Symposium I - Global Financial Services: Strategic Perspectives
HRH the Prince of Wales
Priorities for the UK’s International Financial Services Strategy The Financial Services Trade and Investment Board (FSTIB) is a joint partnership between the UK government and industry, which reports directly to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and is chaired by HM Treasury. It has a mandate to guide the UK government’s strategy and high level priorities on financial services trade and investment. In this session, members of FSTIB will discuss the current FSTIB work programme and highlight the key areas of focus as the Board seeks to reinforce the UK as a global financial centre. Moderator: Charles Roxburgh, Director General, Financial Services, HM Treasury, and Chairman, FSTIB
Panel: Inga Beale, CEO, Lloyd’s of London Nathan Bostock, CEO, Santander UK Helena Morrissey CBE, CEO, Newton Chris Cummings, CEO, TheCityUK
The global economy has started 2016 as a very mixed picture. While the US and the UK are continuing to enjoy relatively strong growth, elsewhere economic performance has been less robust. The low oil price has had a dampening effect on parts of the Middle East and other oil-dominated regions of the world. The BRICS economies have faltered and, in some cases, moved into recession. China’s growth, although still strong, is clearly slowing down to a more sustainable level. Russia is battling the twin challenges of a low oil price and sanctions, while Brazil is facing a range of serious issues. India recorded strong economic growth in the latter part of 2015, but urgently needs to adopt economic reforms if this is to continue. Overlaying all of this, a divergence in international monetary policy has begun to emerge. Questions to be discussed at this panel include:
Moderator: Francine Lacqua, Anchor and Editor-at-Large, Bloomberg TV
When voters enter the ballot box to cast their votes on whether the UK should leave the European Union, they will also be defining the future of the UK’s financial sector for many decades to come. If they should vote to leave, the key question is how easily would UK financial services companies be able to access the European market? On the other hand, would leaving give the City a competitive edge in offering its services to the emerging growth markets of Asia, Africa and the Middle East? While the precise wording of the motion is yet to be decided, the debate will try to answer the following questions:
Keynote Address: Sir Roger Gifford, Country Head, SEB UK and Chair, City of London’s Green Finance Initiative
Followed by a panel discussion with leading market practitioners including: Moderator: Sir Roger Gifford, Country Head, SEB UK and Chair, City of London’s Green Finance Initiative Panellists: Simon Zadek, Co-Director, UNEP Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System Spencer Lake, Vice Chairman, Global Banking and Markets, HSBC Namita Vikas, Group President and Country Head, Responsible Banking & Chief Sustainability Officer, YES BANK Meryam Omi, Head of Sustainability, Legal & General Investment Management
Symposium II - International Financial Regulation: The Current Reform Agenda
The torrent of regulatory reform seen since 2007 has left financial firms navigating an increasingly complex regulatory environment. The multitude of different rules coming from different bodies, often with differing priorities, has caused many to question how they can balance meeting the shifting expectations of regulators with remaining profitable and best able to serve customers. With the rules of different bodies appearing at times to be contradictory and international rules being interpreted differently by national supervisors, questions of how the rules fit together, whether an unlevel playing field is being created and what this means in today’s global world, where increasingly transactions happen and firms operate across borders, continue to be asked. The panel will discuss:
Keynote Addresses: Tracey McDermott, Acting Chief Executive, Financial Conduct Authority Shunsuke Shirakawa, Deputy Commissioner, International Affairs, Financial Services Agency, Japan & Member of the Basel Committee Benoît de Juvigny, Secretary General, Autorité des Marchés Financiers Followed by a panel discussion with leading market practitioners including: Moderator: Maciej Piechocki, Partner, BearingPoint Panellists: Clare Woodman, Chief Operating Officer, Institutional Securities Group, Morgan Stanley
From the FCA and PRA in the UK, to the Federal Reserve in the US, APRA in Australia and many more beyond, regulators around the world are making it clear that they will no longer content themselves by assessing a financial institution’s compliance with specific rules, they want to be convinced that it has an appropriate culture and that both its customer-facing and market-facing conduct meet exacting standards. To understand what this shift might mean, the panel will examine:
Keynote Address: Sir Win Bischoff, Chairman, JP Morgan Securities and Chairman, Financial Reporting Council
Moderator: Mary O' Connor, Global Head of Financial Institutions, Willis Towers Watson Panellists: Nadia Swann, Partner, Linklaters Ian Johnston, Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Financial Services Authority Simon Lewis OBE, Chief Executive, Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) Sir Win Bischoff, Chairman, JP Morgan Securities and Chairman, Financial Reporting Council
MiFID II: Preparing for the New World of Securities Trading The Market in Financial Instruments Directive II will introduce wide-ranging changes across European financial markets. It will affect all categories of dealing, broking, asset management and advisory services undertaken by banks, non-banks and other service providers and also their corporate, institutional and retail customers. It will also have a major impact on all primary and secondary financial and commodity markets, including regulated markets, NTFs and OTFs as well as clearing houses. The panel will examine what firms should be doing to prepare and what the changes might mean for the market:
