Regent’s hosted the inaugural Financial Innovation and Sustainable Development conference on Thursday 12 April, where students, academics and titans of industry where cordially invited to share in an evening of submergence in sustainable financial development.
The event was co-organised by: The Regent’s Centre for Migration and Integration (RCMI), The Regent’s Student Union, GuarantCo, Cardano Development, TCX Fund and Front Clear.
The topic in discussion was ‘Finance, a Vehicle for Global Social and Economic Integration and Development’, and Regent’s hosted a plethora of senior experts from a gamma of transnational sovereign funds and respective management/intermediary firms. Key speakers included Joost Zuidberg (CEO Cardano Development), Erik van Dijk (CFRO Front Clear) and Per van Sway (Senior Vice-President Trading TCX Fund) and the panel was chaired by Director of the RCMI, Professor Sirkeci.
Following an introduction by Vice Chancellor of Regent’s, Aldwyn Cooper, the honoured guests guided the audience through the evolution and subsequent abstraction of the securitisation process over time, and its importance in facilitating investment opportunities via credit intermediation and risk hedging, through niche financial products.
The multi-faceted pipeline was explored, highlighting the intricate and technical demands. Observations were made regarding key macro trend in emerging and frontier markets, and their influence on bridging the credit/development gap.
A hot topic during the presentations and the Q&A was Credit Default Swaps, amongst other complex financial derivatives, where Head of MSc Oil and Gas and MSc Finance Dr. Boukrami parted with his some two-decades of expertise and specialist insight in the field, conducting answers in response to a blizzard of questions from academics and industry professionals in attendance.
The notion of free market constrictions spurring economic isolation of frontier markets was discussed, and case studies were used to juxtapose the relative capital absorption of nations. GuarantCo lent their perspective of the changing dynamics that are contributing to curbing this inequality and helping to instil financial discipline through the stewarding of investments and the promulgation of good business practices.
A key theme was the integration of global financial capitals with the developing world, and the inevitable prevalence of universalism. Student Union Vice President Karim Henide offered a closing speech, regarding the evolution of corporate governance, legislature and financial securitisation in addressing economic disequilibria, emphasising the importance of transtemporal infrastructural projects and foreseeable threats impeding further development, camouflaged in political rhetoric and reactionary policies.
The event has sparked stimulating academic discourse and contributed valuable information in what was, symbolically, the birth of a long-term relationship between academia and industry.
