Description

“Financial technology” or “FinTech” refers to technology enabled financial solutions. FinTech is often seen today as the new marriage of financial services and information technology. However, the interlinkage of finance and technology has a long history, with financial services by the 1990s becoming one of not only the most globalised but also the most digitised segments of the economy. Prior to 2008, this process was dominated by traditional financial institutions. Since 2008 a new era of FinTech has emerged in both the developed and developing world. This era is defined not by the financial products or services delivered but by who delivers them. This latest evolution of FinTech, led by start-ups, poses challenges for regulators and market participants alike, particularly in balancing the potential benefits of innovation with the possible risks of new approaches.

About The Speaker

Douglas W. Arner is a Professor in the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong and Project Coordinator of a major five-year project funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council Theme-based Research Scheme on “Enhancing Hong Kong’s Future as a Leading International Financial Centre”. In addition, he is Co-Director of the Duke University-HKU Asia-America Institute in Transnational Law, and a Senior Visiting Fellow of Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne.

He has published fifteen books and more than 100 articles, chapters and reports on international financial law and regulation, including most recently Reconceptualising Global Finance and its Regulation (Cambridge 2016) (with Ross Buckley and Emilios Avgouleas). He has served as a consultant with, among others, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, APEC and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and has lectured, co-organised conferences and seminars and been involved with financial sector reform projects in over 20 economies in Africa, Asia and Europe.

He has been a visiting professor or fellow at the Universities of London, McGill, Melbourne, New South Wales, Singapore and Zurich, as well as the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research.