I hope this finds you well settled into 2024 with commitment to optimistic New Year's Resolutions enduring! This month sees us enter the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese Zodiac, the most auspicious of the 12 signs, representing good luck, strength, and health. The Year of the Dragon is said to foster growth, progress, and abundance, so let's keep the vision of the Dragon in mind as we progress towards our professional and personal goals. I am sure you will find some inspiration in our February events and articles detailed below. Have a great month!
Charlotte Dawber-Ashley Manager, FS Club & The Team at Z/Yen

Knowledge Miles: The 695th Lord Mayor's Lectures

Z/Yen Group are delighted that our Chairman, Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli, is serving as the 695th Lord Mayor of the City of London for the year 2023/2024. As part of Michael’s working theme, we are running Knowledge Miles: The 695th Lord Mayor's Lecture Series, an online webinar series exploring the connections of the Square Mile and its role as "The World's Coffeehouse" addressing diverse global challenges. Please see the table below for February's lectures and contact Jacopo Moratto if you and your organisation would like to get involved:

A Tale of Two Carbon Markets, Monday, 5 February 2024
A World in Debt - Is This Global Monster Sustainable?, Monday, 12 February 2024
Why The Wreck Of The Gloucester In 1682 Matters: The Secrets Of A Restoration Warship, Thursday, 22 February 2024
Featured Past Lectures

Professor Sarah Stallebrass :
The Future Of Building Foundations In The City: Energy Generating Assets

Find our entire library of lectures and webinars on YouTube

Professor Alejandro F Frangi:
Computational Medicine & Digital Twins Improving Medical Care

Events & Webinars

• Events

A Tour Of The Historic Pubs Of The City Of London, Wednesday, 21 February 2024

• Webinars

Why Regulation Is An Existential Threat To ESG Objectives, Tuesday, 13 February 2024

Development In Maritime Finance & Maritime Financial Centres, Wednesday, 14 February 2024

Advanced Nuclear: The Key to the Clean Energy Transition, Wednesday, 28 February 2024

All Forthcoming EventsAll Past Events

If you enjoy our webinars and events, and would like to contribute to our content, we would very much welcome your support as a corporate sponsor, please contact Charlotte_Dawber-Ashley@zyen.com to discuss the various opportunities available.

The Esop Centre’s newspad, is a monthly publication providing in-depth coverage of the main international news in the field of employee share ownership. Read this month’s newspad in full.

Lord Mayor’s Coffee Colloquies: SDG10-Reduced Inequality: Productivity & Employee Share Ownership, Tuesday, 13 February 2024

The Role Of Direct Employee Share Ownership In Market Economics, Monday, 26 February 2024

British Isles Share Plan Symposium 2024, Thursday, 25 April 2024

Public Reports

Z/Yen publishes reports on its three leading indices: the Global Financial Centres Index, the Global Green Finance Index, and the Smart Centres Index. In addition to this, reports on topics of special interest are also regularly published by Z/Yen.

Mike Wardle, Professor Michael Mainelli:The Smart Centres Index 8

Mike Wardle, Professor Michael Mainelli:The Global Green Finance Index 12

FS Club News

Busan Finance Center: Welcome to Busan's D-Valley: The Future of Digital Finance of Asia: Busan is on the cusp of a remarkable transformation, poised to become a digital finance hub with the advent of Digital-Valley (D-Valley). This project will establish D-Valley as the largest digital financial center in South Korea's southern region. Occupying a prime location in the new Busan International Finance Center (BIFC) complex, D-Valley spans an area of 10,293㎡ and a total floor space of 146,568㎡ across 45 stories. Set for completion in 2025, this facility is designed to accommodate a myriad of digital finance enterprises, providing them with a full spectrum of support functions including investment services, guarantees, and infrastructural facilities. Moreover, the plan includes the establishment of a specialized graduate school of digital finance, clustering venture capital, corporate guarantees, and creating family-friendly facilities for employees within the BIFC. Join us in Busan, where the future of digital finance is now! See their BIFC Phase 3 news item in Korean here.

Financial Services Comission Mauritius: Mauritius as a premier investment hub: Mauritius emerges as a leading financial services hub in Africa, showcasing an attractive blend of benefits. Located at the crossroads of three major trade areas between Asia, Europe and Africa, Mauritius offers a conducive regulatory environment, fostering a range of financial services such as banking, cross-border investment, insurance, wealth and asset management. With a strong emphasis on regulatory compliance and international best practices, Mauritius ensures investor confidence and credibility. Moreover, its skilled bilingual workforce, political stability, and a network of Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements make it an ideal destination for financial institutions seeking growth and expansion. The country's scenic beauty and high quality of life further make Mauritius an appealing destination for both business and living.

