on earth is fragile. Marc will discuss the development of the work, the importance of natural history collections in the Anthropocene age and what he learned about conservation in ten years working with the Field Museum’s scientists. Explore Marc's exitinction project yourself: https://www.extinction.photo/explore/
Speaker:
Marc Schlossman is originally from Chicago and has been based in London since 1988. After graduating from the University of Maine at Orono with a BSc in Wildlife Biology, he studied photojournalism at the London College of Communications. From a beginning in editorial photography and photojournalism in the UK and abroad, Marc’s personal and commissioned projects have evolved using documentary and photojournalism techniques to tell stories in stills and video. Editorial clients include New Scientist Magazine, The Sunday Times, Geographical Magazine, BBC Wildlife Magazine and The Economist. He combines his interest in ecology and environmental issues with visual storytelling to explore man’s interaction with the rest of the natural world.
Z/Yen conducts an irregular series of short webinars, CommunityZ Chest, featuring people from its various communities and clubs, viz. technology, financial services, civil society, and business. These webinars provide an opportunity to meet people from the wider CommunityZ, to share ideas, and to make connections. This CommunityZ Chest features the former British diplomat Edmund Fitton-Brown. Edmund graduated from Cambridge University and joined the Foreign Service in 1984. His career included postings in Finland, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Italy and the United Arab Emirates; and culminated as Ambassador for Yemen. He joined the United Nations in 2017 as an Expert with the ISIL/Al-Qaida/Taliban Sanctions Monitoring Team before taking over as Coordinator of the Team in January 2018. He speaks Arabic and is best known as a specialist in the Middle East, regional security and counter-terrorism. In his present position, he is based in New York and also functions as the UN’s principal authority on the global threat posed by ISIL and Al-Qaida.
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Investec’s Kevin Lim will chat with his guest Laura McNeil of Blue Prism on how business is faring and how her and her colleagues’ work life has changed during the current circumstances. He will ask about the company's share plan and how it has been performing since lockdown.
Speakers:
Laura McNeil is Assistant Company Secretary & International Share Plans Manager at AIM listed technology business Blue Prism Group plc. She has previously held the role of Assistant Company Secretary at FTSE 250 online retailer N Brown and Company Secretarial Assistant of AIM listed NWF Group. Laura is a chartered Company Secretary and an Associate of ICSA. She read law and completed her Legal Practice Course at the University of Sheffield.
Kevin Lim is Business Development Manager at Investec engaged in selling the Vu-Live platform. He has previously worked at Solium, RBC and Ernst & Young during a long and varied career within share plans. Kevin is also a qualified solicitor and read law at Bristol University.
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This FS Club webinar features Julian Enoizi from Pool Re. Join us for what promises to be a deep and wide ranging discussion covering the following: 27 years of building resilience to terrorism risk through public-private partnership; The repercussions of the Covid-19 crisis for the (re)insurance industry, and potential responses; and The broader role of public-private risk financing and resilience-building in the 2020s.
Speaker:
Julian Enoizi is CEO of Pool Re. Julian has presided over the repositioning of the organisation including the renegotiation of Pool Re’s relationship with HM Treasury, introduction of a more sophisticated underwriting proposition requiring an amendment to an Act of Parliament, the purchase of the world’s largest terrorism retrocession programme, the launch of the world’s first terrorism Catastrophe Bond and a significant investment into a partnership with the Home Office in respect of risk mitigation projects. In addition, Pool Re is recognised a central sponsor of thought leadership initiatives and international collaboration with similar national level terrorism (re)insurance arrangements around the world. In 2018, John Glen, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, described Pool Re as being “widely recognised as the world’s leading terrorism pool”. Julian is a multi-lingual lawyer who has practiced internationally. He sits on the Advisory Board of the OECD International Network on the Financial Management of Large-scale Catastrophe and the CBI’s Financial Services Council. A Freeman of the City of London, Julian was appointed a visiting Professor at the University of Cranfield in 2018 and in 2019 was recognised by Insurance Day as Industry Achiever of the year for his leadership and innovation in terrorism reinsurance. Julian is an active speaker at conferences worldwide, advocating the importance of public/private partnerships and international collaboration to tackle difficult to insure perils facing the world today.
We cannot afford to allow the huge sums that have now been committed to economic recovery in the wake of the first wave of covid-19 to be spent on propping up harmful carbon intensive economies, unsustainable growth models and damaging inequalities. We need to ensure that this massive fiscal investment accelerates Europe and the world towards decarbonisation; that it invests in regeneration of the environment, and builds infrastructure and systems that are resilient to ensure that the next generations have a liveable and secure world to inherit. A green recovery is the only acceptable path. The question is: ‘How?’ How can recovery funding be distributed and managed so as to ensure ongoing structural change and systems transformation after the covid-19 crisis? How can we ensure that we do not simply reconstruct dysfunctional approaches to energy, industry, agriculture, and urban living?
Speakers:
Kirsten Dunlop, CEO, Climate-KIC. Kirsten's career spans academia, consulting, banking, insurance, strategy, design, innovation and leadership, across three continents. She joined Climate-KIC in February 2017 from an Australian financial services conglomerate, Suncorp. She is committed to shaping and placing innovation to catalyse profound systemic change. Her vision for Climate-KIC is to co-create a multi-sided marketplace for transformation and the generation of innovation options to achieve a zero-carbon economy and a climate resilient society. In her role at Suncorp, Kirsten founded and led a bespoke division focused on managing and responding to strategic risk through innovation, transforming core business and industry models from within. Prior to roles in Second Road, KPMG and Suncorp in Australia, Kirsten led the Generali Group Innovation Academy for Assicurazioni Generali in Italy, pioneering proprietary thinking in the areas of Strategic Risk management, strategic innovation, strategic leadership development and cultural change. Kirsten holds a Ph.D. in cultural history.
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A top-level discussion bringing together the former Chair of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, a journalist and publisher of Defence Analysis and the Sheriff of the City of London. This is the second discussion in the Global Britain – Polarisation, Grey Zone and Hybrid Conflict project, part of the Cityforum Intelligent Defence and Smart Power series and will probe what we face, what we could do, and how we could do it. The discussion is being prepared in a way that will give useful thinking to officials, military and politicians, to British businesses and to those from abroad who work in and with the UK. As on the first occasion, this webinar will have an international attendance including a prominent expert on rebuilding troubled states and giving them an economic future. The series is supported by the Ministry of Defence and involves corporates including BAE Systems and Leidos. The webinar is produced jointly by Cityforum and Z/Yen.
Speakers:
Madeleine Moon represented the Bridgend constituency at Westminster from 2005 to 2019. She joined the Defence Select Committee in 2009. She chaired sub-committees reporting on the safety and welfare of military personnel on training and exercises, the use of Remotely Piloted Air Systems and defence in the Arctic. Madeleine was a member of the UK Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from 2010, serving as a member of the Defence and Security Committee. She was elected President in November 2018. Since leaving Westminster Madeleine has continued to work defence facing organisations including City Forum and joined the European Leadership Network.
Francis Tusa has been a leading defence journalist and analyst for nearly 30 years. Having started working at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies in 1987, and there setting up the Middle East Defence programme, he has subsequently worked for a wide range of written and broadcast outlets including Sky News, CNN, the Guardian, and many BBC channels. Within the defence media, he worked as UK and then European Editor for Armed Forces Journal International, and has written Janes, Flight International, Defense News and Aviation Week and Space Technology, as well as numerous Asian/Middle East defence magazines. He set up his newsletter, Defence Analysis, in 1998, and it has become a unique resource for defence data, intelligence and analysis, providing unrivalled information on defence budgets, industrial budgets and politics, and global defence markets. Another first was setting up Military Logistics International, the first – and only - magazine devoted to defence support/logistics.
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As countries are starting to reopen their economies and easing lockdown restrictions, the threat of uncertain economic recovery and the possibility of secondary pandemic waves across all liquid asset classes still looms large. In this webinar, we will: Uncover why using ‘conventional wisdom’ and ‘basic economic facts’ that harness past data for future extrapolation purposes is a futile exercise, especially in dealing with unprecedented events. Analyse why they have failed in the past, and why (unsurprisingly!) they failed yet again when hit by COVID-19 induced volatility. Highlight why advance directional insights of market movements are crucial in dealing with more unknowns to come, including uncertain economic recovery and possible secondary pandemic waves across all liquid asset classes. Demonstrate how financial forecasting done right can seamlessly enhance your existing trading and investment strategies in this period of prolonged uncertainty. Share latest insights from AlgoDynamix’s breakthrough forecasting analytics showing how economic sector activities and selected government interventions are continuously changing the global financial landscape.
Speakers:
Dr Jeremy Sosabowski is the CEO and Co-founder of AlgoDynamix, a financial analytics company providing advance warning of major directional market movements. Jeremy has over a decade of business and technology commercialisation experience. His previous roles include CTO at an instrumentation company (technology acquired) and data analyst within the online transaction space. His 'IP portfolio' includes several granted patents and more than 10 peer-reviewed publications. An expert in experimental physics, mathematics, and algorithms, Jeremy was (and still is) somewhat puzzled with the world’s obsession with using past data for future extrapolation purposes; even more so when there is little or no past data available for such events. To redress this fundamental problem, he co-found AlgoDynamix in 2013 with software based on many years of academic research at the University of Cambridge.
Ian Hillier-Brook’s career spans 40 years in the Information Technology industry, much of it in the financial sector. He is an experienced senior manager and entrepreneur, and has held senior management positions in the UK, Europe and the USA. Before becoming the CEO of an LSE listed company, he managed European Operations for American IT firms. In the early 1990s, he started working with small companies in the financial IT sector to help raise funding, grow and drive acquisitions. These included companies in the time series database world and risk and regulation. Ian has helped a number of US technology companies enter the European market. Most recently he was the CEO of MCO Europe, the sole distributor of McObject’s eXtremeDB financial edition in the UK and Europe.
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Mick McAteer is an informed and friendly critic of UK financial services and how it handles its customers and the financially excluded. In this webinar he will share his views on the many circumstances from at least 2007, including things such as payment protection insurance (PPI), RBS Global Restructuring Group, Brexit, and now Covid-19, and their effect on the state of UK financial services. He will look at the nature of government support and the changing relationship between government and financial services. Mick will draw upon his career defending consumers to explore recovery and renewal, with a special emphasis on using covid-19 initiatives for reform.
Speaker:
Mick McAteer is a campaigner for economic and social justice with long experience of representing consumers at UK and EU level with a focus on financial markets and public policy. He is founder and co-director of The Financial Inclusion Centre, a UK not-for-profit policy and research group (www.inclusioncentre.org.uk). The Centre’s mission is to promote financial markets that work for society. He is also Chair of the anti-poverty charity Z2K, Chair of Registry Trust, and Deputy Chair of the General Consumer Council of Northern Ireland. Previously, he was on the boards of: the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and its predecessor the Financial Services Authority (FSA); the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) Professional Oversight Board; The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS); and ShareAction (the movement for Responsible Investment). At Which? (the largest consumer group in Europe, formerly known as Consumers' Association), he led the work on exposing major scandals such as pensions, mortgage endowment, and PPI mis-selling, and work on reform of pensions, insurance and banking industries. Prior to this, he worked for five years for two major fund management firms in London.
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Share valuation is a key step in the design and implementation of an employee share scheme for an unquoted company. Tax or fiscal valuations in the UK are subject to special rules which have evolved over time out of a combination of case law and legislation. Whether a valuation is acceptable for tax purposes is ultimately a matter for HMRC. HMRC’s Shares & Assets Valuation Office reviews and agrees on share valuations for the tax-advantaged employee share schemes, previously known as tax-approved schemes. Since HMRC withdrew its facility for Post-Transaction Valuation Checks and PAYE Health Checks for valuation, it is vital that your valuation is rigorous in order to ensure that it is credible and capable of a robust defence if subsequently challenged by HMRC. David Craddock, as an expert employee share schemes consultant and expert share valuation consultant, as well as Technical Secretary to the Share Valuation Worked Examples Group (WEG) is well placed to guide us on price setting for Esops.
Speaker:
David Craddock is an independent consultant specialising in employee share ownership and reward management. A recognised authority on the subject, he is the author of The Tolley’s Guide to Employee Share Schemes, along with many other essential books and courses. David’s clients range from major public limited companies with international considerations to smaller private companies where the requirements are for Enterprise Management Incentives, tax-unapproved share scheme arrangements and market-making employee share trust structures. David has successfully established employee share schemes and employee benefit arrangements worldwide and to date has travelled to over 30 countries to personally facilitate their introduction. He enhances his service through a long experience in share reconstructions and share valuation. David is a regular conference speaker for the Esop Centre and senior examiner for The ESOP Institute in London in relation to The Certificate in Employee Share Ownership Studies, the material for which he is author and principal authority.
