UK FinTech Week 2026 – FinTech Academic Network (UKFAN)

Key Questions:

• How can one leverage technology policy and regulation to boost growth in the financial services sector?
• What is the role of emerging technologies in increasing productivity in the FS industry and how this translates to policy decisions and new data/tech-driven regulation in finance?

Moderators/Chairs:
Professor Meryem Duygun, Professor of Banking and Finance & Aviva Chair in Risk and Insurance, Nottingham University Business School

Speakers:
Dr Andrea Lagna, Associate Professor in Financial Technology, Alliance Manchester Business School
Dr Maurizio Fiaschetti, Lecturer in Banking and Finance, Institute of Finance and Technology, University College London
Dr Rhys Bidder, Chainlink Labs & King’s Business School, King’s College London

Additional Panelists
Tamara Kostova, Founder & CEO, AllVesta
Jasmin De Freitas, Manager, FinTech/RegTech Intelligence, Innovation, Financial Conduct Authority
Alex D Roy, Director, EY

Key Questions:

• How the debate around the design and development of CBDCs has developed the last 2-3 years? What does academic research say regarding the consumers’ appetite for adoption and potential risks?
• What are the latest developments for the Digital Pound? What do we know about key design choices, technology and architecture?

Moderators/Chairs:
Professor Alistair Milne, Professor of Financial Economics, Loughborough Business School, Loughborough University

Speakers:
Dr Zhengming Li, Lecturer in Financial Economics, Said Business School, University of Oxford
Dr. Larisa Yarovaya, Associate Professor of Finance and the Director of the Centre for Digital Finance, Southampton Business School, University of Southampton
Dr Andrew Buckley, Honorary Professor, Centre for Financial Technology Studies, University of Manchester

Additional Panelists:
Professor Sheri Markose, Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, University of Essex
Tony McLaughlin, Founder and CEO, Unyx Inc.
Muneeb Shah, Director, EY

Speaker:
Dr Efthymios Rizopoulos, Senior Associate, FinTech & RegTech Intelligence Team, Innovation, Financial Conduct Authority

Key Questions:

• How is Open Finance shaping up in the UK and internationally?
• How can one leverage existing progress in the UK to inform the design and implementation of a smart data infrastructure in the UK? What are the current debates and conversation in academia and industry?

Moderators/Chairs:
Professor Markos Zachariadis, Co-Founder and Chair of UKFAN; Professor in Financial Technology & Information Systems at The University of Manchester

Speakers:
Pavle Avramović, Director of Research and Policy, Financial Innovation for Impact (FII) & Research Associate; Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, Cambridge Judge Business School

Panelists:
Millie Harold, Manager, EY
Nilixa Devlukia, Chair, Open Finance Association

Key Aims:

• To explore how AI is changing the nature of jobs and tasks in Financial Services and what the future holds in terms of skills. AI education will also be discussed as a facilitator for change in the industry and how AI skills can lead to productivity gains for businesses in the sector.

Moderators/Chairs:
Andy Thornley, Head of Regulatory Affairs, Innovate Finance

Speakers:
Lucas Germanos, Vice President, Communications and External Affairs, Zopa Bank
Huy Nguyen Trieu, Author of “The AI-fication of Jobs”, Co-founder, Centre for Finance, Technology & Entrepreneurship (CFTE)
Vasileios Karountzos, Research Associate, The Productivity Institute, Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester

Additional Panelists:
Anna Thomas MBE, Co-Founder and Director, Institute for the Future of Work
Laurence K Grinyer, Senior Manager, EY