Followed by a panel discussion with leading market practitioners including: Moderator: Anthony Belchambers, Chairman, Saxo Capital Markets Limited Panellists: Christopher Leonard, Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld Larry Thompson, Vice Chairman and General Counsel, DTCC Verena Ross, Executive Director, European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) Guy Sears, Interim Chief Executive, The Investment Association
Symposium III - China, India and Africa: New Investment Opportunities
Opportunities for Foreign Financial Institutions and Investors China’s growth over the last 30 years has been phenomenal. Even now, despite slowing growth, China’s growth rate far surpasses any found in Western economies. It is already the second largest economy in the world and its currency, the RMB, has recently been accepted as an IMF reserve currency. As it continues to open its financial sector to foreign involvement, the Chinese Government is also embracing a radical ‘greening’ of its financial system as a market-based mechanism that will help deliver sustainable growth. The range of opportunities for foreign financial institutions is therefore expanding and includes:
Keynote Address: H.E. Liu Xiaoming, Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom Followed by a panel discussion with leading industry experts including: Moderator: Andrew Carmichael, Partner, Linklaters Panellists: Stewart James, Managing Director & Deputy Head, Group Government Affairs, Asia Pacific & Americas, HSBC Michael Wilkins, Managing Director, Infrastructure Finance Ratings, Standard & Poor’s Sean Kidney, CEO, Climate Bonds Initiative
Followed by a panel discussion with 4-5 leading market practitioners including: Moderator: Philip Bouverat, Director, JCB Paniellist: Ali Hassan, Senior Representative, Europe and North America, Dubai International Financial Centre Shuchita Sonalika, Director & UK Head, Confederation of Indian Industry Alok Sharma MP, UK Prime Minister’s Infrastructure Envoy to India Vivek Abraham, Assistant Vice President at Invest India, Invest India
While currency instability and the impact of lower commodity prices in sub-Sahara Africa, and political tensions in the north of the continent, combined to reduce the growth rate to 3.8% in 2015, the prospects for Africa remain bright in the medium to long-term. This prognosis is underpinned by rapid urbanisation, a growing middle-class population, favourable demographics and increasingly business-friendly policies in many African countries. This is reflected in the private equity statistics. Although there was a significant drop in deals closed in 2015 due to the factors listed above, the amount of funds raised by Africa-focused PE funds almost doubled. In other words, there is an expectation of a substantial uptick in the growth trajectory. Topics to be discussed in this panel include:
Keynote Address: James Duddridge MP, Minister for Africa, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, UK
Followed by a panel discussion with 4-5 leading market practitioners including: Moderator: Adrian Mayer, Partner, Charles Russell Speechlys Panellists: Mehdi Zehaichi, Business Development, Casablanca Finance City Nick Luckock, Partner, Head of Financial Services, Actis James Duddridge MP, Minister for Africa, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, UK Washington Kapapiro, Chairman, Association for African Owned Enterprises
Symposium IV - Financial Technology: Opportunities & Challenges
While bitcoin is yet to enter the mainstream, a growing number feel the technology that underpins it, blockchain, may represent an innovation that could revolutionise the financial services industry. To explore this cutting-edge area, the panel will discuss:
Keynote Address: Brian McNulty, COO Europe, R3
Big data has become big news and is starting to become big business. However, the ways that big data can be leveraged by financial firms so that it represents a truly useful tool, rather than merely a buzzword, are still being explored. Topics to be addressed include:
Keynote Address: Diana Farrell, President and CEO, JPMorgan Chase Institute
Followed by a panel discussion with leading market practitioners including: Moderator: Simon Briskman, Partner, Technology, Outsourcing and Privacy, Fieldfisher Panellists: Sue Daley, Head of Programme Big Data, Cloud and Mobile, techUK Ray Eitel-Porter, Managing Director, Analytics, Accenture James Stickland, Managing Director, Red Deer Michael Connaughton, Big Data Leader, EMEA, Oracle Diana Farrell, President and CEO, JPMorgan Chase Institute
The cyber security risks posed by criminals, hacktivists and terrorists have quickly become a major concern for financial firms worldwide. How can these threats be mitigated when cyber space is inherently insecure and the question is not so much if you will be hacked, but when? While technical solutions are undoubtedly an important part of the solution, they are not sufficient on their own; wittingly or unwittingly your people can be pose the biggest risk to information security, and any attempt to manage cyber security must therefore include a cultural aspect as well. The panel will discuss:
Keynote Address: William Brandon, Chief Information Security Officer, Bank of England Chris Gibson, Director, CERT-UK Followed by a panel discussion with leading market practitioners including: Moderator: Simon Shooter, Partner, Bird & Bird Panellists: Jan Neutze, Director of Cybersecurity Policy, EMEA, Microsoft Ben Russell, Senior Manager, Partnerships & Transformation, National Cyber Crime Unit Chris Gibson, Director, CERT-UK