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What would insurance, and our wider financial system, look like if it were designed to fit its purpose? “Shining a spotlight on our financial system reveals a number of imperfections. It is no more efficient than it was a century ago. It is subject to serial crises. It is uneven in providing good long-term governance of corporations and other assets. It is disconnected from the needs of its ultimate capital providers – meaning us. And the economic theories that are embedded as its operating assumptions reflect only one facet of the world in which the industry operates.”* The current pandemic has increased the perception of a financial industry disconnected from the needs of its ultimate capital providers. Yet, the situation is not irretrievable, especially if there is a desire to change and improve. This webinar will explore some of the current ‘disconnects’ in insurance, explore what the ‘purpose’ of insurance might be, consider elements that might require redesign, and touch on thoughts of a new public-private compact.
Speakers:
Dr Paul Taffinder is the Founder and Managing Partner of Taffinder Consulting, a CEO advisor on strategy, leadership, digital innovation and organizational performance. Previously, he was MS Amlin’s Director of Strategy & Innovation and steered Mitsui Sumitomo’s acquisition of Amlin in 2015. He was Chairman of Mitsui Sumitomo’s Digital Working Group, initiated EY’s Insurwave blockchain for insurance and is very active in FinTech in Silicon Valley and London. Previously a partner at strategy firm Marakon Associates, Mercer Delta and Accenture, he is the author of Big Change, winner of the Business Management Book of the Year; The New Leaders; The Leadership Crash Course and the substantively updated edition of The Leadership Crash Course: Creating Leadership Impact in the Digital World (2019). He is Visiting Professor at Goldsmiths College, a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, is a huge cricket lover, advanced scuba diver and, with his wife Mandy, keeps 3 dogs busy at home.
Liz Foster has enjoyed a career in Insurance which exceeds 50 years, with more than 30 years of that as an insurance broker. From joining as an account executive Liz became a director and minority shareholder and ultimately the Managing Director and majority shareholder of Ingram Hawkins & NockLtd, Insurance brokers which is now part of Aston Lark. One of her first actions on taking control of IHN was to invest in professional development. IHN was one of the first firms to achieve Chartered Insurance Broker status with the Chartered Insurance Institute. As part of her own professional development Liz undertook a two year programme with the Willis Business School to attain Membership of the Chartered Management Institute. Liz attended the Women’s Leadership Programme facilitated by the Harvard University Business School. For some 15 years Liz has been involved with the CII, initially as a member of the board of the Broking Faculty and since the inception of the Society of Insurance Broking has been its non executive director.
Paula Jarzabkowski is a Professor of Strategic Management at City's Business School, City, University of London. She is an expert in insurance and reinsurance markets, having lead international teams in studying different aspects of the global industry for many years. She has released a range of industry reports, Masterclasses, academic papers, and a widely acclaimed book “Making a Market for Acts of God” with Oxford University Press. Her work has high practical & policy impact, for example through her role on the OECD High-Level Advisory Board for the Financial Management of Catastrophic Risks. Paula's current research examines how Governments and Markets around the world can share the growing risk of disaster and increase the links between insurance and resilience.
One element of investing in companies is risk. Most often, this is a result of the market forces at work such as a company’s financial performance. However, there are times when portfolio value is affected by factors outside the market, such as corporate misrepresentations. When value is wrongly affected, securities class actions may be a means of compensating investors for a loss that was outside of thee market’s control. The remedies available depend on where any class or group action is brought. In this webinar, the types of jurisdictions will be reviewed as will the options available to investors, institutional or otherwise. The review will also consider the costs and risks involved in getting involved with class or group litigation.
Speakers:
David Seidel is the Chief Executive and Chief General Counsel of iiTRA, an outsourcing organisation that assists institutional investors with the management of their investment and security class action rights. Since iiTRA was established, he has been helping a number or institutional investors. David is a qualified solicitor in England and Wales as well as a barrister and solicitor in Ontario, Canada. He holds degrees in English literature and law from York University, Toronto. He was formerly head of legal services and company secretary for what became Cancer Research UK. He later worked in financial services for what were film tax partnerships.
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In this webinar, we launched the first edition of the Smart Centres Index (SCI 1). The SCI is designed to track the development of technology and financial centres across the world in their support for and readiness for new technology applications. Investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, media, academics, governments, and regulators can attune their cities to attract innovation and growth in Science, Technology, Energy Systems, Machine Learning, Distributed Ledgers, or Fintech. Tuning a city for innovation is complex. Z/Yen began studying successful and unsuccessful business innovation clustering some 15 years ago, and most recently in 2018 with the publication of the Smart Jurisdictions Index. Building on the results of that research we have created a novel factor assessment index based on three dimensions - innovation support, creative intensity, and delivery capability. The SCI is designed to track the readiness of business centres across the world to support new technology businesses. The SCI uses assessments from private and public sector individuals, along with 127 instrumental factors, to rate the centres. This is an important launch of a project that will grow substantially as more people pay attention to the ways centres can help globally innovative businesses thrive in rapidly changing times. The audience heard the results of our research and the factors driving the development of smart centres across the world.
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The average company only lives for ten years, even large corporates perish after approximately four decades. A company that hits its 100th birthday has done rather well indeed. And, yet the cities of London or Paris, Rome or Beijing, have existed for millennia. Post Covid-19, we should therefore refocus our attention on what makes for prosperous cities and towns. These are the real engines of long-term economic development; not the in-vogue digital giants, nor even the elder denizens of industry, e.g. Mercedes, GE, BP or Sony; as we have known them. These commercial entities will all be historical footnotes within a single human lifespan. In this webinar, Robert aims to convey why cities matter and argues for a radical new approach to macro-economic planning, as we enter a brave new post-pandemic world. It really is time to try some new ideas.
Speaker:
Dr Robert Hercock is a Chief Research Scientist in the British Telecommunications Security Research Practice. He has over 20 years’ experience in managing security research projects in the UK, and was theme leader for Networks and Cyber Security in the UK MOD Information Fusion Defence Technology Centre. His research interests include Cyber Security, A.I, Robotics and Complex Adaptive Systems. He chairs an international workshop on adaptive cyber defence, and has over thirty international publications in AI and security concepts, in addition to 26 filed patents. His latest book is on the theme of resilience and cohesion in social systems: (“Cohesion – The Making of Society ”, available from Amazon.) Professionally he is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the British Computer Society, and was previously an Associate Fellow at the Said Business School Oxford University. He has also served for several years as an independent technical expert for the UK Defence Science Advisory Council (DSAC), and was a Business Research Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico. He has also served on the Royal Society Science and Industry Translation committee, which works to promote UK industry and academic knowledge exchange.
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The Share Incentive Plan (SIP) is an all-employee share gifting and share purchase scheme. Introduced in the Finance Act 2000, alongside the Enterprise Management Incentive, it consists of four modules: free shares, partnership shares, matching shares, and dividend shares. In this webinar, William Franklin will discuss how to make good use of this plan to award shares to your employees in a post-covid-19 world.
Speaker:
William Franklin is an experienced share schemes practitioner and a Chartered Accountant who is widely recognised as a leading adviser on the valuation, accounting and financial aspects of all forms of remuneration, incentive and employee share schemes. He is a member of the HMRC Employment-Related Securities & Valuations sub-group, a Board Member for the Lexis PSL Share Incentives Consulting Editorial Board and he contributes to Tolley’s Guidance on Employment Taxes and to PLC. William has been appointed as Chairman of the Worked Examples Group, a group of experts who work with HMRC to publish examples of share valuations over a wide range of employee share ownership and employee ownership arrangements. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow for the Esop Centre and a regular speaker at conferences on share schemes and employee ownership. He has a wide background in tax advice and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation.
Beyond Investing operates at the cusp of impact investing and focuses on an under-regarded population, exploited animals, and has identified that this practice holds back the progress of humanity by making it all but impossible to achieve many of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. A veteran of financial markets for 35 years, the founder Claire Smith develops investment products that “divest from the bad and support the good” with programs than span the investment market from mega-caps through to start-ups, including an innovative new platform that intends to democratize impact by bringing investment in green start-ups to the masses.
Speaker:
Claire Smith is the founder of humane investment platform Beyond Investing. She is a vegan and environmentalist with 34 years’ experience in finance and investment at top-tier banks and investment houses, including UBS and Albourne Partners. Based in Switzerland, Claire is the founder of Beyond Cruelty Foundation, formed to campaign for zero animal exploitation and to fund safe havens for animals, which will also receive a portion of profits of companies under the Beyond Investing umbrella. Together with IT strategist Dhanesh Kothar, Claire co-founded the Beyond Animal integrated digital platform, which aims to accelerate the growth of the global vegan economy. Previously, Claire was a research analyst, partner and shareholder at alternatives advisory firm Albourne Partners, covering managers globally across systematic quantitative equity, convertible and volatility and hedging strategies. Claire also led a project to expand Albourne's proprietary database on alternatives managers and digitize the research process. Prior to joining Albourne in 2004, Claire provided bespoke hedge fund research to London funds of funds and published well over 100 articles in the financial press, including the Financial Times and The Economist.
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A Board is made up of people – Directors who take the role with the intention of delivering value to the organisation. These Directors are each unique in their personality, behaviour, experience, skills and competence. Together, as a group, a collective dynamic materialises that has a positive or often negative outcome. Simply, decisions take longer, some topics are taboo, personal agendas influence behaviour, personalities and sensitivities impact how people interact and respond. The conversation will address examples Sharon has seen of Boardroom Dynamics that are unconstructive, difficult to “see” and address; and evidence how making these situations known to the Directors and, that provided willingness to change is prevailing, improvements in Board Effectiveness can by instantaneous.
Speaker:
Sharon Constançon is a Chartered Director, Chartered Secretary and a fellow of ICSA, a fellow of the IoD, a member of CISI International Committee, Chairman of the South African Chamber of Commerce UK and a member of the WCCSA Membership Committee. As CEO of Genius Methods and Genius Boards, Sharon offers robust, behavior-focused board evaluations, mentoring, corporate governance services and training to many industries. Her clients include FTSE and regulated businesses, SMEs, family businesses, investment trusts, insurance, financial services, health services, charities and the housing sector. With a passion for empowering Company Secretaries and Governance professionals, Sharon writes articles and regularly runs workshops and chairs roundtable debates and panels. She successfully uses case-studies in her training courses to help others understand the dynamics of the Board and the role of a Non-Exec Director Through the various projects run by Genius Methods and Genius Boards, Sharon has developed a deep and rich network of governance professionals.
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Post-crisis reforms following the 2008-10 financial crisis massively changed the structure of markets. Perhaps the most important structural change was the increased concentration of clearing of almost all assets and derivatives into Central Counterparties (CCPs). Very little consideration was given at the time to narrow categories of high quality liquid assets required by CCPs for initial margin, and the pro-cyclical liquidity demands CCPs make through additional initial and variation margin calls when markets come under stress. These factors both became critical in March 2020 when the Covid-19 crisis communicated to financial markets, forcing a sharp re-pricing of assets globally. CCPs responded to the volatility by raising initial margin demands and issuing large variation margin demands reflecting market re-pricing. The liquidity shocks transmitted to asset markets, bringing even the US Treasuries market close to collapse. Central banks were forced to step in as ‘dealer-of-last-resort’ to calm markets with various initiatives including QE4, emergency liquidity support, and roll-back of Basel III capital requirements on securities dealers. In recent weeks a review of CCP risks, resilience and recovery mechanisms has begun which will determine the structure of CCP risk management going forward. In this webinar Kathleen Tyson will review the crisis response of CCPs and central banks, and the FSB Consultative Document on CCP resilience and recovery (deadline 21 July). Martin Watkins will comment based on his experience of CCP reforms post-crisis. Michael Mainelli will lead the discussion and Q&A.
Speakers:
Kathleen Tyson, chief executive of Granularity, provides consultancy on central bank and CCP risk management, resiliency planning, and systems modernisation. As a former central banker, supervisor, and executive at Cedel (now Clearstream) she contributed to early work on the Principles for Financial Markets Infrastructures. As a consultant she has helped build PFMI compliance into infrastructure development and modernisation for clients globally, and led the way in integrating emerging technologies, including blockchain. She is widely recognised as an industry thought leader on how well-intentioned regulatory reforms can have unwelcome consequences as they skew market structure, market liquidity, risk management, and resolution outcomes.
Martin Watkins is a former practitioner with 25 years’ experience of advising and managing systemically important financial market business. As Chief Executive of Cournswood Group, he provides FMI specific advice on strategy, governance, regulatory change, PFMI compliance and operational resilience. A former member of AtosEuronext executive management and Division Head for Clearing based in Paris, Martin spent the past 7 years advising clients as EMEIA Lead for Exchanges and FMI at EY. He will comment based on his experience of CCP reforms post-crisis.
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Over the years City A.M. evolved into a trusted media brand built on delivering insightful business and finance news, and increasingly lifestyle content. Today we are a collection of media assets, a curated dialogue with our business audience and affluent consumers. From social, to programmatic, to events and content, our City A.M. Media Group is built around reaching the right audience in the format, time and place they choose. We realise our advertisers also want that choice, and that’s why we offer them the ability to engage our diverse audiences via appropriate media assets. City A.M. has daily circulation of 90,000 Mon - FRI (printing suspended till 7 September due to covid-19) and a global business audience of just under 2 million unique visitors a Month.
