Zurich will be the centre of attention for the Financial and Regulatory industries from June 26th to 28th as it hosts the second edition of the Point Zero Forum. Organised by Elevandi and the Swiss State Secretariat for International Finance, this event serves as a platform to encourage dialogue on policy and technology in Financial Services, with a particular emphasis on adopting transformative technologies and establishing the necessary governance and risk frameworks.
As a knowledge partner, Ecosystm is deeply involved in the Point Zero Forum. Throughout the event, we will actively engage in discussions and closely monitor three key areas: ESG, digital assets, and Responsible AI.
Read on to find out what our leaders — Amit Gupta (CEO, Ecosystm Group), Ullrich Loeffler (CEO and Co-Founder, Ecosystm), and Anubhav Nayyar (Chief Growth Advisor, Ecosystm) — say about why this will be core to building a sustainable and innovative future.
Download ‘Building Synergy Between Policy & Technology’ as a PDF
After the resounding success of the inaugural event last year, Ecosystm is once again partnering with Elevandi and the State Secretariat for International Finance SIF as a knowledge partner for the Point Zero Forum 2023. In this Ecosystm Insights, our guest author Jaskaran Bhalla, Content Lead, Elevandi talks about the Point Zero Forum 2023 and how it is all set to explore digital assets, sustainability, and AI in an ever-evolving Financial Services landscape.
The Point Zero Forum is returning for its second edition between 26 to 28 June 2023 in Zurich, Switzerland. The inaugural Forum held in June 2022 attracted over 1,000 leaders and featured more than 200 esteemed speakers from Europe, Asia Pacific, the USA, and MENA. The Forum represents a collaboration between the Swiss State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF) and Elevandi and is organised in cooperation with the BIS Innovation Hub, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and the Swiss National Bank.
As we gear up for this year’s Point Zero Forum, let’s take a moment to reflect on some of the pivotal developments that have shaped the Financial Services industry since the previous Forum and also moulded the three key themes that will take centre stage this year: Sustainability, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Digital Assets.
COP27, the rise of blended finance and the groundbreaking Net-Zero Public Data Utility
In November 2022, the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt hosted the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP27), with a view to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon future. In the build-up to COP27, Ravi Menon, the Managing Director of the MAS spoke at the inaugural Transition Finance towards Net-Zero conference and shared with the audience that the world is currently not on a trajectory to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. And according to the UN Emissions Gap report 2021, based on the current policies in place, the world is 55% short of the emissions reduction target for 2030. He also elaborated on the significant role that blended finance can play in tackling climate change, a theme that widely resonated with the global leaders at COP27. To enable easy and transparent reporting on climate commitments, the Climate Data Steering Committee (CDSC) outlined the next steps on its recommended plans for the Net-Zero Data Public Utility (NZDPU) at COP 27. NZDPU aims to aid efforts to transition to a net-zero economy by addressing data gaps, inconsistencies, and barriers to information that slow climate action.
The Point Zero Forum 2023 will deep-dive into the data, technologies, and capital and risk management solutions that can accelerate the fair transition towards a low-carbon future.
Panel Discussion Highlight: The opening panel discussion, “Data for Net-Zero: Views from the Climate Data Steering Committee,” scheduled for 26 June, will feature members of the CDSC, which include the Financial Conduct Authority, the MAS, Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), and the Swiss State Secretariat for International Finance. The panel will discuss the role of new technologies and collaborative platforms in promoting greater accessibility of transition data and innovative business models.
The launch of ChatGPT by OpenAI and its record for the fastest 100M monthly active users
The launch of ChatGPT by OpenAI on 30 November, 2022 led to widespread adoption by users globally – eventually setting the record for the fastest-growing, active users, hitting 100M monthly active users by Feb 2023. While on one hand users rushed to share enormous efficiency gains achieved by the use of ChatGPT, on the other hand ChatGPT soon became a disruptive tool to spread fake news.
The Point Zero Forum 2023 will deep-dive into Generative AI’s potential for enhancing efficiency, improving risk management, and providing better customer experience in the Financial Services industry, while highlighting the need for ensuring fair, ethical, accountable, and transparent use of these technologies.
Panel Discussion Highlight: The session “Breaking New Ground with Generative AI: Project MindForge”, scheduled for 27 June, will feature global leaders from NVIDIA, the MAS, Citigroup and Bloomberg. The panel will discuss the opportunities of Generative AI for the Financial Services sector.
MiCA regulation gets adopted by the EU lawmakers and sets a precedent for digital asset regulations
More than 2.5 years after it was first proposed, the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation was approved in April 2023 by EU Parliament. While there is still work to be done to implement MiCA and measure its success, and to answer open questions around regulation for out-of-scope assets (like DeFI and NFTs), the digital assets industry is keenly observing whether MiCA could serve as a template for global crypto regulation. In May 2023, the International Organization Of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), the global standard setter for securities markets, also joined the global discussion on digital asset regulation by issuing for consultation detailed recommendations to jurisdictions across the globe as to how to regulate crypto assets.
