Facebook's Libra and the Future of Money | AmCham Hong Kong on Glue Up

In June this year, Facebook formally announced its plans to launch a digital currency token, Libra. It has since been hailed in the news by supporters as the next generation of payments that can open up financial services to underserved populations and by critics as an assault on the global currency system that must be stopped. Given the reach of Facebook and the broad spectrum of firms which are supporting the project (such as Mastercard, PayPal, Uber, Vodaphone, etc.) it is worth taking the initiative seriously.

AmCham's Financial Services Committee will gather a panel of practitioners and academics who intimately know the digital asset, innovative ventures, and payment platforms ecosystems to help business leaders understand how Libra's potential business implications for the finance sector and corporates, how this currency may need to be managed and whether they should start preparing to add it to their own payments systems.

Join us for a lively discussion followed by a networking cocktail.

Light refreshment included

Hosted by the Financial Services Committee

Speakers

Douglas W. Arner

Kerry Holdings Professor in Law at University of Hong Kong

Douglas W. Arner

Kerry Holdings Professor in Law at University of Hong Kong

Douglas W. Arner is the Kerry Holdings Professor in Law and Director of the Asian Institute of International Financial Law at the University of Hong Kong. He is one of the world’s leading experts on financial regulation, particularly the intersection between law, finance and technology. At HKU, he is Faculty Director of the Faculty of Law’s LLM in Compliance and Regulation, LLM in Corporate and Financial Law and Law, Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship (LITE) Programmes. Douglas is a Senior Visiting Fellow of Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne, an Executive Committee Member of the Asia Pacific Structured Finance Association, and an independent non-executive director of the Nasdaq-listed Aptorum Group.

He led the development of the world’s largest massive open online course (MOOC): Introduction to FinTech, launched on edX in May 2018, now with approximately 50,000 learners spanning every country in the world. From 2012 to 2018, he led a major research project on Hong Kong’s future as a leading international financial centre. He was an inaugural member of the Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council, of which he was a member from 2013-2019. Douglas served as Head of the HKU Department of Law from 2011 to 2014 and as Co-Director of the Duke University-HKU Asia-America Institute in Transnational Law from 2005 to 2016. He has published sevteen books and more than 150 articles, chapters and reports on international financial law and regulation, including most recently Reconceptualising Global Finance and its Regulation (Cambridge 2016) (with Ross Buckley and Emilios Avgouleas) and The RegTech Book (Wiley 2019, with Janos Barberis and Ross Buckley). His recent papers are available on SSRN at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=524849 , where he is among the top 120 authors in the world by total downloads. Douglas has served as a consultant with, among others, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, APEC, Alliance for Financial Inclusion, and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and has lectured, co-organised conferences and seminars and been involved with financial sector reform projects around the world.

He has been a visiting professor or fellow at Duke, Harvard, the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research, IDC Herzliya, McGill, Melbourne, National University of Singapore, University of New South Wales, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and Zurich, among others.

Alicia Garcia Herrero

Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis

Alicia Garcia Herrero

Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis

Alicia García Herrero is the Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis. She also serves as Senior Fellow at European think-tank BRUEGEL and non-resident Research Fellow at Madrid-based political think tank Real Instituto Elcano. She is currently Adjunct Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and member of the advisory board of Berlin-based China think-tank MERICS. Finally, Alicia is advisor to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s research arm (HKIMR) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as well as a member of the board of the Hong Kong Forum and co-founder of Bright Hong Kong. Alicia holds a PhD in Economics from George Washington University and has published extensively in refereed journals and books. Alicia is also very active in international media as well as social media. As recognition of her leadership thoughts, Alicia has recently been nominated TOP Voices in Economy and Finance by LinkedIn.

Melody Ma

General Counsel at OSL Brokerage

Melody Ma

General Counsel at OSL Brokerage

Melody Ma is the general counsel of OS Limited (OSL), a member of BC Group (863.hk). Melody oversees the legal and regulatory matters relating to digital asset service and product offering and advises on International expansion strategy of BC Group.
Melody began her legal career as a derivatives and structured products lawyer at Linklaters based in its London office. She has also worked in a number of investment banks and the HKEX group. Prior to BC Group, Melody was the Assistant General Counsel at International Swaps & Derivatives Association (ISDA) where she worked with global regulators and market participants to develop industry-wide legal standards for the derivative markets.

Melody holds a Master of International Affairs degree from Columbia University and a Master of Arts (law) degree from Downing College, University of Cambridge. Melody is admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong and England & Wales.

Antony Morris

Managing Director of Industrie IT, Hong Kong

Jean-Remi Lopez

Director of Government Relations for Asia Pacific at DTCC

Jean-Remi Lopez

Director of Government Relations for Asia Pacific at DTCC

(Moderator)

Jean-Remi Lopez is the Director of Government Relations for Asia Pacific at DTCC. Based in Hong Kong and appointed to head the government relations function for the region in January 2016, he is responsible for sharing the company's expertise with regulators and policymakers as well as managing the firm’s engagement with government officials and financial market authorities. He informs the company strategy on changes in policy, regulation, and market structure in APAC jurisdictions. His remit also includes working with the Industry Relations group to engage regional industry bodies and infrastructure providers to affirm DTCC’s unwavering commitment to improving the stability of the regional and global financial markets.

Remi joined DTCC in July 2012 from SunGard (now FIS) Capital Markets division, where he led its Asia Pacific post-trade presales group. Prior to SunGard, he worked on global fixed income OTC derivatives operations at BNP Paribas and at the international division of S.D. Indeval, Mexico’s central securities depository.

He is a graduate of the TRIUM Executive MBA (jointly awarded by NYU Stern, LSE, and HEC Paris). He also has a Master’s Degree in European Studies and International Affairs from Pantheon-Sorbonne University, and postgraduate degrees from various institutions including Harvard, Reading, and Hong Kong universities

In recognition of his longstanding support and continuous contribution to the financial services industry in Hong Kong, Remi was admitted as a fellow of the Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute (HKSI) in November 2014.

Tickets

Member

Member Price HKD 390

Non-member

HKD 550

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Complimentary

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