Speakers:
Lawson Muncaster is one of the most recognized and well-connected men in the British media. He is one of the founders of City A.M., Britain’s most widely-read daily business newspaper, and has been managing director of the paper since its inception in 2005. In that time, the paper has grown in circulation, influence and profitability, and is currently embarking on a major investment in its on-line presence. A native of Largs, Scotland, his extensive media career began at Scottish TV in 1988, and was followed by a move to London, where he worked for Eurosport. He was promoted to UK sales director for Eurosport, before becoming sales director with outdoor advertising company, Mills and Allen, in 1997. He moved back to television in 1999, joining the cable network CNN as sales director covering the UK and Scandinavia. Prior to the foundation of City A.M., he was vice-president of global sales for the free newspaper group, Metro International. Aged 50, Lawson is married with four children and has homes in London and North Berwick. He is a single figure golfer and he supports Celtic FC.
Chris Hayward took office as Sheriff of the City of London on 27th September 2019. The ancient office of Sheriff dates back to the 7th century with two Sheriffs elected annually. Chris’s fellow Sheriff is Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli and together they share responsibility for the smooth running of the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey and for the provision of facilities for HM Judges to administer justice there. His principal duties are to support the Lord Mayor directly on visits and official functions, which the Lord Mayor undertakes throughout their year of office. Chris also represents the Lord Mayor at City, Livery, Military and charitable events. Chris’s business experience extends to Executive and Non-Executive Director roles in the property, infrastructure, planning and strategic communications sectors, providing a strong connection to the issues and concerns of City business. Chris has served on the boards of a number of companies over the past 30 years. He is currently a non-executive Director at JBP Associates and Hayward Properties and a Consultant to the global firm of WSP. International business experience extends to a role on the Advisory Board of the Sichuan Business Association including recent visits to China. Chris also served for eight years on the Council of the Institute of Administrative Management culminating in two years carrying out international graduation ceremonies as its Chairman. In 1995 he was National President of The British Junior Chambers of Commerce.
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In rebuilding the global economy, we cannot afford to ignore the looming clouds of the climate crisis – has Covid-19 given governments and businesses valuable breathing space to reassess their economic models? Or with minds so heavily focused on tackling Covid-19, has this other crisis - the climate one - taken a bit of a back seat? With COP26 now postponed to November 2021, what will the new priorities be for world leaders? Join us for these questions and more, as Ben gives us his thoughts on the crisis that seems to have been forgotten.
Speaker:
Dr Ben Caldecott is the founding Director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme. He is an Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, a Supernumerary Fellow at Oriel College, Oxford, a Visiting Researcher at The Alan Turing Institute, and a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University. Ben is also Senior Advisor to the Chair and CEO of the UK Green Finance Institute and the COP26 Strategy Advisor for Finance based out of the Cabinet Office. Ben specialises in environment, energy, and sustainability issues and works at the intersection between finance, public policy, and academe, having held senior roles in each domain. Ben has authored and edited a substantial number of publications related to sustainability and is an experienced media commentator and public speaker. He has a number of board and advisory panel appointments, including with the University of Oxford Socially Responsible Investment Review Committee, The Prince of Wales’s Accounting for Sustainability Project, ATLAS Infrastructure Partners Ltd, Impact Lens Ltd, the British Standards Institution, and the Green Alliance.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened globalisation’s long crisis, as risks proliferate across borders as rapidly as opportunities. We face an emergency with dimensions that are unfolding simultaneously but at different speeds: public health (2+ years), economic (a decade), polarisation and insecurity (a generation or more). Other threats – climate change in particular – have not gone away. We have entered the most critical ten years in human history – it is now or never to secure a planet for 10 billion people. The Long Crisis Scenarios explore futures where the foundations for collective action are strengthened or eroded, and where the responsibility for acting becomes increasingly distributed or where power is monopolised by the centre. They provide a basis for exploring what “winning ugly” – messy but ultimately effective problem solving – could look like in the 2020s. Read the full scenarios here: http://longcrisis.org/scenarios
Speaker:
David Steven co-founded the Long Crisis Network and is editor of the Global Dashboard website. He is a senior fellow at the UN Foundation, and at New York University, where he founded the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies. He is also a former senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He was lead author for the ministerial Task Force on Justice for All and senior external adviser for the UN-World Bank flagship study on conflict prevention.
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Background: The employee share trust is the most tax-efficient and commercially effective vehicle for operating an internal market in the shares of a private company. It allows employees in private companies to sell their shares to a willing market for value. The webinar explains, through the use of diagrams, how the employee share trust works in practice to support the operation of employee share schemes through the recycling of shares. Furthermore, it demonstrates how the employee share trust can facilitate succession planning and investment diversification for owner-managers of private companies and provide the basis for a management buyout.
Speakers: David Craddock is an independent consultant specialising in employee share ownership and reward management. A recognised authority on the subject, he is the author of The Tolley’s Guide to Employee Share Schemes, along with many other essential books and courses. David’s clients range from major public limited companies with international considerations to smaller private companies where the requirements are for Enterprise Management Incentives, tax-unapproved share scheme arrangements and market-making employee share trust structures. David has successfully established employee share schemes and employee benefit arrangements worldwide and to date has travelled to over 30 countries to personally facilitate their introduction. He enhances his service through a long experience in share reconstructions and share valuation. David is a regular conference speaker for the Esop Centre and senior examiner for The ESOP Institute in London in relation to The Certificate in Employee Share Ownership Studies, the material for which he is author and principal authority.
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Z/Yen conducts an irregular series of short webinars, CommunityZ Chest, featuring people from its various communities and clubs, viz. technology, financial services, civil society, and business. These webinars provide an opportunity to meet people from the wider CommunityZ, to share ideas, and to make connections. This CommunitZ features Brendan May. Brendan is the Founder and Chairman of Robertsbridge, a global sustainability advisory firm that has worked with some of the world’s best known companies and brands on long term sustainability strategies, supply chain risk, sustainable sourcing, reputation and crisis management. Current and recent clients include Drax, Heathrow, Unilever, OVO Energy, RGE Group and Cargill, where he chairs the company's independent Land Use & Forests Sustainability Panel. He is a well respected mediator and facilitator, having been behind some of the best known reconciliations between multinational companies and campaign groups. He is a specialist in stakeholder engagement and sustainability strategy. From 1999-2004 he was Chief Executive of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and he has also been European Chairman of the Rainforest Alliance, where he served on the global board for 4 years. He has chaired several corporate advisory panels, and is a regular commentator in print and broadcast media on corporate responsibility issues.
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The Financial Services Group Of Livery Companies (FSG) Task Force supports the Sheriffs of the City of London in their express desire to strengthen and simplify Anti-Money Laundering (AML) within the UK. As part of the taskforce’s series of webinars exploring AML, in this webinar we are delighted to welcome Professor Michael Levi, Professor of Criminology at Cardiff University. Professor Levi commenced research on money laundering and compliance in 1988, and is not only the co-author in 2006, of a seminal work on the flow of dirty money inside states and beyond, but also of a recent formative work, with Terrence Halliday and Peter Reuter, on “Why do Transnational Legal Orders Persist? The Curious Case of Money-laundering Controls.” In which they study in detail the rise of AML TLOs, how they work, or don’t, the compliance levers and mechanisms, amongst many other variables, and then conclude that whilst it is possible that AML TLOs may eventually collapse, they have survived so far the lack of obvious impact on crime and will likely remain relevant. His insight and foresight will give attendees to the webinar are unique glimpse of what is being done, what is being thwarted and what may need to be done to ensure better, if less bureaucratic, to enable the UK and the City of London, to thrive post Brexit and post Covid, whilst not becoming the main hub for money laundering.
Speakers:
Michael Levi has a distinguished track record of transnational and multidisciplinary research. In particular, he has built an international reputation for excellence in both fundamental and policy-oriented research on money laundering, corruption, cybercrimes, transnational organised crime and white-collar crimes. Michael has played an advisory role both internationally (with the European Commission and Parliament, Europol, Council of Europe, UN and World Economic Forum) and nationally (with the UK Home Office and Cabinet Office, and with the Crime Statistics Advisory Committee).
Graeme Gordon is a chartered accountant and prior to joining Praxity was Managing Director and Senior Tutor of Emile Woolf Group, the international training and development firm. He was also previously Group Finance Director of a technology company listed on the London Stock Exchange. Graeme has extensive international experience including in Europe, Russia, North America, the Far East, the Indian Sub-Continent and the Middle East. Before becoming a chartered accountant Graeme served as an officer in the Royal Navy. He is a member of the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and formerly twice President of the Thames Valley Chartered Accountants.
Background: Equiniti’s Graham Bull and Jennifer Rudman will discuss how we can ensure all-employee plans (Sharesave and SIP) continue to provide benefits to today’s workforce. They will look at how popular these tax advantaged share schemes are now, what the current challenges are and how to engage employees to make the plans successful.
Speakers:
Graham Bull is Managing Director of Equiniti’s All-Employee Share Plans and is responsible for all aspects of employee share plan services including business development, strategy and client support, covering over one million accounts and £3 billion of assets.
Jennifer Rudman has responsibility for defining Equiniti’s share plan strategy and enhancing its employee share plan services. She is a member of a number of employee schemes working groups, liaising regularly with industry bodies. Jennifer acts as a point of reference for issuers and journalists, analysing market data to identify trends and informing the market of current practice
Tokyo has been one of the leading financial centres in the world for many years. In the 27th Global Financial Centres Index, published in March 2020, Tokyo rose to third place in the global rankings. In this webinar, we heard from FinCity Tokyo about the current position of Tokyo and its plans for continued development. Hiroshi Nakaso, Chairman, FinCity.Tokyo, Keiichi Aritomo, Executive Director, FinCity Tokyo, and Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chair of Z/Yen, spoke about key developments in Tokyo and its strengths as a leading global financial centre.
Hiroshi Nakaso was appointed chairman of the Daiwa Institute of Research (DIR) in July 2018 after completing his term as Deputy Governor of the Bank of Japan. He served as the Deputy Governor of the BOJ since March 2013. In his 39 years at the Bank, his main responsibilities have been crisis management of financial systems and markets focusing on global systems. Mr. Nakaso joined the Bank of Japan in 1978 and he was assigned to the London Representative Office from 1987 until 1989. He dealt with the homegrown financial crisis of the 1990s. He headed the exit operation from the Quantitative Easing Policy, a prototypical unconventional policy that lasted from 2001 to 2006. In addition, he played an instrumental role in addressing the Global Financial Crisis together with his peers at major central banks including the FRB. He has participated in numerous international meetings, and during his terms as Director-General of the Financial Markets Department and Assistant Governor, he chaired the BIS Markets Committee and Working Group on Financial Reference Rates, as well as the G20 Study Group on Commodities. Nakaso was appointed chairman of a new organization to promote Tokyo as a global financial center. The new organization is known by its abbreviated name, “FinCity Tokyo”.
Keiichi Aritomo is Executive Director of FinCity.Tokyo. Keiichi is also a co-founder and Board Director of JIAM (the Consortium for Japan International Asset Management Center. He is also Asia Head of Kensho Technologies, LLC, a leading financial AI solution provider and a subsidiary of S&P. Keiichi used to be a Partner at McKinsey & Company, Deloitte and PwC, where he specialized in financial services industry and technology strategies across North America, Europe, Southeast Asia and Japan. He has co-authored several books including “Single View of Customer for Financial Institutions” published from Kinzai and Shanghai Communication University Press both in Japanese and Mandarin.
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As the UK enters a critical period of trade negotiations with the EU and the USA, now is a good time to explore the important role played by standards and accreditation in facilitating international trade. Matt Gantley, CEO of the UK’s National Accreditation Body UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) explains how UK plc is able to plug into the international network of Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRAs) that support the “certified once, accepted everywhere” concept.
Speaker:
Matt Gantley is the Chief Executive of UKAS, the UK’s Accreditation Body and major contributor to the national quality infrastructure. Accreditation by UKAS means that conformity assessment (testing and calibration laboratories, inspection and certification bodies) have been assessed against internationally recognised standards to demonstrate their competence, impartiality and performance capability. Matt has over 20 years’ experience in the conformity assessment and prior to joining UKAS he was the Managing Director of NQA Certification and held senior Directorship positions in certification, training and consulting enterprises. His key achievements include strategic and commercial development alongside international management in emerging markets. Matt is passionate about corporate and business strategy and served as a visiting MBA lecturer at Manchester Business School. Matt has also fulfilled Non-Exec roles for Elmhurst (EPBD Training/Certification), was a Board Director of SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) and was the Chairman of the Association of British Certification Bodies. Matt is an active member of CQI, IOSH and IEMA.
The post-quantum cryptography (“PQC”) problem will threaten the security of the world’s computer networks when large-scale quantum computers become available. The problem exists because such quantum computers would be able to break the security of widely-used public key cryptography, which allows remote parties to communicate securely and authenticate transactions and data without sharing a secret key in advance. It is uncertain when (and if) such quantum computers will become available - the nearest estimates are 10 to 15 years. Fortunately, there are good solutions to the PQC problem, and better ones are emerging. The hard questions for individual computer system operators involve when and how to address the PQC problem, given its uncertain timing and the evolving solutions.
