Welcome to AI Today in 5, the newest edition to the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day, I will bring to you 5 stories about AI stories to start your day. Sit back, enjoy a cup of morning coffee and listen in to the AI Today In 5. All, from the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day we consider four stories from the business world, compliance, ethics, risk management, leadership or general interest about AI.
Welcome to AI Today in 5, the newest edition to the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day, I will bring to you 5 stories about AI stories to start your day. Sit back, enjoy a cup of morning coffee and listen in to the AI Today In 5. All, from the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day we consider four stories from the business world, compliance, ethics, risk management, leadership or general interest about AI.
Will Apple get back into the AI game in 2026. (CNBC)
Welcome to AI Today in 5, the newest edition of the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day, Tom Fox will bring you 5 stories about AI to start your day. Sit back, enjoy a cup of morning coffee, and listen in to AI Today In 5. All, from the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day, we consider four stories from the business world, compliance, ethics, risk management, leadership, or general interest about AI.
For more information on the use of AI in Compliance programs, my new book, Upping Your Game, is available. You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon.com.
Welcome to AI Today in 5, the newest edition of the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day, Tom Fox will bring you 5 stories about AI to start your day. Sit back, enjoy a cup of morning coffee, and listen in to the AI Today In 5. All, from the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day, we consider four stories from the business world, compliance, ethics, risk management, leadership, or general interest about AI.
FinTech wants a united front against cybercrime. (ComputerWeekly)
For more information on the use of AI in Compliance programs, my new book, Upping Your Game, is available. You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon.com
Welcome to 10 For 10, the podcast that brings you the week’s top 10 compliance stories in one episode each week. Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, brings to you, the compliance professional, the compliance stories you need to be aware of to end your busy week. Sit back, and in 10 minutes, hear about the stories every compliance professional should be aware of from the prior week. Every Saturday, 10 For 10 highlights the most important news, insights, and analysis for the compliance professional, all curated by the Voice of Compliance, Tom Fox. Get your weekly filling of compliance stories with 10 for 10, a podcast produced by the Compliance Podcast Network.
This week’s stories include:
Right-wing EU lawmakers want a corruption inquiry opened. (Politico)
Welcome to the Daily Compliance News. Each day, Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance brings to you compliance related stories to start your day. Sit back, enjoy a cup of morning coffee and listen in to the Daily Compliance News. All, from the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day we consider four stories from the business world, compliance, ethics, risk management, leadership or general interest for the compliance professional.
Right-wing EU lawmakers want a corruption inquiry opened.(Politico)
Based in the US, Theodora Lau, or Theo, as she’s known, is Hong Kong-born and bred and the founder of Unconventional Ventures. Her firm’s mission is to develop and grow an ecosystem of financial institutions, corporations, startups, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and accelerators to improve banking and meet the often-unmet needs of consumers, including older adults and women. Theo’s mission is to connect founders with funders, specifically underrepresented entrepreneurs.
She regularly mentors and advises startups in financial services and healthcare/caregiving as part of her work. She is also an advisor to B21 Ventures, which focuses on entrepreneurs disrupting finance and health through artificial intelligence.
Theo has been referred to by the American Banker as one of the “Most Influential Women in FinTech” and is one of few global experts providing authoritative insights on both the US vis a vis Asia.
Besides being a best-selling author, Theo is an accomplished technologist and is much sought after for her unique insights on the success of super apps in Asia, the evolution of AI, and the disparity in digital adoption between regions. She is also a public speaker, writer, and advisor who seeks to spark innovation in the public and private sectors to benefit forgotten demographics and create a more inclusive society.
Theo regularly discusses AI, gender equity, FinTech, inclusion, and longevity. She is a guest contributor for various top industry events, publications, and podcasts, including Fintech Futures, the American Banker, BBC, the Journal of Digital Banking, Harvard Business Review, Nikkei Asia, MIT Tech Review, Money20/20, Finovate, RISE, FinTech Week Hong Kong, Breaking Banks, Irish Tech News, and the Forbes Technology Council.
She is the co-author of “Beyond Good: How Technology is Leading a Purpose-Driven Business Revolution” and co-author of “The Metaverse Economy” (both books are now available in paperback editions). Theo is also the host of One Vision, a podcast on innovation and fintech, and runs a weekly LinkedIn newsletter called FinTech Prose on emerging technologies (such as voice-activated/enabled software and AI), inclusion, longevity, fintech, innovation, and using technology for good. Her monthly column on Fintech Futures explores the intersection of FinTech and humanity.
She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in New York and a Master of Science in project management from George Washington University in Washington, DC.
In this episode of Regulatory Ramblings, Theo provides listeners with an in-depth look at the evolving fintech landscape and its regulatory challenges. A common thread in her discussion with our host, Ajay Shamdasani, is the seeming chasm in digital adoption between Asia and the US.
Theo talks about growing up in Hong Kong, eventually heading to the States for education, and her impressions two-plus decades later as having been fortunate enough to have a catbird seat at the beginning of the modern age of digital finance.
Having seen FinTech evolve throughout her career, she also recounts the field’s greatest successes in terms of benefits to the financial system and society overall. Theo comments on why the US is so far behind places like Japan and China in terms of digital payment options, noting that in China, the development of the ecosystem is primarily driven by large, big tech juggernauts like WeChat and Tencent. Similarly, in Japan, which she emphasizes has been “pretty cash heavy until recent times,” the nation’s conglomerates are pushing the move towards digital payments. She stresses, however, that while Asia has a rich FinTech ecosystem, it is at different levels of development because the region is not a monolith.
