In collaboration with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and the Center for Financial Studies (CFS), the Institute for Law and Finance (ILF) held the 4th Digital Financial Services Forum "Are Digital Assets the Future of Financial Market Infrastructure" on 27 April 2023.
The virtual conference focused on the opportunities and challenges of digital assets being part of the financial market infrastructure as digital assets are becoming increasingly relevant in various financial services, including trading, custody, collateral and liquidity management, fund administration, and payments. Participating industry leaders, legislators and experts discussed the impact of digital asset solutions on existing financial markets infrastructure, the legal implications associated with the move towards the digitilisation of financial markets infrastructure and the future roles of different market participants and infrastructure providers.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Cahn, Executive Director of Institute for Law and Finance (ILF), Dr. Markus Benzing, Partner of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, and Prof. Dr. Volker Brühl, Managing Director of Center for Financial Studies, opened the conference by delivering welcoming remarks and an introduction to the conference topics.
Subsequently the following presentations were delivered:
- "Building a regulatory playground that embraces the potential of digital assets" by Mr. Ivan Keller, Policy Officer at DG FISMA, European Commission
- "Digital Debt issuance – a case study" by Mr. Abeetha Pitigala, Global Banking & Markets, Digital Assets, Goldman Sachs International
- "Digital assets and tokenisation – impact on depositaries" by Ms. Ines Cieslok, Global Legal Head of Recovery & Resolution, State Street Corporation
- "Tokenisation and regulatory developments in the Digital Asset Industry" by Ms. Dorette Daume, CFO/COO, Cashlink
The conference concluded with a panel discussion on "The shape of things to come? The place of digital assets in financial market infrastructure" moderated by Ms. Alicia Hildner and Mr. Marius Raetz, both from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. The panelists were the abovementioned speakers Mr. Ivan Keller, Ms. Abeetha Pitigala and Ms. Dorette Daume, as well as Mr. Patrick Kast, Vice President, State Street Digital, State Street Bank International GmbH and Mr. Sascha Dölker, Head of Digitization Management, Deutsche WertpapierService Bank AG.