Speaker:
Maury Shenk's experience focuses at the intersection of technology, law and education. He is co-founder and CEO of edtech start-up LearnerShape, director of global testing and certification company PeopleCert, and founder and managing director of Lily Innovation, through which he handles a portfolio of other investment and advisory activities. Maury is a dual-qualified US/UK lawyer and former managing partner of the London office of global law firm Steptoe & Johnson, where he remains an advisor. He has a deep practical understanding of technology, especially artificial intelligence, IT, telecommunications and information security. Maury is a graduate of Harvard College and Stanford Law School. He is a lover of languages – a native speaker of English (the American version), proficient in French and Russian, comfortable in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish, and dilettante in German, Italian, Norwegian and Greek. He is also a guitar player and an avid competitive and recreational sailor.
Z/Yen conducts an irregular series of short webinars, CommunityZ Chest, featuring people from its various communities and clubs, viz. technology, financial services, civil society, and business. These webinars provide an opportunity to meet people from the wider CommunityZ, to share ideas, and to make connections. This CommunityZ Chest features Vinay Gupta. Vinay is Founder and CEO of Mattereum. He is a leading figure in the blockchain space, having co-ordinated the release of the blockchain platform Ethereum in July 2015, and was strategic architect for ConsenSys Systems, a technology hub focusing on the Ethereum blockchain and related applications. He helped architect the National Blockchain Strategy for Dubai. He has been involved in commercial software development since 1992, with long stints in energy policy and defence think tanks, and his experience as a programmer and visionary has covered fields as diverse as medical imaging, flight simulation, cryptographic applications and the web, as well as energy policy, disaster relief, and grand strategy for poverty alleviation. A Renaissance man and futurist interested in the technological transformation of society and commerce, Vinay has a strong track record of thought leadership in environmental and infrastructure risk, failing states, energy policy (with five years at the Rocky Mountain Institute) and disaster management.
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Since 2009, Busan Metropolitan City has been developing a financial hub specialising in maritime finance and derivatives. With its strategic location in the centre of an economic bloc in South East Korea and the crossroads of a global logistics route, Busan envisions growing into an international financial city in Northeast Asia. Join us to hear more about Busan and its plans for future development. We heard in this webinar from Mr Young ho Park, Head of Busan International Financial City Promotion Centre of Busan Economic Promotion Agency and from Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chair of Z/Yen, about key developments in Busan and its strengths as a maritime and derivatives centre in North East Asia.
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Absent investment income and capital gains, has the global insurance industry made a profit over the past 15 years? What is the true extent of under reserving? Turnover amongst Insurer's shareholders is greater than ever. The advent of computer driven trading, options and ETF's results in companies and shareholders not knowing each other. insurers cannot know who their shareholders are from day to day. Investors may not know the identity of their investments. Almost daily insurers exit classes of business overnight. Buyers have to make investment decisions over time scales of years not knowing the cost of their insurance coverage, or whether coverage will be available at all. Industry consolidation amongst carriers continues at a furious pace, disturbing relationships even further. The industry's claims performance is still not as good as it needs to be. Carriers complain at brokers’ commissions and fees, but it is the client, the buyer who decides what their broker earns. The reality?........insurers are legally obligated to place their shareholders’ interests above the interests of the policy holders. The brokers role is as valuable to insurers as it is to buyers. The existence of the brokers permits the insurers to react to volatility without creating a political backlash.
Speaker:
Dennis Mahoney is a 50 year veteran of the insurance industry. He started his career in 1968 at Lloyds insurance broker Price Forbes. That firm then merged with Sedgwick Collins and then Bland Payne to create the Sedgwick Group, now part of Marsh& McLennan. During his career Dennis was fortunate to work in most classes of both insurance and reinsurance. After graduating from the Harvard Business School PMD program, he was appointed deputy chairman of Sedgwick North America. In 1984 he was recruited to lead Alexander Howden the Lloyds broker acquired by US broking giant A & A ( Alexander & Alexander). Following the acquisition of A&A by Aon in 1997, Dennis was appointed as Chairman and CEO of Aon's Wholesale and reinsurance operations. Dennis relocated to Bermuda in 2007 as Chairman of Aon Global. He retired in 2010. Appointed as an independent director of Ironshore in 2012, he chaired the underwriting and risk committee. Following the sale of Ironshore to Fosun, he remained with the company until its sale to Liberty Mutual in 2016. In 2015 Calera Capital acquired RFIB (Robert Fleming Insurance brokers ) and Dennis joined as co-investor and Executive Chairman. RFIB was acquired by Odyssey capital (Integro/Tysers ) in 2019 and Dennis stepped down. He remains with the group until his contract expires in 2021.
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This fascinating and highly-participative webinar pits the audience against three ethical dilemmas. The webinar begins with our two panellists setting out some of the wide divergences they’ve found over the years in ethical decision-making and ethical standards-setting. These differences are often due to cultural factors, at a societal or a firm level. These differences are often due to different ethical frameworks. These differences are often due to greed or fear. Following the short opening discussion, the audience will asked to choose their actions for two different dilemmas, "Trading On Pandemic Information" and "Managing Client Assets During A Global Pandemic" [see videos below]. After the first choice, the expert panellists will try to change the audience opinion over a discussion of the group results before asking the same question again.
Speakers:
Corey Cook, CFA, Ch FCSI, has more than two decades of experience in financial services, technology, and consulting as a senior executive and board director. He currently serves as a non-executive director and trustee for Goodenough College, McGill University Trust of the UK and is a member of the CFA Institute Standards of Practice Council. Mr. Cook was most recently the Chief Administrative Officer in Europe for RBC Global Asset Management, where he led the implementation of MiFID II. He is both a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Chartered Fellow with the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment. Mr. Cook holds a MSc in Management from the London School of Economics and a BA in Economics from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Dr Tony Tan, CFA is Senior Head of Ethics Education and Professional Standards at CFA Institute. He is responsible for leading the organisation’s efforts is setting the conduct expectations of members and the industry. Dr. Tan has over 30 years of experience in the industry in areas of capital markets, risk management and treasury matters. He also taught in the areas of ethics and corporate governance in leading universities. Dr. Tan received his doctorate from the University of Western Australia, holds a Master of Research degree from the same university, and a Master of Science in financial economics from the University of London. He received his CFA charter in 1998.
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Making the most of our assets in the art and science of decision-making “We all have a head, a heart and a gut. Faced with a decision, any combination of them could come into play . . . Becoming more conscious of how and when to use each of them might be the key that unlocks your potential to make better decisions.” Our decisions shape our lives. Whether at home or at work, with others or alone, our capacity to read what’s going on inside and around us, and to choose what to do next can make or break a campaign, a business, a relationship, a career or house move, or even a family holiday. Chris’s book, Better Decisions, is published by Quarto books in June. Its 20 lessons cover a broad range of useful frameworks and techniques. In this webinar, he’ll bring a selection of these to life, and create opportunities for you to consider their application to your own real-life decisions. Areas covered will include:
Agency vs Structure: Fighting for the Right to Decide
The Shape of a Decision
How Strategizing beats Strategy
The Value of Ignorance
The Wisdom of Crowds (and What Groups Need)
Speaker: Chris Grant draws on his experience of working with thousands of leaders in business, sport and elsewhere, but the lessons in his book apply as much to personal decisions as to professional ones. Chris chaired the Programme that introduced the UK’s Chip & PIN payment technology. He sits on the Board of Sport England, and has facilitated strategic and operational conversations across a range of sectors, from the European Retail Real Estate Conference to the NHS Medical Directors’ Forum. He’s helped global industries to think about their social impact, and a national sports squad prepare for a victorious European Championship campaign. He’s coached Team GB coaches, TV Executives and (literally) rocket scientists. But to Chris, the titles are less important than the people. He’s fascinated by the common factors and approaches, which bring them success, or get in the way. Chris has a BA (Hons) in French Studies and an MSc in Human Resource Development & Group Dynamics.
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Alan Hughes of KPMG’s International healthcare team will review the online care sector, in conversation with Professor Michael Mainelli. The lack of testing and PPE combined with high death rates increased the use of remote care globally during covid-19, redirecting care volumes from frontline care staff. Airlines, retail, and financial services moved various services online many years ago but healthcare services lagged behind, though notably ahead in areas like alarm handling and remote monitoring. Chatbots, teleservices, and callines are common in many sectors, and reaching healthcare. Covid-19 is seen by many in healthcare as a beneficial catalyst to accelerate online care adoption into mainstream healthcare, as well as tracing apps and covid health passports. More widespread adoption might even spur further technological takeup in areas such as machine-learning and scan diagnoses. So, are online care solutions such as telehealth for remote monitoring and telemedicine for remote consultations here to stay? Where is the consumer, the patient… in all of this? Who has been raising capital and driving dealflow? Will healthcare provision and economic drivers be more closely aligned post-Covid-19? Join us for these questions and more, as well as Alan’s thoughts on what it takes for new entrants to survive and what investors need to consider.
Speaker:
Alan Hughes brings 20 years of international healthcare advisory, working alongside thought leaders and policymakers on the latest international trends. He is a regular panelist and healthcare commentator at conferences and summits in Europe and the Gulf. For 12 years he has worked as a healthcare management consultant and policy strategist at KPMG. Prior this he was in Investment Banking working on 30 M&A healthcare transactions across Life Sciences, nursing, community and online care. More recently, Alan has been working with four Ministries of Health in Europe on Healthcare policy reform - one of these roles involved supporting the country’s Covid-19 strategy team on testing. Alan served for four years on the National Children’s Hospital Board in Dublin and has a BA International (Econ) from University College Dublin and an MBA from London Business School.
Join Ripple SVP of Customer Success Marcus Treacher and Z/Yen Chairman Michael Mainelli on a wide-ranging discussion of how payments are changing - recent innovations including blockchain, geopolitical happenings and evolving trends for both wholesale and retail payments.
Speaker:
Marcus Treacher is SVP of Customer Success at Ripple. Marcus has over 30 years of experience in transaction banking and payments technology, including 12 years in global leadership roles at HSBC. He served as a member of the Global Board of SWIFT from 2010 to 2016. Prior to joining Ripple Marcus was HSBC’s Global Head of Payments Innovation, applying emerging fintech to solve customer challenges in digital payments, trade and supply chain. Prior to HSBC, he held leadership positions at Citigroup and Accenture. Marcus also works with industry communities, organizations and governments to help shape new payment practices. He chaired SWIFT’s global advisory body for corporates from 2010 to 2016 and is an independent non-executive director of CHAPS Co, the UK’s RTGS clearing company, where he chairs the CHAPS Security committee & User Group.
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In June 2018, the AIFC created a Green Finance Centre in Nur-Sultan to promote the development of green finance in Kazakhstan and the Central Asian region. Its objective is to bring new innovative financial instruments to the market, attract sustainable investments to finance local companies, support international initiatives in green finance, and develop expertise in this field. In this webinar, we heard about Nur-Sultan's activity and ambition for its green finance development.
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Covid-19 and its economic effects are not going away anytime soon. They will reconfigure our system, ranging from geopolitical relations to the power of national governments, from company accounts to working patterns. Karina Robinson analyses the new paradigm and figures out what this means for the City and Boards Of Directors.
Speaker:
Karina Robinson is the CEO of Robinson Hambro Ltd, a CEO/Chairman Advisory and Board headhunting boutique set up with co-founder Rupert Hambro nine years ago. Karina is a Governor of the London School of Economics (LSE) and a member of the Finance Committee at a time of profound change for the university sector. In 2020 she became Co-Founder of The Inclusion Initiative, a new institute at the LSE that uses behavioural science to improve D&I outcomes, and which is partnering with City firms. She is Master of the Worshipful Company of International Bankers (WCIB), an influential City livery company. She helped transform the Lord Mayor’s Appeal by, most notably, setting up and chairing the Advisory Board to the Lord Mayor’s Appeal, which includes the CEOs and Chairs of major City firms. She also writes Karina’s Column on a wide array of subjects, from mental health to geopolitics to future trends. She is a frequent speaker, interviewer and panellist. Communication is her forte. Prior to Robinson Hambro, she had a successful 30- year career as a senior journalist covering international finance and politics. She was Senior Editor of The Banker, the FT’s banking magazine, the International Herald Tribune’s Banking Columnist, and Political & Economic Correspondent at Bloomberg, among other roles. Karina began her career at merchant bank Morgan Grenfell as the Spanish Equity Analyst. She was educated in Madrid, at the Hotchkiss School in the US and at the London School of Economics where she studied economics and international relations. She is fluent in four languages.
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The Financial Services sector was roundly vilified after the 2007 Crash. With COVID-19, governments have taken the lead and the present failure of FS to really step up to proactively offer credit solutions that ease the disproportionate burden on medium and smaller businesses and, of course, the vast swathes of working people, might be owing to a gradual erosion of purpose over two decades or more. In the 1990s there was a new fashion in business to emphasize value-based management and total shareholder returns. In itself this was a good discipline and rewarded many of the businesses (and executives) who pursued it with vigour. Value based management became the rage and, to a very large extent, the substitute purpose of financial services entities. We know where that led in 2007. The question now is whether and how the industry, the leaders of individual FS firms and their key decision-makers can re-think and regain a meaningful purpose -- especially in what they offer to customers and society. In this webinar, Dr Paul Taffinder examines how this could be achieved. Read some of Paul's thoughts on Pamphleteers - Post Covid-19 Calcs - Has Financial Services Lost Purpose & Plot?
