Conference in Vienna Will Explore How to Balance Fintech’s Opportunities and Risks

The Austrian National Bank and Finance Ministry, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Joint Vienna Institute will join forces in a conference in Vienna on January 28-29 to explore issues related to evolving technologies in the financial sector and to discuss the Bali Fintech Agenda, a set of policy guidelines developed by the Fund and the World Bank Group.

The event in Vienna — the first of five forums on the Bali Agenda to be held worldwide this year — will bring together public officials, private-sector executives and academic scholars from countries in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, as well as the Caucasus and Central Asia, to share their latest experiences and practices related to Fintech’s challenges.

“Policymakers can use the elements in the Bali Fintech Agenda to start putting together a comprehensive Fintech public policy framework that fits their situation best,” said Tobias Adrian, the Fund’s financial counsellor and director of Monetary and Capital Markets. “For each country, the focus will be different: for some it may center around putting in place a level playing field through interoperability of payment infrastructures, for others the stress may be on consumer protection or on financial integrity.”

“It is a great pleasure that the IMF decided to hold its European outreach event on the Bali Fintech Agenda in Austria,” the Austrian Minister of Finance, Hartwig Löger, said. “With the creation of the Fintech Advisory Council, we are putting a strong emphasis on enabling Fintech in order to foster digitalization of Austria’s financial markets. Experts in finance, regulation, and practitioners are jointly working on supporting greater consumer choice and higher efficiency of financial markets. We are delighted to be able to exchange our experiences with professionals from all over the world during this conference.”

“Digitalization will drive many changes in the financial sector. That brings both challenges and opportunities. I am looking forward to fruitful discussions”, said Governor Ewald Nowotny from the OeNB.

The Bali Agenda was launched in October 2018 in Bali, Indonesia at the Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, with the support of those institutions’ 189 member countries. It comprises 12 policy elements designed to help member countries harness the benefits of rapid advances in financial technology, while at the same time managing the many inherent risks.

The conference’s two opening sessions will be open to press.

Program

Monday, January 28, 2019

08:30 a.m. – 09:30 a.m.  Registration

09:30 a.m. – 09:45 a.m.  Welcome and Opening Remarks
Harald Mahrer, President of the General Council of the OeNB, Austria

09:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.  Introductory Session
Harald Waiglein, Director General for Financial Markets, Federal Ministry of Finance, Austria
Ewald Nowotny, Governor, OeNB, Austria
Tobias Adrian, Financial Counsellor and Director, IMF

11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.  The Future of Fintech: Private Sector Perspective
Curt Chadha, Vice President Group Business Development, Wirecard
Niklaus Santschi, CEO, Ingenico Payone
Shermin Voshmgir, Director, Research Institute for Cryptonomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business

Venue: Kassensaal, Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Otto-Wagner-Platz 3, Vienna