Prof. Andrew B. Whinston, The University of Texas at Austin, USA
Speech Title: We will announce soon.
BIO: Prof. Andrew B. Whinston is currently a professor at The University of Texas at Austin where he holds the Hugh Roy Cullen Centennial Chair in Business Administration. He is also the director of the Center for Research in Electronic Commerce in the McCombs School of Business. He has published extensively on resource allocation issues and am currently working on Internet security. He has completed numerous research projects that investigate economics, Internet technology, and operations research in the study of information systems issues. In 2011, He was rated as the most influential scholar in the Information Systems field by the h-index which measures scholarly influence. For more information you can view at: https://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty-directory/andrew-whinston/
Assoc. Prof. Qi Zhang, Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiaotong University, China
Speech Title: We will announce soon.
BIO: Qi Zhang is an Associate Professor of Finance at Finance Department, Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiaotong University. Prior to this, he taught at University of Leeds and University of Durham. He gained his BA and MA in Economics from the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University, China. His PhD was awarded by University of Leeds. Qi’s research interests are in the areas of empirical asset pricing, behavioural finance, banking and emerging markets. He has had papers published in the Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Accounting and Economics, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis etc.
Dr. Thierry H. Brutman (CEO), EDDA Stock Finance, France
Speech Title: AI & Options: Unlocking the Potential of a Self-Managed Company through New Knowledge Management, including Machine Learning & Blockchain.
Abstract: Fintech have every day a larger weight in global economy. We know all the
figures, and we just keep our eyes on the July 2023 market value of public traded company
it is an impressive beginning value of 550 billion USD capitalization, 2 times the 20219
value, and it is not finish even if 2022 supported a correction. A market correction is not
a revenue correction… However, if we analyze the Fintech Market looks like an addition
of different periphery markets that focused more on making faster and in a cheaper way
more transaction. A new Fintech market is not only that and with new models in
association with existing classic Fintech is the pure management and optimization of
decisions of a company that can be now a Self-Managed Company with existing tools
that now exist through Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Knowledge Management
and Options models that prepare a new revolution for all economy, its organization and
even financial markets.
BIO: Thierry Brutman, a seasoned Financial Analyst, embarked on his career at IBM,
where he spearheaded financing risk methodology and credit risk management for the
Dealer Channel. His expertise extended to orchestrating the financial rescue of one of
the largest listed Computer Dealers in France and Europe, as well as overseeing the SpinOff of the PC Company. Since 2005, he launched new mathematic risk investment
methods for the Financial sector and manage himself a Fintech: EDDA Stock Finance”
Dr. Gary Farrow (IET Fellow), Consulting Architect, Bank of Ireland, UK
Speech Title: SEPA Instant Payments - Short Term Challenges : Long Term Benefits for Cross Border Payments
Abstract: Recent EU regulation[ Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Regulations (EU) No 260/2012 and (EU) 2021/1230 as regards instant credit transfers in euro, European Commission, 2022] has mandated that Payment Service Providers in the Single European Payments Area (SEPA) provide Instant Payments to their customers. This paper explores the challenges in implementing the SEPA Instant payments scheme for a large European Bank. The key characteristics of the scheme are presented and the critical success factors for its implementation are highlighted. The technical challenges in meeting the demanding scheme SLA’s are first discussed. The paper then explores the architectural challenges of integrating legacy banking systems that, fundamentally, have not been designed for realtime transactions. In a further analysis, the ability to support the requirements of realtime compliance checking and FX conversion is discussed. It concludes with some practical limitations these may place on Instant Payments processing. Finally, the paper explores longer term perspectives of Instant Payments and highlights their potential use in enabling the modernisation of cross border payments. Two future usage scenarios are discussed; (i) connecting local Instant Payment systems globally via a Hub, (ii) Instant Payments role in supporting cross border payments made via a multi-CBDC platform. In both these contexts, the significance of the critical success factors for Instant Payments implementation and the relevance of the practical limitations highlighted in this paper are examined.