Speaker:
Dr Paul Taffinder is the Founder and Managing Partner of Taffinder Consulting, a CEO advisor on strategy, leadership, digital innovation and organizational performance. Previously, he was MS Amlin’s Director of Strategy & Innovation and steered Mitsui Sumitomo’s acquisition of Amlin in 2015. He was Chairman of Mitsui Sumitomo’s Digital Working Group, initiated EY’s Insurwave blockchain for insurance and is very active in FinTech in Silicon Valley and London. Previously a partner at strategy firm Marakon Associates, Mercer Delta and Accenture, he is the author of Big Change, winner of the Business Management Book of the Year; The New Leaders and the substantively updated edition of The Leadership Crash Course: Creating Leadership Impact in the Digital World (2019). He is Visiting Professor at Goldsmiths College, a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, is a huge cricket lover, advanced scuba diver and, with his wife Mandy, keeps 3 dogs busy at home.
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As leaders, how do we build the right environments—physically, digitally, and mentally—for our teams to achieve both collaborative and focus-time potential? As teams, how do we express and negotiate our shared working practices? How do we explicitly build in time for the social interaction and micro-moments of connection that happen very differently in a virtual setting? As an individual, how do I claim the best conditions for my own working style and support others in theirs? While we are currently responding to an unprecedented global situation, the ubiquity and reliability of innovations in digital infrastructure opens up opportunities for operating in a distributed way that haven’t been available in prior systemic shocks. But shifting to virtual working requires more than changing the tool kit: organizations also need to prepare their teams for the right attitudes & behaviours to support effective distributed collaboration, especially in this time of crisis. It feels as though we are at an inflection point where something that was already shifting the workplace has accelerated in ways we are only beginning to understand and to integrate. Join Caitlin and Victoria to learn about developing strategies to seize the moment and prepare yourselves for being remotely human.
Speakers:
Dr Caitlin McDonald is the LEF’s resident Digital Anthropologist. She helps business leaders and teams learn to step outside their version of ‘normal,’ suspend judgement, and consider things from many different perspectives. This gives businesses the leading edge through boosting customer empathy, finding new solutions to old problems, and enriching the insight power of big data through multidisciplinary approaches. Recognised for her domain knowledge in qualitative methods like ethnography and participant-observation, Caitlin spent six years at the quantitative coal face developing analytical models and designing dashboards for the world’s largest collaboration and talent network for education professionals.
Victoria Ward works as a coach, strategic adviser, convenor for, and companion to those who seek to create lasting change, in themselves, in their teams and networks, in the organisation as a whole, or in the system in which the organisation plays a part. She left NatWest in 1997 to set up a radical new multi-disciplinary practice, specialising in knowledge, narrative, knowledge networks and cultural transformation. Before acting as Chief Knowledge Officer at NatWest Markets, Victoria acted as Chief Operating Officer, Capital Markets, and Managing Director, Global Futures. She joined NatWest from the London International Futures Exchange working as head of R&D, education and statistics, as well as working with Exchange members, and with regulators internationally to change the tax and regulatory regime for index futures and options, and, among other things, to provide a robust response to regulatory enquiry into the role of index futures and options in the market crash of 1987.
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YBS Share Plans’ Darren Smith will discuss the burning questions of the day with share plan expert guests on his virtual sofa. He will be asking colleague Bryony Padgett-Jones about the changes she has seen in employee share plan administration since the lock-down and finding out from VG’s Ross Crick and Tapestry’s Emma Parker, what the most prevalent questions in the current economic crisis are. (And their answers to those questions!)
Speakers:
Darren Smith has worked in the Share Plans industry for over 20 years. In this time he has worked on all the operational teams including management, relationship management and most recently business development. He is a regular industry host and speaker on topics including share plans and financial wellbeing, bringing a fun and engaging style to events. Bryony Padgett-Jones has a wealth of administrator experience after working in a variety of roles for YBS Share Plans including: operational, client relationship management and most recently business development. Bryony has knowledge and experience in running and managing: all-employee (Sharesave & SIP), executive and international share plans. Ross Crick is a Manager within VG’s wealth structuring team, responsible for a wide variety of corporate and private clients with a particular focus on managing VG’s employee incentives solutions. He is ACG qualified and has more than 18 years’ industry experience working with a broad cross-section of clients, ranging from FTSE 100 and 250 multinational companies to smaller private businesses.
Emma Parker specialises in all aspects of UK share plans, including advising on executive remuneration and UK tax-advantaged plans, the establishment of new share plans, plan rule drafting and reviewing the legal and tax aspects of plan awards. Emma also has significant experience in establishing and advising on overseas tax-qualified plans, working closely with overseas lawyers to operate tax-qualified plans in France, Spain, Israel, and the US among others. Her clients include Coca-Cola European Partners, Howdens and Hays. Emma has a broad corporate and employment tax background, having joined Tapestry from the tax team at Pinsent Masons.
This webinar focussed on developments in Casablanca Finance City, which has established itself as an African financial and business hub and leading African financial centre. We learnt about how Casablanca is making waves and how to do business in Africa.
About Casablanca Finance City: Recognised as the leading financial centre in Africa, and partner of the largest financial centers, CFC has built a strong and thriving community of members across four major categories: financial companies, regional headquarters of multinationals, service providers and holdings. CFC offers its members an attractive value proposition and a premium “Doing Business” support that fosters the deployment of their activities in Africa. Driven by the ambition to cater to its community, CFC is committed to promoting its members expertise across the continent, while enabling fruitful business and partnership synergies through its networking platform.
We heard from Mr Saïd Ibrahimi, CEO of Casablanca Finance City, Mrs Manal Bernoussi, Director of Strategy, Partnerships & Communications at CFC, and Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chair of Z/Yen, about key developments in Casablanca and its strengths as a financial hub at the “crossroads of continents”.
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S8 is an international forum of business minds and diplomats, consisting of 8+ delegations from some of the world's most competitive small nations like Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Singapore, and the Netherlands. Founded by James Breiden, our goal is international economic cooperation under improved policies, and we are combatting the fallacy that bigger is better for nationhood. The title of James’ lecture is ‘Big Lessons from Small Nations’ and he will explore the following points: Why do the Dutch have the best pension funds in the world? How did the Swiss manage to impose a debt moratorium on parliament – preventing them from obligating future generations and achieving one of the lowest debt levels as a % of GDP? How does Singapore achieve superior health care outcomes at ¼ of the US – and achieve among the best PISA scores, despite spending the least among OECD nations? How did the Danes replace cars with bicycles in cities in what is now commonly known as Copenhagenisation The Finnish government just formed is majority women and on average 20 years younger than their counterparts in the US and the UK – does this better reflect preferences of its citizens and permit them to focus on future issues?
Speaker:
James Breiding is a Swiss-American political author and businessman with new publication Too Small to Fail: Why Small Nations Outperform Larger Ones and How They are Reshaping the World. By investigating the innovative policies of advanced small nations, Mr. Breiding’s research in Too Small To Fail explores in depth the character and qualities of places like Ireland and Singapore—offering an illuminating vision of what really makes a country “great.” A fellow at Harvard’s Center for International Development and the Collegium Helvetica, Mr. Breiding is also the author of Swiss Made, an international best seller studying Switzerland’s rise to global prominence from humble agrarian origins. This book has been translated into numerous languages from Arabic to Vietnamese, and it is still gifted by Switzerland’s embassies worldwide. James is also the founder and CEO of Naissance Capital in Zurich, Switzerland. His experience in global business has led him to write critically and evaluatively of international politics and economics. His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including The Economist, The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Foreign Affairs, and he divides his time between Zurich, Switzerland and the United States. Most recently, Mr. Breiding has founded the international initiative S8 Nations, which takes root in his recent book Too Small To Fail and offers a global network for the world’s most advanced small nations to share their success stories. The S8 Summit takes place annually in Zurich Switzerland, and they hope to hold their inaugural event this October.
Nearly all activity involves a payment. As consumers seek digital convenience, there is an explosion of innovation making the competitive landscape more vibrant than ever before. But there is an expectation that payments will be easy to make and affordable as well as secure and protected from fraud. P20 members believe that these issues are non-competitive and to deliver them requires collaboration. This webinar will give insights into these issues and answer these questions: Should fraud and criminal transactions just be accepted as a cost of doing business? Is the customer always right? What responsibilities do financial institutions have in relation to cyber security? Is cash a payment method of the past? Watch an introduction to Payments 20 and their work here: https://vimeo.com/399261416
Speaker:
Duncan Sandys brings to P20 his reputation as a trusted leader and adviser in high profile environments. He has a strong record of building support, inspiring confidence and delivering solutions and results. Duncan has extensive experience in the private sector, government and politics. His career began at Barclays Private Bank and he went on to lead the flotation of a biotech company on the London Stock Exchange as well as advising an international property group. In 1998 at age 24, he was elected against the odds to Westminster City Council in central London where he served for over a decade in a variety of leadership positions and was the youngest Lord Mayor of Westminster. He now advises individuals, corporations, governments and nonprofits on a range of issues and is a sought-after keynote speaker on leadership, current affairs and international trends. Duncan grew up in London but now resides in Atlanta where he was instrumental in organizing a groundbreaking exhibition of Sir Winston Churchill’s paintings.
Covid—19 has been a crash course in ripple effects, exposing where resilience, and more, has been lost in supply chains, health systems, and credit systems. Things seem brittle, but there are unparalleled opportunities to ‘innovate out’ towards a more robust human and economic environment. Covid-19 presents a challenge to executives: roll back to default patterns out of expedience, if you can? Or move to a new order aware of the unpredictability of complex conditions. Some executives will roll back to expediency; others will make more human-centred decisions. This conversation will explore the steps needed to make decisions meeting human needs while shifting performance to a higher level.
Speaker:
Since 2008 Dawna Jones’s podcasts have hosted many of the world’s leading transformation thought and practice leaders. Dawna is the author of Decision Making for Dummies, a contributor to The The Intelligence of the Cosmos with Ervin Laszlo, From Hierarchy to High Performance, and Great Work Cultures on HuffPo. Compared by some to another Brené Brown, Dawna’s capacity to sense and respond to systems provides novel ways to get past growth constraints and release the full power of the human spirit to serve our world in more generative ways. Dawna Jones’s strategic advisory practice delivers deep insights that inspire new shifts and clear direction. As a transformation mentor, Dawna guides leaders and their organizations past their resistance to achieve larger and more human goals.
Overview: Mental health treatment options are limited during the pandemic but some resources are available. Video and telephone allow some treatment to continue, but this remains labour intensive and unscalable. Telepsychiatry is not yet sufficiently accepted to be able to fill the gap significantly, but it can, and should. The Strengths & Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), as well as SDQplus, makes it easy for clinicians, carers, schools and mental health organisations to assess people rapidly (under 15 minutes for a complete assessment and interpretation) and on large scale (national → global) for mental health problems. Assessments are offered and completed online, avoiding face-to-face contact entirely. Because the SDQ is entered online by respondents, time and effort of professionals (and error) is saved which otherwise must be spent interviewing and recording data in the presence of respondents or transcribing paper based responses. Reports and analyses of data are available immediately upon completion of the SDQ; this allows mental health professionals to quickly identify, monitor and prioritise interventions. The SDQ can provide reassurance to those who do not need immediate intervention; follow-up assessments can be given every few months to provide monitoring and “watchful waiting” - this in itself has a therapeutic aspect. Although best known and validated as a measure for young people, it can be used effectively up to the age of 65. Assessment and monitoring by the SDQ, is well proven and permits at least something to be done at this time and on a useful scale.
Speaker: Mike Smith worked in Dublin and Geneva from 1976 to 1980 developing petroleum information systems for Petroconsultants SA. During that time, he was awarded a DPhil for developing microprocessor-based oceanographic instruments at University College Galway. He was appointed lecturer in computer science at Reading University in 1980 and became Head of R&D for ISTEL, the computing company of Rover Group, in 1984. Mike then held directorial positions in the petroleum industry and management consultancy until 1990 when he was appointed Professor of Health Informatics at Keele University in the departments of Computer Science and Medicine; he concurrently held the position of Director of Information at North Staffordshire Health Authority. In 1996 he moved to London and held professorial posts at City University, Barts, LSE, and UCL, as well as consultancy positions at Z/Yen and PwC. In 2000, he founded Medix UK Group plc, creating the largest online community of registered medical professionals, over 35,000 in the UK alone. His next venture was founding fm2x in 2007 and retiring from active academic life in 2008; fm2x provides much of Z/Yen's survey and distributed ledger technologies in ChainZy. Since 2016, he has been the senior director of Youthinmind Limited's online mental health and psychiatric measures, the SDQ and DAWBA.
