Name: Entering The Metaverse: Fintech’s Next Frontier
Start: 2022-09-28T15:00:00Z
End: 2022-09-28T15:01:01.000Z
Location: BrightTALK
Rating: 4.6

Fintech is maturing as consumers adopt new digital services,  governments implement regulations, and M&A increases while funding decreases. These dynamics present new challenges and opportunities to the industry. Still, new dynamics are found in every corner of the market. A solitary question persists that professionals want to know - what is driving fintech forward?

This series will highlight current trends and developments in fintech. Discover the challenges professionals are addressing with innovative financial technology and new perspectives on how to elevate your financial services strategy.

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and increased digitization are changing the ways investors and financial advisors do their work, and as the technology continues to improve, the ways it interacts with the industry will continue to evolve. 

The ability to leverage these technologies as they improve and grow will be an important skill for workers in the wealth management industry moving forward, as improved data analytics and a shift in client habits change the way investment decisions are made. 

In Episode 28 of Driving Fintech Forward, we’ll dive into the most recent developments in the field of wealthtech, and the current state of the market. 

Driving Fintech Forward is hosted by Elena Kozhemyakina of Fintech4Funds, and our guest speakers for this episode are: 

Mary Agbesanwa, Fintech Growth Lead, Seccl
Urs Bolt, FinTech expert and lecturer in Digital Economy & Ccy
Stephen Wall, Founder, The Wealth Mosaic 


Join the session to explore: 
-How artificial intelligence is shaping the way investment decisions are made 
-The ways data analytics can help improve client and advisor experience 
-The shift to digitization in the wealth management space
-And more

Wealthtech's Expanded Role in Financial Management

Central Bank Digital Currencies are no longer a dream. 9 Countries, including Nigeria, have fully rolled out a CBDC platform. Numerous others, including China, are testing the system with pilot programs in progress. China’s program alone dwarfs the size of many country’s entire population, with 140 million people and more than 1 and a half million merchants participating. 

The United States Federal Reserve is exploring a digital dollar, and the European Central Bank is ahead of its American counterpart in its study of a digital Euro. The upsides of a CBDC are plenty, including reduced transaction cost, increased international financial integration, an expansion of access to financial services for low-income and vulnerable populations, and more. 

However, there are drawbacks. The crash of the ECCB’s digital currency system highlights a potential vulnerability if a system were to go offline, and there is a risk that a government could use the technology to further serve surveillance goals, among other privacy and technical considerations. 

In Episode 27 of Driving Fintech Forward, we’ll explore the past, present, and future possibilities of CBDCs, and their potential to drastically change the financial landscape as we know it. 

Driving Fintech Forward is hosted by Elena Kozhemyakina of Fintech4Funds, and our guest speakers for this episode are: 

Christian Trumm, Fintech Advisor & Global Expansion Leader at CT Advisory
Matthew Key, KeyInnovate
Urs Bolt, Fintech Leader and Expert
Join the session to explore: 

-The current implementation landscape of CBDCs across the globe
-The exploration of the digital technology by some of the world’s largest economies 
-Fintech’s role in the budding space
-The advantages and disadvantages the new technology poses

The Future of CBDC

Cryptocurrencies and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have seen exponential growth in the past several years, which only increased as the world became more virtual in the COVID-19 pandemic. Bitcoin, and to some degree Ethereum, are now household knowledge, even as the larger market of tokens remains more opaque and in flux. 

Companies that desire to invest in this expanding and lucrative market need to be competent in their analysis of the soundness of the virtual assets they are investing in. Conducting a ‘Tokenomics’ assessment of potential investments will be crucial going forward to ensure that safe and sound decisions are made in the virtual market. 

In Episode 26 of Driving Fintech Forward, we’ll dive into what Tokenomics looks like for companies and investors interested in the decentralised marketplace. 

Our panelists for this episode are: 
Jorden Woods, Founding Partner, Star Chain Ventures
Massimo Buonomo, Metaverse and Blockchain Expert, Blockchain Founders Fund
Greg Chew, Founder and CEO, QPQ

The host of Driving Fintech Forward is Elena Kozhemyakina of FinTech4Funds.

Join the session to explore: 

-The use of Tokenomics in evaluating investments in pre-sales and Initial Coin Offerings 
-How the practice was used to make successful decisions in the past 
-Why it matters to companies and investors in the decentralised market
-And more

Making Sound Investments with Tokenomics

According to DeFi Pulse, there are currently more than $50 billion of DeFi smart contracts in the market. By democratising access to financial products and creating both value and liquidity for crypto assets, decentralised finance has the potential to transform the global economy. Bringing NFTs into the space has the potential to supercharge DeFi, overcoming the challenge of verifying ownership and ultimately transforming the way we view assets, tokens, and financial services. 

