AIIFL Newsletter (April 2021)

                           AIIFL News Issue 2 - April 2021

                            MESSAGE FROM AIIFL 

I hope you all had a lovely holiday and welcome to our third issue of AIIFL News! At the outset I would like to take this opportunity to introduce Dr Kuzi Charamba,

who has joined AIIFL as our new Post-Doctoral Fellow in FinTech, RegTech and Digital Financial Transformation. He will be focusing on research in the area of digital finance, financial inclusion and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Kuzi has taught a number of courses at McGill during his PhD / DCL studies, including winning McGill’s Teaching Tomorrow’s Professor Award. He also has extensive research experience, in particular with the One Earth Future Foundation in Denver, Colorado, USA, as a Visiting Scholar in Residence at the University of Colorado Law School, and research assistant to several leading professors at McGill.

Douglas Arner AIIFL Director | Email

HIGHLIGHTS 

Looking Back Looking Forward: Finance, Technology and Regulation in 2021

In the first episode of Series 2 of Looking Back Looking Forward, Professor Douglas Arner looked at the big picture trends for finance, technology and regulation in 2021. In this Episode 2, he focuses in on one of these: how cryptocurrencies and digital assets are increasingly becoming a new asset class in the traditional financial system, subject to a wide range of regulation just like other aspects of finance. 

     The episode discusses the evolution of crypto, blockchain and digital assets over the past decade, highlighting that - regardless of price volatility - both the blockchain and digital assets now have a significant place in the financial system, a place that is likely to increase with the launch of not only Diem but also an increasing range of central bank digital currencies. 

     For more information on the University of Hong Kong's financial technology programme and all the episodes of Looking Back Looking Forward, visit http://www.hkufintech.com and discover the transformation of information technology's ever-growing impact on finance. 

Watch the video now

We are seeking to expand our world leading team in the area of FinTech, RegTech and Digital Finance. 

Post-Doctoral Fellow in Finance, Technology and Regulation Applications close: 31 July 2021, HK Time 

The post will be based in AIIFL and will work closely with the HKU-Standard Chartered Foundation FinTech Academy. Applicants should possess a Ph.D. degree in Law, Computer Science, Engineering, Business, Finance or any other areas related to finance, technology and regulation; knowledge and ideally experience of issues relating to FinTech, RegTech and digital finance; strong communication and organizational skills; sensitivity and commitment to cultural awareness; and the ability to work with a high degree of independence. They should also demonstrate proven ability to develop and pursue a coherent agenda of legal research and/or interdisciplinary scholarship; significant experience of presenting research at domestic and international conferences; and exceptional potential to develop a body of high-quality publications in scholarly journals. More details and online application are available HERE

Research Assistant Professor in FinTech / RegTech Applications close: 30 June 2021, HK Time 

The HKU-Standard Chartered Foundation FinTech Academy, with the aim to cultivate interdisciplinary research in FinTech, has established a Research Assistant Professor Scheme. The post will be based in AIIFL and will work closely with the HKU-Standard Chartered Foundation FinTech Academy. Applicants should have a Ph.D. degree in the field of Law, and have demonstrated promise of a high level of ability in research in the field of FinTech (including but not limited to Blockchain, Cyber Security, RegTech, InsurTech, WealthTech, Financial Intelligence, AI and Data Analytics). More details and online application are available HERE 

UPCOMING EVENT

How the Rise of China Challenges Global Regulation? (9 April 2021) 

Angela Zhang, the author of Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism: How the Rise of ChinaChallenges Global Regulation, will share her views on the topic of “How the Rise of China Challenges Global Regulation?”, followed by an open discussion among participants moderated by Professor Heiwai Tang on 9 April 2021. Details and registration 

PUBLICATIONS AND REPORTS 

AIIFL reports and publications 

White Paper: Advantages of Security Token Offerings 

AIIFL jointly published a new report on Security token offerings (STOs) with Deloitte and HKbitEX. STOs are essentially an offering of securities in a blockchain environment that involves the creation of, and transaction in, digital blockchain tokens. The offering can be applied to financial or non-financial assets and with the token backed by these assets. 

     Following on from the first paper “Security token offerings: The next phase of financial market evolution?” issued on 15 October 2020, this paper identifies pain points of traditional capital raising channels faced by market participants, and considers how security token offerings (STOs) are able to address some of these problems. 

     The full report is available HERE 

Selected articles, books and reports from the AIIFL team 

Digital Finance, COVID-19 and Existential Sustainability Crises: Setting the Agendafor the 2020s Douglas W. Arner, Ross P. Buckley, Andrew M. Dahdal, Dirk A. Zetzsche 

Reimagining a Centralized Cryptocurrency Regulation in the US: Looking through theLens of Cryptoderivatives Sangita Gazi 

New Frontiers in Asia-Pacific International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution 

Harmonizing the Public Policy Exception for International Commercial Arbitration along the Belt and Road, Chapter 7 Weixia Gu 

Arbitration in Comparative Perspective (Chapter 21) Comparative Dispute Resolution Weixia Gu 

Judging Regulators: The Political Economy of Anglo-American Administrative Law Eric C. Ip 

Digital Financial Inclusion: Observations and Insights from Hong Kong's Virtual Banks Emily Lee

How Floating Rate Notes Stopped Floating: Evidence From the Negative Interest Rate Regime Jürgen Klaus, Eriks K Selga 

Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism: How the Rise of China Challenges Global Regulation Angela Zhang

SELECTED MEDIA

A Fresh Opportunity to Tackle Big Issues (Richard Cullen)

RESEARCH PROJECTS AND IMPACT

HKU Excellence Awards for 2020

Teaching Innovation Award - Team Award

FinTech Professional Certificate | edX

 Congratulations to Douglas Arner, David Bishop, David Lee, Ellen Seto and SM Yiu.

Watch the award video HERE

Congratulations to Kelvin Kwok and Ernest Lim for the nomination of their article "Optimal Deterrence, the Illegality Defence, and Corporate Attribution" for the Concurrences Antitrust Compliance Awards 2021 as an Academic Initiative. This article has also been awarded the Faculty Research Output Prize 2020.

EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES

BIS Innovation Summit 2021: Banking on a New Digital Ecosystem - New Opportunities, Business Models and Regulation

Panel discussion: Douglas Arner, Henry Ma, Kahina Van Dyke and Noah Pepper on 23 March 2021 Watch it HERE

Syren Johnstone, William Magnusan and Christine Jiang participated in the "Perspectives on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Regulation" on 22 March 2021

Details

Giuliano G. Castellano presented his latest research on commercial law and financial regulation in a talk delivered for the University College London LLM Programme on 8 March 2021.

The working-paper about the talk is available HERE

Douglas Arner, Seen-Meng Chew, Henry Chong and Lin Shi discussed "The Current Development and Outlook of the Security Token Market" at the Asian Structured Credit Virtual Summit 2021 on 16 March 2021

Watch it HERE