Contact-tracing apps on mobile phones have been a key element of plans to get societies back to "normal" in the face of Covid-19. The promise of automatically identifying who may be at risk of contracting Covid-19 is attractive, but effective use of such apps faces a host of barriers. Privacy risks have been at the forefront, since any centralised solution that automatically reports contacts to health authorities would also be a surveillance tool. Privacy regulators have called foul under GPDR, Apple and Google have refused to equip their operating systems to deliver such functions, and the public seems unlikely to accept such surveillance even if it were on offer. And there are serious technical and behavioural questions about whether contact-tracing apps would work even if they were widely adopted. We discuss the opportunity, challenges and alternatives.
Speaker:
Maury Shenk's experience focuses at the intersection of technology, law and education. He is co-founder and CEO of edtech start-up LearnerShape, director of global testing and certification company PeopleCert, and founder and managing director of Lily Innovation, through which he handles a portfolio of other investment and advisory activities. Maury is a dual-qualified US/UK lawyer and former managing partner of the London office of global law firm Steptoe & Johnson, where he remains an advisor. He has a deep practical understanding of technology, especially artificial intelligence, IT, telecommunications and information security. Maury is a graduate of Harvard College and Stanford Law School. He is a lover of languages – a native speaker of English (the American version), proficient in French and Russian, comfortable in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish, and dilettante in German, Italian, Norwegian and Greek. He is also a guitar player and an avid competitive and recreational sailor.
Background: Leading financial and technology firms in the financial services arena is hard enough in 'normal' times. It's even harder during unprecedented times of high uncertainty such as a pandemic. In this webinar, Toby Corballis looks at tools that can help leaders of Financial and Technical firms lead their organisations during, and post, the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaker:
Toby Corballis is MD of StoryPositive Limited and an Organisational Change expert. He has worked with numerous Investment Banks, Exchanges, Hedge Funds, and Technology firms across the Equities, Commodities, Fixed Income, and Derivatives markets. He specialises in helping executives and senior leaders navigate new technologies and adopt efficient processes that increase profitability by reducing delay costs, lowering implementation time, and unblocking "stuck" projects, using proven techniques, including Agile practices. Toby holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Organisational Leadership from Oxford University, is a certified Kanban Management Professional, accredited Executive Coach, Affiliate Member of the British Psychological Society, and host of the Wicked Problems podcast (www.wickedproblems.fm).
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Despite extensive warnings, Covid-19 has revealed both governments and businesses to be financially as well as medically unprepared for the risk of pandemic. Many firms are in extreme financial distress. Few business interruption insurance policies cover pandemic risks (with complaints about the reluctance of insurers to pay on these policies and claims being pursued through the courts). We need to be better prepared next time, with clearer ‘ex-ante’ arrangements for bearing the economic costs on business of public health measures. In this webinar, Alistair will address the issues involved in using state pooling of pandemic risks (similar to that for terrorism risks Pool-Re and flooding risk Flood-Re), distinguishing the role of insurance companies in assessing and processing claims from the risk absorption role which requires state participation. His discussion draws on lessons from past work on ‘disaster risk finance’, developed at the World Bank Global Facility for Disaster Protection and Recovery and elsewhere for earthquakes and other natural hazards.
Some of the issues presented in this webinar were published earlier this year in Milne, Alistair K L, A Critical COVID-19 Economic Policy Tool: Retrospective Insurance (21 March 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3558667
Speaker:
Alistair Milne is Professor of Financial Economics at the School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University, He previously worked at Cass Business School, the Bank of England; the University of Surrey, London Business School, HM Treasury and for the Government of Malawi. He holds a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics.
He has conducted research for more than three decades on financial technology, bank capital and risk management, macroeconomics and financial regulation. He is the author of a comprehensive account of the 2007-08 global financial crisis “The Fall of the House of Credit”. His current research focus on the emerging innovations in banking and insurance including the application of AI, distributed ledger and related data technologies. He is the principal investigator of the TECHNGI project www.techngi.uk part of the £20mn Next Generation Services Research Challenge supported by the UK government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. He has also worked on disaster risk finance https://floodfinjava.lboro.ac.uk/ and this has led him to write on the potential application of insurance solutions to the current Covid-19 and future pandemics.
For as long as banks have been operating, they have been accumulating data and looking for ways to manage it, understand it and use it to enhance their business. With continuous data growth and tough regulations to meet, the road isn’t easy and simply having a Chief Data Officer in place doesn’t mean that all that data insight is suddenly available and easy to access. Join Automated Intelligence and Datactics for a 45-minute webinar as they discuss some data blunders they have encountered in the banking world and how, using technology, they have helped those organisations overcome them.
Automated Intelligence and Datactics are two Belfast-based RegTech firms arming CDOs and senior management with access, insights and rapid solutions to manage, report and fix data to regulatory standards.
Speaker:
Jennifer Liu, Head of Trade-London, & UKDIT relationship lead, Invest Northern Ireland. Jenny has worked in Consulting, Insurance, Corporate Banking and Wealth management across London, Chicago, Beijing and Hong Kong. She then moved to Invest NI and set up their Hong Kong office, before returning home to head up their London Trade team. Invest NI (a non departmental public body) is Northern Ireland’s regional economic development agency. Jenny works across a variety of sectors in GB, providing an understanding of Northern Ireland’s areas of strength and making connections to relevant innovative Northern Irish tech companies.
Paul Hudson, Head of Customer Success, Automated Intelligence. Working with Automated Intelligence (AI) for over 6 years, Paul brings 25 years of experience spanning design, development, implementation and support roles within I.T. As Head of Customer Success at AI, Paul is responsible for understanding key customer needs and highlighting the data insights relevant to support change and improvement within organisations. Automated Intelligence empowers organisations to take control of their data so they can take control of their future.
Kieran Seaward was appointed Head of Sales for Datactics in 2019 having previously been responsible for managing sales in Europe as part of 7+ years on the sales frontline for Datactics. With multiple years' experience in financial technology sales at Datactics, First Derivatives and MRP, Kieran is heavily involved in all aspects of customer engagement throughout the customer journey, and cites this proximity to clients as being one reason why Datactics maintains such a strong track record of customer satisfaction.
There has been a significant amount of research looking at decision-making in pensions. However, the vast majority of this work has focused on individuals e.g. asset allocation in DC pensions. Given trustees make decisions that influence the retirement outcomes of millions, understanding biases in their decision-making is essential, given the disproportionate impact that biased decisions could have in this setting. This seminar will provide an overview of our results from a project funded by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries that examines behavioural bias in trustee decision-making.
Speaker: Iain Clacher, Associate Professor in Accounting and Finance at Leeds University Business School. He is an expert on pensions and retirement saving and his work covers retirement decision making, pension fund investment, infrastructure investing, sustainable pension systems, trustee governance, and fund management costs and fees.
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A Danish saying runs, “It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future”. Yet people continue to make such predictions, three year plans, five year plans, even twenty year plans. In keeping with tradition, in 2000 Gresham College hosted a series of events on London in the 21st century looking ahead to 2020, helpfully collated together in a 90 page booklet by the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists. This symposium intends to review those predictions, examine mankind’s second-oldest profession of “fortune sellers”, and explore whether what we’ve learned over two decades might give us clearer vision into 2040. Along the way we would like to elicit best modern practices in dealing with the future ranging from modelling to scenario planning to complexity analysis. Or is this Yiddish proverb really the most enduring advice, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans”? Reprise from the original speakers: • Roger Camrass • Richard O’Brien • Gill Ringland • Oliver Sparrow • Richard Susskind • Chris Yapp Consisting of: The most surprising thing over the past 20 years; The lesson I’d most apply for the next 20 years; My most confident statement about 2040 Commentary by Professor Tim Connell, closing thoughts by John Carrington, chaired by Professor Michael Mainelli.
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Z/Yen conducts an irregular series of short webinars, CommunityZ Chest, featuring people from its various communities and clubs, viz. technology, financial services, civil society, and business. These webinars provide an opportunity to meet people from the wider CommunityZ, to share ideas, and to make connections.
This CommunityZ Chest features Tim Ward, the CEO of the Quoted Companies Alliance, the independent membership organisation championing the interests of small to mid-size quoted companies. His past roles have included Head of Issuer Services at the London Stock Exchange, Finance Director at FTSE International, the index company and various management roles at a smaller quoted company. Tim is a Chartered Accountant, has a MBA from Henley Business School and is a qualified executive coach and mentor.
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This webinar provided a focus on developments in Xi'an, the capital of China's Shaanxi Province and a developing financial hub in central China. Xi’an is an emerging financial centre on the world stage. We heard about Xi’an’s role in the Chinese economy and its plans for the development of financial services, particularly its aspiration to be a Silk Road financial centre. Xi’an is home to a major aerospace industry, ranks third in China for research capacity, and has 63 university and college institutions. Xi'an is a key strategic hub connecting Europe and Asia, linking the east and west, and linking the north and south of China. Xi’an recently launched an AI Innovation Development Pilot Zone. Bo Jiao, Chief Representative of Shaanxi Business in London, and Professor Michael Mainelli guided us through key developments and future plans for Xi'an's financial business.
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The Financial Services Group Of Livery Companies (FSG) Task Force supports the Sheriffs of the City of London in their express desire to strengthen and simplify Anti-Money Laundering (AML) within the UK. As part of the taskforce’s series of webinars exploring AML, this webinar will feature representation from the following professions:
Accountancy Legal Actuarial And will be chaired by Alderman & Sheriff Professor Michael Mainelli.
The format will be a semi-structured conversation questioning:
How do AML procedures and regulations affect a professional firm? Does AML bureaucracy worsen trade and revenues? Has technology made a difference? A positive difference? If not, why? Is the UK really gold-plated, or just inefficient? How could regulators and government help improve the situation? What would you most recommend to strengthen AML, to simplify AML? Speakers:
Graeme Gordon is a chartered accountant and prior to joining Praxity was Managing Director and Senior Tutor of Emile Woolf Group, the international training and development firm. He was also previously Group Finance Director of a technology company listed on the London Stock Exchange. Graeme has extensive international experience including in Europe, Russia, North America, the Far East, the Indian Sub-Continent and the Middle East. Before becoming a chartered accountant Graeme served as an officer in the Royal Navy. He is a member of the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and formerly twice President of the Thames Valley Chartered Accountants.
Heather Brehcist is Head of Professional Standards at the Chartered Institute of Taxation. This role encompasses AML as well as professional standards. As a government appointed Anti-Money Laundering supervisor the CIOT supervises its members who are in practice as tax advisers. Being a Supervisor involves a wide range of activities including carrying out AML inspection visits, providing guidance and a helpline for members, liaison with fellow AML supervisors (of which there are 25) OPBAS (the oversight body the professional body AML Supervisors) and law enforcement. Before joining CIOT Heather worked for HMRC and a Big 4 Firm.
Mark Spofforth is a Chartered Accountant who has spent most of his career working for his family firm in Sussex, now merged into Kreston Reeves LLP a £30m turnover practice with an international network.
He served as President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales in 2012 having served on Council for 20 years, chairing various committees, and served on the UK Takeover Panel. Mark spent 6 years making weekly broadcasts on local BBC Radio on financial matters, wrote a monthly column for Accountancy Age on practice management, and has lectured internationally on accountancy topics, including at the 2010 World Congress of Accountants.
His international experience includes a 6 year period on the International Accounting Education Standards Board, a standard setting body of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), and visits to regulators and other professional bodies on every continent. He is now an Observer to the IFAC Board. He was awarded the OBE in 2014 for services to the accountancy profession.
Mark has been Master of two City Livery Companies, the Horners and Chartered Accountants. He was High Sheriff for West Sussex for 2016-17.
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Share scheme expert David Craddock will follow up his introduction to the Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) plan with a selection of case studies to give insight into the practicalities of setting up and running an EMI plan. The EMI was introduced in the Finance Act 2000, alongside the Share Incentive Plan. It is a tax-advantaged plan aimed at younger and smaller companies who want to attract, reward, and retain skilled staff and has now become “the most popular share scheme in the world”.
Speaker:
David Craddock is an independent consultant specialising in employee share ownership and reward management. A recognised authority on the subject, he is the author of The Tolley’s Guide to Employee Share Schemes , along with many other essential books and courses. David’s clients range from major public limited companies with international considerations to smaller private companies where the requirements are for Enterprise Management Incentives, tax-unapproved share scheme arrangements and market-making employee share trust structures. David has successfully established employee share schemes and employee benefit arrangements worldwide and to date has travelled to over 30 countries to personally facilitate their introduction. He enhances his service through a long experience in share reconstructions and share valuation.
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In Safe Hands? The Future Of Financial Services, an original report by SAMI Consulting and Z/Yen in 2012, asked whether the Washington Consensus might break. In 2020 we perceive that this is happening faster than we expected. In 2020, for the first time in recent history, we are facing a period in which global population starts to decline. In 2020, many of the current Financial Services institutions such as insurance are finding themselves on shaky ground. And, of course, the covid-19 pandemic accelerates many changes i the works, from home-working to moves towards government socialism of the economy. This briefing and update with Gill Ringland and Patricia Lustig will be followed by Q&A moderated by Professor Michael Mainelli.
