Our first digital event came at just the right time. We had been starting to produce webcasts of our classic event in 2019, so we were ready. It’s not just a response to the crisis. We see digital content as a major part of the forces at work in our centre of gravity in the FinTech ecosystem. This allows us to create a tighter feedback loop as the digital economy develops. We will have regular events and interviews each week, so be sure to join the Association or reach out to learn more.

John Hucker, President of Swiss Finance + Technology Association.

On Wednesday, March 18th, 2020, SFTA hosted a virtual roundtable regarding the intersection between energy markets and Fintech. After a brief introduction by the host and SFTA president John Hucker, the virtual roundtable was moderated by German Ramirez (“The Relevance House”). Among the panelists were Moris Isik (“Greenmatch”), Micheal Waldner (“PexaPark”) and Alexandre Juncker (“Alpiq”). The event was hosted online instead of at a live venue due to Covid19.

The roundtable explored different perspectives on energy markets and Fintech, how these two interact and what possible symbiosis there is. In the context of energy markets, the topic of renewable energies and sustainability was tackled from different angles. The panelists also discussed the potential of emerging technologies, like Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence, and how they could contribute to the development of the energy market. «There will be a shift towards more sustainable energy production. This is driven by new digital tools that are helping organizations to transition to a sustainable and low-carbon energy future», Michael Waldner says.

Also, the broader financial implications were discussed. The panelists agreed that sustainability will also gain more and more importance in the financial world, due to the financial potential. According to Moris Isik, «the industry is currently more focusing on optimization possibilities of assets, such as life extension, repowering, machine learning etc. There is a concrete need to lay out the financial implications of the steps taken so that decision makers and investors can estimate the impact of any of their decisions on the final return». This is especially important for institutional investors that use the people’s money, especially pension funds. According to Alexandre Juncker, a reallocation of assets has to take place in the next couple of years. Currently, the investments in traditional ways of energy production do not depict the general consensus in the population of investments in more sustainable energy.

Article by Robert Matic