As we step into May with longer days and a renewed focus on growth and resilience, we’re pleased to share a few highlights. Tickets remain available for the 10th Reflections Gala on Friday, 11 July 2025, at Guildhall, London, where Professor Michael Mainelli will reflect on his mayoralty as the 695th Lord Mayor of London in a live Q&A exploring financial stewardship, sustainability, and the City’s global role. We’re also looking forward to our Secret Gardens Of The City Of London walking tour, uncovering hidden green spaces and stories across the Square Mile, FS Club sponsors can join for free. Finally, don’t miss the upcoming FS Club Summer Mixer - Can AI Survive Regulation Its Future Impacts On Digital, Green, & Inclusive Finance on Tuesday 01 July, register here. We hope to see many of you there!

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

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Events & Webinars

• Webinars

Launch Of Smart Centres Index 11 Wednesday, 28 May 2025

• Past Events & Webinars

AI Regulation In Financial Services: Navigating Compliance And Strategy Wednesday, 30 April 2025

Taiwan’s AI-Driven Financial Innovation & Digital Transformation Tuesday, 01 April 2025

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.

FS Club News

Dubai International Finance Center: DIFC has published its first-ever report on the outlook for the USD 8trn global insurance industry, within its flagship Future of Finance series in partnership with Asia House. The report and its key findings were unveiled at the Dubai World Insurance Congress (DWIC), which was attended by over 1,700 insurance and (re)insurance professionals from 82 countries.
Informed by network-based research and candid discussions with business leaders, the report uncovers emerging opportunities within the sector, driven by climate change; transition to net-zero; evolving AI, Web3 and crypto asset landscape; the Middle East’s mega-projects; MGAs and more. Download your copy here.

Busan Finance Center: A Giant Step Towards a Global Tech-Startup Hub – Busan Startup Investment Agency(BSIA): Busan is making significant strides to become Asia's top tech startup hub with the launch of the Busan Startup Investment Agency(BSIA) in March 2025. BSIA provides tailored support throughout the startup journey, from ideation to scaling up. BSIA is dedicated to shaping Busan into a global innovation powerhouse by:

• Identifying and fostering promising tech startups
• Cultivating a vibrant venture investment ecosystem
• Expanding infrastructure for tech-driven investments

Through ongoing innovation and strategic partnerships, BSIA is building a dynamic startup ecosystem where entrepreneurs and investors thrive, positioning Busan as a leading destination for startups in Asia.

Seoul Fintech Lab: Seoul Financial Hub, managed by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, is currently inviting esteemed overseas financial institutions to join our global financial epicenter in Yeouido, Seoul. Benefit from exclusive office space, expert consultation on market entry, and unparalleled networking opportunities. Stay ahead with insights into the Korean Financial market. For further details about Seoul Financial Hub, click here.

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Financial Services Commission Mauritius: Mauritius – A Strategic Hub for Innovative Insurance and Reinsurance Solutions in Africa: Mauritius has established itself as a premier destination for insurance and reinsurance business, distinguished by its strong adherence to international best practices and regulatory standards under the Financial Services Commission. Contributing 2% to the country’s GDP in 2023 [Statistics Mauritius - National Accounts - December 2024 Issue], the insurance sector benefits from a robust legislative framework, including the Insurance Act, the Captive Insurance Act and the Insurance (Structured Investment Linked Insurance Business) Rules 2022. Recent enhancements to the captive insurance framework, introducing diverse captive categories and permitting third-party risk exposures, demonstrate Mauritius' commitment to innovation and growth. The strategic use of Protected Cell Companies further enhances business structuring opportunities. With an insurance penetration rate of 4.3% in 2024 [Bank of Mauritius - Financial Stability Report December 2024], the sector shows resilience and attractiveness. The recent establishment of a Lloyd's service company in Mauritius, further solidifies the country’s position as a major insurance hub in Africa, offering a stable jurisdiction for global and regional stakeholders.

Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance: Taiwan Sets the Stage for Regulated Stablecoins: Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) has unveiled a draft Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) Act, setting clear rules for the issuance and trading of stablecoins.

• Only domestic banks will be allowed to issue stablecoins, and they must be backed by fiat currencies (e.g., TWD, USD).
• Foreign stablecoins (like USDT) will be treated as commodities and must gain FSC approval before being listed on local exchanges.

Existing VASPs must register by the end of March or cease operations. The draft law is expected to be submitted to the Executive Yuan by the end of June. Taiwan is moving toward a new era of regulated, innovative digital finance! Follow us on LinkedIn for more details.

