What truly distinguishes the Desmarais Global Finance Research Centre is the unwavering commitment to fostering a two-way exchange of knowledge between scholars and financial practitioners, creating a mutually beneficial environment. Through cutting-edge research programs, seminars, and conferences, the DGFRC provides a platform for the exploration of contemporary challenges in finance. Join us in this journey of knowledge, collaboration, and innovation as we navigate the ever-evolving landscape of financial economics.

How to (and not to) Regulate Crypto

The Desmarais Global Finance Research Centre (DGFRC) of the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University is presenting a conference series that brings together thought leaders and decision makers from academia, public policy and the business world with the goal to promote thought exchange, dialogue, and the exploration of solutions to global challenges in finance and economics.

The topic for the 2023 Desmarais Global Finance Lecture is “How to (and not to) Regulate Crypto”. The conference, organized in partnership with the Global Interdependence Center, will feature an academic keynote address by Christine Parlour, Professor and Sylvan C. Coleman Chair of Finance and Accounting at the University of California at Berkeley.

The keynote speaker will be joined by Ananya Kumar, Associate Director at The Atlantic Council, Nobuyasu Sugimoto, Deputy Division Chief, Financial Supervision and Regulation Division, IMF, Miguel Diaz, Head of the BIS Innovation Hub Toronto, Franca Ciambella, Senior Consultant at the Global Law Alliance, Pascale Toupin, Director, Oversight of Intermediaries at the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), Elizabeth Côté, Director, Digital Innovation Impact Hub at Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada (OSFI), Laurent Féral-Pierssens, Managing Partner at BlockZero Advisors, Shaun Martinak, Research/Portfolio Manager, Coinbase Asset Management and David Adler, Partner, McCarter & English, LLP, who will participate in different presentation and panel sessions. Professors Kathy Yuan (London School of Economics) and Katya Malinova (McMaster) will present their recent academic work on the topic. The full agenda, along with the complete list of speakers, is below.

Featured on Delve

Staged on September 29, the 2023 Cryptocurrency Conference at Desautels, organized by professors Katrin Tinn and David Schumacher, convened participants from 28 diverse organizations, including universities, regulatory bodies, and the private sector. While cryptocurrency promises borderless potential, the notion that it is completely unregulated isn’t accurate either.


Agenda and Speakers

September 29, 2023

Tentative Program

8:30: Registration and Coffee

9:00: Welcoming Remarks

9:15: Opening Presentations

  • “The State of Crypto Regulations Around The World” Ananya Kumar, Associate Director, The Atlantic Council
  • “Systemic Risk and Financial Stability in the Age of Crypto”

Nobuyasu Sugimoto, Deputy Division Chief, Financial Supervision and Regulation Division, IMF

10:00: Coffee Break

10:15: Paper Session 1: “On the Fragility of DeFi Lending

  • Presenter: Kathy Yuan, Professor of Finance, London School of Economics
  • Discussant: Thomas Rivera, Assistant Professor of Finance, McGill University
  • Moderator: Katrin Tinn, Assistant Professor of Finance, McGill University

11:00: Paper Session 2: “Learning from DeFi: Would Automated Market Makers Improve Equity Trading?

  • Presenter: Katya Malinova, Associate Professor and Mackenzie Investments Chair in Evidence-Based Investment Management, McMaster University
  • Discussant: Alfred Lehar, Associate Professor of Finance, University of Calgary
  • Moderator: Katrin Tinn, Assistant Professor of Finance, McGill University

11:45: Lunch at the McGill Faculty Club

 

13:00: Keynote Address: “The Future of Tokenization”

  • Christine Parlour, Professor and Sylvan C. Coleman Chair of Finance and Accounting, University of California at Berkeley

13:45: Coffee Break

14:00: Panel Session: Approaches in Canada & Beyond

14:45: Coffee Break

15.00: Panel Session: Global Perspectives on Regulating Crypto

15:45: Closing Remarks

Conference Venue: The Donald E. Armstrong Building, Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University, 3420 Rue McTavish, Montréal, QC H3A 0E2, Canada

Conference recordings

Welcoming Remarks:
Yolande E. Chan, Dean of the Desautels Faculty of Management
Kathleen Stephansen, GIC Chair Emeritus

Opening Presentations:

“The State of Crypto Regulations Around The World”
Ananya Kumar, Associate Director, The Atlantic Council

