The University of Hong Kong The Kerry Holdings Professor in Law Professor Douglas Arner, UBS Group (UK) Managing Director Suren Siva, IBM Global Research Lead (formerly) Nicholas Drury were recently appointed as senior advisors to the Fintech Association of Sri Lanka (FASL).  

They will support the Fintech Association of Sri Lanka (FASL)’s initiative on ‘Enhancing Colombo International Financial City (Port City Colombo) as a Leading Fintech Hub in South Asia’, among others.

Professor Douglas Arner specialises in economic and financial law, regulation and development. He is currently leading a major five year Hong Kong Research Grants Council Senior Research Fellowship project on the role of FinTech and RegTech in financial inclusion and the UN Sustainable Development Goals as well as a four year RGC Research Impact Fund project focusing on FinTech policy and regulation.  

He served as Project Coordinator of a major five-year project funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council Theme-based Research Scheme (TRS) on ‘Enhancing Hong Kong’s Future as a Leading International Financial Centre’. He is currently one of the core team of another TRS project focusing on digital finance, financial stability and financial inclusion.  

Professor Arner has been a visiting professor or fellow at Duke University, Harvard University, the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research, IDC Herzliya, McGill University, Melbourne University, National University of Singapore, Queen Mary University of London, University of New South Wales, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and Zurich University, among others. 

He has served as a consultant with, among others, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UN, APEC, Alliance for Financial Inclusion, and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.   

Suren Siva currently serves as Managing Director of UBS Group (UK) and initially served as Managing Director of Credit Suisse (UK) with roles which have focused on working with C-level management in planning and executing complex cross-asset business and technology front-to-back change initiatives to improve the growth, performance and control of their businesses.

His experience spans on strategy & planning, operating model design, business management, fintech, programme management, regulatory compliance and post-merger integration for Investment Banks across London, Paris, New York and Hong Kong.

Nicholas Drury is a senior advisor and consultant to C-suite in strategic digital transformation programmes internationally, including Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), Stablecoins and Fast Payment Systems (FPS).  

His consulting portfolio of clients include governments, central banks, regulators, leading global banking groups, fintechs and major financial services players in Asia and Africa undergoing deep transformation journeys with emerging technologies.  

He was an IBM Global Research Lead - Banking, Financial Markets and Risk and published over 30 publicly-available and industry award-winning data-driven research reports on impacts of emerging technologies (AI, Cloud, Quantum, etc) and risk on business and operating models.      

He is currently a Research Affiliate at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) of the Cambridge Judge Business School (CJBS). He was serving CJBS initially as a Regional Lead with roles developing a cross-sectoral Asia-Pacific and global knowledge network, to facilitate the continuing development of fintech markets and effect evidence-based regulatory changes in economies seeking to promote the sustainable growth of technology-driven alternative finance models.   

He was a Business Development Specialist at the Cambridge Centre for Advanced Research and Education in Singapore (CARES), the University of Cambridge’s first overseas research centre and delivered a speech at G20 Indonesia on “Technological solutions for promoting financial inclusion”.