Andrew Douglas, Chairman, Accelerated Settlement (T+1) Taskforce Technical Group, and Steering Committee Member, Digital Markets Champion Industry Taskforce

The Twin Imperatives of Speed and Innovation: Delivering the WFMDS

An overview of how the WFMDS will help the UK remain competitive in a new technological era, in which DLT, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing will fundamentally reimagine how financial assets are issued, traded, cleared, and settled. 

Chris Woolard CBE, Wholesale Digital Markets Champion

Modernising Money and Markets: The Bank of England’s Vision for UK Wholesale Finance 

Insights from the central bank on the strategic direction for UK financial markets, focusing on the responsible adoption of tokenisation, the role of central bank money in digital settlement, and the imperative for financial stability

Sasha Mills, Executive Director, Financial Market Infrastructure, Bank of England and Steering Committee Member, Digital Markets Champion Industry Taskforce

Market Optimisation: Eradicating Paper and the Road to October 2027  

A deep dive into the practical realities of the UK's move to T+1 settlement and the elimination of paper share certificates. This panel will address the critical challenges of automation, straight-through processing (STP), the legislative timetable for dematerialisation and managing cross-border complexities with the EU and Switzerland.

Moderator

Charlie Geffen, Senior Advisor, Flint Global, and Advisor, Accelerated Settlement (T+1) Taskforce Technical Group 

Panellists

Andrew Douglas, Chairman, Accelerated Settlement (T+1) Taskforce Technical Group, and Steering Committee Member, Digital Markets Champion Industry Taskforce

Mark Austin, Chairman, Dematerialisation Market Action Taskforce, Steering Committee Member, Digital Markets Champion Industry Taskforce and Partner, Latham & Watkins

Danny Green, Head of International Post-Trade, Broadridge

Senior representative, Euroclear UK & International 

Market Transformation: Stablecoins and The Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS) 

An exclusive conversation with early participants in the Bank of England and FCA’s Digital Securities Sandbox and the Stablecoin Regulatory Sandbox. Topics include the challenges and triumphs of testing DLT-based issuance, trading, and settlement in a live regulatory environment, integrating digital native platforms with legacy infrastructure, the findings from stablecoin testing, and the path to final systemic stablecoin rules.

Moderator

John Siena, Associate General Counsel, Co-Head of Regulatory Strategy, Brown Brothers Harriman 

Panellists

Benjamin Santos-Stephens, CEO, ClearToken

Rory Tanner, Head of Government Affairs & Public Policy, Revolut

Nick Smith, Stablecoin/Crypto Policy Manager, FCA

Adriana Ennaub, Executive in Residence, Global Digital Finance (GDF)

The Digital Gilt (DIGIT): A Catalyst for Tokenised Debt Markets 

Examining the strategic implications of HM Treasury’s digital gilt issuance (DIGIT), the world’s first sovereign bond issued natively on a DLT platform. Discussion will cover the operational efficiencies gained, the role of HSBC’s Orion platform, interoperability between infrastructure providers, and how DIGIT could reshape debt capital markets and secondary trading.

Tokenised Collateral - From Pilot to Practice

A detailed look at the Bank of England’s approach to tokenised collateral and atomic settlement. This session will cover the Bank’s forthcoming policy clarification on how tokenised collateral operates under UK EMIR, use cases for intraday repo and corporate liquidity optimisation, and bridging the gap between DLT ledgers and traditional cash rails.

Moderator

Jonathan Gilmour, Partner, Head of Derivatives & Structured Products Group, Travers Smith

Smart Data, AI, and the Future of Open Banking Payments

Exploring the role of data and AI as foundations for modern wholesale markets. The panel will discuss the adoption of smart data principles, the testing of AI-based solutions in the FCA’s Supercharged Sandbox, the forthcoming modernisation of payment services regulation, and how the regulatory framework will adapt to payments conducted by autonomous AI agents.

Panellists

Henk Van Hulle, CEO, Open Banking Limited

Dr Rohit Dhawan, AI Champion for Financial Services, and Head of AI and Advanced Analytics – Lloyds Banking Group

Joseph Twigg, CEO, Aveni AI

Olivier Miart, Global co-head of Digital Transformation, International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA)

Jessica Rusu, Chief Data, Information and Intelligence Officer, FCA

Pioneering Digital Assets: Fund Tokenisation and Legal Certainty 

Examining landmark transactions in the UK market, including the launch of fully tokenised OEIC funds following the FCA’s PS26/7 framework. The panel will also discuss the impact of the Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025, providing statutory clarity for digital assets under English law, and the role of public vs. private blockchains in institutional finance.

Panellists

Graham Rodford, CEO and Co-Founder, Archax

David Reed, Director – Digital Assets Product, Invesco

Polina Evstifeeva, Vice President, Digital Solutions, State Street

How the simultaneous pressures of the WFMDS pillars—Optimisation, Transformation, and Leadership—will ultimately reshape the UK and global financial architecture. Discussion will focus on international coordination to ensure DLT interoperability, reducing fragmentation across jurisdictions (including the EU, Singapore, and the US), and maintaining the UK’s competitiveness as a global financial centre.

Panellists

Ryan Hayward, Head of Digital Assets and Strategic Investments, Barclays

Kate Finlayson, Global Head, FICC Market Structure & Liquidity Strategy, JPMorgan

Gabriel Callsen, Senior Director, FinTech and Digitalisation, ICMA

Ben Johnson, Executive Director, Strategic Alliances, EMEA, DTCC

Andrew Douglas, Chairman, Accelerated Settlement (T+1) Taskforce Technical Group