Henri Arslanian, PwC Global Fintech Crypto Blockchain Leader on The Future of Money, Paranoid Optimist

Introducing Henri Arslanian world Crypto, Blockchain and author leader and researcher

Henri Arslanian is a PwC Global Crypto and Blockchain Leader, a Best Selling Author, a Keynote Speaker, an University Professor and a global recognised thought leader in the Future of Finance and Money.

Henri Arslanian is Passionate and focused on the future of finance and money. Henry has been working on aligning and trying to foresee the financial services models of the future and train the next generation of talent. Henri Arslanian has 500k followers on LinkedIn and was recently named the most influential person in Finance on LinkedIn.

Interview focus

1. An introduction from you – background, overview, education…
2. Career highlights
3. Your company, organisation and focus
4. Importance of education
5. Fintech from inception into now
6. Crypto from inception into the bitcoin halving
7. Regtech importance
8. What are your work priorities
9. Goals and how do you see the future of work and the main trends in tech and society
10. With Covid-19 how can you look at this as a way to redesign our society
11. Future vision

Highlights from Interview and quotes

· I was born in Armenia and then moved to Canada. When in school I found out that China was the future and wanted to move to China and studied in the top university in Shanghai. I studied in Canada and then moved to China and studied Law there.

· My area of expertise is financial technology. I started working at PwC. The perception of the big 4 is that they are a bunch of entrepreneurs. I am a big believer in intrapreneurship. The time is more and more for intrapreneurs. This is a golden opportunity and time for these people. And if you are pushing the organisation you will be very successful. PWC network of entrepreneurs – build solutions to problems on society – purpose of changing the world

· There are some pillars to succeed in today’s world: You have to be a paranoid optimistic, the importance of education and the importance of drive and focus to achieve results

· I have followed all of these always and they have taken me to become the chairman of the Fintech community of Hong Kong, among other things.

· Fintech opportunities. Fintechs have been open since the beginning to work with governments to achieve results and help with COVID-19.

· COVID-19 has already changed the world, people are afraid of touching money. We are seeing how organizations within the financial industry are accelerating their digitalisation processes while focusing on digital transformation will benefit financial services, especially banks. Short term vs long term is critical in fintech and organisations have to work on that if they want to thrive.

· About China’s fintech ecosystem. China is 3 to 4 years ahead of the world and in insurtech even more. China is launching a DCP digital currency, firstly released in pilot in 4 years. Likewise, China is moving fast building a blockchain network to be launched soon in China. If you are focused on the future of money and finance you will need to focus on China and Asia. In that regard, Asia is way ahead and the rest of the world has to catch up with

· The last book The Future of Finance: The Impact of FinTech, AI, and Crypto on Financial Services from 2019 touches this area and highlights the challenges and solutions on finance and money management.

· Money laundering is one the biggest problems in today’s Financial world. FinTech in fact can help with money laundering thanks to their innovative techniques and technology. That is why Fintech can actually help the financial industry to become more efficient and healthy.

· Libra brought the topic of digital currencies to Central banks. Retail central bank currencies will be critical going forward.

· Importance of being agile and we should all expect to be reeducate and have to be comfortable about that.

· Importance of being online and you have to walk the talk.

· edX has people to 200 countries around the world.

· The impact of FinTech, AI, and Crypto on Financial Services is 1 plus 1 equals 3

· The different elements in finance will play a great role in the combination of all these elements. AI, finance and crypto will play a gold time for finance.

· Be a paranoid optimistic and work hard and move through the systemic changes coming now.


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Henri Arslanian Bio

Henri Arslanian is the PwC Global Crypto Leader and Asia FinTech Leader, the Chairman of the FinTech Association of Hong Kong and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong where he teaches the first FinTech university course in Asia.

With over 500,000 LinkedIn followers, Henri is a TEDx and global keynote speaker, a best-selling published author and is regularly featured in global media including Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.

Henri was named by LinkedIn as one of the global Top Voices in Economy & Finance and is the host of the FinTechCapsules™ and CryptoCapsules™ social media series.

Henri’s latest book “The Future of Finance: The Impact of FinTech, AI and Crypto on Financial Services” published by Palgrave Macmillan, was ranked as one of Amazon’s global top 10 best-sellers in financial services and was recognized as one of the “Best FinTech Books of All Time” by Bookauthority.

