The most dangerous thing about growing up is forgetting how to play. From childhood Lego sessions to experimenting with piano, creativity has always been about freedom, not perfection. Yet today’s music creation process is so complex that most ideas die before they’re born, buried under software, costs and gatekeepers. While some turn to “cheat code” AI tools that promise instant songs they sacrifice true creativity in the process. Real artistry isn’t about shortcuts; it’s about play, building, breaking, and rebuilding with imagination.

The sixteenth edition of the Global Green Finance Index provides the world’s most authoritative measure of the performance of financial centres in delivering green finance services.

The report, assembled by combining the views of financial professionals from around the world, with quantitative data commissioned and curated from over 130 sources, uses advanced statistical techniques to map the global spread of green finance.

To drive sustained growth in Taiwan’s financial and economic sectors, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) introduced in September 2024 two core strategies: “Retaining Capital and Attracting Investment” and “Investing in Taiwan to Support Industrial Development.” Supported by five major initiatives and 16 strategic actions, the plan aims to ease regulatory barriers and streamline procedures to attract both domestic and international capital, strengthen Taiwan’s capital markets, and develop a uniquely Taiwanese asset management center. Taiwan boasts three key strengths: globally competitive industries, abundant private wealth, and strong investment momentum, positioning it as a promising asset management hub in the Asia-Pacific region.In line with this vision, the Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance (TABF), in partnership with the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) research firm Z/Yen, is pleased to host this online forum. The event will gather leading experts to discuss the latest asset management policies and regulatory trends, share practical insights from financial institutions, and focus on talent development strategies to foster a globally integrated and competitive asset management ecosystem.We warmly invite financial professionals and stakeholders worldwide to join us in exploring how Taiwan is emerging as a dynamic asset management center—rooted locally yet connected globally—unlocking new opportunities for long-term investment in Asia.

Who would be an expert in a world where expertise is under siege? Hard-won know-how and experience seem to count for nothing in the eyes of everyone from high-profile business leaders to populist politicians. In my research over the last twenty years I have proven time and again that when it comes to top performance, we need people – especially bosses – with the expertise that only comes from a deep understanding of the worlds in which they operate. I refute the cult of managerialism (the notion that smart people can run anything) and try to provide a model for career success: go deep into a business, work hard, and know your stuff. We all want to be led by people we can relate to and trust, people who have the credibility to make us want to follow them. When it comes to credible leadership, expertise really matters.

Speaker:

Amanda Goodall PhD is Professor of Leadership at Bayes Business School (formerly Cass). Her main work analyses the relationship between leadership, management and organisational performance. It shows that leaders who have a deep understanding of the core business (‘expert leaders’) are associated with better organisational performance, higher employee job satisfaction and fewer quits.  Being a good manager alone is not sufficient. Evidence supporting the ‘theory of expert leadership’ comes from across business, healthcare, universities, Formula 1, basketball, and among professionals. Amanda publishes in academic journals, practitioner publications (e.g. HBR.org) and in the media (e.g. Financial Times).  Her recent book “Credible: The Power of Expert Leaders”, won the SABEW 2023 Best in Business Book Award for Management and Leadership.  She has been a research fellow at Cornell, IZA Institute of Labor Economics in Bonn, University of Zurich and Yale University. Based on her research, she created the Executive Masters in Medical Leadership tailored to the needs of medical doctors, and she is about to launch the Executive Masters in Leadership for the Creative Industries.  Her research is available at www.amandagoodall.com

Africa’s financial services sector is undergoing a rapid transformation, driven by FinTech innovations that are reshaping how individuals and businesses access and use financial services. Accelerated smartphone penetration, wider internet access, and the need to overcome limited traditional banking infrastructure are fuelling growth and attracting significant investment across payments, digital assets, tokenisation and RegTech, amongst others.

Positioned at the strategic crossroads of Africa and Asia, Mauritius offers a well-regulated, transparent, and investor-friendly International Financial Centre (IFC) with a progressive regulatory framework, including the Regulatory Sandbox Licence, the Payment Intermediary Services Licence, and the Virtual Asset and Initial Token Offering Services (VAITOS) Licence. Mauritius stands out as one of the few African jurisdictions where FinTech is comprehensively regulated, offering companies the clarity, and credibility they need to operate and scale with confidence.

These forward-looking legislative tools provide regulatory certainty and operational efficiency, enabling FinTech firms to test, scale, and launch innovative solutions across African markets while maintaining robust oversight. Backed by a skilled and adaptable workforce of multilingual ICT professionals, Mauritius stands as a competitive, future-ready FinTech jurisdiction, ideally positioned to drive growth and innovation in the region. This webinar will explore how the Mauritius IFC connects Africa to the global FinTech ecosystem, providing unmatched opportunities for scaling and market entry.

