Episode 77 with Lotte Schou Zibell, Ian Morrison, and Raoul Montgomery 🎧

In this episode, veteran international expert on financial sector development & digital transformation Lotte Schou-Zibell unpacks why correspondent banking links have thinned in smaller markets - and why the fix isn’t “more rules” but smarter, cheaper, more consistent compliance built on shared digital public infrastructure: foundational ID, tiered KYC, interoperable payment rails, straight-through reporting, and utilities multiple banks can use instead of rebuilding controls. Lotte also points to AI-assisted regulatory mapping that lowers the “cost of certainty,” and argues for interoperability via APIs over any single-chain “panacea.” MDBs and partners matter here - funding capacity, aligning standards, and helping restore (and keep) cross-border access.

She discussed Root-to-Revenue Bamboo: how geotagged roots plus geospatial mapping and other DPI elements create verifiable, data-rich assets. That alternative data can underwrite inclusive credit (collateral and cash-flow lending to farmers and MSMEs), support carbon credits and climate-linked finance, and feed traceable value chains for housing materials and textiles - turning “root as asset” into bankable livelihoods and climate resilience.

We also chat with Ian Morrison and Raoul Montgomery for late summer hiring pulse in legal & compliance. Across London, Hong Kong, and Singapore, hiring cooled over summer and is edging back: banks are freezing mid-junior roles while selectively adding senior, multifaceted leaders to redesign controls, merge compliance/fincrime, and decide where to deploy AI and outsourcing. Outside traditional investment banking, insurance, digital assets/crypto, family offices, private wealth, and consulting show steadier demand. Chinese firms expanding in Hong Kong are lifting the premium on Mandarin and experienced local compliance leadership. Geopolitical risk is being reorganized - not retired - and is increasingly client-facing.

Podcast Discussion covers:

• Late-Summer Hiring Pulse in Legal & Compliance
• Freeze Below, Hire Above - Geo-Risk Moves Client-Facing
• Beyond Credentials - Soft Skills for Legal & Compliance
• Lotte Schou-Zibell, A Veteran’s View on Finance
• Early Sparks - Crossing Cultures from Sweden to the US and Beyond
• Why IMF and ADB - Crisis Lessons Meet the Asian Tigers
• Inclusion to Climate - How Policy and Tech Rewired the System
• Geotagged Bamboo: DPI, and Inclusive Credit, Root to Revenue for Finance, Housing, Resilience
• From AML Burden to a Finternet - Genome to New Rails
• Foundational ID to DPI - Shared Rails and Smarter Compliance to Keep Links Open
• Beyond the Panacea - From Blockchain Hype to Interoperable Rails
• Cutting Through the Noise - From Learning to People-First Solutions, and the 5th Asia Finance Forum at ADB Manila

The Regulatory Ramblings podcast is brought to you by The University of Hong Kong's Reg/Tech Lab (Building Better Financial Systems), HKU-SCF FinTech Academy, Asia Global Institute, and HKU-edX Professional Certificate in FinTech, with support from HKU Faculty of Law. The program is led by Douglas Arner and hosted by Ajay Shamdasani.

For more details about the authors and links, please visit: hkufintech.com/rr

HKU FinTech is the leading fintech research and education in Asia. Learn more at www.hkufintech.com.

Episode 76 with Joshua Chu, Syed Musheer Ahmed and Sean Lee 🎧

The common theme for this episode is FinTech and Web3 writ large – with an eye towards digital assets and virtual currency.

In Spotlight segment, we’ll be speaking with a returning guest and a dear friend of the program – Syed Musheer Ahmed of Hong Kong-based FinStep Asia on the recently disseminated the “Hong Kong Web3 Blueprint: Building a Web 3 International Financial Hub” report. Joining Musheer is Sean Lee, co-lead of Web3 Harbour's Policy Committee and one of the key leaders of the Blueprint taskforce.