Bridgeworks: Bridgeworks, based in Lymington, Hampshire, UK, was invited last month to present their award-winning AI technologies to U.S. government and industry leaders to highlight the best in British technology. A key aim was to spotlight the support of the U.K. Government’s Department of Defence and Security Exports, (Department for International Trade), and share insights as an Export Champion. British Ambassador to the United States, Dame Karen Pierce was present to facilitate valuable engagement with the U.S. Federal agencies and U.K. technology partners. David Trossell, CEO and CTO of Bridgeworks, explains: “We invited our customers, OEM Partners, such as Dell Technology and IBM, Spectra Logic and our North American Resellers and System Integrators to share their successes implementing our systems.” Trossell explains: “We were able to present solutions and deliverables and translate those to future business benefits for end users.” Eykyn commends Trossell: “I am not a technical man, but I have always been interested in new technology. With Bridgeworks our WAN and data acceleration products, our CEO and CTO David Trossell, brought all his extensive skills in the storage world to bear, strongly supported by the IBM R&D Storage Establishment at Hursley, who confirmed the need for the AI and machine learning based products David developed and which we now know as PortRockIT and WANRockIT." See their full news item here.

GFT Financial Ltd: GFT partners with Engine by Starling to help banks rapidly modernise: Watch now our Finextra TV interview where Carlton Hopper (Managing Director, GFT UK) and Sam Everington (CEO of Engine by Starling) review the impact of new banking platforms and implementation strategies for successful bank modernisation. They also discuss GFT and Engine by Starling's collaboration that utilises cloud-native, modular, and API-based technologies to empower clients worldwide to deliver next generation digital banking. Watch in full here. GFT acquires Sophos Solutions from Advent International: GFT agreed to acquire 100% of shares in Colombia-based core banking expert Sophos Solutions S.A.S.. With Sophos, GFT advances to one of the top 3 banking IT services providers across Latin America and also increases its global delivery capability. The purchase from Advent International, one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors, is a clear sign of GFT’s continued focus on growth and profitability. Read our press release in full here. New GFT thought leadership on ‘Data Virtualisation’: Data has become a major factor of production and critical source of innovation. In our new GFT thought leadership paper in partnership with Denodo, David Tuppen explains how data virtualisation democratises data access and puts data at the heart of every business decision. Download our new paper here. Start your business journey and enable enterprise-wide cloud fluency with migration to Murex with GFT: Watch our GFT Murex specialists including Aftab Zikria and Aleksander Schmajke discuss how we work with clients to understand their requirements and work with Murex. We outline our key insights for what makes for a successful migration and ongoing use of cloud computing. Watch the video in full here. Our latest blogs: Modernising build and release process: The arrival of CI/CD by Ashutosh Chauhan – LINK.
Democratising the modern data platform by David Tuppen - LINK.

AFME: Upcoming Events: To view AFME’s upcoming events calendar, click here.

i2 Group: i2 Group is a world leader in intelligence analysis software. For more than 30 years we have empowered intelligence analysts and investigators to discover, create, and exploit actionable intelligence to identify the perpetrators of criminal activity. This blog demonstrates how i2’s iBase product was used to manage supplier risk for a Billion-Euro Construction Project. iBase was used to prevent and identify potential issues with subcontractors, ensuring timely project completion, high quality standards, and cost savings. The tool is used regularly in risk assessments to help prevent money laundering activities and to classify risks for ongoing projects. Read the article in full here.

Sponsorship Opportunities

We currently have opportunities available to partner with Z/Yen as a sponsor for our ongoing research into the development of financial centres. If you may be interested in sponsorship of the Global Green Finance Index or Smart Centres Index, please get in touch with Mike Wardle.

Z/Yen Launches Ethical AI Course with CISI Register Here

The Chartered Institute For Securities & Investment, in collaboration with Z/Yen Group and The Rt Hon The Lord Mayor Professor Michael Mainelli, have launched a Certificate in Ethical Artificial Intelligence.

The short online course deals with the core definitions and global developments in the field of AI, associated ethical dilemmas, and the implications for financial services.

Find Out More

Pamphleteers Blog

The Pamphleteers Blog features considered thoughts – somewhere between a knee-jerk editorial and a full-blown piece of research. "Write for today and not for tomorrow."

Made Me Think
Bob McDowall:

De-Dollarisation: Acceleration In 2024?

Of Great Interest
Amit Sharma:

Hope For The Future - Lessons From Northern Ireland

Read More

FS Club Bulletins - Keep Track Of Your Commercial Interests

FS Club provides up to 1,000 weekly bulletins on a variety of topics from Inflation, to Inter-Bank Lending, to the war in Ukraine and its effects on Financial Services. Register here.

Audit

Hedge Funds

Best Of The Finanser

Stirred My Thoughts:

Anyone Want To Hire An Old Man Who Knows COBOL?

Grabbed My Attention:

An Unequal World Is Just The Way It Is … Live With It

Read More

Membership & Sponsorship

FS Club is the premier global executive knowledge network for technology and finance professionals. Great events, research, and social functions build a buzz for Members and a valuable partnership for Sponsors. Membership of the FS Club is a great way to enhance your professional development, grow your network and profile, and get backing for your ideas, contact: Charlotte_Dawber-Ashley@zyen.com