In Episode 24 of Driving Fintech Forward, we’re exploring the opportunities that arise with the combination of DeFi and NFTs.

Topics for discussion include:

- How NFTs are changing the way we understand ownership of everything in the digital world
- Easy-to-understand use cases for DeFi and NFTs
- Looking ahead: how DeFi and NFTs are shaping the future of finance
- And more…

Speakers: 
-Eduardo Abreu, Chief Strategy Officer at Amberfi
-Michael Charles Borrelli, Director of MCBORRELLI Advisors
-Mohamed Saleh, Ethereum Lead Developer at Precog.finance
-Jouko Ahvenainen, Prifina, Founder & CEO 

Driving Fintech Forward is hosted by Elena Kozhemyakina, Founder & CEO, Fintech4Funds

Supercharging DeFi with NFTs

In 2021, the NFT market saw sales volumes of nearly $24.9 billion - up from $94.9 million the year before, according to DappRadar. Since their conception in 2014, NFTs have taken industries like art and gaming by storm. While today their use cases may still be in their infancy, NFTs have the potential to transform lending, insurance and many other areas of financial services. 

Join Episode 23 of Driving Fintech Forward to hear from fintech and NFT leaders about this growing market and how NFTs are shaping the future of finance. 

Topics for discussion include:

- The ABC of NFTs: Understand what NFTs are and how they work
- State of the market and projections for the future
- Use cases beyond art and gaming
- NFT myths debunked 
- And more 

Speakers: 
-Fabio Morelli, Digital Marketing Consultant, Accenture
-Peter Chmiel, Founder and CEO of Go! NFT Yourself
-Thomas Gavache, Co-Founder of NFΛST Digital Hypercars

Driving Fintech Forward is hosted by Elena Kozhemyakina, Founder & CEO, Fintech4Funds

Demystifying NFTs

The battle for consumers between fintech and banks is over. Now, banks and other traditional financial institutions are investing in future-proofing their businesses by partnering with fintech and placing their bets on companies across payments, capital markets, SMB, blockchain, real estate, and more.

In the next stage of the fintech revolution, consumer apps and banking services are being fused, harnessing Big Data to deliver tailored and seamless experiences that optimise value for consumers and drive long-term growth.

In Episode 22 of Driving Fintech Forward, we’re exploring the opportunities for innovation arising from partnerships between financial institutions and fintech. 

Join the session to explore:

- The benefits of partnerships between banks and fintech
- Innovative partnership structures and how to find the right one for your company
- Assessing value proposition and how to approach potential partners
- And more...

Speakers: 
-Angel Lorente, Founder & Master Connector, FinTech Connector
-Kamales Lardi, Managing Director Switzerland, Valtech
-Panagiotis Kriaris, Head of Business Development, Unzer


Driving Fintech Forward is hosted by Elena Kozhemyakina, Founder & CEO, Fintech4Funds

Fintech Outlook: Partnering with Incumbents

In 2021, the Total Value Locked in Decentralised Finance (DeFi) quadrupled to a total value of $111.27 billion. As DeFi and Crypto explode, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are quickly making a comeback. 

Ethereum defines DAOs as “ internet-native business that [are] collectively owned and managed by [their] members.” The crypto alternative to conventional corporations, DAOs have the potential to fundamentally transform the way we understand businesses and the world of work. 

In Episode 21 of Driving Fintech Forward, you’ll join Crypto and DeFi leaders as they share a complete guide to the world of DAOs and offer exclusive insights on the future of finance in the context of DeFi. 

Topics for discussion include:

- Crypto-economics and the impact of DAOs on the growth of crypto
- Decentralised decision-making: understand DAOs and how they function
- A beginners guide to investing in DAOs
- The impact of DAOs on incumbent finance: Disruption or transformation? 
- DAO examples and innovation opportunities 
- And more...

Driving Fintech Forward is presented by Elena Kozhemyakina, Founder & CEO, Fintech4Funds

DAOs: The Next Chapter of the Crypto Saga

We are on the brink of a monumental transformation of the world wide web. The third generation of internet services - or Web 3.0 - will harness superfast 5G data speeds and open data formats and software to expand the capabilities of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and blockchain technology. 

