Global Government Fintech

21/03/2024

“One of the key issues that we are having is: ‘What is fintech? What is digital finance? We often use the latter phrase...”: Barbara Voelkl of ’s Federal Ministry of Finance during Global Government Fintech's recent webinar [https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/governments-fintech-navigators-charting-a-course-through-public-sector-possibilities/] looking ahead to the Global Government Fintech Lab 2024.
➡ Work in the public sector and interested in how to explore and engage with the possibilities of technology to transform your operations and services?
➡ REGISTER NOW to attend our in-person event in Dublin on 25 April (FIVE WEEKS TO GO!) https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/lab/ - free to attend for all public servants
Global Government Forum

19/03/2024

Findings of a proof-of-concept project based around using artificial intelligence ( ) to accelerate the extraction of -related from corporate reports have been presented today (19 March) by European central bank innovation experts. The Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub's Eurosystem centre has been working with the Banco de España, Deutsche Bundesbank and European Central Bank (ECB) on ‘Project Gaia’, which has focused on using AI – in particular large-language models (LLMs) – to enable ‘comprehensive’ analysis of climate-related risks in the financial system by ‘automatically extracting’ climate-related indicators from publicly available corporate documents. | Check out Global Government Fintech's article on the 42-page ‘Project Gaia: enabling climate risk analysis using generative AI’ report =>
https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/bis-innovation-hub-project-gaia-ai-proof-of-concept-climate-data/

Findings of a proof-of-concept project based around using AI to accelerate the extraction of climate-related data from corporate reports have been presented today.

18/03/2024

UK and US sanctions has been added to a recently launched -powered -detection tool being used by UK authorities to root out criminals. The ‘Single Network Platform (SNAP)’ – which was launched just months ago by the Public Sector Fraud Authority in partnership with company Quantexa – has been ‘upgraded with thousands of new sanctions and debarment records to help it detect suspicious networks, activity and users that warrant further investigation for organised crime and sanctions evasion', according to a government announcement. The government is also to run a number of what are described as AI ‘discovery projects’ during 2024-25 to ‘identify new ways to detect fraud’. | Global Government Fintech's news story includes reference to further recent anti-fraud and/or AI-related announcements =>
https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/uk-government-flows-sanctions-data-into-ai-powered-fraud-detection-tool/
HM Treasury Department for Work and Pensions - DWP HMRC Global Government Forum

UK and US sanctions data has been added to a recently launched AI-powered fraud-detection tool being used by UK authorities to root out criminals.

18/03/2024

Senior public servants from , , the and are the latest speaker confirmations for the Global Government Fintech Lab 2024, which will be held in on Thursday 25 April. Taking place for the third time – and the second time in Ireland’s capital, which also hosted the Global Government Fintech Lab 2023 – the Lab ( ) is designed for public servants worldwide interested in exploring the possibilities of technology to transform their operations and the services they deliver. Read all about it =>
https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/global-government-fintech-lab-2024-dublin-new-speakers-announced/
*** Free to attend for public servants ***
Global Government Forum

Mari-Liis Kukk, Robert Rampre, Lee Edmonds and Jon Reidar Testad are the latest names to confirm to speak at the Global Government Fintech Lab 2024

15/03/2024

’s government has published its latest annual priorities for fostering growth of the sector, including exploring the ‘costs, merits and feasibility’ of setting up a ‘national fintech hub’. A newly published ‘Update to Ireland for Finance: Action Plan 2024’ strategy document contains 13 ‘key deliverables’ (one more than last year’s edition), with ‘assessing the proposal for the establishment of a national fintech hub’ among six action points in the ‘fintech and digital finance’ pages. In the foreword, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill writes that she is ‘personally committed to Ireland having its own dedicated Fintech Hub to foster innovation and help fintech companies with their speed to market and capacity to scale.’ | Read all about it in Global Government Fintech =>
https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/irish-government-to-explore-potential-for-establishing-national-fintech-hub/
🔊 Ireland's Department of Finance is hosting this year's 'Global Government Fintech Lab' event in on 25 April 2024 - it's free to attend for all civil servants [https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/lab/]

Ireland’s government has published its latest annual priorities for fostering growth of the fintech sector, including exploring the ‘costs, merits and feasibility’ of setting up a ‘national fintech hub’. The government’s fintech-related priorities are set out in an ‘Update to Ireland f...

