Future of asset management

Tuesday 07 November 2023 | 18:30 - 20:30 | Evening Event

This event has been organised by CFA UK’s Future of Money Working Group  

How can the asset management industry catch up with the digital world?

The asset management industry has been around for a while - retired Roman soldiers were the beneficiaries of history’s first recorded pensions; and in Ancient Greece, there were “asset managers” as early as 2500 years ago managing the assets of several “masters”. So, the premise of financial markets is historically simple – on one side, there are asset owners who want to invest money; and the other side is capital issuers who want to raise money and need access to investment.

The modern asset management systems are far away from that. The multiple entities that we have introduced into the process are there to patch over the risks, costs and inefficiencies introduced by our own model of assets, cash and transactions. Each patch has been well-intentioned and implemented more or less effectively. The overall result, however, is a mess.

In this session, the panellists will explore the problems facing the asset management industry, and potential technological solutions to simplify process and improve investor experience.

Timings

Registration: 18:00
Event: 18:30 - 20:30

Speakers

Dr. Ian Hunt, Industry Advisor and Author on Digital Assets
Ian is an industry consultant, author and adviser to buy side firms and fintechs on digital assets. Ian led the design of FundAdminChain, the first ledger to support digital fund issuance in the UK. He is a well-known authority on buy-side business process and technology, with a strong reputation for innovation in investment, risk, and derivatives. An acknowledged industry expert on IBOR and Blockchain technologies, and the investment expert witness on a series of Madoff-related cases. A frequent conference speaker and contributor to industry publications.

Amarjit Singh, Partner, EY 
Amarjit is a Partner at EY, leading assurance services in DLT and crypto across EMEIA. He has worked with a wide range of clients from global asset managers and their funds through to investment trusts, private equity houses and hedge fund managers. He currently chairs the ICAEW’s Investment Management Committee and has previously represented EY at both the Investment Association and the FRC CASS Working Group.

Mona El Isa, co-founder of Enzyme
Mona El Isa is co-founder of Enzyme (leading decentralised asset management protocols), founder and CEO at Avantgarde. She is also president of MAMA (multichain asset managers association) and a board member at Near Foundation and KR1 PLC. Mona was nominated technology pioneer by the World Economic Forum and Digital Shaper in Bilanz magazine.

Jason Webb, Director, Web 3.0 at SS&C Technologies 
Jason Webb is Director of Web 3.0 at SS&C Technologies where he is responsible for implementing the DLT, tokenisation and metaverse strategies. He joined in May from Fidelity International, where as global lead for blockchain and crypto he led the project that successfully tokenised a fund share class in production for the first time.

Jingwei Li, Investor, Fidelity Ventures 
Jingwei is an investor at Fidelity Ventures where he invests in wealth-tech, investment-tech and digital assets startups that are relevant in the world of asset management. He’s heavily involved in driving institutional adoption of digital assets and have invested in companies such as Path, DriveWealth and Metaco (acquired by Ripple). Prior to that, Jingwei worked at Boston Consulting Group, FT Partners and the Bank of England, where he focused extensively on digital transformation and fintech projects.

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