We have just had the first of two May bank holiday weekends in the UK and the team at Z/Yen has been making the most of the warmer weather heralded in by the height of spring. This atmosphere has also found its way into our calendar of forthcoming events, with a strong green and nature-centric theme emerging. Nowhere is this more apparent than for our Secret Gardens Of The City Of London Walking Tour on Tuesday, 26 May 2026, a chance to step off the beaten path and discover the hidden green spaces tucked away among London's iconic streets and landmarks.

Sticking with the same theme only in the virtual space now, Powering The Transition: Taiwan's Sustainable Finance Strategies & Market Outlook, in partnership with TABF, is taking place on Thursday, 21 May 2026. A timely and important conversation as green finance continues to reshape global markets.

Finally, save the date for our FS Club Summer Mixer — Resilient Capital: Steering Green Finance Through Global Headwinds, sponsored by Bank of China, on Wednesday, 08 July 2026 in the City of London.

We look forward to welcoming you to one of our events soon.

Sasha Davis (Manager, FS Club) & The Team at Z/Yen

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Events & Webinars

• Featured Past Webinars

Duk Shik Suh:
Seoul's Roadmap To Becoming A Global Financial Hub

Mike Wardle & Simon Mills:
Launch Of China Construction Bank Global Green Finance Index 17

• Forthcoming Webinars

The Future Of Finance, The Impact Of Current Tech & Regulatory Developments Thursday, 07 May 2026

Powering The Transition: Taiwan's Sustainable Finance Strategies & Market Outlook Thursday, 21 May 2026

Launch Of Smart Centres Index 13 Thursday, 28 May 2026

• Event

Secret Gardens Of The City Of London Tuesday, 26 May 2026

The Esop Centre’s newspad, is a monthly publication providing in-depth coverage of the main international news in the field of employee share ownership. Read this month’s newspad in full.

Esop Sofa: John Hoffmire — Transatlantic Perspectives On Employee Share Ownership Thursday, 14 May 2026

Jersey Employee Share Plans & Trustees Conference 2026 Friday, 22 May 2026

FS Club News

Busan Finance Center:

Busan Strengthens Its Financial Edge with New Firms and legal foundation:

Busan is rapidly advancing its position as a leading global financial center, reinforcing both its industrial depth and institutional foundations. New firms specializing in digital finance, maritime finance, and innovative financial services have recently moved into the Busan International Finance Center (BIFC). The city has also confirmed the opening of a new international maritime and commercial court.

A key milestone is that the onboarding of five prominent firms into D-Space, the financial innovation hub on the 63rd floor of BIFC, was confirmed in March. The new tenants are the KDX consortium, DB Securities, Waterline Partners, Clarksons Korea, and Synergy IB Investment, and they are scheduled to move in during 2026. This development indicates that Busan is broadening its financial base beyond its traditional functions into areas such as digital assets, tokenized securities (STO), startup investment, and maritime asset management.

Read the full publication here.

Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation:
TWSE Designated as a "Recognised Stock Exchange" by His Majesty's Revenue and Customs: The Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) announced that it has been approved by His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) on April 14, 2026, as a Recognised Stock Exchange, with the designation officially published on HMRC's website on April 22, 2026. Read more here.
Enhancing Capital Flexibility: FINIs Allowed to Create Pledges over Taiwan Stocks for Offshore Investment Activities: To enhance Taiwan's capital market competitiveness and attract international capital, the TWSE, with approval from the FSC, has amended the Operating Rules regarding the use of domestic securities as collaterals. Read more here.
Enhancing Flexibility in Pre-Funding Mechanism for Altered Trading Method Securities: To improve market efficiency and enhance accessibility for offshore investors, a regulatory amendment, effective from April 2, 2026, has been introduced to refine the pre-funding mechanism applicable to securities subject to altered trading methods. Read more here.
The news from the TWSE: https://twmonthly.twse.com.tw/ Follow TWSE on LinkedIn to stay informed.

Financial Services Commission Mauritius: Mauritius adheres to the IMF’s SDDS Plus, a first in Africa: Mauritius has adhered to the IMF’s Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) Plus effective 16 March 2026, the highest tier of the IMF’s Data Standards Initiatives. Mauritius is the first country in Africa and the 32nd country worldwide to have accomplished this landmark achievement in data transparency. By adhering to the IMF SDDS Plus, Mauritius commits to meeting the most rigorous requirements for disseminating key macroeconomic and financial statistics. This step reinforces Mauritius’ dedication to publishing comprehensive, reliable, and timely data. Robust data coverage and enhanced data transparency further improve economic policy making and analysis as well as reinforce the credibility of Mauritius on the international capital markets, as affirmed by the IMF.

Astana International Financial Centre: Astana International Financial Centre’s analytical centre - AIFC Insights - presented the report “Bridging People and Markets: An Overview of Retail Investing in Kazakhstan”. Over the past decade, Kazakhstan’s capital markets have become increasingly accessible to households and retail investors. Report provides an integrated overview of the current state of retail investing in Kazakhstan. It examines how individuals engage with local capital markets through major exchanges and intermediaries, and how landmark IPOs and new products have shaped this engagement. Fore more details please see the report.