“Systemic Risk and Financial Stability in the Age of Crypto”
Nobuyasu Sugimoto, Deputy Division Chief, Financial Supervision and Regulation Division, IMF

Paper Session 1: “On the Fragility of DeFi Lending”
Presenter: Kathy Yuan, Professor of Finance, London School of Economics
Discussant: Thomas Rivera, Assistant Professor of Finance, McGill University
Moderator: Katrin Tinn, Assistant Professor of Finance, McGill University

Paper Session 2: “Learning from DeFi: Would Automated Market Makers Improve Equity Trading?”
Presenter: Katya Malinova, Associate Professor and Mackenzie Investments Chair in Evidence-Based Investment Management, McMaster University
Discussant: Alfred Lehar, Associate Professor of Finance, University of Calgary
Moderator: Katrin Tinn, Assistant Professor of Finance, McGill University

Keynote Address: “The Future of Tokenization”
Christine Parlour, Professor
Sylvan C. Coleman Chair of Finance and Accounting, University of California at Berkeley

Panel Session: Approaches in Canada & Beyond
Laurent Féral-Pierssens, Managing Partner, BlockZero Advisors
Pascale Toupin, Director, Oversight of Intermediaries, Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF)
Elizabeth Côté, Director, Digital Innovation Impact Hub at Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada (OSFI)
David Adler, Partner, McCarter & English, LLP
Moderator: Kathleen Stephansen, GIC Chair Emeritus

Panel Session: Global Perspectives on Regulating Crypto
Nobuyasu Sugimoto, Deputy Division Chief, Financial Supervision and Regulation Division, IMF
Franca Ciambella, Senior Consultant, Global Law Alliance
Miguel Diaz, Director, BIS Innovation Hub Toronto
Shaun Martinak, Research/Portfolio Manager, Coinbase Asset Management
Ananya Kumar, Associate Director, The Atlantic Council
Moderator: Kathleen Stephansen, GIC Chair Emeritus

Organizers

David Schumacher

David Schumacher

Associate Professor, Finance

Katrin Tinn

Katrin Tinn

Assistant Professor, Finance


MOOS Platinum Eng

We are proud to announce that our event has been awarded a Platinum Sustainable Event certification by the McGill Sustainable Events program run by the McGill Office of Sustainability.


We thank our sponsors

Cygnus Asset Management, LLC


Past conferences

10th HEC - McGill Winter Finance Workshop 2023

Sponsored by the Desmarais Global Finance Research Centre

In collaboration with the University of Luxembourg

Date: March 26 - 28, 2023
Location: Ischgl, Austria

Academic papers in all areas of finance, including interdisciplinary work in law and finance, sustainability, and new financial technologies were presented. The number of participants was limited to ensure an informal atmosphere conducive to open and lively discussions.

Recent editions of the workshop included participants from Boston College, Boston University, Carnegie Mellon, Chicago Booth, Columbia Business School, Houston, LBS, Maryland, MIT, Northwestern, Minnesota, Toronto, UBC, UC Davis, UCLA, UCSD, USC, Washington University, Wharton, and Yale.

Organizers:

  • Patrick Augustin (McGill University)
  • Piotr Orłowski, HEC Montréal
  • Roberto Steri, University of Luxembourg

Desmarais Global Finance Lecture: September 28, 2022

The Desmarais Global Finance Research Centre (DGFRC) of the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University initiated a new conference series that brought together thought leaders and decision makers from academia, public policy and the business world with the goal to promote thought exchange, dialogue, and the exploration of solutions to global challenges in finance and economics.

The theme for the inaugural Desmarais Global Finance Lecture which took place on September 28, 2022 was “Central Bank Digital Currencies and Alternative Payment Systems”. The event, organized in partnership with the Global Interdependence Center, featured an academic keynote speech by Darrell Duffie, Adams Distinguished Professor of Management and Professor of Finance at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University.

He was joined by Miguel Diaz, the Head of BIS Innovation Hub Toronto, Paul Chilcott, Advisor to the Governor, Bank of Canada, Jim Cunha, Executive Vice President of Secure Payments and FinTech at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Adrian Docherty, Head of Bank Advisory, BNP Paribas, Glenn Goucher, Executive Advisor, Tetra Trust Company, along with other experts in central bank digital currency and payment systems. The conference day included presentations and panel discussions. 

