The Capital Meets Policy Dialogue

The Capital Meets Policy Dialogue is a timely first-of-its-kind call for policymakers to share their strategic perspectives on FinTech regulations, including sectors of interest and concern as well as their view on emerging risks. Conversely, the Dialogue is an equal measure call for investors to share the likely direction of capital, including sectoral investment outlook, opportunities, challenges, and risks. Above all, the dialogue is an ask for both parties to share expectations more openly.

T.V. Mohandas Pai

Chairman, Aarin Capital & 3one4 Capital

Sheila Bair

Former Chair, FDIC, Senior Fellow, Center for Financial Stability & Senior Advisor and Founding Chair, Systemic Risk Council

Pradyumna Agrawal

Managing Director, Investment (Blockchain), Temasek International Pte Ltd

Jonathan Larsen

Chief Innovation Officer of Ping An Group, Chairman & CEO of Ping An Global Voyager Fund,

Jack Lee

Founding Managing Partner, HCM Capital

Tai Panich

CEO & CIO, SCB 10X

Sarah Hammer

Professor and Managing Director, The Wharton School and the University of Pennsylvania Law School

Timothy Adams

President & CEO, Institute of International Finance (IIF)

Soraya Hakuziyaremye

Deputy Governor, National Bank of Rwanda

Mihály Patai

Deputy Governor, The Central Bank of Hungary

Chea Serey

Assistant Governor & Director General of Central Banking, National Bank of Cambodia

Jo Ann Barefoot

Co-founder & CEO, Alliance for Innovative Regulation

Jorge Familiar

Vice President and Treasurer, World Bank and Pension Finance Administrator, World Bank Group

Keynotes: The Rising Strategic Importance of Capital Meeting Policy

Investments in FinTech have raised U$1Tn since 2010 in over 35,000 deals. Investor capital hence has been a significant source of innovation, customer experience improvements, financial inclusion, cost reduction, and value creation. Plus, timely launches of regulatory sandboxes have played a consequential role in fuelling innovation.

Now, with boundaries between innovators, social networks, digital platforms, and finance blurring, these introduce vulnerabilities and financial stability challenges, leading to regulatory considerations and scrutiny.

Hence, an open and continuous dialogue between capital providers and policy makers is additionally needed to better align market outcomes with policy objectives.

How can that then be done better? How does an investor and business operator approach this? Importantly, what is the policymaker’s perspective?

Panel Discussion: Capital Provider’s Perspective

In 2021, more than 20% of venture dollars went into FinTech start-ups globally. This year, market conditions are dramatically different in every sector, including FinTech – public and private valuations are down. In addition, there is regulatory scrutiny on fast growing FinTech sectors – whether in Web 3 or BNPL – which has impacted investment outcomes. Consequently, capital providers are deliberating each investment with more caution.

Are there lessons, good and otherwise, that investors in both private and public markets have now learned?

If harnessed better, can these lessons help minimise policy risk to capital, while continuing to fuel innovation, and ultimately driving more sustainable value creation?

Panel Discussion: Policymaker’s Perspective

FinTech innovation and adoption is moving at a dizzying pace.

Consequently, regulatory considerations range from minimising risky retail behaviour to financial market stability, to market abuse and money laundering.

How can market outcomes be better aligned with policy objectives?

How can policymakers better participate in driving innovation such that investors are able to deploy risk capital in a relatively more informed manner?

What role can a more active dialogue between investors and policymakers play?

And if so, how could it be modelled?

Key innovation hubs got established firmly and globally – Singapore, New York, London, Berlin, and Hong Kong emerged as centres of choice. These centres attract innovators, talent, and capital, which helps create greater employment and economic growth.

Two key participants of the changing financials services ecosystem, namely Innovators and Investors, engaged actively through this phase, propelling innovation, challenging status quo, and winning early adopters.

Equity investment in FinTechs has raised a compelling $1Tn since 2010 across ~35,000 deals[1], with the majority raised in the past 5 years. Innovators were able to see their solutions mature as adoption continued to widen, helped in no small part by timely regulatory facilitation e.g., through launch of sandboxes, and by creating new-age challengers e.g., issuing of new digital bank licences.

However, not unexpectedly, this exponential growth and adoption of technological innovation, has also introduced new types of risks, both to end-consumers and only in small part, as yet, to the overall stability of the financial system. This, alongside the urgent need to address critical risks like from climate, has caused regulatory challenges.

The next few years are set to be pivotal to our ability to survive, and thrive. Hence, it is now critical that an open, active and direct dialogue begins to take place between investors and policymakers, that channels the innovators’ focus and competencies in areas that matter most.

The Capital Meets Policy Dialogue will enable capital providers to understand and influence regulatory direction, sooner and better. Concurrently, regulators too will be able to understand and supervise new business models sooner. Ultimately, regulators are able to better answer – what, when and how to regulate so that innovation thrives, capital thrives and so does humanity.