Speakers:
Gill Ringland is now a Director of Ethical Reading. She was head of strategy at ICL (now part of Fujitsu) and is an Emeritus Fellow of SAMI Consulting. She is a Fellow of the British Computer Society, and of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has been co-opted onto EC and British government advisory bodies covering IT, Economic and Social Research, and Foresight. She has worked in Europe, Mexico, Malaysia, Japan and the USA. She is the author or co-author of eight books and numerous articles. She was the author and editor of the In Safe Hands report launched in 2012.
Patricia Lustig leads LASA Insight Ltd, a strategic foresight company. She uses foresight, horizon scanning and futures tools to help organisations develop insight into emerging trends, develop a successful strategy and implement the changes. She has worked in EMEA, Asia and the USA at major blue-chip companies BP, Motorola and Logica. She is the author or co-author of four books and numerous articles. She is a Board member of the Association of Professional Futurists. Her recent award-winning book, Strategic Foresight: learning from the future is under negotiation for translation into Chinese by Science Press, Beijing.
Patricia and Gill jointly published Megatrends And How To Survive Them: Preparing For 2032. They provide the scenario planning expertise for the ‘Study On Building & Piloting A Strategic Intelligence Foresight System For Future Research & Innovation (R& ) Framework Programmes’ for the European Commission. Their next book aims to explore post-Covid-19 futures.
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The last five years has seen the first steps to integrate climate issues in to the global financial system by policy makers, regulators, banks and investors. As President of global climate negotiations in 2020 the UK government was planning to push for deeper and faster financial reforms this year. With the Glasgow Summit now postponed to 2021, and the global economy experiencing its largest ever disruption, will climate reforms be delayed or is it even more important to ensure the transition to a more sustainable financial system?
Speaker: Nick Mabey is Chief Executive and a founder director of E3G (Third Generation Environmentalism) a non-profit European organisation dedicated to accelerating the transition to sustainable development.
In addition to his management role, Nick works on European climate and energy policy, climate diplomacy and foreign policy, and the security implications of climate change and resource scarcity.
Nick was previously a senior advisor in the UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit leading work on energy, climate change, countries at risk of instability, organised crime and fisheries. Nick also worked in the UK Foreign Office’s Environment Policy Department where he helped establish the UK’s world leading environmental diplomacy network.
Before he joined the UK government, Nick was Head of Economics and Development at WWF-UK. He came to WWF from academic research at London Business School on the economics of climate change; published as the book “Argument in the Greenhouse”. This followed a period in the UK electricity industry working for PowerGen and GEC-Alsthom. Nick trained as a mechanical engineer at Bristol University and holds a Masters degree in Technology and Policy from MIT.
Nick has held a range of external appointments and is currently serving on the London Sustainable Development Commission and as a trustee of the Ashden Awards. Nick has previously served on the advisory board of Infrastructure UK, the independent UK Green Investment Bank Commission and as the vice-chair of the European Alliance to Save Energy.
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Z/Yen conducts an irregular series of short webinars, CommunityZ Chest, featuring people from its various communities and clubs, viz. technology, financial services, civil society, and business. These webinars provide an opportunity to meet people from the wider CommunityZ, to share ideas, and to make connections.
This CommunityZ Chest features Richard Burge. Richard has been the chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry since February 2020.
He has led four multi-million pound organisations as chief executive over a total of 18 years. They ranged from a famous charity to a UK government agency to a private company to a membership body. All of them were revenue-based operations delivering public benefits.
He has been on the Board and a non-executive chair/director of five multi-million pound operations including companies, charities, two government agencies, and a UK Russell Group university.
Richard has worked in over 55 countries, specialising in Africa, the wider Commonwealth, and post-conflict situations.
He was Chief Executive, Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council from 2017 to 2019. For the previous 8 years, he was Chief Executive of Wilton Park (a Foreign and Commonwealth Office agency for conciliation and dialogue on global issues). He was a Commissioner for Commonwealth Scholarships, and on the Council of Durham University
He has been CEO of the Countryside Alliance, Director General of the Zoological Society of London, and for ten years served with the British Council in Africa and the Middle East.
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This webinar featured a discussion with Professor Fan Gang, President of China Development Institute, and Independent Member of the Monetary Policy Committee of China’s Central Bank, interviewed by Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chairman, Z/Yen Group.
Covid-19 hit China first, and hard. China’s GDP contracted by 6.8% in the first quarter of 2020 and projections for the year are of a significant slow-down from ‘normal’ growth of 6% or more. Covid-19 is hitting Western economies later, and seemingly harder. Western GDP is widely expected to decline. As China leads the way out of covid-19 lockdown and tries to grow again, what can locked-down westerners spend their time usefully thinking and learning about? In this discussion Professor Fan Gang shared his insights as an independent member of the Monetary Policy Committee of China’s Central Bank and President of China Development Institute. He discussed the limits in applying previous experience with SARS to the current pandemic, .the merits of various recovery shapes, “V”, “U”, “W”, “I”, or “L”, and the amount of future resilience society will expect both in supply chains and credit systems.
Speaker: Professor Fan Gang is President of China Development Institute (CDI) in Shenzhen, China, Director of National Economic Research Institute (NERI) and Chairman of China Reform Foundation in Beijing, China. He is Professor of Economics at Peking University (PHBS) and at the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). He is a guest professor at a number of universities and graduate schools. He served as an independent member of the Monetary Policy Committee of China’s Central Bank from 2006 to 2010, and again since 2015, and is an advisor to various departments of the Chinese central government and provincial governments. He served as an economic consultant to various international organizations and played leading roles in research projects commissioned by the World Bank, ADB, UNDP, OECD, etc. His publications include over 100 academic papers published in Chinese and English academic journals and 12 books on macroeconomics and economics of transition. He received Doctor Honoris Causa degrees from the University of Auvergne (France) and the Royal Roads University (Canada), in 2004 and 2011 respectively, and was listed as one of the “World’s Top 100 Public Intellectuals” jointly by Foreign Policy and Prospect in 2005 and 2008 consecutively, and one of “100 Global Thinkers” by Foreign Policy in 2010. He received his PhD in economics from the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 1988.
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David will cover the EU Institutional regulatory reactions to the COVID-19 crisis, covering banking, fund management and insurers.
Speaker: Dr David P Doyle is known across Europe as a leading expert on EU financial market regulation. A former diplomat with over 20 years of service on mainland Europe and now acts as an EU Policy Advisor between Brussels, London and Paris, specialising in EU Financial Services. He is a member of the Executive Board of the joint MEP-EU industry "The Kangaroo Group" at the European Parliament, the Board of Directors of the Genesis Initiative at Westminster, and sits on the Transatlantic Business Council on Capital Markets.
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In rebuilding the global economy, we cannot afford to ignore the looming clouds of the climate crisis – has Covid 19 given governments and businesses valuable breathing space to reassess their economic models? Are big oil’s fortunes in terminal decline? What tools will we require to build a sustainable low carbon future? And how will all of this play out in COP26?
Speaker: Sean Kidney is CEO of the Climate Bonds Initiative, an international NGO working to mobilize debt capital markets for climate solutions. Projects include a green bond definitions and certification scheme with $34 trillion of assets represented on its Board and some 200 organizations involved in its development and governance; working with the Chinese central bank on how to grow green bonds in China; an international Green Infrastructure Investment Coalition; and market development programs in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Nigeria and East Africa.
He was member of the 2017 EU High Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance and is a member of its successor, the EU Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance; he is also a member of green finance advisory groups in China, India, Mexico and Khazakhstan.
He has previously been a consultant on green bonds to the United Nations Secretary General, a member of the Peoples Bank of China Green Finance Task Force and a member of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Expert Committee on Climate Finance.
In both 2017 and 2018 he was voted GlobalCapital magazine’s “Most Influential Champion” of the sustainable finance market.
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Background: Douglas and Michael McWilliams launched the Cebr report on the economic impact of the Belt & Road Initiative in Beijing last May and followed it by driving all the way back from Beijing to Paris, participating in the world’s toughest endurance rally and becoming one of only 21 out of 106 entrants to complete the rally entirely under their own steam. The feat was chronicled in the book "Driving The Silk Road – Halfway Round The World In A Bentley S1", released recently. Doug and Mike will talk about how the Belt & Road Initiative is likely to affect the balance of world economic activity, how this might be affected by Corona Virus and what it looks like on the ground in the real world where this infrastructure is being built.
Speakers:
Douglas McWilliams is a world leading economist, and author of The Flat White Economy, Driving The Silk Road ,and The Inequality Paradox. He is the founder and executive deputy chairman of Cebr, the leading economics think tank, which is well-known around the world for its expertise in forecasting the economy and understanding globalisation and technology.
Mike McWilliams has worked in the power and energy sectors for more than 40 years, gaining widespread geographic experience from projects in over 50 countries, including 12 years spent in Africa and Asia. He is Head of Energy at Cebr, an advisor to World Bank and is a Director of SN Power, a renewable energy company owned by the Norwegian government. Mike specialises in project planning, economic and financial analysis, risk management and commercial contracts.
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Speaker: Often told that Oxford TRIZ gives her one of the most interesting jobs in the world, probably explains why Karen has done nothing but TRIZ for over 20 years - helping different companies solve their own most intractable problems just by following logical steps and adding TRIZ to their other toolkits.
Karen studied Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College, and has an MBA from London Business School, and worked in banking, classical music, as a governor of Coventry University and a tutor of Oxford’s Business School (ESCP) before founding Oxford Creativity. The development Oxford TRIZ and the success of Karen’s book TRIZ for Engineers (published by Wiley’s in 2011) has helped European industry access TRIZ by making it easy to learn and apply to any problem.
Oxford Creativity has helped many different teams of senior managers engineers and scientists and to quickly master this unique Russian toolkit – which offers direct routes to all available powerful solutions. Thousands of challenging problems in many different industries have been solved by driving Oxford TRIZ logic through the valuable experience and knowledge of many different companies – who despite their expertise and brain power have been stalled, stuck or stymied by an apparently unsolvable problem. This varies from huge cost savings for Bucks County Council to innovative medical devices for Sanofi – quadrupling one division’s turnover from £1.5 billion to £6 billion. So far Karen and her Oxford TRIZ team of experts have never seen it fail. Next week thy are working on a virus killer for rooms. This is through remote problem solving with one of our long established customers.
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Robert Rubinstein delivers his fascinating talk on his experiences of Triple Bottom Line Investing (TBLI) and its integration with ESG into the culture and strategy of international corporate business and investment company.
Speaker: Robert Rubinstein is the Chairman and Founding Partner of TBLI Group Holdings. Mr. Rubinstein has been instrumental in championing Sustainable and IMPACT investment dedicated to solving social issues. Prior to TBLI, Mr. Rubinstein had an extensive career in publishing. He founded Source magazine in 1995, a publication focused on integrating “profits and principles” as a message to the business community. Mr. Rubinstein taught courses in Sustainable Finance at the Rotterdam School of Management from 2003–2006. Mr. Rubinstein has served on various profit and nonprofit boards, and advises various organizations; i.e. International Center for Corporate Accountability, WE- TV editorial advisory board, IMSA (International Sustainability Consultancy), Chairman Swift Prize of the King Boudewijn Foundation, 3IG-International Interfaith Investment Group, Fortis Investments SRI fund, ICCA Advisory Board, and the Developments Alternatives Advisory Council. At present, he is on Advisory Board of Project X Global, Wealth & Society and Lifestyles Magazine. Rubinstein is a tenacious public speaker on both TBLI and ESG at global conferences and has been asked to speak at numerous engagements including the Global Reporting Initiative, the inaugural Impact Investing Israel Summit and World Pension Council in Singapore. TBLI was asked to organise a session at COP21, Paris in December 2015 and more recently, Mr. Rubinstein was invited at the request of Natural Step, a leading advisor on Sustainability for the Swedish corporate sector attended by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.
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This webinar focused on developments in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, India’s first International Financial Services Centre - a new international financial gateway of India. We heard about the latest developments in GIFT City and future plans for the development of GIFT City as a international financial services hub connecting India with the world. Dipesh Shah, Head of GIFT International Financial Services Centre Department and Professor Michael Mainelli presented their views on key developments and future plans for GIFT City.
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Z/Yen conducts an irregular series of short webinars, CommunityZ Chest, featuring people from its various communities and clubs, viz. technology, financial services, civil society, and business. These webinars provide an opportunity to meet people from the wider CommunityZ, to share ideas, and to make connections.
This CommunityZ Chest features Jonny Fry. Jonny is co-founder and CEO of TeamBlockchain Ltd, is a Blockchain, Digital Assets and funds specialist. He founded, and was the CEO for over 20 years, of Premier Asset Management Plc which he floated on the London Stock Exchange. He has considerable experience of open and closed-ended funds and structured products as well as well as considerable knowledge and experience of the financial services sector. His recent focus has been on the dynamics of financial innovation, advising organisations on how Blockchain and Digital Assets are being used in the commercial world. He is also a regular speaker on these topics in the UK and overseas. He works closely with a number of professional firms, such as accountants and lawyers, advising their client’s on corporate strategy and adoption of Blockchain technology.