13/03/2024

The governor of the Bank of Japan has described central bank digital currency ( ) as a ‘pivotal’ topic for central banks worldwide but highlighted low awareness of CBDC among the Japanese public. Kazuo Ueda gave a speech titled ‘What to Know about Central Bank Digital Currency’ at the FIN/SUM 2024 conference in . Japan’s central bank launched a pilot CBDC programme in 2023, having begun CBDC experiments almost three years ago. Read all about it =>
https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/bank-of-japan-governor-cbdc-pivotal-topic-public-awareness-low/
Global Government Forum

12/03/2024

‘Lost at sea? Helping to navigate solutions’ possibilities for governments’: we're now live with the write-up of our fantastic recent discussion featuring representatives from two of the biggest European Union (EU) member states’ finance ministries, complemented by a global perspective from the World Bank.
Global Government Forum

https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/governments-fintech-navigators-charting-a-course-through-public-sector-possibilities/
>>> The webinar was held as a 'look-ahead' to our third Global Government Fintech Lab ( ) event: REGISTER NOW (free for all public servants) - hosted by Department of Finance Ireland in on Thursday 25 April 2024

Representatives from Germany and Italy's finance ministries and the World Bank discuss the possibilities for public sector use of fintech solutions

11/03/2024

The 香港金融管理局 Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is to create what it describes as a ‘wholesale central bank digital currency ( ) sandbox’ as part of its ongoing push to encourage the development of tokenised finance. A newly unveiled initiative – ‘Project Ensemble’ – will seek to explore innovative financial market infrastructure to facilitate ‘seamless’ interbank settlement of tokenised money through wholesale CBDC. The project has the potential to ‘forge a new financial market infrastructure that bridges the gap between tokenised real-world assets and money in transactions,’ the HKMA states in its announcement.
https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/hong-kong-wholesale-central-bank-digital-currency-sandbox-tokenisation/
Global Government Forum tokenization

01/03/2024

*** INTERVIEW ***
PagoPA is best known in as a platform but the organisation – state-owned through the Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze (Ministry of Economy and Finance) – has a broader remit to enable digital public services. Alessandro Moricca reflects on his first year as the 340-person-strong organisation's leader and looks to priorities ahead. https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/payments-plus-alessandro-moricca-on-creating-a-digital-ecosystem-in-italy/
Global Government Forum

Reflecting on his first year as PagoPA's leader, and looking to priorities ahead, Alessandro Moricca talks to Global Government Fintech editor Ian Hall

01/03/2024

Government-backed initiatives to help with , including the promotion of ‘digital tipping solutions’ for low-income restaurant workers and ‘innovative technologies’ for low-value cross-border trade, have been announced in . The National Treasury’s ‘2024 Budget Review’ document is largely focused on the economic outlook, fiscal policy and spending plans but devotes two pages to financial innovation to improve competition and inclusion. ‘Government is taking steps to promote the adoption of , which will help to improve the lives and livelihoods of marginalised groups,’ the Treasury notes in an annex of the 277-page document. ‘Collaboration between the public and private sectors will be key to successful implementation.’ Read all about it =>
https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/south-africa-public-private-fintech-projects-seek-to-tackle-financial-inclusion/
Global Government Forum FinMark Trust Mastercard Foundation Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

26/02/2024

The Isle of Man Financial Services Authority has announced a collaboration with a -based company to use ( ) for compliance-related interactions with the companies it supervises.
https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/isle-of-man-regulator-to-use-ai-tool-for-compliance-related-interactions/
Isle of Man Department for Enterprise Isle of Man Government

The Isle of Man Financial Services Authority has announced a collaboration with a Luxembourg-based company to use artificial intelligence (AI) for compliance-related interactions with the companies it supervises.

26/02/2024

Banks have been accused of ‘barking up the wrong tree’ if they believe that a central bank digital currency ( ) would cause people to withdraw significant amounts of money from conventional bank accounts to hold . ‘Many banks worry their customers might withdraw deposits to hold digital euro instead,’ three senior European Central Bank (ECB) figures acknowledge in a co-authored blogpost. ‘These fears are misplaced.’ Executive Board member Piero Cipollone, Market Infrastructure & Payments (MIP) director-general Ulrich Bindseil and MIP adviser Jürgen Schaaf aim in their article – titled ‘Digital euro: Debunking banks’ fears about losing deposits’ – to address what they describe as ‘persistent criticism’ on the topic.
https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/banks-barking-up-wrong-tree-over-digital-euro-deposit-flight-fears-ecb-paper/
Global Government Forum

Piero Cipollone, Ulrich Bindseil and Jürgen Schaaf co-author blogpost titled ‘Digital euro: Debunking banks’ fears about losing deposits’

22/02/2024

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is re-tendering a contract for the provision of services to the department as its first such contract’s end-date approaches. HMRC procured the services of fintech company Ecospend to enable the department to receive payments via open banking three years ago – a move that created a government use-case for open banking that apparently made the UK department a global pioneer and became a feather in the cap for the-then relatively unknown Ecospend, which had competed against numerous major financial services companies to bag the contract. HMRC’s contract with Ecospend was awarded on a ‘two years with one-year extension’ basis, running to 29 February 2024, making the re-tender an expected move. Read all about it =>
https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/hmrc-retenders-open-banking-contract-ccs-dps/
Global Government Forum

HMRC is re-tendering a contract for the provision of open banking services to the department as its first such contract’s end-date approaches.