The Point Zero Forum 2023 will do a stocktake on key global regulatory frameworks, market infrastructure, and use cases for the widespread adoption of digital assets, asset tokenisation, and distributed ledger technology.
Panel Discussion Highlight: The sessions “State of Global Digital Asset Regulation: Navigating Opportunities in an Evolving Landscape” and “Interoperability and Regulatory Compliance: Building the Future of Digital Asset Infrastructure”, scheduled on 26 and 27 June respectively, will feature global leaders from both public sector (such as the MAS, Bank of Italy, Bank of Thailand, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, EU Parliament) and private sector organisations (such as JP Morgan, Sygnum, SBI Digital Assets, Chainalysis, GBBC, SIX Digital Exchange). The discussions will centre around digital asset regulations and key considerations in the rapidly evolving world of digital assets.
Register here at https://www.pointzeroforum.com/registration. Receive 10% off the Industry Pass by entering the code ‘JB10’ at check out. (Policymakers, regulators, think tanks, and academics receive complimentary access/ Founders of tech companies (incorporated for less than 3 years) can apply for a discounted Founder’s Pass)
Ecosystm, supported by their partner Zurich Insurance, conducted an invitation-only Executive ThinkTank at the Point Zero Forum in Zurich, earlier this year. A select group of regulators, investors, and senior executives from financial institutions from across the globe came together to share their insights and experiences on the critical role data is playing in a digital economy, and the concrete actions that governments and businesses can take to allow a free flow of data that will help create a global data economy.
Here are the key takeaways from the ThinkTank.
- Bilateral Agreements for Transparency. Trade agreements play an important role in developing standards that ensure transparency across objective criteria. This builds the foundation for cross-border privacy and data protection measures, in alignment with local legislations.
- Building Trust is Crucial. Privacy and private data are defined differently across countries. One of the first steps is to establish common standards for opening up the APIs. This starts with building trust in common data platforms and establishing some standards and interoperability arrangements.
- Consumers Can Influence Cross-Border Data Exchange. Organisations should continue to actively lobby to change regulator perspectives on data exchange. But, the real impact will be created when consumers come into the conversation – as they are the ones who will miss out on access to global and uniform services due to restrictions in cross-country data sharing.
Read below to find out more.
Click here to download “Opportunities Created by Cross Border Data Flows” as a PDF
Ecosystm and Bitstamp, conducted an invitation-only Executive ThinkTank at the Point Zero Forum in Zurich. A select group of regulators and senior leaders from financial institutions from across the globe came together to share their insights and experiences on Decentralised Finance (DeFi), innovations in the industry, and the outlook for the future.
Here are the 5 key takeaways from the ThinkTank.
- Regulators: Perception vs. Reality. Regulators are generally perceived as having a bias against innovations in the Financial Services industry. In reality, they want to encourage innovation, and the industry players welcome these regulations as guardrails against unscrupulous practices.
- Institutional Players’ Interest in DeFi. Many institutional players are interested in DeFi to enable the smooth running of processes and products and to reduce costs. It is being evaluated in areas such as lending, borrowing, and insurance.
- Evolving Traditional Regulations. In a DeFi world, participants and actors are connected by technology. Hence, setting the framework and imposing good practices when building projects will be critical. Regulations need to find the right balance between flexibility and rigidity.
- The Importance of a Digital Asset Listing Framework. There has been a long debate on who should be the gatekeeper of digital asset listings. From a regulator’s perspective, the liability of projects needs to shift from the consumer to the project and the gatekeeper.
- A Simplified Disclosure Document. Major players are willing to work with regulators to develop a simple disclosure document that describes the project for end-users or investors.
Read below to find out more.
Download Pathways for Aligning Innovation and Regulation in a DeFi World as a PDF
Ecosystm supported by their partner EY, conducted an invitation-only Executive ThinkTank at the Point Zero Forum in Zurich. A select group of regulators, investors, technology providers, and senior leaders from financial institutions from across the globe came together to share their insights and experiences on the practicability, regulatory support, and implications of sustainable finance portfolios.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the ThinkTank.
- The Barriers to a Sustainable Future. The first step towards a sustainable future is recognising the challenges organisations face when pursuing Net Zero targets. Often, Net Zero targets are looked upon as additional costs.
- Overcoming the Challenges. It is important to connect Net Zero back to business goals, given that there might be sudden shifts in regulations and because of the emergence of environment-conscious consumers.
- A Sustainable Future Requires a Collaborative Approach. Global governments, regulators, Financial Services institutions, other enterprises, and technology providers need to collaborate on building a sustainable future.
