Peter Oakes Slides on Central Bank Digital Currencies here.

#CBDCs: What are they Good For?

That's the title of my topic tomorrow in London tomorrow (28th February 2023). Hopefully you are joining us in London? If not, contact Paresh Kathrani (link below) to receive details of the 3rd event in the series in a few months. Cannot guarantee at this late hour Paresh will be able to take anymore bookings. But regardless, he is nice bloke & very well informed on these topics.

The abstract for my contribution is "Central Banks are investigating the issuing of a digital complement to cash known as a Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC). CBDCs have the potential to be reliable means of digital payment and remittance in the face of reported decline in the use of cash but what are the positives and negatives of countries embarking on the issuing of CBDCs. Further, simply because central banks CAN issue CDBDCs, does that mean that they SHOULD?"

Great to be in London again. A global epic centre of fintech & digital assets. The more so following the release by the Bank of England paper on its proposed Digital Pound a few weeks ago. Of course being in the United Kingdom today coincides with (hopefully for all the right reasons) an historic day for the UK & the EU reaching an implementation agreement via the Windsor Framework on the Northern Ireland Protocol.

We are running our 2nd event in our series examining ‘ Digital Money Regulation’ in Central Asia, the EU, and UK’, at Grays Inn on Tuesday 28th February 2023.

Our expert speakers include Ainur Akhmetova (Managing Partner and CEO of AKHMETOVA Law Firm Limited), Flavia Kenyon (The 36 Group), Michael Patchett-Joyce FCIArb (The 36 Group) & Peter Oakes (Armstrong Teasdale). Following the presentations, we will be moderated by the affable Dr Paresh Kathrani. And none of this would have happened without the great work and support of everyone involved such as Rashid Gaissin, Paulius Pakutinskas, Dr. Satya Talwar Mouland & Paul Schwartfeger.

The event is convened by Armstrong Teasdale, the The 36 Group, the British Kazakh Law Association & Mykolas Romeris University Law School.

We will continue looking at #blockchain in addition to #CBDCs and how value fluctuates.
 
The diverse risks landscape will be looked at, including AML/CFT, cybercrime, privacy, the need for licensing and registration (digital assets), & how jurisdictions across the world are regulating new forms of money, plus looking to take advantage of distributed ledger technology themselves - did I forget to say smartcontracts?

Case studies will be considered & the Bank of England consultation on the digital pound will be examined, as too will recent comments by the European Central Bank on its plans for a DigitalEuro.

We'll also be looking at the new Law on Digital Assets in Kazakhstan.

A white paper will be released in summer 2023.

FINTECH UK Fintech Ireland Fintech Kazakhstan Fintech Cyprus FintechLithuania.com Official (Fintech Lithuania)

Peter Oakes Slides on Central Bank Digital Currencies here.
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FinTech is short for ‘Financial Technology’, the central concept of structural change and digitization within the financial services industry. Under the collective name FinTech (which still lacks a clear definition even within the industry), financial services are understood within the framework of the Digital Market Outlook; digital infrastructures allowing the establishment of new types of agreements and procedures in the classic areas of banking such as lending, investment strategies and payments.

Kazakhstan Highlights:

• The market's largest segment will be Digital Payments with a total transaction value of US$3,822.00m in 2022.
• The average transaction value per user in the Alternative Lending segment is projected to amount to US$20.98k in 2022.
• The Digital Investment segment is expected to show a revenue growth of 36.5% in 2023.
• In the Digital Payments segment, the number of users is expected to amount to 9.01m users by 2026.
• Total Transaction Value in the Digital Payments segment is projected to US$3,822.00m in 2022.
• Due to the major differences in the KPIs of FinTech products, e.g. different nature of loan origination volume in Alternative Lending in comparison to Assets under Management in Robo-Advisors, no total transaction value for all segments can be calculated.

Source: https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/fintech/kazakhstan
Please note the information here is the copyright of Statista.  A summary is reproduced here for the purposes of fair comment and education.  Please check the source data.

The Embassy of Kazakhstan in the UK and Armstrong Teasdale law firm co-hosted a conference for investors titled "Kazakhstan’s Investment Regime: Navigating Change and Identifying Opportunities".

Ambassador of Kazakhstan Erlan Idrissov and Partner of Armstrong Teasdale Daniel O’Connell delivered welcoming speeches at the conference.  AIFC Chief Investment Officer James Martin spoke about the new investment prospects in Kazakhstan after the January events and in light of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine
The conference was moderated by the founder of Fintech Ireland and Fintech UK and Consultant at Armstrong Teasdale Peter Oakes.

Conference speakers included Aida Sitdikova, Director for Energy and Natural Resources in Eurasia at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Aiman Mukanova, Executive Director and Head of Central Asia of MUFG Bank, Rashid Gaissin, Partner of Armstrong Teasdale, and Assel Suankulova, Deputy Director of the Investment Promotion and Marketing Department of Kazakh Invest.

Following the conference a reception was hosted at the building where Armstrong Teasdale will be located from later this month - 38-43 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PE, United Kingdom.  

Read more here: https://www.inform.kz/en/kazakhstan-s-investment-regime-in-new-global-geopolitical-conditions-discussed-in-london_a3927915

Armstrong Teasdale Linkedin Post here

At the event, attendees heard from: 

• Keynote: Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the United Kingdom and Ireland, H.E. Erlan Idrissov
• Speaker: James Martin, Chief Investment officer, AIFC
• Panelist: Assel Suankulova, JSC Deputy Director, Kazakh Invest National Company
• Panelist: Aida Sitdikova, Director and Head of Energy Eurasia, Sustainable Infrastructure Group, EBRD
• Panelist: Rashid Gaissin, Partner, Armstrong Teasdale
• Panelist: Aiman Mukanova, Executive Director and Head of Central Asia, MUFG Bank
• Moderator: Peter Oakes, Armstrong Teasdale, Fintech Irealand and Fintech UK

The Tech Hub of the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) plans to launch new programs and invites financial corporations to cooperate after the successful launch of the first fintech accelerator for banks, reported the hub’s press service.

As an AIFC subdivision, Tech Hub promotes start-up ecosystem, venture industry market, e-commerce, corporate innovation and new technology in Kazakhstan. The hub also launches support programs for market players, promotes structuring of venture deals and the testing of new fintech solutions.

Read more here