Chambers Global recently named Henri the “highest profile FinTech consultant in Hong Kong” and Asian Private Banker awarded him the “FinTech Changemaker of the Year” award. Henri has been also awarded numerous other industry and academic awards over the years from being regularly named one of the Most Influential Individuals in FinTech in Asia to being awarded the Governor General of Canada Gold Medal for Academic Excellence.

Before joining PwC, Henri was with a FinTech start-up and previously spent many years with UBS Investment Bank in Hong Kong. Henri started his career as a financial markets and funds lawyer in Canada and Hong Kong.

Henri speaks five languages including English, French, Armenian, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.

He holds a Masters in Chinese Law from Tsinghua University; a joint Global Executive MBA from Columbia Business School, London Business School, and Hong Kong University; a Masters in Transnational Law from the University of Sherbrooke; and a Bachelor of Law from the University of Montreal (Dean’s List of Excellence).

A summary of his work and achievements

· PwC Global Crypto Leader, Asia Fintech Leader, Partner
· Cryptoassets and blockchain – advises leading global crypto firms including crypto exchanges, crypto investors, stable coins and token issuers as well financial institutions and large tech firms entering the crypto space
· Regulators/governments/central banks – advises national and global policy makers on crypto and Fintech policy, regulation and implementation.
· Member of Hong Kong securities regulator’s FinTech Advisory Group and central bank’s institute for monetary and financial Research council of advisers.
· FinTech & RegTech – advises traditional financial institutions, regulators and start-ups globally.
· Named “highest profile FinTech consultant in Hong Kong” (Chambers).
· Ranked #1 most influential individual on Finance globally on LinkedIn (and #8 on Twitter) out of 50K+ individuals working at the top 48 professional services and management consulting firms in the world (Onalytica).
· Teach first FinTech university course in Asia.
· Lawyer and banker by background.
· Global top 10 best-selling author of “The Future of Finance: the Impact of FinTech, AI and Crypto on Financial Services” (Palgrave, 2019).
· Host of the FinTechCapsules™ and CryptoCapsules™ social media video series and author of The Future of Money weekly newsletter.
· Regularly featured/quoted in media (Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal).
· 500,000+ LinkedIn followers.

Speaking highlights

· TEDx speaker – “How FinTech is Shaping the Future of Banking” (2016) and “RegTech, LawTech and the Future of Lawyers” (2017).
· Keynote Speaker – numerous conferences across North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

Awards highlights

· LinkedIn Global Top Voices in Economy and Finance
· Milken Institute Young Leaders Circle
· Governor General of Canada Gold Medal for Academic Excellence
· Global “20 Rising Stars under 40” – Armenian Bar Association
· Future Leader Award – College Jean-de-Brebeuf
· Fintech Changemaker of the Year – Asian Private Banker
· PwC Gamechanger of the year award
· Next Money – FinTech Asia 100 – Most Influential Individuals in FinTech
· FinTechAsia – Top FinTech Influencer You Need To Know in Asia

Henri Arslanian Books

Entrepreneurship in Finance: Successfully Launching and Managing a Hedge Fund in Asia Hardcover, 24 Nov. 2016
by Henri Arslanian

· Hardcover: 261 pages
· Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1st ed. 2016 edition (24 Nov. 2016)
· Language: English
· ISBN-10: 331943912X
· ISBN-13: 978-3319439129
· Product Dimensions: 15.9 x 2.5 x 23.5 cm

The Future of Finance: The Impact of FinTech, AI, and Crypto on Financial Services, 24 July 2019

by Henri Arslanian (Author), Fabrice Fischer (Author)

 

· Hardcover: 312 pages
· Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1st ed. 2019 edition (24 July 2019)
· Language: English
· ISBN-10: 3030145328
· ISBN-13: 978-3030145323
· Product Dimensions: 16.5 x 2.1 x 23.9 cm

Henri Arslanian top keynote topics

Henri has numerous other keynote topics that he focuses on:

· The Future of Finance
· The Impact of Fintech,
· Crypto,
· AI on the future of financial services

Links and sources:

https://www.henriarslanian.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/henriarslanian/

https://twitter.com/HenriArslanian

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBBmzJmu9HT2Nlf2beRclYg

https://www.edx.org/bio/henri-arslanian

https://www.london.edu/masters-degrees/student-alumni-and-ambassadors/henri-arslanian

https://medium.com/@arslanianhenri