For once, the National Museum in Zurich was not exclusively dedicated to Swiss culture and history, but also served as a platform for dialogue on current topics pertaining to the financial sector. In front of around 200 high-ranking representatives of the local financial industry, renowned academics and finance practitioners discussed three topics of central importance to investors. The conference kicked off with a welcome address by Professor François Degeorge, Managing Director of SFI, and Dr. Ingo Rauser, Senior Partner of the Capco Institute.

In the first panel presentation, SFI Professor Laurent Frésard from the Università della Svizzera italiana addressed technological change and its influence on IPOs and corporate acquisitions, a topic that was then discussed in detail by panelists Nick Bosshart (JP Morgan), Didier Denat (Credit Suisse), Patrick Voegeli (BNP Paribas), and Roger Studer (Vontobel).

The second round of discussions focused on the increasing importance of passively managed investment funds in a global context. In his remarks, SFI Professor Rüdiger Fahlenbrach of EPFL focused on the interest of passive investment funds in participating in the corporate governance of companies. Subsequently, panelists Urban Angehrn (ZFG), Isabelle Bourcier (BNP Paribas), Yves Bonzon (Julius Baer), Sandro Streit (SNB) and Michael Strobaek (Credit Suisse) exchanged views during a lively discussion on the topic.

During the third panel, SFI Professor Steven Ongena from the University of Zurich addressed the higher capital requirements placed on banks and the resulting tensions for the audit firms of financial institutions. Panelists Frédéric Boissay (BIS), Philippe Clémençon (Credit Suisse), Daniel Martin (EY), Gernot Mittendorfer (Erste Group Bank AG) and Bertrand Rime (SNB) engaged in a stimulating exchange on this topic.

Dr. Romeo Lacher, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the SIX Group, concluded the event with an enlightening and highly-regarded keynote speech, which shed light on the future of financial market infrastructure (FMI): After explaining the importance of efficiency, innovation and security for FMI based on facts and figures, Mr. Lacher set out today’s challenges resulting from the regulatory landscape, technological disruption, digitalization of the economy and related new risks. In answer to these and in order to develop new business opportunities, SIX will launch the SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) later this year, a fully integrated safe end-to-end trading, settlement and custody service for digital assets (both native tokens and tokenized securities) based on a distributed ledger technology.