.jpg)
More than 1,000 UK business leaders and industry experts will gather at Tobacco Dock, London, on Tuesday 24 April for SWIFT’s annual Business Forum London.
This year’s event will explore how far, and how fast, the transformation of financial services will take place in the UK domestic market and beyond.
Discussion topics include the scale and speed of innovation in both payments and securities, harnessing the power of data, the rise of artificial intelligence and robotics, the creation of new platforms in an age of open banking, managing cyber resilience and financial crime compliance and the transformative power of collaboration.
The opening plenary panel will focus on how incumbents and fintechs can work together to foster a culture of innovation and ensure successful long-term partnerships. The panel will feature Andrew Hauser, Executive Director, Banking, Payments & Financial Resilience, Bank of England; Andrew Pearce, Global Head of Payments, HSBC; Alison Rose, CEO, Corporate, Commercial & Private Banking, NatWest; and Bob Wigley, Chairman, UK Finance. It will be moderated by Gottfried Leibbrandt, CEO of SWIFT.
Other sessions and speakers include:
Evolution of the payments landscape in the UK and beyond
Major changes are underway to ensure the UK payments system remains ‘state of the art’ in terms of speed, innovation, resilience, and risk management. But what is the strategic blueprint for the new payments architecture in the UK? Anne Boden, CEO, Starling Bank; Simon Eacott, Head of Innovation & Business Development, NatWest; Richard Martin, Managing Director, Head of Product Management Payments, Barclays and Paul Stoddart, CEO, Vocalink will explore the options.
Securing the financial ecosystem
Financial institutions remain a key target for cyber attackers. Protecting individual banks is important, but the ultimate goal should be to protect the entire financial system. Chris Uliott, CISO, NatWest and Cheri McGuire, CISO, Standard Chartered will discuss how banks and financial institutions are working together, and with external agencies, to manage the cyber threat and how the sector is working cooperatively to improve response management.
How are demographics and technology transforming the client investment experience
Technology innovation is bringing investors ever closer to their providers. Against this backdrop, digital platforms and APIs are connecting new entrants with established players and technologically savvy investors. Anne Doherty, Managing Director, Asset Management and Investor Relations, J.P. Morgan; Joe Parkin, Head of UK Wealth and Retail, iShares, Blackrock and Romina Savova, CEO & Founder, Pension Bee, will explore how capital market players are responding to these challenges.
Leveraging the power of AI
AI and machine learning are widely anticipated to transform many industries – with financial services already seeing some of the biggest uptake of these new technologies. Husayn Kassai, CEO, OnFido; Aleks Housley, Founder and CEO, Seldon; and Kristian Luoma, Head of OP Lab, OP Financial Group will provide insight into where AI will truly drive digital transformation within the banking and financial services industry, and explore how the technology may develop in the next 5-10 years.
The latest R&D and proofs-of-concept from the SWIFT Lab will also be showcased at the event.
The full agenda for Business Forum London can be viewed here.
Javier Pérez-Tasso, Chief Executive, Americas & UK Region at SWIFT, said: “London is one of the most innovative and dynamic financial centres for banking, payments and technology. But as the next generation of financial services emerges, it is critical that institutions in the UK navigate the challenges they face collaboratively – from adopting new technologies to re-imagining their business models. SWIFT Business Forum London provides a unique opportunity for our community to come together and engage in thought-provoking dialogue on how to leverage SWIFT’s strong and resilient infrastructure to help shape the future of financial technology.”