Theo also shares her thoughts on how long it will be before the US fully embraces digital banking, as many Americans still seem content to write cheques.
It is in sharp contrast to Hong Kong, where the South China Morning Post reported in mid-December 2024 that, based on figures from the Hong Kong Association of Banks, the use of cheques in the Special Administrative Region has fallen and is expected to continue to decline at an annual rate of between 10-20%. The number of cheque payments in the city dropped by 27% to 4.33 million this November, compared with 5.9 million in November 2021, while the value fell by 22% to HK$468.54 billion per month over the same period.
Other markets, such as the UK, Australia, and Singapore, are also trying to reduce the use of cheques.
Yet, as Theo remarks, the number of regulators in the US might at least partly explain its sluggishness in rolling out more digital payment options.
Reflecting on the post-Covid world, she points out that worldwide, financial regulators and central banks have been proactive, despite geopolitical issues, to create linkages for seamless cross-border transactions and transfers—as seen by Project Nexus, the Bank of International Settlements Innovation Hub, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore building towards a unified system for fast payments across Southeast Asia, with a planned extension into South Asia.
What used to be siloed and driven by private organizations has led regulators to see the value of interconnectivity now.
The challenge is how FinTech can benefit financial inclusion. There is a widespread perception that tech creators sometimes promise more than they can deliver, especially in terms of bettering the lives of the poor, elderly, illiterate, uneducated, or uninformed.
The problem is not confined to developing nations: 4.2% of US households, or 5.6 million households, are classified as unbanked, with a further 14.2%, or 19 million households, deemed underbanked. The question is, therefore, one of fairer access to the financial apparatus.
The discussion concludes with Theo stating that it is not technology that poses the most significant challenge. Instead, she says, it is the adoption of tech by local regulators or enterprises and the regulations that enable them. She also remarks on generative AI and machine learning in financial services and whether they can facilitate digital inclusion in the Asia-Pacific and the West while acknowledging the related liability issues and that regulators are perhaps not as tech-savvy as they need to be.
Looking ahead, Theo notes that a key challenge is that many startups and tech firms generally focus their marketing and sales on younger users—despite more wealth held by older people—because of a perception of a lack of digital competency amongst the latter by entrepreneurs.
She says another roadblock to tech adoption is by financial institutions themselves, as many banks and MNC CEOs are more focused on the bottom line and fear that large, transformational projects will cost millions and hurt their remuneration.
Regulatory Ramblings podcasts is brought to you by The University of Hong Kong – Reg/Tech Lab, HKU-SCF Fintech Academy, Asia Global Institute, and HKU-edX Professional Certificate in Fintech, with support from the HKU Faculty of Law.
Welcome to 10 For 10, the podcast that brings you the week’s Top 10 compliance stories in one podcast each week. Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, brings you the compliance professional and the compliance stories you need to know to end your busy week. Sit back, and in 10 minutes, hear the stories every compliance professional should know from the prior week. Every Saturday, 10 For 10 highlights the most important news, insights, and analysis for the compliance professional, all curated by the Voice of Compliance, Tom Fox. Get your weekly filling of compliance stories with 10 for 10, a podcast produced by the Compliance Podcast Network.
Welcome to the Daily Compliance News. Each day, Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, brings you compliance-related stories to start your day. Sit back, enjoy a cup of morning coffee, and listen in to the Daily Compliance News—all from the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day, we consider four stories from the business world: compliance, ethics, risk management, leadership, or general interest for the compliance professional.
Syed Musheer Ahmed has extensive experience in capital markets, fintech, and virtual assets, including a decade as a global markets trader before coming to Hong Kong to attain his MBA from the University of Hong Kong and London Business School’s joint program.
Since 2016, Musheer has contributed extensively to building the region’s fintech and virtual asset ecosystem, particularly as the co-founder and the inaugural general manager of the Fintech Association of Hong Kong.
For the last five years, he has been the managing director of FinStep Asia – a firm he founded to provide venture-building and empower cross-border bridges across Asia. In the interim, from October 2022 to January 2024, he served as a financial markets risk assurance lead as part of the foundational team of the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in Dubai.
In this episode of Regulatory Ramblings, Musheer chats with host Ajay Shamdasani about his background, growing up in India’s information technology hub, Bangalore, his initial training as an engineer, and his stint as a regulator in the Mideast’s Manhattan.
As the discussion progresses, Musheer reaffirms his faith in Hong Kong as a place for FinTech and crypto entrepreneurs, discussing what it is about the city and the field that continues to attract and amaze him.
He also stresses that in the evolution of FinTech, the field has long since passed the nascent stage and is no longer all that new and glamorous since the advent of the iPhone in 2007 and Satoshi Nakamoto’s paper on Blockchain first released in 2009. Yet, he acknowledges that technological innovation continues, as he shares his thoughts on the regulatory approaches taken across Asia by mainland China, India, Singapore, and Hong Kong – and the similarities and differences between some of the major jurisdictions.
While virtual assets have evolved in some parts of the world, in others, they are still somewhat of a grey zone. Musheer also comments on the prospects for cross-border crypto regulation in the Asia-Pacific or even internationally evolving to harmonized rules, mutual recognition, or common passporting—as was discussed a decade ago for the investment funds sector.
He also shares his views on choosing between stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), which are not binary. Musheer emphasizes that it is not an either-or choice because both fulfill different purposes.
The conversation concludes with his assessment of the potential for Hong Kong and mainland China to collaborate with the Middle East’s FinTech and virtual asset hubs, such as Dubai.