For financial services, this new breed of the internet presents countless opportunities for disruption and innovation. In Episode 20 of Driving Fintech Forward, we’re taking a deep-dive into Web3 and asking how advances in internet technology will impact the financial services industry. 

Topics for discussion include:

- Web 3.0 Explained
- Industry Outlook: how Web3 will impact the global FS value chain
- Financial services in a decentralised internet world: Will traditional banking institutions become redundant?
- Opportunities for financial services players in the decentralised web
- Artificial intelligence and Machine Learning in the Web 3.0 world
- How the decentralised web will impact DeFi, Crypto and Financial Inclusion
- And more…

Speakers:
- Sophie Guibaud, Founder & CEO, Fiat Republic
- Markus Lampinen, Co-Founder & CEO, Prifina
- Christian Trumm, Fintech Advisor & Global Expansion Leader, CT Advisory
- Joseph Naayem, CFA, Managing Partner, Kalmus Capital


Driving Fintech Forward is hosted by Elena Kozhemyakina, Founder & CEO, Fintech4Funds

How will Web3 impact financial services?

As a result of the digitisation that occurred in response to the coronavirus, wealth management services have started opening up to new users, with 10 million new brokerage accounts being opened in 2020 alone - many of which by first-time investors. The rise of robo-advisors and platforms like Robinhood and Acorn further opened the door to wealth management for retail consumers. Now, embedded finance promises to drive accessibility of financial services, by meeting investors ‘where they are.’

By harnessing partnerships with fintech and retail companies, wealth management providers can create scalable and personalisable financial solutions that are better suited to retail investors’ needs. By facilitating real-time engagement with a broader range of asset classes, embedded finance allows players to offer hyper-personalised customer experiences more efficiently and effectively than ever before. 

Join Episode 19 of Driving Fintech Forward to explore the democratisation of wealth management and discover the potential of embedded finance to drive financial inclusion and optimise the wealth management offering. 

Register now to reserve your spot on the live session on 16 March at 4pm GMT/12pm ET and get your questions answered! 

Topics for discussion include:

- The future of wealth management in the context of embedded finance
- Harnessing the potential of embedded finance to create new financial products and solutions tailored around investor preference
- How to partner with merchants in other industries to provide investors with new financial services that ‘meet them where they are’
- And more

Speakers:
- Silvan Schriber, Head Corporate Development and Client Services, additiv 
- Karan Shanmugarajah, CEO, Wealth Kernel
- Jouko Ahvenainen, Co-founder & Executive Chairman, Grow VC Group

Embedded finance: the democratisation of wealth management

Lightyear Capital predicts that embedded finance will generate an astonishing $230 billion in revenue by 2025, and it’s expected to grow into a $7 trillion industry within the next 10 years. 

The coronavirus pandemic served to highlight the antiquated nature of banks’ business models, both with respect to operations and customer experience. In response, embedded finance innovators are modularising traditional financial offerings, making services accessible to developers in other markets, to develop new financial models that better serve end users’ needs. 

In Episode 18 of Driving Fintech Forward, hear from the minds behind some of the latest innovations in embedded finance. Register now to reserve your spot on the live session on 16 February at 4pm GMT/12pm ET and get your questions answered!

Topics for discussion include: 

- Understanding the embedded finance revolution
- The new face of banking: how embedded finance is shaping the future of finance
- Embracing change: best practices, use cases and opportunities for finance

Speakers:
- Alex Mifsud, Co-Founder & CEO, Weavr
- Dov Marmor, COO - North America, Railsbank
- Stevan Bajic, CEO, Manigo

Driving Fintech Forward is hosted by Elena Kozhemyakina, Founder and CEO, Fintech4Funds

Embedded finance: a $7 trillion opportunity

There’s no question about the monumental effect that fintech has had on the market. 82% of financial organisations plan to increase their collaboration with fintech in the next 3 to 5 years. With customer demands for transparency in financial services and for more digital solutions, incumbents are under increasing pressure to transform their service offerings and amplify their value propositions using the latest technologies. 

In our first episode for 2022, we’ll be joined by some of fintech’s top thought leaders to discuss the year ahead and the opportunities that are in store for the fintech industry. 

