Global experts meet in Reykjavik to discuss future vision for capital markets

Digitization and AI are rapidly transforming how markets operate and how big data and information is being captured, analyzed and assessed by investors, including environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.

Government debt managers and other public finance officials met in Reykjavik from June 3-5, 2019, to discuss a future vision for the capital markets. Building on lessons learned from the global financial crisis a decade ago and Iceland's experience in successfully revamping its financial sector, discussions revolved around highlighting how new capital market tools and advances in technology can address a wide variety of potential future risks.

Digitization and AI are rapidly transforming how markets operate and how big data and information is being captured, analyzed and assessed by investors, including environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. In some emerging market countries, mobile technology has been especially transformative, as they leapfrog traditional technologies towards rapid and broad financial inclusion.

World Bank Vice President and Treasurer Jingdong Hua said: "Capital markets can provide solutions to a wide variety of increasingly complex challenges. The pace of technological change is exponential, presenting sovereign debt managers with vast opportunities to benefit from tools such as insurance-linked securities and enabling investors to harness new technologies to assess ESG data."

Speakers at the 2019 Government Borrowers Forum (GBF) included Iceland's Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Bjarni Benediktsson, the Permanent Secretary from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Guðmundur Árnason, the Central Bank Governor, Már Guðmundsson, and senior officials and private sector representatives from around the world.

Now in its 38th year, the GBF provides a forum for senior debt managers and other financial market experts to discuss current challenges and work together to find solutions that leverage capital markets to ensure stability and a more sustainable future. Each year, about 80 to 100 senior debt managers from around the world attend. This year's GBF was hosted by Iceland's Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs and organized in partnership with the World Bank Treasury, which hosts the GBF Secretariat. It marks the first time that the Forum was hosted in Iceland. Participants from 30 countries attended the GBF in Iceland, spanning the globe from Jamaica, Nicaragua, Uruguay, the US and Canada to Denmark, France, Portugal, the UK, Kenya, Indonesia and the Philippines.