PLEASE NOTE:  THIS IS A LIVE EVENT WITH LIMITED SPACES THERE WILL BE NO RECORDING TO SHARE WITH THOSE WHO DO NOT TURN UP, IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND PLEASE DO LET US KNOW.

The Internet is evolving from closed platforms dominated by centralised Big Tech firms creating value by monetising the data of their customers (Web 2.0) to one characterised by open platforms owned by users creating value by trading digital assets peer-to-peer (Web 3.0). The growing number of commercial applications of blockchain technologies, which are an integral part of the transition to Web 3.0, are creating a demand for blockchain-native cash equivalents to provide a means of storing value and making payments in entirely digital environments. This is as true of the tokenised securities, funds, commodity, and alternative markets as of, say, the Decentralised Finance (DeFi), gaming and Metaverse markets. The candidates for on-chain cash equivalents still include cryptocurrencies but these are in secular decline by comparison with Stablecoins, tokenised deposits and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The timing and nature of the transition from analogue to digital assets will be governed by the structure of digital money that emerges.

This one-day event will explore some of these issues and be joined by confirmed speakers from:

The Bank of England; Banca D’Italia; Payment Systems Regulator (PSR); SWIFT; Citi; JP Morgan; NatWest; SDX; Chainlink; Loughborough University; Quant; Fnality; Reed Smith; Kima Finance and many more.

Moderators:

Dominic Hobson (DH), Co-Founder and Editorial Director at Future of Finance

Keith Bear (KB), Fellow at the Centre for Alternative Finance, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge

Monica Summerville, Head of Capital Markets at Celent

Event Agenda

08:00:

Registration Opens with coffee and biscuits

08:30:

Opening Address: Future of Finance

09.00 to 10.00:

Bitcoin versus fiat Currency: Did the cryptocurrency promise to transform money die of its own shortcomings or was it killed by central banks?

Panellists

Alistair Milne – Professor Financial Economics at Loughborough University

Heike Winter – Retail Payments Policy at Bundesbank

Tariq Rasheed – Partner Structured Finance at Reed Smith

Agenda Points

1. The promises of cryptocurrency in theory
2. The shortcomings of cryptocurrency in practice
3. The reaction to cryptocurrency by regulators
4. The future of cryptocurrency

Moderated by Dominic Hobson

10.00 to 11.00:

The Impact of Digital Money on how payments are made

Panellists

Sam Seaton – CEO at Moneyhub Enterprise

Payments System Regulator – name to be confirmed

Dr Jon Helgi Egilsson – Chair and Co-Founder at Monerium

Agenda Points:

1. The differences between payments now and payments in the future
2. The payments infrastructure of the future
3. Programmable money and the apps that will bring it to life
4. How cross-border payments will be cheaper, faster, and more transparent and more accessible

Moderated by Dominic Hobson

11.00 to 11.45

Coffee Break and Networking

11.45 to 12.45:

How can we build a fully transferable tokenised deposit market?

Panellists

Emma Landriault – VP Product Management at JP Morgan

Olaf Ransome – The Banker’s Plumber

Tony McLaughlin – Emerging Payments and Business Development at Citi

Roberto Pagliari – Director Senior Product Owner – DLT Cash and Markets at Commerzbank

John O’Neill – Managing Director – Global Head of Digital Assets Strategy at HSBC

Neera Patel – Product Lead, Digital Currencies at R3

Agenda Points:

1. Why tokenised deposits are taking so long to develop
2. The features and benefits that give tokenised deposits their competitive edge
3. The infrastructure that is needed to make tokenised deposits take off
4. The regulatory treatment of tokenised deposits

Moderated by Keith Bear

12.45 to 13.45:

Lunch and networking (buffet lunch)

13.45 to 14.45:

How many routes to interoperability does digital money need?

Panellists

Lee Braine – Managing Director – Advanced Technologies, Chief Technology Office at Barclays

Nick Kerigan – Managing Director Head of Innovation at SWIFT

Ami Ben-David – Founder and CEO at Ownera

Eitan Katz – CEO at Kima Finance

Angie Walker – Global Head of Banking and Capital Markets at Chainlink Labs

Agenda Points

1. Why interoperability matters
2. The competing routes to achieve interoperability
3. Whether the scope of interoperability should include cryptocurrencies
4. Whether interoperability requires the tokenisation of traditional finance

Moderated by Monica Summerville

14.45 to 15.45:

Is a “unified” programmable platform for multiple forms of digital money and digital assets a viable objective?

Panellists

Gilbert Verdian – CEO at Quant

Marco Kessler – Head of Digital Securities SDX

Morten Bech – Head of Swiss Centre Innovation Hub at the Bank of International Settlement (BIS)

Lee McNabb – Head of Group Payment Strategy at NatWest

Monica Summerville – Head of Capital Markets Technology at Celent

Agenda Points

1. The different models for a single programmable platform for all financial assets
2. The arguments for an against Ethereum as a model
3. Whether regulated entities need such an infrastructure
4. Whether the single programmable platform must be a public good

Moderated by Dominic Hobson

15.45 to 16.45:

What are the roles of regulated and unregulated Stablecoins now

Panellists

Amarjit (Jeet) Singh – EMEA Blockchain Leader at EY

Will Lee – Financial Policy Advisor at UK Finance

Romin Dabir – Partner Financial Services Regulation at Reed Smith

Dave Sutter – CEO at Open Trade

Agenda Points:

1. The current state of the Stablecoin market
2. The impact of local implementations of the global regulatory consensus on Stablecoins
3. The coming divide between regulated and unregulated Stablecoins
4. The use-cases for Stablecoins now

Moderated by Dominic Hobson

16.45 to 17.45:

What are the challenges and opportunities for a major reserve currency issuing a CBDC?

Panellists

Angus Fletcher – CEO UK at Fnality

Daniel Eidan – Advisor and Solutions Architect at the Bank of International Settlement (BIS)

Agenda Points

1. The current state of the CBDC universe around the world
2. Predicting whether a major reserve currency will issue a CBDC
3. The case for synthetic CBDCs
4. Questions about the utility of CBDCs

Moderated by Dominic Hobson

17.45 to 18.00:

Closing Address

18:00:

Networking drinks and Canapés