Jonny gives 20+ hours of his time each week to research and write an analysis of some of the developments in the Blockchain and Digital Asset sectors. This analysis, called Digital Bytes, allows subscribers to use its content thus enabling them to create their own branded version to circulate to staff and clients. Digital Bytes is used globally by a variety of professional advisors, corporate brokers, accountants, lawyers, business schools, universities, trade bodies and corporations.
He is Non-Executive Chairman of Gemini Investment Management Ltd, which owns a Dublin-based fund hosting platform, regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. As Co-founder of The British Blockchain Frontier Technology Association (BBFTA) Jonny sits on the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Blockchain (APPG Blockchain). He is an advisor for several companies helping them with their strategic growth and managing corporate and reputational risk.
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Share schemes expert David Craddock will demonstrate the nuts and bolts of setting up and running an Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) plan.
The EMI was introduced in the Finance Act 2000, alongside the Share Incentive Plan. It is a tax favoured plan aimed at younger and smaller companies who want to attract, reward, and retain skilled staff and as a discretionary approved share scheme it has proved very popular with SMEs.
Speakers:
David Craddock is an independent consultant specialising in employee share ownership and reward management. A recognised authority on the subject, he is the author of The Tolley’s Guide to Employee Share Schemes, along with many other essential books and courses.
David’s clients range from major public limited companies with international considerations to smaller private companies where the requirements are for Enterprise Management Incentives, tax-unapproved share scheme arrangements and market-making employee share trust structures. David has successfully established employee share schemes and employee benefit arrangements worldwide and to date has travelled to over 30 countries to personally facilitate their introduction. He enhances his service through a long experience in share reconstructions and share valuation.
David is a regular conference speaker for the Esop Centre and senior examiner for The ESOP Institute in London in relation to The Certificate in Employee Share Ownership Studies, the material for which he is author and principal authority.
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This webinar provided an opportunity to catch up with developments in financial services in Montréal. Background Robust talent in Finance and IT Globally recognized as a machine learning and AI hub Stable G7 location with a distinct cost advantage above are just a few examples of the advantages that Montréal presents as a leading international financial centre. During this webinar, we focused on the numerous developments that have led the city to become a future-ready location for financial institutions. We heard from Steve Gauthier, Vice President, Corporate Development at Finance Montreal, and Professor Michael Mainelli of Z/Yen, about how Montréal is positioning itself as an intelligent centre for international finance, sustainability, AI, and Fintech.
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In this seminar, Dr Iain Clacher examined the advances in artificial intelligence and how the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence could revolutionise pensions. As well as whirlwind tour of what AI is and cutting edge AI innovations, specific applications will be presented. The talk covered challenges and posed the question as to how realistic this future is.
Speaker: Iain Clacher, Associate Professor in Accounting and Finance at Leeds University Business School. He is an expert on pensions and retirement saving and his work covers retirement decision making, pension fund investment, infrastructure investing, sustainable pension systems, trustee governance, and fund management costs and fees.
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Henry Tillman, an acknowledged expert on China’s Belt Road Initiative shared his thoughts. Henry is well-known for being well ahead of most analysts on Chinese economics.
Henry Tillman has had a 35+ year international banking career, with ExCo positions at Barclays and ABN Amro and a NED role at Wells Fargo EMEA. In 2003, he formed Grisons Peak LLP, a UK based merchant bank, focussed on UK/Tech partnerships with Asia, which advised on over $25 billion completed transactions before being wound down in 2018. In 2008, Mr Tillman launched a global China macro research product, China Outbound Investments, driven from a bespoke database launched in 2008 (www.chinainvestmentresearch.org), five years before the launch of the One-Belt-One-Road Initiative, later recast as the Belt Road Initiative (OBOR/BRI). Over the past few years, the firm’s business has shifted from large cap M&A advisory to BRI research/consultancy with related private placements operated within Grisons Peak Services. Mr Tillman is recognised as a western BRI expert and presents and writes on the BRI globally.
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Background: Following the release of his book, ‘Stop The Rot: Reframing Corporate Governance For Directors and Politicians’ in 2017, Bob has been speaking with directors and politicians in eight countries and recently presented to the All Party Parliamentary Group for Corporate Governance on 11 March 2020 at Westminster. In this webinar Bob reflected on these experiences and discussed what he believes a 21st century board really looks like.
Speaker: Professor Bob Garratt is a ‘pracademic’ – a businessman and director who has always kept one foot in academia to ensure that he keeps his clients’, and himself, honest. He has consulted at the highest levels in some 40 countries and been chairman of consultancies in Hong Kong, Singapore and London. He has worked with the International Monetary Fund, Washington DC, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, and given evidence to the UK Treasury Select Committee on the Restructuring of the corporate governance of the Bank of England. His background spans architectural and community education at the Architectural Association School, London, Ulster College, Belfast, and then into top management and board review and development through The General Electric Company’s action learning-based Developing Senior Managers Programme. He was on the faculties of The Judge Institute of Management, University of Cambridge, and Imperial College, London.
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Nur-Sultan established its new financial centre, Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC), in July 2018. Almost two years on, we spotlight latest developments and plans in Nur-Sultan and Kazakhstan.
The webinar heard from Professor Dr Alexander Van de Putte, Chairman of Corporate Governance & Stewardship and Chief Strategy Officer, Astana International Financial Centre, Baur Bektemirov, Chief Economist, Astana International Financial Centre, and Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chairman of the Z/Yen Group.
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Hear from two Emerging Market Investment Professionals as they discuss their top industry challenges and the future opportunities for emerging economies as they see it.
Speakers:
Eric Anderson, Managing Partner & Head Of Investment Solutions, Milltrust International LLP. Mr. Anderson is Senior Portfolio Manager on the Global Emerging Markets Strategies and Head of Investment Solutions at Milltrust International LLP. He brings nearly two decades of international investment industry experience in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Mr. Anderson has spent nearly a decade focused exclusively on the Emerging Markets where he has extensive experience setting strategic fund allocations for institutional investors, researching local investment managers, providing investment research and full due diligence capabilities and structuring and seeding a number of fund strategies in these regions. Mr. Anderson has established a highly credible reputation within the Emerging Markets industry and is a frequent commentator at industry conferences and in the financial media. Mr. Anderson began his career as an auditor and performance analyst for fixed income, equity, and derivative products at State Street Global Advisors. Mr. Anderson is a candidate for CFA Level 3 and has a degree in International Economics from the University of California.
Joyce Poon, Fixed Income Product Specialist, Gavekal. After graduating in business economics from University of California, Los Angeles, Joyce joined the Audit department of KPMG in Hong Kong, where she specialized in providing assurance related services to commercial banks and retail investment funds. With five years experience in public accounting, she left to help setting up a private equity company, with responsibility for fund administration and operations. In January 2006, Joyce moved to Gavekal, where she oversaw coverage of Asian economies and markets before becoming product manager for Gavekal Fixed Income products. She is a Certified Public Accountant in California and a Chartered Financial Analyst.
James Pitcher, Chair for this event, is a senior securities operations manager, consultant and advisor, with over 35 years of investment banking experience. James was head of Network Management at Morgan Stanley for 10 years covering Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India.
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Z/Yen conducts an irregular series of short webinars, CommunityZ Chest, featuring people from its various communities and clubs, viz. technology, financial services, civil society, and business. These webinars provide an opportunity to meet people from the wider CommunityZ, to share ideas, and to make connections.
This CommunityZ Chest features Patrick L Young. Patrick has many interests, but ExchangeInvest.com is perhaps our best focal point for CommunityZ. In 1999 Patrick L Young wrote the first bestselling book on the topic of "fintech" "Capital Market Revolution!" at a time when financial technology was broadly ignored. Two decades on and with CMR! having proven prescient, the floor traders are all but forgotten, electronic money is the talk of the town and many other items predicted by Patrick's original book.
In "Victory Or Death!" Patrick L Young, discussed, 20 years into the "Revolution!" key topics examining what has - and has not changed - while looking at diverse issues such as the long decline ahead from the peak of banks, the future of exchanges and of course, how cryptocurrency (e-money was widely predicted in CMR!) and blockchain are realistically going to shape the future of finance in a hyper competitive world. Patrick is a former exchange CEO and lifelong entrepreneur whose current interests include publishing the unique daily newsletter of the bourse business "Exchange Invest." He is chairman of industry association Blockchain Malta and lives in Valletta.
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Z/Yen conducts an irregular series of short webinars, CommunityZ Chest, featuring people from its various communities and clubs, viz. technology, financial services, civil society, and business. These webinars provide an opportunity to meet people from the wider CommunityZ, to share ideas, and to make connections.
This CommunityZ Chest features George Littlejohn, Senior Adviser, Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI). George Littlejohn qualified as an accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers in London before becoming a journalist with The Economist. He is a Senior Adviser to the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI), the leading global professional body in the investment field, with over 45,000 members worldwide, focusing on its continuing professional development programme and on new financial clusters round the world. He has an MA in economics from Edinburgh University, and is a member of the CISI and a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.
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The journey to monetary gold and silver will traverse through the end of fiat money and financial markets. Alasdair explains why central banks are committed increasingly to debasing their currencies as a means of funding government deficits and in the hope they can prevent a contraction of business activity so that tax income will be maintained.
Government bonds are wildly overvalued due to interest rate suppression and consumer price statistics designed to goal-seek 2% when credible independent analysis shows prices to be rising at more like 10%. With the Fed losing control over markets, we can expect US Treasury yields to rise accordingly, and the US Government to be demonstrably insolvent.
History and sound economic theory tell us governments and central banks targeting inflation of financial assets eventually lose control over them and end up destroying their currencies. Speaker: Alasdair Macleod, Head of Research, GoldMoney. Alasdair has had a career since 1970 in finance as a stockbroker, investment manager, banker and economist.
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The Employee Share Ownership Centre, Esop Centre, is a non-profit, subscription-based organisation which draws from over 30 years of experience to inform, lobby and research in the interest of developing all forms of broad-based employee share ownership plans in the UK and Europe. The Centre works with governments, the European Commission, businesses and employee organisations to build widespread support for employee share ownership and spread the wages of capital. The first employee share ownership plan in the United Kingdom was launched in 1987 at Unity, the trade union bank. Esop Centre Life President, Malcolm Hurlston CBE, was inspired by a visit to the United States where he studied the use of employee stock ownership plans in American airline companies. He was instrumental in bringing about the first UK employee share plan. Drawing on these experiences, he formed the Employee Share Ownership Centre in 1988. Speaker: Malcolm Hurlston CBE. Malcolm is the epitome of a social entrepreneur and Life President of the Employee Share Ownership Centre, Esop Centre. He conceived the trades union bank Unity in 1980, and founded the Registry Trust in 1985, the Employee Share Ownership Centre in 1987, and the charitable Foundation for Credit Counselling in 1992. Malcolm designed the Employee Share Ownership Centre to bring leveraged employee share ownership to Europe. Educated at Cambridge, he trained as a Russian interrogator during national service. He then worked as a journalist, television trainer and lobbyist. He is visiting professor at the University of Westminster. He is also President of the Foundation for Credit Counselling (now t/a StepChange) which he founded in 1992. His work in financial services was recognised in the Queen’s New Year Honours List 2013 when he was awarded a CBE.
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With the release of our much-anticipated GFCI 27 and GGFI 5 we do a deep-dive into the numbers supporting the index. Interested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5
Interested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5 In 2018, Tim authored the report, ‘Get Smart About Scandals: Past Lessons For Future Finance’. The report informs you of the basic tricks that fraudsters, conmen, and the incompetent have used, over many centuries and offers recommendations based on policy, procedures, structures, and training. We look back at these past lessons and evaluate whether society has begun adopting these recommendations and improving it’s initiatives in the battle against financial crime.
Interested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5 The Global Financial Centres Index has been tracking the development of the world’s financial centres since 2007 and is the authoritative guide to financial centre success. The 27th edition of the index, produced in partnership with the China Development Institute in Shenzhen, was launched on 26 March 2020 through a webinar organised between London and Seoul, with the support of the Seoul Metropolitan Government. At the webinar we presented the results of GFCI 27 and how financial centres are progressing. AGENDA 08:00 Welcome, Simon Culhane, Chief Executive, Chartered Institute For Securities & Investment Opening Remarks, Beom Sik JANG, Professor Of Finance, Soongsil University 08:10 GFCI 27 Results, Mike Wardle, Head Of Indices, Z/Yen 08:40 Observations, Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chairman, Z/Yen 08:50 Questions 09:10 Closing Remarks, Professor Michael Mainelli, Executive Chairman, Z/Yen 09:15 Close
Sponsored by the Mava Foundation, and researched and published by Z/Yen, the fifth edition of the Global Green Finance Index provides the world’s most authoritative measure of the performance of financial centres in delivering green finance services. The report launch took place via webinar on 24 March 2020 at 08:30 UK time. The report, assembled by combining the views of financial professionals from around the world, with quantitative data commissioned and curated from over 130 sources, uses advanced statistical techniques to map the global spread of green finance.