FINTECH MEETS BLOCKCHAIN: REDESIGNING FINANCE WITH TECHNOLOGY

Over the last few years a number of new technologies such as blockchain and 'distributed ledger' have taken the financial services sector by storm and significant capital has flowed into the start-ups developing the underlying platforms and business use cases built on them. These emerging technologies are enabling incumbent banks, financial market infrastructures (exchanges, CSDs, post-trade firms, etc...) and new players to redesign legacy operations in order to make systems and processes more efficient, challenging existing business models with their clunky and expensive silos and enabling new type of activities. 

In this workshop we will discuss some of the core primitives of blockchain technology and review how the financial institutions can benefit (or not) from these innovations in the field of settlements & payments, securities services, post-trade management and trade finance through the use of distributed ledgers & blockchain. The ultimate end-game could be the advent of a fully digitalized financial institutions using algorithms and ‘smart contracts’ instead of offices and staff.  

Let's discuss and anticipate the incoming disruptions before they happen. 

Mr. Jean-Marc Bonnefous is the founder and managing partner of Tellurian Capital, an investment management firm focused on the commodity and the technology sectors, covering Fintech and deep tech activities (AI, blockchain, data analytics, encryption). Mr. Bonnefous has managed a number of funds over the years including the Tellurian New Frontier Technology Fund and the Tellurian Ascend Fund. He is a board director of the Bonseyes AI, and was a board observer at Clearmatics, a core blockchain infrastructure company, and at Adeya SA, a Swiss secure communication company.  

Before founding Tellurian Mr. Bonnefous was an investment banker at BNP Paribas where he managed the global commodity derivative trading business from 1995 to 2006. Mr. Bonnefous is also professor adjunct in finance at the IE business school in Madrid, Spain, where he gives courses on Commodities investing and Blockchain technology.