The FS Club is delighted to welcome, Compass Plus Technologies to our sponsorship community. Compass Plus are passionate about providing financial institutions with industry-leading, innovative payments technology, learn more here. No doubt, we could all benefit from enhanced productivity and investment returns, so why not consider Employee Share Plans by joining the Esop Centre’s British Isles Symposium at White & Case in London on Thursday, 25 April, check out the programme here. Don’t miss the Launch of the 35th Index of the Global Financial Centres Index on Thursday, 21 March for an update on the friendly competition between London and New York for the leading spot. May March bring forth longer, lighter days and fresh growth in blooms, energy, and ideas.
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:

The Thames Barrier – Immediate Future Or Long Past?, Thursday, 7 March 2024
Urban Transport In Tomorrow's World: What Other Growing Cities Can Learn From London, Thursday, 14 March 2024
It's Not What You -Know- Are, It's Who You -know- Are: What Does It Take To Be An -Female- Engineer?, Thursday, 28 March 2024
Featured Past Lectures

Dr Alexandra Rose:
A Tour of London, Science City, 1550–1800

Find our entire library of lectures and webinars on YouTube

Professor Charles

How Air Pollution Causes Lung Cancer In Never-Smokers

Events & Webinars

• Events

The 18th Ezra Memorial Lecture 2024, Wednesday, 13 March 2024

• Webinars

The Nuclear Dilemma, Wednesday, 6 March 2024

Financial Centres Of The World 2024: Focus On Busan, Monday, 11 March 2024

Accelerating Progress: The Importance Of Finance In Scaling Up Net Zero Steel & Concrete Production, Tuesday, 19 March 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.

In Partnership With Busan Finance Center, Simon Mills, Mike Wardle: Developments In Maritime Finance & Maritime Financial Centres

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

FS Club News

Busan Finance Center: Busan's Leap Towards Becoming ‘Global Hub City’: In 2024, South Korea unveiled a plan to develop Busan into a 'Busan Global Hub City', aimed at promoting balanced national growth. This strategy positions Busan as a major player in three sectors: 1) an international logistics hub with significant ports and the upcoming Gadeok Island Airport, 2) a global financial center, leveraging its position in the Global Financial Centres Index and the Busan Blockchain Regulation Free Special Zone, and 3) a leader in digital and advanced industries, ranking high in Asia's smart cities. Marking 2024 as a pivotal year, Busan introduced the 'Busan Global Hub City Development Special Act' on January 25. This legislation focuses on transforming Busan into a key center for logistics, finance, and digital industries while enhancing its urban environment, culture, education, and tourism. Major projects include opening Gadeok Island Airport, relocating the Industrial Bank of Korea's headquarters, developing the financial sector, and redeveloping the North Port area. President Yoon Vows to make Busan a Global Hub City.

Fintech Lab Seoul: The Seoul Fintech Lab, established and funded by the Seoul Metropolitan Government of South Korea since 2018, is pleased to announce the opening of applications for our 2024 fintech startup accelerating program. Promising fintech startups are encouraged to apply for the Seoul Fintech Lab Acceleration Program, which offers the opportunity to leverage the Seoul Fintech Lab's global network and up to three years of exclusive office space in Yeouido, the main finance and investment banking district in South Korea. For more details about the Seoul Fintech Lab, click 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 and Google Cloud ‘Creating real business value from AI’ event this March: GFT and Google Cloud are hosting an exciting event on 13 March in London to cover the latest trends and adoption of real use-cases for AI in Financial Services. At the event, industry experts from GFT and Google, plus client practitioners will come together to discuss generating real business value from AI - beyond the hype and the proof of concept. There are still limited spaces left for this event and you can register here. New thought leadership on AI and ML use cases in the financial services industry: This brand-new GFT thought leadership paper provides a systematic evaluation of AI and ML use cases in the financial services domain. Authored by Alistair Gill (Principal Data Scientist, GFT), this review focusses on AI uses cases featuring risk management, operational development and customer experience. Download here. UDPN adds PayPal USD to network for global payment: Universal Digital Payments Network (UDPN), co-founded by GFT, has announced the integration of the U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin PayPal USD (PYUSD) onto the UDPN. The UDPN is a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)-underpinned global messaging network designed to bridge the gap between legacy payment infrastructures and modern digital currencies, including regulated stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Read the story in full here. Our latest blogs:
Neobanking. What’s next? By Shilpa Doreswamy – LINK.
Pathway to net zero: building AI into climate risk strategies by Simon Thompson - LINK
How to unlock the real value of AI by Dean Clark - LINK.

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.

Compass Plus: Can we please stop talking about digital transformation - To be clear, this is not a call to refute the usefulness and necessity of digital transformation. This is a call to stop using the term “digital transformation” as a standalone “topic” in itself. Let’s face it, in the payments industry, digital transformation is all we know. It’s everything we’ve been doing in some form or another for the last however many decades. Yet somehow, recently it’s become a “thing”: an undefined click-bait article topic that everyone wants to read about; a buzz-term that generates larger audiences at conferences and stirs excitement that someone will say something ground-breaking. (Thought leadership blog) Beyond buzzwords: The underrate role of ATMs in modernisation - In the fast-paced world of finance, the term ‘digital transformation’ has become a constant buzzword. Whether it's the latest five tools for effective digital transformation or the insistence that small steps won't suffice, the pressure for financial institutions (FIs) to overhaul their digital strategies is palpable. However, amidst the noise for mobile apps, generative AI, and online account opening, there's a vital but often overlooked player in the digital transformation journey – the Automated Teller Machine (ATM). How banks can leverage their existing credit portfolios to unlock the power of BNPL - In recent years, the BNPL space has exploded with a myriad of players, notably dominated by specialised providers like Klarna and Afterpay. These pioneers have gained market share by deploying the 'follow the seller' strategy, integrating BNPL services via merchants to drive new sales. However, as the market continues to evolve, there's a significant opportunity for those adopting the 'follow the customer' approach, which allows cardholders to decide which merchants they want to use BNPL at. Amidst the multitude of fintech providers targeting merchants, traditional banks stand uniquely positioned to serve consumers. Boasting substantial customer bases and long-standing relationships built on trust, banks are well-equipped to step into the BNPL arena. (Thought leadership blog)

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 wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. Register here.

Inflation

Central Banking

Best Of The Finanser

Stirred My Thoughts:

When the network fails, what do you do?

Grabbed My Attention:

Why is Coca-Cola important?

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