Astana International Financial Centre: “Experts from the Astana International Financial Centre have published an analytical report “Emissions trading systems and voluntary carbon market: Global overview and prospects for Kazakhstan”. The report explores important aspects of building a green economy, with a particular focus on Kazakhstan. International experience demonstrates that emissions trading systems in developed and industrially emerging countries operate on a model of the partial distribution of allowances through auctioning, which helps establish a market price for carbon. In Kazakhstan, the national Emissions Trading System was launched in 2013 and currently covers 47% of emissions, generated by 135 companies from the energy, mining and manufacturing sectors. Also the AIFC has established the Green Finance Centre to advance sustainable finance tools and encourage investment in environmental and social projects in Kazakhstan and Central Asian region”.

Northeastern University London: Relevant AI & data skills are vital in keeping one step ahead in industry. Northeastern University London's master's degree apprenticeships for Artificial Intelligence Data Specialists, and Digital and Technology Solutions Specialists equip you and your team with the technical proficiencies required to stand out and progress. Fully funded places are available via the apprenticeship levy and government co-investment for those in suitable job roles, aligned to the apprenticeship. To apply for NU London's July intake for these masters degree apprenticeships, register your interest by 14th June.
Find out more about these programmes at the link.

GFT Financial Ltd: GFT headline sponsor at British Bank Awards: GFT is proud to be the headline sponsor of this year's British bank awards, run by Smart Money People! Excitement continues to build for the ceremony itself in London on 22 May 2025. Discover more and vote for you winners here.
Salt Bank reaches half a million customers one year since launch: GFT joined Salt Bank in Bucharest, Romania to celebrate Salt Bank reaching half a million customers one year since launch! 500,000 customers have now joined the digital bank. Salt Bank’s total deposits exceed 1 billion Romanian Lei (RON). Salt Bank was publicly launched in April 2024 as Romania’s first digital bank, and was built by GFT in just 12 months on Engine by Starling core banking platform. Read more here.
Watch our ‘transition to T+1’ event video: Anthony Kakoudakis (Sector Director, Capital Markets) speaks to Alice Gane (Senior Partnerships Manager) about the current challenges and trends within the capital markets sector and how GFT is helping our clients with this digital transformation. Watch highlights here.
Our latest blogs:
LLM and Prolog: the logical alternative to chain-of-thought reasoning by Lu Mao - LINK

Bridgeworks: The March to WAN Acceleration: Why Organisations Should Avoid Putting Their Eggs In One Basket: In this software-defined era there is a new type of Wide Area Network (WAN) – the SD-WAN. It’s described by World Wide Technology as “the next generation of WAN technology,” which forms the foundation of today’s WAN infrastructure. This is positive for industry overall, sinceorganisations often offer this as a service and it can be hosted in a multitude of locations – changing where applications are located. With traditional network infrastructure, a hub-and-spoke approach is deployed, with organisations renting leased lines “from service providers, to interconnect remote locations or central data centre hubs,” explains the firm. It then explains that traffic flowed from a remote location (spoke) to a central hub in order to reach applications services and the public internet, provided from central locations. This network architectural model was favoured for years, as organisations became more interconnected, as services became highly centralised. David Trossell, CEO and CTO of Bridgeworks, comments: “Organisations in the past have used leased lines from service providers to connect remote locations to the data centre. Data traffic flowed to and from a remote location to a data centre to access applications and on to the public internet , typically provided from the Data Centre, all under Central control.” Read the full article 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.

Z/Yen Launches Ethical AI Course with CISI Register Here

The Chartered Institute For Securities & Investment, in collaboration with Z/Yen Group and Professor Michael Mainelli, have launched a Certificate in Ethical Artificial Intelligence. The short online course deals with the core definitions and global developments in the field of AI, associated ethical dilemmas, and the implications for financial services. Find Out More

The Chartered Institute For ITBCS Foundation Certificate in the Ethical Build of AI This course introduces the key issues in ethical AI and equips you to design and build AI ethically, navigating risks from security to human rights.

Pamphleteers BlogThe 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

Chris Yapp:

Finance And Society

Of Great Interest

Robert McDowall:

Time to Reintroduce UK War Loans?

FS Club Bulletins - Keep Track Of Your Commercial InterestsFS Club provides up to 1,000 weekly bulletins on a variety of topics from Inflation, to Inter-Bank Lending, to the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. Register here.

• Rating Agencies
• Reinsurance

Best Of The Finanser

Stirred My Thoughts:

• Bank IT outages … let’s talk about the bank systems Jenga

Grabbed My Attention:

• The FCA’s five year vision

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