City Week is a leading gathering of the international financial services community
On 24 April, Gottfried Leibbrandt spoke at City Week 2018, which was held at the Guildhall in London. The annual two-day event brought together leaders from the international financial industry and policy makers from around the world to debate the future of global financial markets.Leibbrandt participated in a panel debate on “Reinventing financial services through fintech”. He highlighted Swift’s global payments innovation (gpi) initiative as an example of how innovative technology is significantly improving the correspondent banking experience for customers worldwide. The service enables banks to give their customers a much enhanced cross-border payments experience through real-time tracking, greater transparency on fees and radically increased speed.The panel also debated culture and diversity as major factors in an organisation’s ability to innovate and to attract talented recruits to the workforce. Leibbrandt further highlighted the importance of having the right regulatory environment to encourage openness to change, the dynamic of challenge and enabling competitiveness – characteristics that are all conducive to promoting innovation, whether by fintechs or existing players.The panel was moderated by Caroline Silver, Managing Director, Moelis & Company and included James Bardrick, Country Officer UK, Citigroup and Charlotte Crosswell, Chief Executive Officer, Innovate Finance.