Topics for discussion include:

- Inclusion matters: how fintech is developing to push for more financial inclusion
- Digital security and biometrics: overcoming cyber crime with fintech
- Harnessing data to drive value: a new state of play for the age of open banking
- And more

Speakers:

- Erica Stanford, Founder & CEO, Crypto Curry Club
- Paolo Sironi, Global Research Leader Banking and Financial Markets, IBM
- Theodora Lau, Founder, Unconventional Ventures

Driving Fintech Forward is hosted by Elena Kozhemyakina, Founder and CEO, Fintech4Funds

Opportunities for Fintech in 2022

Regulation is essential for securing stability in the financial services sector and ensuring that the interests of both consumers are investors are met. In recent years, regulation has served as a sounding board for the industry, setting the rules of play for innovation and securing the interests of everyone involved.

Trends such as remote working and digitalisation have driven innovation, with consumers demanding more innovative solutions to meet their financial needs. This has provoked a vast increase in regulatory change, from 10 changes per day in 2004 to a huge 100 changes per day in 2020.

For financial services players, the challenge of keeping compliant is becoming increasingly costly and complex. RegTech players are dedicated to harnessing contemporary technologies to help regulated firms meet their regulatory obligations. Despite the increase in RegTech solutions available, significant barriers to adoption exist within the market.

In Episode 16 of Driving Fintech Forward, we're taking a deep-dive into the state of the market and asking - what is needed to overcome the barriers to adoption of RegTech?

Topics for discussion include:

- Barriers to adoption of RegTech and what is needed for the industry to overcome them
- The impact of Covid-19 on the uptake of RegTech solutions
- The business case for RegTech solutions and how to get senior buy-in
- And more

Confirmed Speakers:
- Kathryn Willis, Executive Director and Group Head Of Compliance, AIMS Financial
- Izhar Arieli, Co-Founder and CEO, TenureX
- Jo Ann Barefoot, CEO & Co-Founder, Alliance for Innovative Regulation

Driving Fintech Forward is hosted by Elena Kozhemyakina, Founder & CEO, Fintech4Funds.

State of the Market: RegTech in 2022

With professional investors everywhere racing to integrate ESG into their investment strategies, it has never been more pressing for the industry to find an effective way of collecting, verifying and sharing ESG data. For the ESG market to flourish, the industry must find a way of sharing data in real-time, with all parties in their respective economic community. 

Blockchain’s ability to retail immutable, auditable records of data across parties makes it the ideal tool for ESG. By providing a foundation for accurate data across the supply chain, blockchain makes it easier to create a comprehensive picture of an investment opportunity’s true impact. Offering professionals a streamlined and automated way to analyse corporate data, blockchain has the potential to revolutionise and grow the ESG market across the globe.

Which is why, in Episode 15 of Driving Fintech Forward, we’re exploring how blockchain technology can be harnessed to increase transparency and make ESG data more reliable for investors. 

Join the session to explore:

- The ESG industry’s data problem: explaining the uneven nature of ESG data
- Solving the data dilemma with blockchain: how far off are we?
- Integrating blockchain into the ESG market: hurdles and opportunities facing the market
- And more

Confirmed Speakers:
- Yury Riabykin, Chief Executive Officer & Founder, HERMESNET
- Fleur Heyns, Co-Founder, Proof Of Impact
- Bryan Daugherty, Co-Founder & Chairman, SmartLedger

Driving Fintech Forward is hosted by Elena Kozhemyakina, Founder & CEO, Fintech4Funds

Fintech meets ESG: enhancing transparency and data reliability with blockchain

ESG investing has broken into the mainstream in recent years. With global awareness of the need to find solutions to climate change increasing, and the global pandemic exposing the underlying inefficiencies of conventional investment practices, demand for ESG investment solutions has never been so high.

However, the ESG market lacks credibility for end investors. Since ESG ratings are based on past performance, advisors are hedging their bets on investment opportunities without sufficient insight into the risks and opportunities not identified by those data sets.  

As it stands, ESG ratings based on past performance are by their nature risky, as positive past performance does not always reflect future success. 

To drive the uptake of ESG, the industry needs to harness tech to increase access to and optimise the analysis of real-time corporate data. By leveraging technologies like Natural Language Processing (NLP,) machine learning and AI, financial players can extract and dissect non-financial corporate data to monitor and detect changes in corporate ESG risk profiles. 

In Episode 14 of Driving Fintech Forward, we’re taking a deep-dive into the world of ESGtech, to explore how innovations in technology are advancing the reliability of ESG reporting and driving the growth of the market.

Topics for discussion include:

- The importance of real-time data when assessing ESG risk
- What role for technology in defining ESG performance? 
- Alternative data and machine learning: how non-financial data can be leveraged to deliver more reliable ESG data sets
- And more

Confirmed speakers:
- Libby Bernick, CEO, Impact-Cubed
- Patrick Wood Uribe, CEO, Util
- Joseph Naayem, Managing Partner, Kalmus Capital

This series is hosted by Elena Kozhemyakina, Founder and CEO, Fintech4Funds.

