World Economic Forum 23rd January. Resilience was a key theme I saw across many areas today, In particular in cyber space – had a great discussion on how cyber standards to be agreed between financial services incumbents and FinTech could support faster innovation at the same time as reducing risk. I cohosted a discussion around the responsibility of the Board in the cyber security discussion and listened to an interesting panel where my favourite quote in the cyber debate so far came up ‘we are not selling fear, but protecting hope’. A common theme amongst all the cyber discussions was around the importance of navigating the complex dynamics of priorities...speed to market, delivering quickly for customers, growth and bottom line, security and privacy, driving organisational efficiencies...understanding how to manage these and other dynamics appropriately, balancing risk and return transparently, is critical.
I spent the afternoon on diverse topics, from science and technology to mental health and ending on a discussion on corporate debt. A few quick takeaways from these; how have we ended up in a situation where science and technology are viewed with distrust...what is missing in education, in societal dialogue to better encourage critical thinking to equip all of us with the ability to sort through the evidence-based from the unfounded; we need to talk about building resilience in mental health...inspiring commitment from the panellists including HRH The Duke of Cambridge and Prime Minister Ardern of NZ...the cost for society is huge so there’s an economic as well as moral imperative to address. I was relieved to hear panellists at the corporate debt session dismiss the notion (through reasoned economics) that there was a bubble about to burst...although they certainly pointed out some areas of caution, particularly where there are liquidity and/or currency mismatches and high leverage.
The evening finished with a fabulous glimpse of what being the Fed Chair is really like, the immensely personable and wise Janet Yellen...a wonderful role model.
Martin's pre-conference blog can be found here.
Her round up of Day 1 can be found here.
Her final round up can be found here.