Gibraltar Finance in London, DLT seminar
Gibraltar Finance hosted a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) seminar and reception, this the final event of the #ThinkGibraltar campaign in London.
On Thursday of last week, Gibraltar’s market leading credentials in the technology sector were showcased at the seminar and reception in Level 39, One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, home to a community of 1,250 leaders in cybersecurity, fintech and retail technology. A very well attended event in Sandbox 1 was addressed by Albert Isola, Minister for Digital and Financial Services for the Government of Gibraltar. Minister Isola also took the opportunity of introducing Kerry Blight, recently appointed CEO of the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission, who set out his vision for the Commission after only a few weeks in the role.
Paul Astengo, Senior Executive, with Gibraltar Finance proceeded to introduce the panel moderator, Paul Gordon, who is Founder and Director at Coinscrum. He in turn invited each panellist to deliver an outline of their professional credentials and an overview of their firm’s activity. The panel included senior leaders from international technology firms, namely: Mihai Ivascu, M3 Holdings Group CEO; Serhii Mokhniev, CEX.IO Regulatory Affairs Counsel; Malcolm Palle, Co- Founder and Chairman; Felipe Vallejo Dabdoub, Head of Risk and Corporate Affairs with Bitso and Santiago Martín de Lavallaz, Director at IOVLabs. A lively and insightful conversation followed on several relevant topics.
Minister Isola commented, “I recall our very first DLT presentation was held here in Level 39 at the very early stages of the development of our DLT regulatory framework. Our proposition has moved on and evolved strongly since then, and it is a pleasure to be back here with a much larger audience. We now have 13 licenced firms with a further number at that advanced “in principle” stage of the process. Testament to the success of our DLT proposition is the quality of panellists who shared their insight and experiences with our guests, each firm they represent is a leader in their field of operations. Our visit to London this week supporting the #ThinkGibraltar campaign through a series of industry sector events has showcased Gibraltar’s strong proposition across the financial services piece and with continued reciprocal UK and Gibraltar market access guaranteed I am very confident of a successful future.”
The DLT seminar followed later in the day from Gibraltar Finance’sInsurance Breakfast at the Gherkin in the City of London, also hosted by Minister Isola, this event taking place on the 40th Floor of the Gherkin Building in the City of London., a fitting location for Gibraltar’s lofty ambitions.
Alongside the DLT seminar, the Breakfast formed part of Gibraltar Finance’s week of events in London and was attended by over 100 insurance professionals. The keynote address was given by Huw Evans the Director- General of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) who was followed by James Armstrong the Chief Risk Officer of the Admiral Insurance Group and a director of Admiral Insurance (Gibraltar) Limited which is Gibraltar’s largest insurance company. The two addresses were followed by a panel discussion with expert input from Ian Clark, David Coupe and Joe Perdoni.
Gibraltar’s Minister Isola addresses the Insurance Breakfast in London
Minister Isola stated, “This week of financial services events organized by Gibraltar Finance is the culmination of our ThinkBusiness #ThinkGibraltar marketing campaign which has been running since mid-September in London. The insurance sector is a key component of Gibraltar’s financial services sector with gross premium income in excess of £5 billion annually.
“Brexit has undoubtedly created uncertainties but as that process appears to be coming to an end we are focused on evolving and widening our insurance offering and we will be announcing a number of new initiatives over the coming months. We believe there are opportunities to attract new business across a range of insurance activities including managing general agents (MGAs), insurtechs, insurance linked securities and within the life insurance sector. We will be extending the scope of business that can be undertaken by Gibraltar’s insurance managers to help facilitate these initiatives.
“The UK statutory instrument, The Gibraltar (Miscellaneous Amendments) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, which was passed by the Houses of Parliament in March 2019 and comes into effect the day after Brexit clearly and unequivocally permits Part VII transfers between the UK and Gibraltar and offers the opportunity for Gibraltar to expand its legacy insurance sector.
T”he recent double tax agreement signed between the United Kingdom and Gibraltar brings other opportunities particularly when combined with Gibraltar’s unique passporting rights into the UK for insurance, reinsurance and insurance intermediaries.”
Minister Isola was accompanied in London by James Tipping, Finance Centre Director and the Senior Executives Michael Ashton, Paul Astengo and Tim Haynes. More information on the #ThinkGibraltar campaign can be found by following the link below:
