Converge

This special episode was co-produced with Tigerhall - a leading social learning platform.

Commercial and retail clients have higher-than-ever expectations of banking as a service. How can financial institutions and banks stay ahead of the customer experience curve? How do we harness the latest applications in AI, including generative AI, to better serve customers? What best practices passed the stress test in 2023?

Convera's Till Oberhummer, Head of Sales and BD for Central Europe, joins Converge to lend his considerable expertise on these subjects and more with 5 essential takeaways for businesses looking to stay ahead of fast-moving innovations in finance today.

Incumbent financial institutions pose both an opportunity and a barrier to the fintech boom. They've got the resources to acquire, emulate and dominate. But more legacy financial institutions are turning to fintechs and digital-first financial services providers as partners in the race to provide a better customer experience.

Dig into the hungry-for-innovation FinServ environment with Sardine's Simon Taylor, Head of Strategy and Content.

Most major economies, including 19 of the G20 nations, are in the end-stage processes of developing Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). These digital currencies introduce DeFi technology and concepts into the world of central banking with many potential use cases across borders and domestically.

CBDCs have opened up all kinds of opportunities for increased efficiencies, cost-savings, programmability and transparency for banks and financial institutions - but the step is clearly one towards further centralization. Added privacy concerns have led to consternation among thought leaders and future consumers.

But do CBDCs spell doom for DeFi as a concept, or is it simply another form of implementing decentralized technology in a 'controlled' environment? Will privacy concerns be addressed through future standards? And how can CBDCs support innovation in the private sector that benefits all of fintech?

Join Micky Tesfaye and Ian Horne, content leaders at Money2020, for our final discussion on all this and more in the future of DeFi and discover yet again why DeFi matters - to all.

Disclaimer: Converge is Convera’s new podcast that discusses a range of financial services topics. We want to remind our listeners that the information shared on this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Please note that the opinions expressed on Converge are solely the opinions of the host and the guests, not Convera’s.

Part 2 of our 3-part series.

Although it's early days for DeFi, tokenization of real-world assets shows promise for bringing much-needed liquidity to existing and newly emerging asset classes.

Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) open even more opportunities and solutions for enterprises and companies within the realm of tokenization, but the regulatory circle needs to be 'squared.' How can we expect organizations to regulate assets without proper governance and regulations?

For innovation to continue and grow, there needs to be a clear path forward - but leaps are being made for a secure DeFi environment, including private ledgers and Zero Knowledge Proofs. What impact might these have in the financial world in the coming years, and are they sufficient to address the level of privacy needed?

Join Ian Horne, Micky Tesfaye and Scott Johnson as they tackle all this and more.

In his upcoming book, author Ian Horne (a former FinServ relationship manager and head of content for Money20/20 EU), discusses the many reasons why the often lofty, quixotic-sounding concepts of decentralized finance (or #DeFi) should matter to anyone looking to improve the way we do business and exchange value.

For Part 1 of our 3-part series on "Why DeFi Matters" (the formal title of Ian's upcoming book), we sat down with Ian and his colleague Micky Tesfaye, Content Lead for Money20/20 EU, and Scott Johnson, VP of Technical Program Management at Convera, to explore DeFi's journey from the emergence of #Bitcoin in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to where we are today, #crypto's inherent challenges in TradFi, the business world's hesitancy to embrace DeFi use cases, current applications of digital assets and #blockchain in TradFi and FinServ, and the challenges and opportunities that remain ahead.

Disclaimer: Converge is Convera’s new podcast that discusses a range of financial services topics. We want to remind our listeners that the information shared on this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Please note that the opinions expressed on Converge are solely the opinions of the host and the guests, not Convera’s.

India now outpaces China in wealth creation and GDP per capita, and the number of their students able to afford high quality education overseas is projected to grow. Overall, the demographics of students who study abroad are shifting dramatically, presenting new opportunities and challenges for students, payment providers and higher education institutions.

Furthermore, 60% of international students consider alternative payment methods as important, but alternative payment methods differ from country to region around the world. Universities and higher education institutions will need rely even more on providers that can handle rapidly changing payments methods and diverse currencies.

Join Dino Leo, Convera Head of Education for EU, Naz Ali, Convera Global Head of Market Insights, Graham Smith, IODM's Head of Business Development for the UK and Keith Adams, Assistant Director of Finance at the London School of Economics, as they break down these emerging mobility and payment trends affecting finance in the education sector.

The European Payments Initiative (EPI), an ambitious European payments scheme backed by a consortium of 16 banks, has been in the news lately. It is gearing up to pilot an instant payments scheme this year after agreeing to acquire two fintechs, Dutch payment scheme iDeal and mobile payments app Payconiq. The pilot will comprise a digital wallet and instant payments system using open banking in Germany and France before rolling out to other European countries. EPI also intends on adding buy now, pay later (BNPL) financing and digital identity features. Thomas Mueller from Swiss payments resolution 'regtech' Rivero joins Converge to discuss how this new scheme might impact competition, cooperation across the bloc, and keep Apple and Google Pay on their toes in Europe.

In recent years, the United Kingdom has seen a massive uptick in financial crime. The need for better controls against fraud, both human and machine, are more important than ever. And while many types of financial fraud remain the same, new channels have emerged posing unknown risks. Customer oversight has become nebulous making data-sharing crucial among global organizations. Those who can leverage and embrace new technologies while understanding the ever important role of human-powered intervention stand to gain the most. Join Alex Beavan, Head of Ethics and Anti-Corruption at Convera, and Jessica Cath, Head of Financial Crime at UK consulting firm Thistle Initiatives, as they discuss all this and more.

Download Convera's Q3 Economic Outlook here: Convera Global Economic Outlook 2023 Q3 Edition | As we enter H2 of 2023, businesses are growing increasingly concerned about the tightening monetary conditions. Despite one of the sharpest sequences of policy tightening in living memory, inflation, especially core inflation, remains too high.

Only Canada is forecast to fall below the 3% upper tolerance threshold by the end of 2023. Canada is forecast to submerge into a recession for the duration of 2023, while US is expected to dip into a brief and shallow technical recession in Q1 2024.

Industrial production and manufacturing sectors are forecast to contract in H2 due to their high exposure to long-term capital investment and faltering demand. The growth momentum for financial and businesses services expected to stall in Q3. Monetary policy, market volatility and changes in global risk sentiment will continue to drive currency trends. As we are approaching the apex of the tightening cycle for most major banks, heightened FX volatility is on the horizon. Join Nawaz Ali, Convera's Head of Market Insights, as he breaks down Convera's Q3 quarterly economic outlook in detail.

Within today's complex regulatory environment, blockchain and crypto-enabled payments provider Ripple has stood out for their continued growth. Their commitment to working with the current system has led to meaningful partnerships across the banking sector, and despite legal challenges in the US, ongoing expansion globally as well as important acquisitions. Hear from Sendi Young, Ripple's EU Managing Director and UK Board Director, on the company's future, the role of their native digital asset XRP, ways that blockchain can increase financial inclusivity, and the road ahead for the ever-evolving digital asset regulatory landscape.