2023 Programme

In today's rapidly changing financial landscape, finding the right balance between stability and innovation is more important than ever. Without it, economies can spiral out of control, leading to a cascade of problems that are felt by everyone. Equally important is to explore how stability can serve as a foundation for innovation and growth.

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Data availability, access and comparability are critical to establishing and tracking robust transition plans. Join members of the global Climate Data Steering Committee as they trade views on the key gaps in this space, and the role of new technologies and collaborative platforms in promoting greater accessibility of transition data, as well as innovating new business models.

Esteemed central bank governors from around the world will share their insights on the future of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and financial innovation. As guardians of monetary and financial stability, these influential leaders will discuss:

• The transformative potential of CBDCs
• Strategic considerations and challenges associated with the adoption of digital currencies
• The impact of CBDCs on the fulfilment of central bank policy objectives

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The regulatory landscape for digital assets is rapidly evolving, with new frameworks emerging across the globe. In this session, policymakers and regulators will delve into the divergence in digital asset regulation and the pressing need for greater collaboration to foster a consistent approach. The discussion will include exploring the challenges posed by cross-border transactions and the potential impact of the recent EU Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCA) regulation, which could serve as a model for other jurisdictions. Participants will gain valuable insights into the latest regulatory trends, as well as the significance of coordinated efforts among regulators to promote the responsible and secure growth of digital assets.

The everyday impacts of climate change and natural capital erosion are increasingly felt. Large emitters face mounting pressure to set and track robust net zero targets. And the cresting wave of regulation (e.g. CSRD) is precipitating ripple effects across supply chains and onto smaller firms ill-equipped to handle these demands.

Non-zero sum outcomes will require rapid deployment and scaling of innovative tech.  But where should we focus efforts, and how can we expedite financing and support in the right directions? The technologists discuss.

To holistically finance the transition to a low carbon future, both public and private capital need to be catalysed and scaled. Technological advancements have opened new opportunities for private capital to drive sustainability outcomes. Our expert panel will also cover how this intersection of finance, technology, and sustainability could be further transformed in the future.

To holistically finance the transition to a low carbon future, both public and private capital need to be catalysed and scaled. Technological advancements have opened new opportunities for private capital to drive sustainability outcomes. Our expert panel will also cover how this intersection of finance, technology, and sustainability could be further transformed in the future.

Bank of Thailand (BOT) initiated the Business Prototype Development Project for CBDCs in June 2020, marking the first time the BOT expanded the scope of CBDC development to business users. The Project is a collaboration between the BOT, SCG and Digital Ventures Company Limited (DV). In the project, BOT used CBDC with programmability features to help with supply-chain financing. 

The test results demonstrate that DLT can increase payment efficiency for businesses by allowing users to set various conditions on the CBDC (programmable money) to enhance flexibility in handling business activities. In the past two years, the project had generated strong business interests and proved the feasibility of the ideas and technology but also showed scope for it to be modified or extended, particularly with invoice tokenisation.

This session aims to showcase Bank of Thailand (BOT)'s Business Prototype Development Project for CBDCs and to generate ideas from the industry that will inform an extension project planned for kick-off at the Point Zero Forum. 

The roundtable aims to advance industry thinking on privacy in digital money by bringing together central bankers, regulators, financial services and technology leaders. 

The roundtable aims to:
- discuss the state of the art of privacy-preserving technologies,
- understand how regulation, consumer demand and industry are driving the development of such technologies, and
- explore the role of central banks in providing privacy-preserving CBDCs.

This roundtable marks the first-year anniversary of Project Guardian. Members of Project Guardian will discuss key findings from industry pilots, including the challenges and obstacles they faced to complete their live industry pilots and how they overcame them. 

The roundtable will also discuss the state of digital asset adoption and what lies ahead for the industry by addressing the following questions:  

1. What defines a responsible digital asset market?

2. How can industry participants and regulators work together to build a responsible and innovative digital asset ecosystem?

3. What does the road to commercialisation look like?

The Green FinTech Network brings together leading green FinTechs and key stakeholders, such as venture capital firms, accelerators, consultants, universities, data providers and financial institutions. "Green FinTechs" refer to technology-based innovations that are used for all kinds of financial processes and products and which at the same time support sustainability goals or reduce sustainability risks. They play a key role in the collection and processing of sustainability data by providing them faster, more cost-efficiently and in a more easily comparable form. 