Participants will gain:

• Understanding of Africa’s FinTech growth drivers, including technology adoption trends, and investment flows.
• Insights into Mauritius’s progressive FinTech regulatory ecosystem, including the Regulatory Sandbox Licence, Payment Intermediary Services Licence, and VAITOS Licence.
• Practical guidance on how Mauritius can serve as a launchpad for FinTech expansion into African markets, offering market access and operational efficiency

The Global Financial Centres Index has been tracking the development of the world’s financial centres since 2007 and is the authoritative guide to financial centre success.

In this webinar, Z/Yen will formally launch the 38th edition of the index.

Programme:

09:00 Introduction & Welcome – Hugh Morris, Senior Research Partner, Z/Yen Group

09:05 Opening Remarks - Hugh Morris, Senior Research Partner, Z/Yen Group

09:15 GFCI 38 Results - Mike Wardle, CEO, Z/Yen Group

09:30 Commentary - Hugh Morris, Senior Research Partner, Z/Yen Group

09:35 Q&A

Speakers:

Mike Wardle is CEO and the Head Of Indices for Z/Yen, managing work on the development and delivery of the Global Financial Centres Index, Global Green Finance Index, and Smart Centres Index. Mike worked as a civil servant for almost 20 years mostly within the field of education policy. He was a director and then Chief Executive of the General Social Care Council, establishing the regulation of social workers. Mike's career moved into consultancy, programme management and coaching and he worked with Z/Yen for six years delivering programme management services to the Church of England, Unison, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, and Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust before taking up his current role.

In our next Esop Sofa webinar, the Esop Centre’s panel of experts discuss recent progress of the Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES) – and look at how those updates might affect employee share plan implementation.

Speakers:Veronika Oswald is a commercial capital markets professional with almost 20 years of experience spanning secondary share trading, corporate finance, and investor relations. She is well-versed in FCA regulations, UK listing frameworks, and compliance requirements across both the Main Market and junior exchanges such as AIM and Aquis. Veronika is a Director at JP Jenkins, the UK’s longest-established platform for trading unlisted securities, where she leads client acquisition, liquidity solutions, and capital raising initiatives. She also serves as a Director of InfinitX Ltd, focused on building institutional-grade infrastructure for private market access. Her track record includes advising private and delisted companies, structuring compliant liquidity pathways, and delivering complex mandates involving CREST integration and alternative investment structures. Veronika is recognised for her expertise in broadening access to private markets and developing innovative, regulatory-compliant solutions for issuers and investors alike.Ifty Nasir is the founder and CEO of Vestd, the platform that takes the cost and complexity out of setting up and managing share schemes for UK SMEs. He is a strong believer in the ‘Ownership Effect’ and advises businesses on how to share equity to incentivise teams and unlock value. An entrepreneur since his teens, Ifty reached the most senior levels at BP and Essar Energy before branching out into the world of startups, setting out to uncover the challenges facing companies in 2014 and found that poor equity management was a serious startup killer. Along with cofounder Naveed Akram, Ifty launched Vestd as a remedy. Known as a creator of ShareTech, Ifty’s opinion is trusted and sought across the media and the startup world.Damian Carnell is the Founder and Director of CORPGRO, a reward consultancy specialising in executive incentives and share plans. He has extensive experience advising all kinds of companies on all aspects of executive compensation and employee share plans, both in the UK and worldwide. He was previously with Willis Towers Watson, Aon, and Ernst and Young. Damian has wide-ranging experience in supporting business strategy and aims. He is fully familiar with Corporate Governance norms and institutional shareholder views as well as extensive experience of helping unlisted companies with top pay and share plans.Interested in watching our webinars live, or taking part in the production of our research? Join our community at: https://bit.ly/3sXPpb5

As the effects of climate change intensify, financial institutions, policymakers, and businesses are under growing pressure to anticipate and respond to environmental risks. But transforming climate projections into actionable financial strategies is no small task. The data is complex, the models are coarse, and the stakes—economic, environmental, and social—are high. This talk explores how AI and data analytics can be used to bridge the gap between climate science and financial decision-making. We’ll examine three major challenges: the limitations of available climate data, the mismatch between global climate models and the local or sector-specific needs of decision-makers, and the difficulty of translating environmental scenarios into financially consistent, forward-looking outcomes. Through examples such as machine learning-based statistical downscaling and the integration of environmental stressors into investment models, we’ll explore how data can help quantify emerging risks and opportunities. We’ll also touch on the less discussed but increasingly urgent question of how climate change may reshape the future of work, from sectoral disruptions to shifts in labour productivity.

Join Sandy Begbie CBE, CEO of Scottish Financial Enterprise to hear more about Scotland’s Global Investment Summit, taking place in Edinburgh in October.