Fintech meets ESG: mitigate risk with machine learning, alternative data and AI

Covid-19 triggered a drastic acceleration in the digital transformation of businesses across industries. As companies sought to enable remote working, they quickly adopted new digital infrastructures that would allow employees to work safely from home. For cybercriminals, it was a huge opportunity - and financial institutions were the perfect target. 

As financial services shift further into the digital sphere, and as investors increase their use of cashless payment and other digital financing systems, security teams in banks are under increasing pressure to develop hacker-proof security systems. 
Join this session of Driving Fintech Forward, to explore the future of cybersecurity in banking and finance, and discover how the latest technologies can help you guarantee digital security for your investors.

Topics for discussion include:
- The business case for cybersecurity: why financial institutions need to pay more attention to security strategy
- Develop a one-stop-shop for security that covers threats, event monitoring and automation across all consumer touch-points
- Create a culture of data security consciousness within your team to avoid work-from-home data leaks
- Educating about cyber threats: how to integrate your investors into your cybersecurity strategy

Confirmed speakers:
- Prakash Sinha, Senior Director - ADC, Radware
- Yuri Livshitz, Principal Security Architect, Planview 
- Ian Mitchell, Founder, The Knoble

Finsec: Cybersecurity in Finance

Blockchain technology has the potential to transform banking and investment management, eliminating procedural errors, driving efficiency of transactions, improving the customer experience, and increasing the availability of capital.

Distributed ledger tech is transforming how financial markets operate, digitising the ownership of a vast number of assets and facilitating the introduction of alternative assets that would not be listed in the traditional public securities market.

Join this episode of ‘Driving Fintech Forward’ to get exclusive insights from blockchain and fintech leaders about the impact that tokenized assets are having on the financial services landscape.

We’ll be exploring:
- Why tokenised securities matter and how they’re impacting the global economy
- The pros and cons of investing in tokenised securities
- What is the future of digital assets? Long-term forecasts  
- And more...

Blockchain in Fintech: Discovering Digital Assets and Tokenised Securities

Powered by blockchain, the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ is transforming modern life at an exponential rate. In asset management, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies offer the promise of lower transaction fees, increased security and more transparency for the investor. 

As institutional investors increase their exposure to diversified crypto-assets, and the overall crypto landscape matures, digital currencies are quickly integrating themselves into our mainstream monetary systems. In this context, understanding the fundamentals of cryptocurrency and how to capitalise on them is crucial for any advisor looking to differentiate their offerings and drive investor engagement this year. 

In this episode of ‘Driving Fintech Forward,’ we’re taking a deep-dive into the world of cryptocurrencies and exploring its impact on the future of finance. 

Join the session to: 
- Understand blockchain and the impact of crypto on financial services 
- Learn about how to educate investors about blockchain and crypto
- Get to grips with the risk/benefit ratio of crypto
- Explore the best crypto exchange platforms and bitcoin trading options


Speakers:
- Gabriele Musella, CEO & Co-Founder, Coinrule
- Hasan Malik, Founder & CEO, P3 Financial Group
- Simon Barnby, CMO, Archax

Hosted by Elena Kozhemyakina, Founder & CEO, Fintech4Funds

Blockchain in Fintech: the Fundamentals of Crypto

In its infancy today, the Metaverse has the potential to fundamentally transform how people interact.  Venture capitalist and writer Matthew Ball defines his vision of the metaverse as a ‘massively-scaled, persistent, interactive, and interoperable real-time platform comprised of interconnected virtual worlds where people can socialize, work, transact, play, and create.’ 

Fintech will be fundamental to the Metaverse’s success as a ubiquitous space. In Episode 25 of Driving Fintech Forward, we’re taking a deep-dive into the Metaverse and exploring the opportunities for fintech within this space. 

Join the session to explore: 

- Meta-what? Get to grips with the new virtual world
- Why the Metaverse has the potential to transform entire industries
- Use cases for fintech within the Metaverse
- And more…

Driving Fintech Forward is hosted by Elena Kozhemyakina, Founder & CEO, Fintech4Funds

Entering The Metaverse: Fintech’s Next Frontier

Fintech

Blockchain

Web3

Metaverse

Virtual Reality

Financial Services

Innovation

Cryptocurrency

DeFi

Wealth Management

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Entering The Metaverse: Fintech’s Next Frontier

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