BIO: Dr. Gary Farrow is the Director of Triari Consulting, a consultancy specialising in regulatory technical consulting and provider of IT architecture advisory services for the financial sector. As a lead architect on many successful programmes, he has undertaken senior roles at major banks and financial services firms in the UK and was the Chief Architect on the UK’s Open Banking initiative. Gary has deep domain specialism in payments systems architectures and cash/liquidity management solutions and broad experience across multiple financial ser¬vices domains. Recent interests relate to the application of intelligent automation and AI to banking operational processing. His work on payments systems architecture has been widely published and is a regular contributor and reviewer for the Journal of Payment Strategy and Systems. His professional associations include Fellow IET, Chartered Engineer and is an Open Group Master Certified Architect.
Assoc. Prof. Ke-Wei Huang, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Speech Title: We will announce soon.
BIO: Dr. Ke-Wei Huang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Information Systems and Analytics at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Dr Huang joined NUS in July 2007. He received his PhD (2007), MPhil (2005), and MSc (2002) degrees in Information Systems from the Stern School of Business at New York University, and his MBA in Finance (1997) and BSc in Electrical Engineering (1995) from National Taiwan University. Dr Huang's research interests are in the economics of information systems and data mining for financial applications. Currently, he focuses on various topics of pricing digital goods, labor economics of IT professionals, and data mining or econometrics issues for topics in accounting or finance.
Prof. Steven Li, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Speech Title: Do Investor Protection Measures Matter for Equity Crowdfunding Portals?
Abstract: In this paper we examine the impact of various investor protection measures on the performance of equity crowdfunding platforms, as denoted by the amount raised on the platform. These measures include extra due diligence checks, educational resources for investors, a communication channel between the investors and issuer, and selection criteria implemented by the platform. The overall findings reveal that extra due diligence processes, educational resources, communication channels facilitated by a portal and selection criteria all have a significantly positive influence on the total amount raised, while the number of investor protection measures show an opposite effect. The number of employees also has a positive association with the total amount raised. Our findings suggest that equity crowdfunding platforms should consider taking the initiative to conduct additional due diligence checks as it can have a desirable effect on the performance, reputation and credibility of the platform and attract future users. However, portals should put in careful consideration for the number of measures, as too many measures can be unappealing for issuers and reduce the portal’s competitiveness in attracting more crowdfunding campaigns.
BIO: Prof. Steven Li is a professor of finance at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. He holds a PhD from Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, an MBA from University of Melbourne, Australia and a Bachelor of Science degree from Tsinghua University, China. He has worked previously as a mathematician specialised in PDE. After his MBA, he embarked on his academic career in finance. His current research interests are mainly in quantitative finance and financial management. He is best known for his high-quality, impactful, and interdisciplinary research works in applying mathematics in finance, economics, and engineering problems. He has published consistently in top tier journals including Energy Economics, Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, European Journal of Finance, International Review of Economics and Finance, Applied Energy, Energy, Applied Soft Computing, Water Resources Research etc. To date, he has more than 100 peer reviewed publications with >4,500 citations in total and his i10-index is 61 (Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=5ZGIymQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao )
Assoc. Prof. Chi Seng Pun, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Speech Title: We will announce soon.
BIO: Patrick Pun is currently a tenured Associate Professor, Assistant Chair (MSc Programmes), and the Programme Director of Master of Science in Financial Technology (MSc in FinTech) at School of Physical and Mathematics Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. In 2018, Patrick founded the MSc in FinTech programme to cultivate the FinTech talents. The programme has been well-received in Asia. Prior to NTU, Patrick obtained his Ph.D. in Statistics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 2016. His Ph.D. thesis on “Robust Stochastic Control and High-Dimensional Statistics with Applications in Finance” won numerous awards, including Nicola Bruti Liberati Prize 2016 (Best Ph.D. Thesis in Quantitative Finance, worldwide) and the Young Scholars Thesis Award 2016 (Best Ph.D. Thesis from Faculty of Science, CUHK). His research paper on high-dimensional portfolio selection won Best Student Research Paper (First Place) in INFORMS Financial Section in 2015. Patrick also won Best Teaching Assistant Award in 2014. Patrick obtained his M.Phil. in Risk Management Science from CUHK in 2013 and obtained his B.Sc. in Statistics, from Nankai University in 2011. He also passed the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) qualification examinations in 2012. Patrick has strong research interests in Financial / Actuarial Mathematics, Big Data Analytics, and AI applications in Finance, as evidenced by his numerous top-tier publications in these fields. He has received several distinguished grants, namely from MOE, NRF, QEP, DSAIR, and NTU, to further his research work alongside his tertiary teaching responsibilities.