Financial Services Development Council Hong Kong: As the global economy evolves and capital seeks stability and opportunity, Hong Kong stands out as the leading international financial centre. With an open economy, deep and liquid capital markets, a trusted legal framework, and seamless connectivity to global institutions, Hong Kong offers the ideal ecosystem for capital facilitation, preservation, and growth. These strengths are further complemented by resilient infrastructure and a vibrant lifestyle that attracts top global talent.The Financial Services Development Council has launched a global campaign personifying "Money" as "Capital" — a dynamic protagonist in pursuit of growth. It demonstrates how Hong Kong fulfills the core needs of capital: growth, security, efficiency, and opportunity, empowering it to thrive even amid global challenges.Discover how Hong Kong empowers capital to thrive. Watch the campaign: Click Here.

Dubai International Financial Centre:

DIFC has published its latest report titled 'Global Wealth Outlook: Rethinking growth in a changing world', which examines how nearly 23mn high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), collectively holding approximately USD 87trn in wealth, are reshaping global capital flows amid volatility, demographic change and geopolitical realignment.
Produced in collaboration with Asia House, this is the first publication under DIFC's 2026 Future of Finance thought leadership series. Download your copy here.

On 27 January 2026, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced a monumental expansion of DIFC with the inauguration of DIFC Zabeel District. DIFC Zabeel District will advance a new era of global finance by expanding infrastructure, connectivity and capacity to meet evolving industry demands. This strategic expansion will enable DIFC to accommodate more than 42,000 companies and a workforce of over 125,000, accelerating our contribution towards the Dubai Economic Agenda (D33). With a gross development value exceeding AED 100bn, the project will expand DIFC's footprint by 7.1mn sq. ft., adding a total gross floor area of 17.7mn sq. ft. Read more here.

Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance:

Taiwan Advances Virtual Asset Regulatory Framework: On April 2, Taiwan's Executive Yuan approved the Financial Supervisory Commission's (FSC) draft Virtual Asset Services Act, marking a significant milestone in the maturation of Taiwan's financial market infrastructure and digital asset policy framework.

The legislation establishes a comprehensive, risk-based regulatory regime for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and stablecoin issuers. Key provisions—including client asset segregation, strengthened supervisory oversight, and enhanced safeguards against market abuse and fraud—are designed to reinforce market integrity, investor protection, and financial stability.

This development underscores Taiwan's steady progress in modernising its financial regulatory architecture, while aligning with international standards and reinforcing its position as a credible and well-regulated digital finance hub in the region.

The Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance (TABF) will continue to support regulatory dialogue, capacity-building, and knowledge exchange in digital finance, regulatory innovation, and financial risk management. Visit TABF's LinkedIn.

Northeastern University London: Northeastern University London has been approved to deliver three new apprenticeship units focused on AI strategy, governance and oversight - and for financial services organisations, the timing couldn't be more relevant. As regulators and boards increasingly demand demonstrable AI literacy at a leadership level, these units offer a direct, funded route to close that gap quickly. Endorsed by Skills England and available through the Growth and Skills Levy, they're designed to upskill leaders fast - without the commitment of a full apprenticeship programme. If your organisation is looking to build AI capability at a senior level, we'd love to hear from you - get in touch at apprenticeships@nulondon.ac.uk.

Bridgeworks: WAN Networking: shift to the edge?: Wide Area Networking is shifting towards AI-driven, edge-based architectures. In many cases this may be to mitigate latency and packet loss to gain higher performance, but they bring with them new challenges related to complexity, security and reliability. Data Centre Solutions asks David Trossell, CEO & CTO of Bridgeworks to explain how this shift protects data and business continuity.

While artificial intelligence is increasingly being used to manage them, it's often an afterthought and burgeoning AI workloads must cope with a rapid, complex shift from legacy infrastructure to SD-WANs and SASE. Adding to the issues are the risks associated with relying on automated network agents. Read the full publication here.

Sponsorship Opportunities

We currently have opportunities available to partner with Z/Yen as a sponsor for our ongoing research into the development of financial centres. If you may be interested in sponsorship of the Global Green Finance Index or Smart Centres Index, please get in touch with Mike Wardle.

Pamphleteers Blog

The Pamphleteers Blog features considered thoughts – somewhere between a knee-jerk editorial and a full-blown piece of research.

"Write for today and not for tomorrow."

Made Me Think

Professor Michael Mainelli: Sawtooth/Sharktooth Ratings - Discrete Letters Versus Continuous Risk (Rating Agencies)

Of Great Interest

Bob McDowall: The Challenges To The Development Of Retail Rank Client Apps

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Membership & Sponsorship FS Club is the premier global executive knowledge network for technology and finance professionals. Great events, research, and social functions build a buzz for Members and a valuable partnership for Sponsors. Membership of the FS Club is a great way to enhance your professional development, grow your network and profile, and get backing for your ideas, contact: sasha_davis@zyen.com