- A Time for Simplification. Clear mandates on reporting climate aspects similar to how financial aspects are reported, will result in greater adoption of sustainability and ESG measures.
- The Role of Digital Architecture. The path to a Net Zero, decarbonised world will be technology-led.
Read below to find out more.
Download Risks and Opportunities of Net Zero Commitments and Decarbonisation Pathways as a PDF
A partner event of our annual flagship Singapore FinTech Festival, Point Zero Forum represents a unique collaboration between Elevandi (an entity set up by MAS), and the Swiss Secretariat for International Finance (SIF), organised in cooperation with the BIS Innovation Hub, Monetary Authority of Singapore, and Swiss National Bank. The inaugural Forum will be graced by Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, Heng Swee Keat, Switzerland’s Federal Councillor and the Head of the Federal Department of Finance, Ueli Maurer, as well as leading CEOs (UBS, Julius Baer, Six Group); and innovative founders (FTX Group, wefox). The Forum will serve as the starting point for engaging investors and policymakers with innovators to advance the future of financial services (FOFS).
This invite-only forum aims to bring together investors, influencers, thinkers and decision-makers from the public and private sector to exchange ideas, share knowledge, develop a network, with the purpose of:
- Developing new ideas to advance the FOFS – decentralised finance and Web 3.0, embedded finance and sustainable finance.
- Driving investment activity by bringing together leading founders with VCs, private banking clients, family offices and PE houses
- Dissecting regulatory considerations related to each FOFS development by bringing together public and private sector leaders
Three days of in-depth plenary sessions, deep-dive private roundtables and workshops, and exclusive sessions will focus on significant new market opportunities built on Web 3.0 architecture (June 22) – Tokenisation (June 23) and Sustainable Finance (June 23).
Ecosystm ThinkTank: Aligning Innovation and Regulation in a DeFi World is a moderated, closed-door and confidential dialogue for a very limited number of hand-selected participants.
DeFi is increasingly becoming an area of focus for innovators and regulators globally, particularly as it develops alongside highly regulated areas of the economy – and this will be an opportunity to discuss how regulatory principles can be preserved within this ground-breaking sector.
To keep you informed on “what’s next” for this space, the agenda will consist of:
The development of DeFi protocols and their benefits to the wider financial system.
Retail consumer protection and regulatory jurisdiction.
Understanding the obligations and the role of centralised regulated exchanges.
Thinking beyond travel rule for crypto into other areas of emerging risks.
To keep the discussion focused, we are limiting participation to just ten persons from the organisations responsible for
building and regulating this ecosystem. We would be delighted if you could join us for this very important event.
A partner event of our annual flagship Singapore FinTech Festival, Point Zero Forum represents a unique collaboration between Elevandi (an entity set up by MAS), and the Swiss Secretariat for International Finance (SIF), organised in cooperation with the BIS Innovation Hub, Monetary Authority of Singapore, and Swiss National Bank. The inaugural Forum will be graced by Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, Heng Swee Keat, Switzerland’s Federal Councillor and the Head of the Federal Department of Finance, Ueli Maurer, as well as leading CEOs (UBS, Julius Baer, Six Group); and innovative founders (FTX Group, wefox). The Forum will serve as the starting point for engaging investors and policymakers with innovators to advance the future of financial services (FOFS).
This invite-only forum aims to bring together investors, influencers, thinkers and decision-makers from the public and private sector to exchange ideas, share knowledge, develop a network, with the purpose of:
- Developing new ideas to advance the FOFS – decentralised finance and Web 3.0, embedded finance and sustainable finance.
- Driving investment activity by bringing together leading founders with VCs, private banking clients, family offices and PE houses
- Dissecting regulatory considerations related to each FOFS development by bringing together public and private sector leaders
Three days of in-depth plenary sessions, deep-dive private roundtables and workshops, and exclusive sessions will focus on significant new market opportunities built on Web 3.0 architecture (June 22) – Tokenisation (June 23) and Sustainable Finance (June 23).
Ecosystm ThinkTank: Risks and Opportunities of Net Zero Committments and Decarbonisation Pathways is a closed door and confidential dialogue for a very limited number of hand-selected participants.
ESG is increasingly becoming an area of focus and Net Zero Commitments have taken centre stage across all industries. With the ‘Net Zero Intent’ gaining traction, questions around practicability, regulatory support and implications sustainable finance portfolios remain unanswered.
This ThinkTank will aim to find answers and solutions to further foster Net Zero commitments and to build practical decarbonisation pathways. Topics to address will include:
- What are the decarbonising pathways for lending, underwriting or other products? And what are the best practices in eliminate ‘Net Zero Laggards’ from financial portfolios?
- What support is needed from policymakers to support Net Zero execution?
- How do governments and financial institutions engage with high emitters that are key pillars to the economy?
