Connect Forum London 2023______

Our annual Connect Forum - London took place on Thursday, 12 October.

The theme of this year's event was Digital Horizons - Charting the Future of Funds. We explored the global emerging trends that are driving innovation and how the industry is responding.

The event was a breakfast seminar followed by networking lunch, providing an opportunity to meet and network with your peers.

Date: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Time: 8.15am  12.30pm BST (followed by networking lunch)
registration and breakfast between 8:15am and 9am 
Venue: City of London

Registration for this event are now closed.

08:15 – 09:00 Registration and breakfast

09:00 Welcome and introduction

Nicki Mollison

Director, Commercial Management, Calastone

09:10 Deciphering market trends to create digital advantage

The continued acceleration of technology is driving innovation at scale across every industry, changing the way in people engage and operate. During this session Ross will explore some of these emerging tech trends and explore the dynamic interplay between technology and consumer behaviour taking place on a global scale.

Ross Fox

Head of UK & Europe, Calastone

09:40 The path to digital – unlocking efficiency and automation

Calastone’s product team share our latest developments and what’s new in product. This session will also share insights to our technology investment and product roadmap which continues to driving greater robustness and opportunity from our global funds network.

Varun Atre

Chief Product Officer, Calastone

Dave McGuiness

Product Director, Fund Services, Calastone

Michael McNeil

Product Director, Digital Investment, Calastone

10:20 How technology is reshaping collective investments

Edward Glyn hosts this fireside discussion about the future of collective investing with Adam Belding, Calastone’s CTO, covering areas including: How advances in technology and greater adoption of newer tech are enabling new digitally native investment products. The current map of innovation for collective investment products and how the regulatory landscape is evolving.

Moderator

Edward Glyn

Head of Global Markets, Calastone

Panellist

Adam Belding

Chief Technology Officer, Calastone

10:45 BREAK

11:05 Panel discussion: Investor centricity

What does the industry need to do to become more investor centric? How well suited are today’s mix of products and what must the industry do to maintain relevance to future investors? What is the future of distribution in a world being led by new super distributors and big tech?

Moderator

Edward Glyn

Head of Global Markets, Calastone

Panellists

Mel Seymour

Global Head of Client Experience, Blackrock

David Ferguson

CEO, Seccl

Diane MacFarlane

Head of Security Services, JP Morgan

11:50 Distribution outlook – Understanding investor sentiment through Fund Flows

Recent world events have driven some of the most volatile markets that have ever been seen. In this session we explore what we have learnt about changing investor preferences and behaviours using global fund flow insights from Calastone’s fund network.

Dominic De Lisle

Director, Content and Communications, Calastone

12:05 Fireside chat: Future market outlook – Richard Godfrey, Chief Operating Officer, M&G Asset Management

Moderator

Brian Godins

Chief Commercial Officer, Calastone

Panellist

Richard Godfrey

Chief Operating Officer, M&G Asset Management

12:30 Networking Lunch