This meeting of the Green FinTech Network at the Point Zero Forum aims to convene members and interested industry players and regulators to assess the status-quo of the green FinTech ecosystem, showcase selected green FinTech solutions to highlight the range and potential of green FinTechs and to outline concrete actions by the Green FinTech Network to foster the green FinTech ecosystem, especially with regard to the availability of sustainability data.

Stablecoins have long been recognised as a key enabler of the digital asset ecosystem, serving as a bridge between the fiat and tokenised realms. As a form of digital money, stablecoins boast functionalities that could support wider utility as a mode of payments for real world applications and usage. But recent developments have called into question the supposed stability of stablecoins and its reliability as a trusted medium of exchange. In tandem, there has been growing clamour advocating for tokenised deposits as the future of payments, bringing similar functionalities with purportedly less risk – but how much truth does this hold? Can they coexist, or is one destined to displace the other?

Featuring regulators and industry experts, this roundtable aims to deep dive into this debate. Expect candid exchanges on the merits and limitations of both fiat-backed stablecoins and tokenised deposits, insights into key drivers and contributing factors to success or failure; and how developing global regulations tie everything together.

The Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) - applied to banking, financial, insurance and payment services – has potential advantages and disadvantages. Applying new

technologies, especially in untested markets, poses risks which need to be compared with benefits. From a policy perspective, proper technical set-up is crucial for addressing challenges in network scalability and processing speeds, and to reduce security risks. This makes increasing fact-based knowledge and training of relevant decision makers essential to fulfilling the technology’s potential.

This session aims to bring policymakers and the industry to work together on addressing legal and regulatory issues related to the use of blockchain technology and to galvanise an international coordination of policy actions. The related implications will be assessed with special regard to the sustainability, in terms of business models, financial stability, consumer protection, interoperability, gross settlement in central bank money and payments security, as well as ESG factors.

• Data gaps lead to incomplete and inaccurate analyses, fuelling erroneous business and financing decisions with costly ramifications.
• Scarcity of quality climate data, even in the public sphere, undermines the efficacy of transition planning and sustainable investing, and heightens greenwashing risks in these areas. 

• Multiple reporting standards and ratings methodologies have precipitated a myriad of ways to tabulate firms’ climate data.
• The bridging of gaps by modelled and estimated outputs, can lead to wildly variant results.
• The scale of the challenge increases exponentially when overlaying different sectors’ unique contexts and transition requirements.
• New entrants face high costs in demystifying this increasingly complex landscape, to commence their baselining and decarbonisation journey.

• The IFRS-ISSB standards will set the global baseline, but much still needs to be worked out in terms of implementation.
• On the immediate horizon, the CSRD has come into force and its implications are far reaching in terms of cascading data collection requirements down global supply chains. Downstream entities may not be equipped for these demands.
• Lack of interoperability across private initiatives lends to perpetuation of variances in how data is being reported and tabulated.
• The shortfall of globally-endorsed platforms, means support for the consistent implementation of these standards remains limited.

Public-private consortium initiatives will prove instrumental to rapidly breaking from this cycle. Initiatives such as the global Net Zero Data Public Utility, the European Single Access Point, and Project Greenprint in Asia, permit the harnessing of multi-stakeholder strengths and capabilities to tackle challenges in a more coordinated, coherent manner.

This roundtable mirrors this concept by bringing together like-minded participants to contemplate the ways that public and private industry can be better coordinated toward tackling issues such as:

• Overcoming firms’ barriers to disclosure, and how to incentivise behavioural change and ownership of decarbonisation responsibilities;
• What needs to happen in order for FIs and real economy players to transcend climate data as a requirement, into climate data as business opportunities;
• Steps needed in order to progress towards global interoperability of data and platforms;
• How to better leverage technological innovation and cutting-edge solutioning such as AIoT, generative AI and predictive analytics to achieve focused outcomes in priority areas.

Hosted by Monetary Authority of Singapore, Net Zero Data Public Utility + Powered by

Technological progress and innovation will continue to drive the global community and reshape how wholesale interbank clearing operates. Blockchain technology, in particular, has emerged as a disruptive force in the cross-border settlement space, by offering secure and transparent transactions, reducing the need for intermediaries and streamlining settlement processes. Discover how a Global Private Permissioned FI Ledger​ like Partior enables settlement finality on the blockchain with end-to-end, real-time visibility, while delivering a real time global, multi-lateral payment platform as per the FSB Cross Border Payment Roadmap Building Block 17: “Multi-Lateral Payments Platforms”​.