A partner event of our annual flagship Singapore FinTech Festival, Point Zero Forum represents a unique collaboration between Elevandi (an entity set up by MAS), and the Swiss Secretariat for International Finance (SIF), organised in cooperation with the BIS Innovation Hub, Monetary Authority of Singapore, and Swiss National Bank. The inaugural Forum will be graced by Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, Heng Swee Keat, Switzerland’s Federal Councillor and the Head of the Federal Department of Finance, Ueli Maurer, as well as leading CEOs (UBS, Julius Baer, Six Group); and innovative founders (FTX Group, wefox). The Forum will serve as the starting point for engaging investors and policymakers with innovators to advance the future of financial services (FOFS).
This invite-only forum aims to bring together investors, influencers, thinkers and decision-makers from the public and private sector to exchange ideas, share knowledge, develop a network, with the purpose of:
- Developing new ideas to advance the FOFS – decentralised finance and Web 3.0, embedded finance and sustainable finance.
- Driving investment activity by bringing together leading founders with VCs, private banking clients, family offices and PE houses
- Dissecting regulatory considerations related to each FOFS development by bringing together public and private sector leaders
Three days of in-depth plenary sessions, deep-dive private roundtables and workshops, and exclusive sessions will focus on significant new market opportunities built on Web 3.0 architecture (June 22) – Tokenisation (June 23) and Sustainable Finance (June 23).
Ecosystm ThinkTank: Web 3.0 Applications: Opportunities Created by the Stemming of Cross Border Data Flows is a moderated, closed door and confidential dialogue for a very limited number of hand-selected participants.
Data is a critical component of the digital economy. Driven by the rise in global technology platforms and the continuing digitalisation of economies and industries, data will become even more critical to organisations and governments. However, regulatory barriers – due to concerns around data privacy and security, economic and competitive protection, and other geopolitical concerns – have the potential to hinder the free flow of data that will power future economic growth.
Join us for this important discussion where we will explore:
- How a global data architecture can become a reality
- The concrete actions that governments and businesses can take to contribute to a global data economy
- The importance of initiatives such as the Switzerland and Singapore framework for cross-border financial data flow, that was announced last month
It’s been a while since I lived in Zurich. It was about this time of year when I first visited the city that I instantly fell in love with. Beautiful blue skies and if you’re lucky enough, you can see the snow-capped mountains from Lake Zurich. It’s hard not to be instantly drawn to this small city of approximately 1.4 million people, which punches well above its weight class. One out of every eleven jobs in Switzerland is in Zurich. The financial sector generates around a quarter of the city’s economic output and provides approximately 59,000 full time equivalent jobs – accounting for 16% of all employment in the city.
Between 21-23 June, Zurich will also be home to the Point Zero Forum – an exclusive invite-only, in-person gathering of select global leaders, founders and investors with the purpose of developing new ideas on emerging concepts such as decentralised finance (DeFi), Web 3.0, embedded finance and sustainable finance; driving investment activity; and bringing together public and private sector leaders to brainstorm on regulatory requirements.
The Future of DeFi
Zug is a little canton outside of Zurich and is famously known as “Crypto Valley”. When I lived in Zurich, Zug was the home of many of the country’s leading hedge funds as Zug’s low tax, business friendly environment and fantastic quality of life attracted many of the world’s leading fund managers and companies. Today the same can be said about crypto companies setting up shop in Zug. And crypto ecosystems are expanding exponentially.
However, with the increase in the global adoption of cryptocurrency, what role will the regulators play in aligning regulation without stifling innovation? How can Crypto Valley and Singapore play a role in defining the role regulation will play in a DeFi world?
DeFi is moving fast and we are seeing an explosion of new ideas and positive outcomes. So, what can we expect from all of this? Well, that is what I will discuss with a group of regulators and industry players in a round table discussion on How an Adaptive and Centralised Regulatory Approach can Shape a Protected Future of Finance at the Point Zero Forum. We will explore the role of regulators in a fast-moving industry that has recently seen some horror stories and how industry participants are willing to work with regulators to meet in the middle to build an exciting and sometimes unpredictable future. How do we regulate something in the future? I am personally looking forward to the knowledge sharing.
For the industry to strive and innovate, we need both regulators and industry players to work together and agree to a working framework that helps deliver innovation and growth by creating new technology and jobs. But we also need to keep an eye out on the increasing number of scams in the industry. It is true to say that we have seen our fair share of them in recent months. The total collapse of TerraUSD and Luna and the collapse of the wider crypto market that saw an estimated loss of USD 500 billion has really spooked global markets.
So is cryptocurrency here for good and will it be widely adopted globally? How will regulators see the recent collapse of Luna and view regulations moving forward? We have reached an interesting point with cryptocurrencies and digital assets in general. Is it time to reflect on the current market or should we push forward and try to find a workable middle ground?
Let’s find out. Watch this space for my follow-up post after the Point Zero Forum event!
