The OMFIF Podcast

The third wave of fintech innovation

As innovation in fintech continues to accelerate, it is important to understand the needs and expectations of consumers, how the evolution of technologies may improve financial access and health, and the conditions and requirements for responsible and equitable innovation. How will current approaches and frameworks evolve as the speed, infrastructure and providers of financial services rapidly change? Usman Ahmed, head of global public policy and research at PayPal, and Ivy Lau, lead manager of global public policy and research at PayPal, join Patricia Haas Cleveland, US president of OMFIF, to discuss the future of fintech innovation.

Lessons learned from building a blockchain-based CBDC

Pietro Grassano, business solutions director for Europe at Algorand, delves into the issue of tokenised money and the need for tokenisation to occur on a domestic and cross-border level. The podcast comes ahead of the release of ‘Future of cross-border payments’, a report OMFIF created in partnership with Algorand. The podcast broaches topics such as the definition of tokenisation in relation to payments, the features of payment tokens that can help mediate cross-border frictions, the issue of blockchain centralisation and decentralisation, and the next steps for global coordination.

Enjoyed this podcast?  For the launch of OMFIF’s ‘Future of cross-border payments’ report, the Digital Monetary Institute is convening a panel titled 'The future of cross-border payments' to explore the potential role of digital currencies in cross-border payments, the future role of traditional payments providers and networks, the role of distributed ledger technology in upgrading wholesale payments and remittances, as well as next steps for global coordination. Register here.

2021 review: the European borrowing landscape

In this end-of-year podcast, Eila Kreivi, head of capital markets at the European Investment Bank, reviews the European borrowing landscape in 2021, the launch of the Next Generation EU fund and the development of the green bond market. The discussion focuses on the impact of the European Union as a major issuer, lessons learned by the EIB on debt issuance, the role of green bonds and the extent to which the EU taxonomy on sustainable finance is fit for purpose.

Enjoyed this podcast? 

• Register for our virtual panel on the outlook for European sovereign borrowing 2022 here.
• Read the commentary titled 'Investors seek ‘transparency, engagement and open dialogue’ in green bond issuance' here.

Retail CBDC and its implications for the European Monetary Union

The transition to digital currencies continues at a rapid pace and has inevitably been accelerated by Covid-19. As the economy moves towards a greater degree of digitalisation, a retail CBDC could prove important in safeguarding central bank money as well as protecting the interest of consumers and vendors online. The main topics of discussion for this panel include the unbundling of financial services and the impact on commercial banks, the ECB’s balance sheet implications under a two-tier model, the role of central banks in supporting digital evolution and how a programmable euro could safeguard the EU’s technological competitiveness. The need for a digital euro, the growing role of fintech and the potential division of labour under a two-tier retail model also come under consideration.

This podcast is taken from the virtual conference 'European payments and digital assets: promoting sovereignty and integration through digitalisation'. Catch up here.

Climate change could lead to substantial capital shortfalls for banks

Richard Berner, clinical professor of finance at the Stern School of Business, New York University, joins Natalia Ospina, deputy head of reports, OMFIF. They take a deep dive into the climate stress testing methodology that he developed with Nobel Prize in Economics winner Robert Engle and Hyeyoon Jung, financial economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which gauges the resilience of financial institutions to climate-related risks.

They discuss in detail how climate change could lead to a substantial increase in systemic risks in the banking sector. Financial institutions could find themselves looking to raise $70bn-$90bn, or between 20% to 30% of their equity to restore their prudential capital ratios as a result of climate change.

Scaling up carbon-offset markets to support global climate action

With COP26 completed and new commitments established, what more can be done to reduce carbon emissions, reach net zero and implement measures to protect natural capital? In this podcast, Emma McGarthy, head of policy analysis at OMFIF’s Sustainable Policy Institute, talks to David McNeil, director and head of climate risk at Fitch Ratings, on the latest developments in carbon-offset markets and the work Fitch is doing in this space. They discuss pricing, tools and policies required to scale the market, how carbon credits fit into capital markets as a financial instrument and the role carbon-offset can play in emerging markets to meet the costs of adaption and mitigation.

Lessons learned building offline CBDC

Daniel Hardman, principal ecosystems engineer at SICPA, joins Philip Middleton, deputy chairman of OMFIF and chair of the Digital Monetary Institute, for a discussion centered around the lessons learned in their work with offline CBDCs. They delve into several topics including the models which facilitate the offline exchange of digital cash, the impact of the pandemic in increasing the need for offline payments and making offline payments secure against digital counterfeiting, fraud and other types of cybersecurity risks.

 

Adopting standards for electronic data interchange between financial institutions

With SWIFT’s plans to fully adopt the common electronic data interchange platform underway, what are the implications of the ISO20022 standard on the wider financial industry? Rishi Tinaikar, business innovation lead in Asia Pacific at SWIFT, joins Jamie Bulgin, relationship director within OMFIF’s Institute for Economic and Monetary Policy, to consider why adoption is important, some of the likely innovation possibilities the standard provides as well as the broader impact on banks and other financial institutions.

 

Common prosperity and state of US-China relations

Following a steady deterioration in China-US relations over four years under President Donald Trump, global attention turned to President Joe Biden and the direction he will take the relationship in. The new administration has been far more hawkish than many experts predicted, maintaining the hard-line policies of the Trump era. While the rhetoric has changed, explicit criticism of Beijing has continued on everything from Hong Kong to the treatment of the Uyghur community in Xinjiang. While Biden concentrates on strengthening US influence in the Indo-Pacific, the impasse continues with competition standing in the way of even clear areas of alignment. This panel discusses the economic and geopolitical outlook for China, as well as the risks that the country faces going into 2022.

Speakers:
Dave Rank, Former Chargé d’Affaires, US Embassy in Beijing
George Magnus, Associate, University of Oxford China Centre
Helen Qiao, Managing Director and Chief Economist for Greater China and Head of Asia Economics Research, Bank of America Merrill Lync

This is taken from a live panel, recorded on 03/11/2021. View the recording here. 

Part 2: Financial services and transitioning to net zero

In partnership with the British Embassy in Madrid and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the UK, OMFIF convened two panel discussions on sustainable finance. Speakers focused on how Spain and the UK can work more closely to deliver the COP26 private finance hub strategy, as well as a wider global perspective ahead of COP26 in November.

In this podcast, the focus is on net zero and the future of green finance:

• Alex Michie, Head, Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero
• Marta García de Oteyza, Responsible Banking Senior Manager, Banco Santander
• Ángel Martínez-Aldama, President, INVERCO  
• Hugh Elliott,  British Ambassador to Spain and Andorra,  British Embassy in Madrid
• Simon Thompson, Chief Executive Officer, Chartered Banker Institute

They delve into the role of sustainable finance as a potential key theme of the COP26 summit, the most impactful UK and Spanish policies for mitigating climate-related financial risks, the development of the COP26 private finance hub strategy and the role of public-private partnerships in transitioning to sustainable finance.

The video recording of the meeting can be viewed here.

Listen to part 1 here.