Digital Finance CRC

UTS Finance Department PhD student Madeline Combe has recently contributed to a report published by the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA). The report is titled “Nature Investor Toolkit: Understanding nature-related risks and opportunities and supporting investors to assess, engage and take action”. Other contributors to the report include:   Claire Molinari, Head of ESG, CareSuper Guy Michael Williams, Executive Director, Pollination Rachel Alembakis, Stewardship Manager, U Ethical Investors Joanne Lee, CFA, Responsible Investment Director, First Sentier Investors Julia Leske, Managing Director, Senior Consultant ESG Strategy, ISS | Institutional Shareholder Services Olivia Back, Associate Director, Pollination Mayleah House, Head of Stewardship, Ethical Partners Funds Management Ella Robinson, Senior Impact and Ethics Analyst, Australian Ethical Investment Terina Williams, Senior Investment Strategist, NZ Super Fund Sophie Leitch, Associate, Pollination Emily Davies, Senior Manager Climate Change and Sustainability Services, EY Max Dalton, Associate Director, Pollination Greg Munford, Senior Investment Strategist, NZ Super Fund Timothy King, CFA, Chief Investment Officer, Melior Investment Management Fiona Manning, Manager ESG Engagement, Australian Council of Superannuation Investors Nayanisha Samarakoon, Head of Policy and Advocacy, RIAA   Why should #investors pay attention to #nature? It is estimated by the World Economic Forum that approximately US$44 trillion of #economic value (more than half of the global gross domestic product) is moderately or highly dependent on nature.   The aim of the toolkit is to educate investors on this complex and rapidly evolving area, help investors assess nature-related risks and opportunities, prepare investors to hold constructive conversations with investees about impacts and dependencies on nature, and build and communicate the business case for investing in nature-positive solutions.   The investor toolkit is comprehensive, catering to those who may be new to the issue. It seeks to enhance the investment community's understanding of #financial, #environmental and human rights considerations by outlining the issues, providing case studies, and suggesting methodologies for analysing portfolio exposures and strategies for #investor #engagement.   The toolkit also provides a deep-dive appendix of supplementary resources curated by Madeline Combe, Mentor with sustainability library Altiorem, to help investors access relevant research, frameworks and guidance fit for purpose to individual portfolios.   Download report: https://lnkd.in/gwa2yR-m #finance #responsibleinvestment #responsibleinvesting #investing #economics #naturerisk #investmentcommunity #environment #esg #education

Great to see Reserve Bank of Australia announce their focus on furthering the work towards a wholesale CBDC! ▶ The big deal is that wholesale CBDC helps enable tokenised asset marketplaces by providing a safe settlement instrument (financial markets infrastructure principles say many such markets need to settle with central bank currency). Tokenised asset markets of the type we see being developed have many benefits like ·       more efficient trading and settlement, ·       increased market access and liquidity, and ·       enabling cross-asset class interoperability such as cross-collateralisation. 🍗 We estimate these gains in Australia are upwards of $5 billion per annum and $2 trillion per annum globally across all major asset classes – too big to ignore. 🍗 Additionally, a wholesale CBDC can enable innovations in banking and payments. For example, tokenised bank deposits can be settled intrabank via a wholesale CBDC. This forms the back-end infrastructure for making digital commercial bank money interchangeable. Tokenised bank deposits can be used to access more innovative forms of payment and allow investors to access digital assets. 🍗 Going forward, key next steps for CBDC: 1)   Complete the current work Digital Finance CRC is doing with the Reserve Bank of Australia (Project Acacia), which evaluates the different ways that digital central bank money can support tokenised marketplaces, should the RBA decide to issue a wholesale CBDC. Part 1 of that work was a technical assessment of the trade-offs in the various models for how a wholesale CBDC or other forms of digital central bank currency could be implemented. Part 2 will be launched following the release of a consultation paper in October and will involve industry participation. 2)   A digital asset sandbox – Digital Finance CRC is strongly of the view that a new sandbox for launching digital asset markets is needed to solve the issues with existing incompatible licensing frameworks. Digital assets transactions collapse the trade and settlement functions into one inseparable step, eliminating the clearinghouse, and getting rid of counterparty risk – this is very different to the system for which the current markets and clearing/settlement licenses were designed. What is needed is a new licence type that combines trading and settlement, without clearing, like what we see emerging overseas (e.g., Switzerland and the UK). A new sandbox could facilitate the transition to a suitable licencing framework for digital asset markets while reducing risks. The current sandbox is not suitable digital asset markets. 3)   We also view that cross-border payments and FX should be prioritised in future work on CBDC – this is the other area in which we identified large economic gain potential. Projects in this area could include collaborations between central banks and commercial banks across borders to launch cross-border digital currency exchange mechanisms.

We're excited to have launched our new insightful report today: Mapping and quantification of CRCs’ work on decarbonisation. The independently-commissioned analysis by ACIL Allen showcases how Cooperative Research Centres are directly contributing to Australia's ambitious decarbonisation goals. The report forecasts that over 2017-2032, the contribution of a group of 13 CRCs is set to see: - an increase of $1.7 billion to Australia’s real economy as a result of industry-led decarbonisation research and innovation.   - an increase of $4.8 billion in Australia’s economic output (GDP). - $5.80 generated in additional economic output (GDP) for every dollar invested. - 3,705 job years to 2032 to be delivered. This landmark report shows while we still have significant progress to make, CRCs are already delivering tangible outcomes on our path to Net Zero. Access the report and supporting documents here: https://lnkd.in/gn6pjA76 #decarbonisation #netzero #newreport #newresearchreport #research HILT CRC Future Battery Industries Cooperative Research Centre iMOVE Australia Future Energy Exports CRC Zero Net Emissions Agriculture CRC RACE for 2030 SmartCrete CRC Future Fuels CRC One Basin CRC CRC TiME Blue Economy CRC Digital Finance CRC MinEx CRC Mining3 Alex Gash Guy Boggs Jenny Selway Andrew Bailey Marcus Dawe Clare Tubolets Jane O'Dwyer

The UTS Finance Department welcomes new PhD student Franziska Gmeiner! Her supervisor will be Professor Talis Putnins. Franziska's research interests are in decentralised #finance and digital assets. Her PhD topic is Enabling Regulatory-Compliant Real-World Asset #Tokenization. Prior to starting her PhD, Franziska completed a Bachelor double-degree at Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg and Turku University of Applied Sciences in European Business with a major in finance. She followed that with a Master in Management degree at Nova School of Business and Economics while working in a compliance position in the #blockchain field. Franziska collaborates with the Digital Finance CRC to examine approaches in real-world asset tokenization with a focus on asset feasibility, regulatory compliance and economic impact. #decentralizedfinance #decentralisedfinance #digitalassets #assettokenization #economicimpact #regulation #digitalfinance #cryptocurrencies

I had the opportunity to present my research to the Falling Walls Lab at Curtin University. My research presentation focused on the issue of critical mineral supply, and how the digital tokenisation of mining rights and interests under current law can be a part of the solution in increasing much needed supply. The Falling Walls Lab is a global competition which allows researchers and early career professionals pitch their innovative ideas to help solve some of the major social global issues which exist today. Thank you to Curtin University and the Forrest Institute for hosting the event. Congratulations to all presenters and winners! Falling Walls Foundation Forrest Research Foundation Curtin Law School Digital Finance CRC Curtin University Curtin Faculty of Business and Law Michael Dizon #fallingwalls #blockchain #criticalminerals #mining #miningfinance #digitalassets #digitaltokenisation #law Photography by: https://lnkd.in/g4KPuKyV