Todd Fox

President of Visa Economic Empowerment Institute

Visa

Todd Fox is President of the Visa Economic Empowerment Institute, a global center for research on financial innovation and public policy. In this role, Todd leads efforts to develop data-driven insights and practical tools that help financial institutions and policymakers navigate an increasingly complex political and regulatory environment. 

With more than 20 years of leadership experience across government and industry, Todd brings a multidisciplinary perspective to the study of payments and financial technology.  He partners with academic experts, industry practitioners, and policymakers from around the world to study the forces shaping the future of commerce. Todd is also actively engaged in initiatives to expand financial access and enhance cross-border payments.  He serves on the board of the DC Fintech Foundation and represents Visa on a number of international committees, including the Financial Stability Board’s Legal, Regulatory, and Supervisory Taskforce. He is a frequent commentator on payments and geopolitics and is the host of the Policy Sandbox podcast. 

Prior to joining Visa in 2012, was Principal Advisor for External Affairs at Rio Tinto — the global natural resources company. He also held key roles at the United States Department of Commerce and served as an advisor in the Office of the U.S. Executive Director at the Inter-American Development Bank. Todd studied economics as a Fulbright Scholar at McGill University. He holds an MA in international affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. 

Speaking at

2:00–3:00pmTue 23 JunWorkshopWorkshop Room, Level 1Open
Others

Resilience Runs on Trust: Securing Payments in an Uncertain World - Powered by Visa

WorkshopWorkshop Room, Level 1Open
About this session

Today’s heightened geopolitical uncertainty (fragmentation, cyber risk, and macroeconomic volatility) is testing the resilience of the global payments system, which depends fundamentally on trust and security to function at scale.
This session explores how public authorities and the private sector can work together to preserve confidence, continuity, and cross-border connectivity through information-sharing, interoperable standards, and regulatory approaches that strengthen resilience without fragmenting the ecosystem. It also explores how Visa is innovating for resilience, including through offline solutions that safeguard transactions in low-connectivity or high-risk environments.
The discussion aims to highlight how security and fraud prevention are not peripheral issues but core pillars of payments resilience.
4:00–5:30pmTue 23 JunGFTN InsightsRoundtable Room 3, Ground FloorOpen
Empowering Entrepreneurship

The Future of Standard-Setting in Fintech Regulation

GFTN InsightsRoundtable Room 3, Ground FloorOpen
About this session

Countries worldwide are competing to attract fintech investment, talent, and innovation. But understanding the quality of fintech regulation remains a work-in-progress. Are rules and institutions working in lockstep to promote fintech? Are these rules findable, coherent, and comprehensive enough to give firms, consumers, and supervisors genuine confidence? Can they promote innovation, market access as well as economic opportunity?
The Financial Regulatory Futures Index (FRFI) is a joint initiative of the Fintech Foundation and GFTN designed to fill that gap. Structured around five analytical pillars, the FRFI will assess regulatory environments not by perception or reputation, but by reference to verifiable primary sources: statutes, supervisory guidance, licensing frameworks, and enforcement records. Its methodology is being developed by five specialist working groups comprising leading regulators, central bankers, academics, and industry practitioners from over 30 jurisdictions. An Executive Council – comprising globally recognized thought-leaders and experienced policy innovators – will oversee the development of this initiative.
This roundtable will offer one of the first public windows into the emerging draft methodology, including how the Index defines and scores: regulatory clarity and comprehensiveness, consumer protection and market conduct, innovation and market infrastructure, resilience and integrity as well as economic opportunity and market access.
It will open a moderated discussion on the Index's intended policy impact, the trade-offs embedded in any cross-jurisdictional benchmarking exercise, and how the FRFI can best serve as a tool for peer learning and reform rather than as a simplistic league table. Feedback from regulators, practitioners, academics and subject matter experts in this conversation will inform the methodology ahead of its launch at DC Fintech Week in October 2026.
4:00–5:30pmWed 24 JunGFTN InsightsRoundtable Room 3, Ground FloorOpen
Roadmap for AI and Quantum

Agentic AI: From Automation to Autonomy: Is Liquidity About to Run Itself?

GFTN InsightsRoundtable Room 3, Ground FloorOpen
About this session

Autonomy of automated systems is increasing rapidly thanks to advances in agentic AI technology. This development impacts not just our everyday life but the economic framework and established systems in various ways, ranging from the automation of simple tasks to increasingly autonomous systems of agents interacting with minimal oversight.
This roundtable unpacks the impact such developments have on both traditional and on-chain payment systems and explores risks and opportunities emerging as adoption progresses.
A diverse group of roundtable participants representing the “full-stack” of payment system actors, including central and commercial banks, regulators, payment providers, digital asset platforms and technology providers, will discuss implications for liquidity management on both an individual and systemic level, uncover design principles for safe agent-based payment systems, and provide insights on priorities for regulatory coordination.

Featured speakers

Hosted by

Todd Fox

Speaking at

Resilience Runs on Trust: Securing Payments in an Uncertain World - Powered by Visa

The Future of Standard-Setting in Fintech Regulation

Agentic AI: From Automation to Autonomy: Is Liquidity About to Run Itself?