A Ditchley100 Roundtable Discussion
A small group from the world of finance and technology met to discuss the future of financial services. The starting point for the conversation was the recognition that we are going through transformational times within our societies, our businesses and in our industries overall.
Adopting the principle that money and assets are the basic building blocks of financial services, and markets are the facilitation and distribution mechanisms of these building blocks, the discussion first sought to explore the future of money and assets asking whether this was where disruption could inspire new opportunities for financial services? The digital age brings new concepts with digital money and assets, but are crypto-currencies and tokenization really heralding a new era?
Session two examined the future of markets with the emergence of new ways to raise money, to borrow, lend, invest, exchange, and distribute products beyond our current understanding of fintech. Could newer trends such as decentralized finance be developed with emerging trends such as open banking? Are we about to witness mass scale technology enabled business model transformation in the finance sector?
There was a sense that it was more important to focus on the fundamental economic drivers for the evolution of financial services rather than to be distracted by specific technologies. Blockchain for example is important because it addresses pre-existing challenges in public and private markets.
The conversation was led by Pinar Emirdag, senior vice president and head of digital product development and innovation at State Street where her primary responsibility is to develop product wrappers around GTS’s digital strategy.
This event was hosted at Ditchley as part of the Ditchley100 programme of small roundtable discussions. The Ditchley100 is an initiative which seeks to engage with the people and organisations which are driving change and influencing the future in business, technology and finance. As with all of Ditchley’s programme, a key objective of the Ditchley100 is to create an environment in which fresh thinking and new ideas can emerge.
If you would like to find out more about the Ditchley100 project, please contact Glen Kieran, Innovation Ambassador, by email: glen@ditchley.com or by calling Ditchley on +44 (0)1608 677346.