Agenda
Welcome 09:30 EEST | What is the aim of Global Government Fintech and today’s Fintech Lab? Through the day we will find out more about: · How can governments help the fintech sector? · How can fintech solutions help governments? · What can we look forward to here in Tallinn? Speaker: Ian Hall, Editor, Global Government Fintech |
Keynote 1 09:40 EEST | How important is fintech to Estonia? Speaker: Keit Pentus-Rosimannus, Minister of Finance, Government of Estonia |
Keynote 2 09:55 EEST | The growth of the global fintech industry Speaker: Valentina Ion, Director, Strategy Public Finance Industry, Microsoft |
MORNING SESSIONS | HOW CAN GOVERNMENTS HELP FINTECH? |
Panel Session 1 HOW CAN GOVERNMENTS ‘GET ORGANISED’ FOR FINTECH? 10:10 EEST | Central governments, local governments, central banks, regulators and other public authorities are all stepping up their interest and exploration of the possibilities of fintech. But fintech’s very nature – combining finance and technology – means that exploring its possibilities and implementing policies straddles organisations, departments and job remits. In addition, fintech can be tricky to define; is growing (as technology evolves); and brings legal considerations (where laws themselves often lag technology). So, how should government authorities get organised to ensure they reap the benefits – and are alive to the challenges – of fintech? Questions include: How are governments structuring around fintech? Which leaders within the organisation should lead on fintech initiatives? Are departments creating the role of ‘head of fintech’? Does fintech fall to innovation teams? Digital teams? Technology teams? Speakers: Karen Cullen, Head of International Financial Services Unit, Department of Finance, Ireland Doris Dietze, Head of Digital Finance, Payment Services and Cyber Security Division, Ministry of Finance, Germany Mari-Liis Kukk, Head of Innovation Department, Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority, Estonia Moderator: Siobhan Benita, Event Moderator, Global Government Fintech & Global Government Forum |
11:10 EEST | Morning Refreshments and Event Photocall |
Panel Session 2 HOW CAN GOVERNMENTS HELP THE FINTECH SECTOR TO GROW? 11:40 EEST | Governments are increasingly keen to champion their quickly-growing fintech industries and encourage fintech investment and talent/skills. The aim of this session will be to compare and contrast approaches that government authorities have taken to this, for example in creating infrastructure for fintech experimentation and growth such as sandboxes and accelerators. Examples of well-established sandboxes, for example, include those in the UK and Singapore, while sandboxes have recently been created in nations including Spain, Greece and Brazil. Our panel session will also hear a perspective from the private sector as to what fintech companies themselves want from government(s). Speakers: Andrés Barragán, Chief of Staff, Public Treasury, Spain Dr Ben-Benedict Hruby, Senior Legal Expert and Policy Advisor, Ministry of Finance, Austria Marine Krasovska, Director, Department of Financial Innovation, Financial and Capital Market Commission, Latvia Taavi Tamkivi, Board Member, European Fintech Association Moderator: Siobhan Benita, Event Moderator, Global Government Fintech & Global Government Forum |
12:40 EEST | Lunch |
AFTERNOON SESSIONS | HOW CAN FINTECH HELP GOVERNMENTS? |
Keynote 3 13:40 EEST | Guest presentation (by video-link) from Rostyslav Dyuk, chairman of the board, Ukrainian Association of Fintech and Innovation Companies |
Panel Session 3 HOW CAN FINTECH HELP GOVERNMENTS TACKLE FRAUD, ERROR & DEBT? 13:55 EEST | Fraud and error during the Covid-19 pandemic will cost governments billions through false claims – and has highlighted the vulnerability of the public sector to fraudsters. But fraud is a deeper ongoing problem across the public and private sectors worldwide, with issues ranging from bribery and corruption through to procurement fraud, false benefits claims and grant applications. Fintech solutions offer new ways to tackle the problem, from leveraging data analytics as a fraud detection and prevention tool to the automation of due diligence and use of blockchain to bring greater transparency to procurement. This panel session will seek to ask questions including: What fintech solutions are available? How are governments using them? What barriers exist to further use? Speakers: Euan Slack, Head of Spotlight, Cabinet Office, United Kingdom Aleksejs Čekalovs, Senior Expert, Audit Authority, Ministry of Finance, Latvia Valentina Ion, Director, Strategy Public Finance Industry, Microsoft Jerome Bryssinck, Director of Government Solutions, Quantexa Moderator: Siobhan Benita, Event Moderator, Global Government Fintech & Global Government Forum |
Panel Session 4 HOW CAN FINTECH HELP GOVERNMENT PAYMENTS? 14:55 EEST | Government authorities are increasingly encouraging the use of – and themselves developing and procuring – fintech solutions to improve the delivery and efficiency of payments. The UK’s HM Revenue & Customs, for example, is using a fintech company to embed open banking within its operations for in-bound tax payments. The Lab’s host nation Estonia is a frontrunner when it comes to digital solutions, while the Czech Republic’s government has just instigated a project to ‘unlock the potential’ of fintech applications and the use of data in financial services. This session will ask what kind of fintech solutions can best help government payments: what are the opportunities and also barriers to their adoption? Speakers: Evelyn Liivamägi, Deputy Secretary General for Financial and Tax Policy, Ministry of Finance, Estonia Dr Michal Tuláček, Head of the General Tax Legislation Unit, Finance Ministry, Czech Republic Moderator: Siobhan Benita, Event Moderator, Global Government Fintech & Global Government Forum |
15:40 EEST | Afternoon Refreshments |
Panel Session 5 HOW COULD CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCIES (CBDCs) HELP DELIVER PUBLIC GOOD? 16:00 EEST | The day’s final panel session will explore one of the highest-profile areas within public fintech explorations: central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The Bahamas and Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) are already ‘live’ with CBDCs, while China is well progressed with its digital yuan. The US, Eurozone and UK, meanwhile, are stepping up their research. Are CBDCs a ‘solution in search of a problem’ (as some sceptical analyses, for example, a UK House of Lords report in January, have concluded) or do they offer tangible and worthwhile potential benefits? This session will examine how CBDCs can (or could) assist with public policy delivery, for example helping with financial inclusion and making use of programmable money; and will explore the extent to which CBDC technical design choices need to take public policy aspirations into account. Speakers: Rainer Olt, Head of Payment and Settlement Systems Department, Eesti Pank, Estonia Mehmet Kerse, Senior Consultant, Digital Finance and Financial Inclusion, CGAP / World Bank Group Moderator: Ian Hall, Editor, Global Government Fintech |
Closing remarks 16:45 EEST | We wrap up the day’s event and welcome participants to the Evening Drinks and rapid-fire presentation of fintech solutions Speaker: Siobhan Benita, Event Moderator, Global Government Fintech & Global Government Forum |
NETWORKING | FINTECH SHOWCASE |
17:00 EEST | Evening Drinks including rapid-fire presentations of fintech solutions that can help government Companies: Bankish Salv |
19:00 EEST | Event and reception concludes |
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