Within Point Zero Forum ’23 (to be held 26 – 28 June in Zurich) we are thrilled announce the first Student Firepoint conference: a unique opportunity for students around the World to share their vision and transformative ideas to fields such as digital assets, technology for ESG, generative AI; they are revolutionarising the world as we know it, and the new generations will take full advantage of them, but how? The Student Firepoint will serve as an extraordinary platform to broadcast and network.

Student Firepoint brings together students, practitioners, and industry experts across disciplines to discuss novel developments in blockchains, distributed ledger technologies, decentralised technologies, generative artificial intelligence, technology applied to CSG. Computer scientists, security researchers, economists, lawyers, and data scientists are the primary target of the Student Firepoint.

This session lays out the current complexities in cross border payments, and we discuss what are the key ingredients that we need to put in place to set the stage of the next phase of growth.

This will include but not limited to discussions around digital currencies but also other emerging technologies to enable faster cross border payments via existing payment rails

Crypto enthusiasts say “Do Your Own Research” and “Don’t trust, verify”. However, we think that here is a role for trusted intermediaries and for regulated financial institutions taking an innovation lead in a responsible way. In this workshop we share the framework through which Julius Baer provides investment advice to its clients on crypto tokens and financial products, and make available the Bank’s head of Advisory, Chief Investment Officer and Chief Risk Officer for a discussion with an audience of policy makers and investment professionals.

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Venture into crypto-finance's dynamic world with our elite panel of seasoned industry veterans and academics. Dissect the implications of MiCA, EU's game-changing digital assets regulation, and comprehend the intricate nuances of the Travel Rule. Address Anti-Money Laundering measures in the crypto-space, navigate the tightrope between blockchain-enabled transparency and privacy, and discover AI's role in managing these regulatory complexities. Designed for policy makers crypto-enthusiast or professional investors, this enlightening discussion provides insights, strategies, and an enriched understanding of the crypto regulatory landscape. A must-attend for those shaping the future of digital finance.

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For the last 5 years, Institutional players such as banks and FMIs have been exploring distributed ledger technology mostly on private blockchain platforms. Some have or are starting to explore the use of public blockchain like Ethereum. Will the future financial infrastructure be built on public or private blockchain? What will be the role of layer 2 chains? Are private blockchains interoperable enough? Are public blockchains ready for institutional use? Or will the future be interoperable public and private blockchains?

This workshop will discuss the state of maturity of public and private blockchains, debate the pros and cons of each set-up, and explore what the future will look like.

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Insider Trading: Join QCP Capital as we give you an insider look into the world of institutional digital assets. This workshop will cover:

1. Inside the institutionalisation of digital assets

- The landscape, trends and mindsets

2. The future of finance: How we see DeFi evolving

- Digital assets vs. traditional finance

3. Predicting what’s next for Web3 

- Greater user-ability 

- Evolution of the ideology behind scaling 

- The path towards greater cross chain interoperability

- From a multi-chain world to a chain customised to your world

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Asset tokenization was viewed as transformative, but why is it not quite at the point of mass adoption? While DeFi offers unprecedented value creation, there exist challenges that restrain its growth. Does DeFi equate to deregulation? How can we bridge DeFi and TradFi?

Join us for a deep dive into the state of real-world asset tokenization, leveraging actual DeFi use cases and the perspectives of DigiFT as the first regulatory-compliant DEX in the MAS FinTech Regulatory Sandbox.

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During the first segment of the workshop, delve into the world of blockchain in payments, exploring its transformative potential. Start by discussing the shortcomings of traditional payment systems, such as slow settlement times, high transaction fees, and lack of transparency. Then highlight the key advantages of blockchain technology, including its ability to provide transparency, security, and immutability. Then emphasize the potential for faster transactions and reduced costs through decentralized networks. Showcasing real-world use cases, such as stablecoins and cross-border remittances, illustrate how blockchain is reshaping the payments landscape, enabling greater financial inclusion and efficiency.

After 2022, is there a risk of FinTech regulators dialling down on supporting innovation, and dialling up on enforcement? And why?

What policy actions, if any, could have mitigated the impact of 2022 on both Web3 consumers and capital providers?

The benefits of AI bring an equal potential for consumer harm. How can policymakers guide the flow of capital to and provide greater certainty to start-ups in AI, and capital providers?