Following that, we’ll be chatting with local lawyer Joshua Chu on the recently passed US GENIUS Act and what it means for making the US a stablecoin hub.

Context and implications:

• What truly makes a digital-asset hub beyond regulation;
• How Hong Kong’s Web3 Blueprint prioritizes talent, infrastructure, and market use cases;
• What the US GENIUS Act and Hong Kong’s stablecoin regime mean for issuance and market structure;
• Where stablecoins and CBDCs can coexist—and the legal traditions shaping each path;
• Risks to monitor: speculative excess, meme coins, corporate BTC treasuries.

The Regulatory Ramblings podcast is brought to you by The University of Hong Kong's Reg/Tech Lab (Building Better Financial Systems), HKU-SCF FinTech Academy, Asia Global Institute, and HKU-edX Professional Certificate in FinTech, with support from HKU Faculty of Law. The program is led by Douglas Arner and hosted by Ajay Shamdasani.

For more details about the authors and links, please visit: hkufintech.com/rr

HKU FinTech is the leading fintech research and education in Asia. Learn more at www.hkufintech.com.

Episode 75 with David Cameron, Syed Musheer Ahmed and Joshua Chu 🎧

This episode of Regulatory Ramblings takes a deep dive into the current state of Hong Kong’s startup environment - exploring how conducive the city’s legal, commercial, and policy infrastructure is for startups to not only launch, but also to scale.

We begin with a spotlight conversation featuring David Cameron, a veteran American lawyer and founder of the Hong Kong-based firm DCLO. Drawing on over 16 years of experience - including stints at global firms like Linklaters and Allen & Overy - David offers a candid view of the legal and compliance challenges that early-stage startups in Hong Kong face. While it’s relatively easy to incorporate a company, he warns that many founders underestimate the value of early legal guidance. Legal services are often seen as costly overhead rather than strategic investment, creating risks that only surface when it’s too late. He highlights a gap in the legal services market - between large international firms that price out startups, and local firms that may lack cross-border expertise - leaving founders without adequate support during critical growth phases.

The discussion then broadens with guests Syed Musheer Ahmed, Managing Director of FinStep Asia, and Joshua Chu, a prominent fintech and Web3 lawyer in Hong Kong. Together, they unpack the broader structural issues that hinder Hong Kong’s startup ecosystem. They argue that while Hong Kong has built impressive infrastructure - such as Science Park, Cyberport, and startup grant schemes - what’s missing is a centralized support platform that can connect founders to mentors, business advisors, and practical operational resources. Musheer and Joshua call for a public-private partnership that could act as a coordination hub - bridging fragmented initiatives and helping startups access capital, advice, and networks more efficiently.

The conversation also touches on the cultural and mindset gaps within the ecosystem. Drawing comparisons to innovation hubs like Singapore, Bangalore, and Silicon Valley, the guests reflect on Hong Kong’s more risk-averse, academic-driven approach to entrepreneurship. Joshua notes that founders often stay in echo chambers, delaying commercialization in pursuit of perfection, while Musheer emphasizes the need to build founder communities with strong peer-to-peer support and mentorship.

Ultimately, the episode explores a central question: What kind of startup hub does Hong Kong want to be? Rather than chasing the Silicon Valley model, the speakers suggest Hong Kong should play to its strengths - finance, deal structuring, cross-border access - and cultivate a culture of execution, business acumen, and founder-driven collaboration.

The Regulatory Ramblings podcast is brought to you by The University of Hong Kong's Reg/Tech Lab (Building Better Financial Systems), HKU-SCF FinTech Academy, Asia Global Institute, and HKU-edX Professional Certificate in FinTech, with support from HKU Faculty of Law. The program is led by Douglas Arner and hosted by Ajay Shamdasani.

For more details about the authors and links, please visit: hkufintech.com/rr

HKU FinTech is the leading fintech research and education in Asia. Learn more at www.hkufintech.com.