22/02/2024

The number of suppliers on a nascent ‘dynamic purchasing system’ designed to facilitate the use of open banking across the UK public sector has started to edge upwards, reaching a tally of five companies – including NatWest, one of the country’s biggest banks – six weeks after its launch. The ‘Open Banking Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS)’ has been set up by the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) – an executive agency of the Cabinet Office – with the ultimate aim of ‘reducing the costs of receiving money into public sector organisations, as well as reducing fraud’. Read all about it in Global Government Fintech =>
https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/uk-open-banking-dynamic-purchasing-system-supplier-tally-edges-upwards/

The number of suppliers on a nascent ‘dynamic purchasing system’ designed to facilitate the use of open banking across the UK public sector has started to edge upwards, reaching a tally of five companies six weeks after its launch.

16/02/2024

in has issued its second ‘ bond’ – with a striking twist on the city’s first blockchain bond issuance last year. The city authority issued a six-year ‘digital native’ bond valued at CHF 100 million just over 12 months ago. Its second such bond (also priced at CHF 100 million) is part of the Swiss National Bank’s wholesale central bank digital currency ‘Project Helvetia’ pilot programme, meaning that settlement will take place in wholesale central bank digital currency ( ). Lugano’s issuance is the third bond to be issued as part of the pilot following issuances by Kanton Basel-Stadt and by Kanton Zürich. | In Global Government Fintech's article we hear from Lugano's Paolo Bortolin about how the issuance went - and how, for him at least, issuing ‘digital bonds’ has become the “new normal”. Read all about it =>
https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/swiss-city-lugano-issues-blockchain-bond-with-settlement-in-wholesale-cbdc/
Global Government Forum

Lugano in Switzerland has issued its second ‘blockchain bond’ - with a striking twist on the city’s first blockchain bond issuance last year.

15/02/2024

’s government has completed an issuance of digital green bonds across four currencies in a breakthrough move involving numerous innovations. Authorities in the special administrative region of undertook the first digital green bond issuance by any government globally just under 12 months ago. This new issuance has seen the successful offering of around HK$6 billion-worth (about £607m/US$767m) of two-year digital green bonds denominated in HK dollars (HK$), renminbi (RMB), US dollars (US$) and euro (EUR). The 香港金融管理局 Hong Kong Monetary Authority described the new issuance as ‘the first multi-currency digital bond offering in the world’ and also Hong Kong’s first ‘digitally native’ bond issuance. Read all about it in Global Government Fintech =>
https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/hong-kong-multi-currency-digital-green-bonds/
Global Government Forum

Hong Kong’s government has completed an issuance of digital green bonds across four currencies in a move involving numerous digital finance innovations.

12/02/2024

has become the first European country to accept made via ’s Unified Payments Interface ( ) in a breakthrough for Indian authorities’ global ambitions for the payment mechanism. Read all about it =>
https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/indias-upi-hits-france-as-eiffel-tower-enables-online-rupee-payments-for-visitors/
National Payments Corporation of India Global Government Forum

NPCI International Payments and French e-payments company Lyra announce that Indian tourists are now able to purchase tickets for the Eiffel Tower via UPI

09/02/2024

’s government is to co-fund an R&D project focused on artificial intelligence ( ) involving one of Europe’s biggest banks and the University of Luxembourg. BGL BNP Paribas is the first private bank with a project involving AI that will benefit from government co-financing as part of an ‘R&D and Innovation’ grant scheme in the member state. The Ministry of the Economy and Ministry of Finance’s joint-announcement of the project makes reference to the new Luxembourg government’s coalition agreement 2023-2028, stating that 'the exploitation of AI offers immense potential to boost many sectors of the economy, including , as well as to simplify the lives of citizens.’ Global Government Fintech's article also includes a look at the coalition agreement's inclusion of AI in a commitment on the of public service operations and delivery. Read all about it =>
https://www.globalgovernmentfintech.com/luxembourg-government-co-finances-rd-project-on-ai-in-banking/
Global Government Forum

Luxembourg’s government is to co-fund a R&D project focused on AI in financial services involving BGL BNP Paribas and the University of Luxembourg.