Organizers:

David Schumacher

David Schumacher

Associate Professor, Finance

Katrin Tinn

Katrin Tinn

Assistant Professor, Finance


Agenda & Recordings

Welcoming Remarks

  • Yolande E. Chan, Dean of the Desautels Faculty of Management
  • William Kennedy, CFA, Board Chair of GIC and CEO and Chief Investment Officer, RiskBridge Advisors LLC

Morning Keynote: “CBDCs from a Functional Perspective”

Academic Session: “Will Central Bank Digital Currency Disintermediate Banks?

  • Presentation by Yufeng Wu, Associate Professor of Finance, Shebik Faculty Fellow, Gies College of Business, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Discussant: Alfred Lehar, Associate Professor of Finance, Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary

Academic Session: “Best Before? Expiring Central Bank Digital Currency and Loss Recovery

  • Presentation by Maarten van Oordt, Associate Professor, School of Business and Economics, Finance, VU Amsterdam.
    Discussant: Katrin Tinn, Assistant Professor of Finance, Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University

Keynote “CBDCs and Other Ways to Upgrade Our Payment Systems”

  • Darrell Duffie, Adams Distinguished Professor of Management and Professor of Finance at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University

Keynote – Panel Discussion

  • Darrell Duffie, Adams Distinguished Professor of Management and Professor of Finance at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University
  • Miguel Diaz, Head, BIS Innovation Hub Toronto
  • Paul Chilcott, Advisor to the Governor, Bank of Canada
  • Moderator: Brian Gelfand, Senior Advisor, Digital Assets and Financial Market Infrastructure Lead, E&Y

Outlook & Perspectives: Panel Discussion

  • Jim Cunha, Executive Vice President of Secure Payments and FinTech at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
  • Adrian Docherty, Head of Bank Advisory, BNP Paribas
  • Glenn Goucher, Executive Advisor, Tetra Trust Company, former President of CDS and CDCC
  • Moderator: Kathleen Stephansen, Chair Emeritus, Global Interdependence Center

Closing Remarks

  • Lisa McIntire-Shaw, Founding Partner of Cygnus Asset Management, LLC and GIC Vice Chair of Programs
  • David Schumacher, Associate Professor of Finance, Desautels Faculty Scholar, Director, Desmarais Global Finance Research Center, Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University

 

Sponsors:

Cygnus Asset Management, LLC

PWL

9th HEC - McGill Winter Finance Workshop 2022

Sponsored by the Desmarais Global Finance Research Centre

Special Edition with Goethe University - Center for Advanced Studies on the Foundations of Law and Finance

Date: March 27 - 29, 2022
Location: Ischgl (Tyrol, Austria)

Academic papers in all areas of finance, including interdisciplinary work in law and finance, will be presented. The number of participants is limited to ensure an informal atmosphere conducive to open and lively discussions.

Recent editions of the workshop included participants from Boston College, Boston University, Carnegie Mellon, Chicago Booth, Columbia Business School, Houston, LBS, Maryland, MIT, Northwestern, Minnesota, Toronto, UBC, UC Davis, UCLA, UCSD, USC, Washington University, Wharton, and Yale.

Organizers:

  • Patrick Augustin (McGill University)
  • Jan Ericsson (McGill University)
  • Mathieu Fournier (HEC Montréal)
  • Alexandre Jeanneret (University of New South Wales)
  • Tobias Tröger (Goethe University, LawFin)
  • Michael Weber (University of Chicago)

FIAM's first International AI Conference in Capital Markets: November 2-3, 2021

Co-sponsored by the Desmarais Global Finance Research Centre

FIAM's first International AI Conference in Capital Markets: November 2-3, 2021

AI In Capital Markets: Our Future is Now

AI: Humanity's most disruptive technology
Issues, Challenges, Opportunities for the Global Financial Community

FIAM is honored to hold its first international conference in close partnerships with two outstanding conference co-chairs: Pierre Boivin, CEO of Claridge and Chairman of Mila and William (Bill) J. Kelly CEO of CAIA Association. Pierre was a driving force behind positioning Montreal as a thriving artificial intelligence ecosystem on the global scene.

The conference spans over two days – three hours each day.
Presentations are recorded and will be made available for replay on FIAM website and the websites collaborating organizations.

November 2 & 3, 2021

Download program

Delve: Why Digital Currencies Could Change the Future of Central Banking
Why Digital Currencies Could Change the Future of Central Banking

Central Bank Digital Currencies represent a possible next step in the technological evolution of banking and the financial intermediation sector — but their roles and risks just now becoming clear.

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