UKDE Debuts at Fintech Week 2019

The size of the fintech community means that London hosts many events which brings many industry influencers and thought leaders to the stage to share their visions and developments in their respective industries. Fintech Week 2019 was the event to usher in July in its sixth year of success – bringing in hundreds of delegates and participants per day to their venue to “Join Bankers, developers, researchers, founders, investors, executives and government to discover the future of money and financial services.”

UKDE were in attendance of this event, with topics such as; New Models of Fintech Evolution, Regulatory Challenges, The Rise of Challenger Banks and Decentralised Finance on the agenda, it was one UKDE had a lot to be interested in.

Dr. Jane Thomason, CEO of Blockchain Quantum impact, opened the event, looking towards the future and acknowledging the many successes fintech technology has already achieved in our society, it was hard to disagree; many agreed with her opening remarks.

Asia has long played a major role in the technology industry, often being able to stake claim of being the birthplace of many technological behemoths and developments, which are inescapable in our daily lives – which formed the basis of UKDE’s Chairman, Professor Yu Xiong’s talk “Fintech’s Rise in Asia.” He used this opportunity to talk about recent developments in the Chinese fintech community notably advancements with blockchain technology, citing Tron’s Justin Sun and his successful bid to have lunch with the American business magnate, Warren Buffet, as him and his guests aim to advance cryptotechnology. He then went onto discuss avenues in finding investment opportunities from China and their willingness to work close with British companies, which no doubt picked up attention.

The agenda soon shifted to an area that is gaining a lot of interest in the blockchain community – tokenisation. Security tokens are the most common application, but many will soon find that it has many uses in the process of being unveiled, one of which was presented by Govert Van Ek, Director/Co-Founder of BitCar, a company which allows the fractional ownership of cars.

It has become normal for technology to have an impact on areas which don’t enjoy many of the benefits we expect our society to provide us, and the panel discussion, “Fintech, Social Impact and Emerging Markets,” moderated by Marianne Harr, Director of the Sustainable Digital Finance Alliance, the discussion was one aided by a panel who offered interesting perspectives into how technology can better the lives of those in emerging markets, through creating connected economic systems, as a tool to allow everyone to become education, tools to ensure farmers get fair deals for their crops, and incorruptible land registration. Blockchain technology’s potential has meant it’s gained the attention of the world of academia, and the capabilities to enhance economic growth through financial inclusion.

As the event drew to a close for another year, there was a feeling of being satisfied and willingness to delve more into the advancements other areas of the fintech community have made. In an event where the questions were probing and the answers thorough – it’s little surprise to find such a level of knowledge in one of the world’s greatest tech hubs. At the close of the Fintech Week’s sixth event, there’s no doubt it will be back.