Scotland’s Global Investment Summit 2025 is hosted by Scottish Financial Enterprise and the Lord Mayor of London, with support from the Scottish and UK governments, and a wide range of partners, will provide investors with a unique insight and direct connections to the opportunities that can be found in three of Scotland’s key sectors: renewables, life sciences and financial services

Against the backdrop of Scotland’s world-famous blend of heritage and innovation, the summit will provide a unique opportunity to experience and engage with the very best Scotland has to offer.

As the UK’s largest financial hub outside London, Scotland boasts a centuries-long track record of financial innovation - now worth over £17.7bn GVA to the economy. With strengths in Fintech, data and AI, Scotland’s vibrant FS sector provides opportunities for global firms in a range of areas.

Scotland today stands at the forefront of the global net zero transition, with investible energy projects worth tens of billions of pounds across the country. These projects encompass a varied range of renewable technologies, from offshore wind and tidal energy to hydrogen production and carbon capture, offering substantial opportunities for sustainable investment.

Scotland’s innovative life sciences sector is a leader in health tech and research, with the industry now worth more than £10bn to the Scottish economy. This sector thrives on a collaborative ecosystem of universities, research institutions, and innovative companies, driving advancements in areas like drug discovery, medical devices, and digital health solutions. 

Speaker:

Sandy Begbie CBE, FRSE was appointed Chief Executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise in October 2020. Prior to joining SFE, Sandy led the development of the Scottish Government’s Young Person’s Guarantee following an 18-month contract at Tesco Bank as the Chief Transformation Officer. Sandy was responsible for the Global People, Organisation and Culture Integration following the successful merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management in 2017. Before the merger Sandy was the Chief People Officer and Lead Executive for China and Hong Kong for Standard Life for eight years. During this time, he led the Standard Life HR team to be recognised as one of the top performing functions in the UK and also led the turn-around of Standard Life’s Chinese Joint Venture. Sandy was appointed Senior Advisor to the Standard Life HASL Asia business in Hong Kong in July 2020, having been Chair of the Hong Kong-based Board since 2014. In December 2023 Sandy was appointed as International Director to the HASL Asia business and stepped down as Senior Advisor.

Before joining Standard Life in May 2010 Sandy held similar Transformation and Group HR Director positions within Aegon, Scottish Power and Royal Bank of Scotland. Sandy holds several non-executive positions including Chair of Place2Be Scotland and a Trustee on the National Place2Be Board, Chair of Young Person Guarantee and Chair of DYW (Developing the Young Workforce). Sandy was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in August 2018 for services to business and social inclusion. He was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) in March 2023. In December 2024 Sandy was awarded Freedom of the City of London for his transformative leadership in Scotland's financial sector and his enduring commitment to fostering economic growth and social inclusion across Scotland.

The path to net zero is not only a regulatory imperative — it is a business transformation challenge. As climate-related risks escalate and stakeholder expectations rise, companies are under increasing pressure to lead on decarbonisation while navigating policy shifts and new economic realities.

In this keynote, Professor Paolo Taticchi (UCL School of Management), a global authority on corporate sustainability and strategy, will examine how businesses can become the primary engines of the green transition. The session will highlight the strategic, operational, and financial opportunities that decarbonisation presents — and why success depends on smart collaboration with public institutions.

Combining the latest climate science with actionable business insight, the keynote will cover:

• The evolving role of business in driving systemic climate action
• How firms can shape and respond to green industrial policy, climate regulation, and sustainable finance
• A pragmatic framework for business-led decarbonisation, supported by public-private cooperation and innovation ecosystems

With a blend of strategic clarity and practical case studies, this session equips business leaders to take bold, credible steps toward sustainability — not in isolation, but in partnership with governments and society.

Speaker:

Paolo Taticchi is a Professor of Strategy and Sustainability and Deputy Director at UCL School of Management, where he co-directs the UCL Centre for Sustainable Business. A global expert in sustainability and strategy, he has trained thousands of Fortune 500 executives, taught at top business schools such as Imperial College London, and developed business projects across five continents.

His widely cited research includes over 50 publications and books such as How to Be Sustainable (2025) and Disruption (2023). In 2025, his research on impact investing was highly commended by the Financial Times for making a real difference. A sought-after speaker and advisor, he has delivered 250+ talks attended by more than 100,000 people and serves on several international advisory boards.

As an entrepreneur, he co-founded four companies and led major educational initiatives. His accolades include Poets & Quants “Top 40 Under 40 Business Professors in the World” (2018), being mentioned by Sole 24 Ore as the most influential Italian under 40 (2021-23), and inclusion in the Thinkers50 Radar List (2025).