Financial technology takes the spotlight Wednesday at Markets Media’s seventh annual Summer Trading Network.
Called ‘Fintech: Beyond the Buzz’, the event will bring Silicon Alley and Wall Street together. Up for debate and discussion will be how fintech applications — such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, data science and digitalization — are disrupting the business of capital markets, while driving efficiency and innovation.
The event will be held at Google’s New York City headquarters.
Roman Chwyl, Google
“We’re super excited about co-hosting tomorrow’s Summer Trading event,” said Roman Chwyl, global head of financial services at Google Cloud Platform. “So much is happening in this space like never before, especially in machine learning.” Chwyl will deliver opening remarks at the conference.
The afternoon will kick off with keynotes from exchange operator Nasdaq and cryptocurrency concern Ethereum. After panel discussions cover fintech in wealth management and artificial intelligence in financial services, fintech entrepreneurs will present their business models in front of a panel of venture capitalists and fintech executives. A panel session on fintech in institutional trading and investing will conclude the content program of the event.
Barry Smith, Equinix
In wealth management, fintech-led themes include risk, regulation, potential industry consolidation, data and analytics, and customer acquisition, according to Barry Smith, director of vertical strategy at Equinix. Beyond the buzz of fintech lies funding, democratization, risk and opportunity; fintech is a hot topic primarily due to funding, features and functionality, noted Smith, who will moderate the wealth management panel.
While fintech is hot, a business risk is that the term stays in the concept stage rather than boosting the top and bottom lines. Wednesday’s event aims to connect the dots between the abstract and the practical.
William Fenick, Interxion
“Fintech offers a fresh way of facilitating business via technology,” said Bill Fenick, strategy and marketing director for financial services at Interxion. “It is highly cost-efficient and it is able to provide alternatives to many legacy systems.”
To be sure, fintech means different things for different market constituencies. With regard to the Bulge Bracket and regional broker-dealers, “in an era of steep regulation and extremely low interest rates, fintech pushes banks to rethink technology strategies to cut costs and provide more services to clients simultaneously,” said Fenick, who will speak on the ‘Invest-Tech’ closing panel.
More on fintech: