About this event
Technology, digital currency, and climate change are crucial factors that profoundly affect world economy. New digital currencies, such as central bank digital currency (CBDC) as a digital form of fiat currency, bring new opportunities and challenges to world economy. These issues range from data harvesting to privacy and cyber security. Moreover, climate change brings growing challenges to the monetary policy.
All these factors involve complex regulatory and technical issues. How would CBDC be issued and operate? What are the right and duty of central banks? What are the different approaches to CBDC? How to address the new challenges brought by climate change to monetary policy?
To explore the future landscape of world economy, this panel discussed these cutting-edge and underexplored questions.
Moderator:
Professor Jianfu Chen
Professor Jianfu Chen, LLM (Hon I, Syd), PhD (Syd), is a Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne Law School, and an Emeritus Professor at La Trobe University. Professor Chen was Deputy Head of Law School (2006-2008) and Head of Law School at La Trobe University (2008-2010).
Professor Chen is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law (FAAL), as well as the Australian Academy of the Humanities (FAHA). Professor Chen has also held various visiting professorships in China, Singapore, and The Netherlands, and various visiting scholarship positions in Asia, Europe and the US.
Professor Chen specialises in international and comparative law, international human rights law, and Chinese law. He has published (authored, co-authored and co-edited) more than 20 books and over 80 book chapters and journal articles, on international trade, international human rights, and Chinese law.
Speakers:
Professor Sayuri Shirai
Sayuri Shirai is currently a professor of Keio University and is also senior advisor to EOS at Federated Hermes located in London. She is also a non-executive board member of a Japanese listed food company. She holds Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University. She was also visiting scholar to Asian Development Bank Institute in 2016-2020. She was a Member of the Policy Board of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) in 2011-2016, which is responsible for making monetary policy decisions. She taught at Sciences Po in Paris in 2007–2008 and was an economist at the IMF in 1993-1998. She is the author of numerous books and papers on a variety of subjects including central bank digital currency (CBDC), monetary policies, global finance and macroeconomies, and ESG issues. She frequently comments on Japan’s economy and global economy at CNBC TV, Bloomberg TV, China’s CCTV English program (CGTN) and numerous Japanese TV and radio programs. Her most recent book in English is Growing Central Bank Challenges in the World and Japan published by the Asian Development Bank Institute in June 2020 (free download available). Her personal homepage is available at http://www.sayurishirai.jp/.
Mr John Velissarios
Mr John Velissarios is a Managing Director in Accenture’s Technology Consulting workforce, based in London. John is Accenture’s Global Blockchain and Multiparty Systems Lead responsible for Digital Assets, Custody and Central Bank Digital Currencies. John is currently leading several Blockchain engagements with top tier global organisations and central banks.
Professor Heng Wang
Professor Heng Wang is co-director of China International Business and Economic Law (CIBEL) Centre, UNSW Law & Justice. Heng was named Australia's research field leader in international law by The Australian newspaper’s Research 2020 magazine. He has been a recipient of major awards and grants. His work explores the future of international economic development, often from Chinese and regional perspectives. His present focus is on law and technology particularly central bank digital currency. He has advised or spoken at events organized by international organizations and institutions (e.g., APEC, BIS, ICC, UNCITRAL, WTO), and the private sector. He is regularly interviewed by the media.
Professor Corinne Zellweger-Gutknecht
Professor Corinne Zellweger-Gutknecht is a professor of private law and economic law at the University of Basel and a professor of law at the Kalaidos University of Applied Sciences in Zurich. She teaches monetary law at the University of Zurich and is admitted as a lawyer for the canton of Zurich and Switzerland.
Corinne researches in the fields of monetary and central banking law, and interdisciplinary issues between private and financial market law. She has led a study on the admissibility of an e-euro under the ECB Legal Research Programme. She is particularly interested in the influence of digitisation on public as well as private money, payment systems and the financial market. Her recent research includes the legal framework of cryptoassets and the relationship between retail CBDC issuance and price stability.
Corinne serves and has served as an advisor and expert to companies as well as authorities such as the Swiss Confederation, SNB, BIS and FINMA.