SEC Announces Agenda, Panelists for Nov. 14 Fintech Forum

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the agenda and panelists for its Nov. 14 forum to discuss fintech innovation in the financial services industry.

The Fintech Forum, announced in September, will begin at 9 a.m. ET, and will be divided into four panels. Participants on the first panel will discuss the impact of recent innovation in investment advisory services. The second panel will discuss the impact of recent innovation on trading, settlements, and clearance activities. Participants on the third panel will discuss the impact of recent innovation in capital formation. The final panel will discuss investor protection in the fintech era.

The Fintech Forum will be held at the SEC’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and is open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. While the forum will begin at 9 a.m. ET, doors will open at 7:45 a.m. ET. Guests attending should bring photo identification and are encouraged to time their arrival with the understanding that they will be screened by security before entering the Fintech Forum. No registration is required to attend the event.

For members of the public interested in the Fintech Forum, but unable to attend in-person, a live webcast will be available through the SEC’s Fintech Spotlight page.  The webcast will also be archived for later viewing. The public is encouraged to follow the SEC on Twitter at @SEC_News and live-tweet the Fintech Forum using the hashtag #SECfintech.

Agenda and Panelists

(All times Eastern, Panelists as scheduled to appear)

7:45 a.m.        Doors open

9 a.m.              Opening Remarks by Chair White, Commissioner Stein and Commissioner Piwowar

9:15 a.m.        Panel 1: Impact of Recent Innovation in Investment Advisory Services

Moderator: Kristin Snyder, Co-Head of the Investment Advisor/Investment Company program in the SEC Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations

Panelists:

• Ben Alden, General Counsel of Betterment
• Bo Lu, Co-Founder and CEO of Future Advisor at Blackrock
• Mark Goines, Vice Chairman of Personal Capital
• Jim Allen, Head of Capital Markets Policy Group, CFA Institute

10:30 a.m.      Break

10:45 a.m.      Panel 2: Impact of Recent Innovation on Trading, Settlement, and Clearance Activities

Moderator:  Valerie Szczepanik, Head of the SEC Distributed Ledger Technology Working Group; Assistant Director, SEC Division of Enforcement

Panelists:

• Brad Peterson, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer/Chief Technology Officer at Nasdaq
• Chris Church, Chief Business Development Officer, Digital Asset Holdings
• Mark Wetjen, Head of Global Public Policy at DTCC
• Professor Emin Gun Sirer, Cornell University
• Grainne McNamara, Principal in the Capital Markets team at PricewaterhouseCoopers

12:15 p.m.      Lunch Break

1:30 p.m.        Panel 3: Impact of Recent Innovation in Capital Formation

Moderator: Sebastian Gomez Abero, Head of the Office of Small Business Policy, SEC Division of Corporation Finance

Panelists:

• Matt Burton, CEO and Co-Founder of Orchard Platform
• Conor French, General Counsel of Funding Circle and Co-Founder of the Marketplace Lending Association
• Javier Saade, Managing Director at Fenway Summer Ventures
• Sara Hanks, Co-Founder and CEO of CrowdCheck
• Michael Pieciak, Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation and Chief of the NASAA Corporate Finance Section
• Karen Mills, Senior Fellow at Harvard Business School
• Ram Ahluwalia, CEO and Co-Founder of PeerIQ

3 p.m.              Break

3:15 p.m.        Panel 4: Investor Protection in the Fintech Era

Moderator: Marc Wyatt, Director of SEC Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations

Panelists:

• Travis Schwab, CEO of Eventus Systems
• John Walsh, Partner at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP
• Nikhil Lele, Principal in the Financial Services Office at Ernst & Young
• Rick Fleming, SEC Investor Advocate

4:30 p.m.        Fintech Forum concludes