FNA - The Payment Systems Broadcast
Myths in Post-Trade Wholesale FX
The post-trade landscape in FX is often surrounded by misconceptions — from the role of distributed ledger technology to the meaning of “atomic” and “instant” settlement.
In this webinar, Dirk Bullmann, Global Head of Public Policy at CLS, and Keith Bear, Fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance examine these themes through a policy and market-infrastructure lens — clarifying where innovation is truly occurring, and where narratives risk oversimplification.
Moderated by Dr Carlos León, this discussion will explore how settlement systems continue to evolve while balancing innovation, efficiency, and resilience and challenge common assumptions around wholesale FX, including:
- Atomic vs instant settlement
- The liquidity trade-offs of real-time settlement
- Whether decentralisation really means resilience
During the webinar, Keith will also share insights from his research on Wholesale Central Bank Digital Currencies and Tokenised Money.
Managing Director, Public Policy, Strategy and Innovation, CEO Office
CLS
Dirk Bullmann joined CLS in 2022 as Global Head of Public Policy and is responsible for formulating, developing and implementing our global public policy strategy.
He represents CLS on all aspects of policymaker engagement, and leads CLS’s innovation-related research activities with a particular focus on distributed ledger technologies and Central Bank Digital Currencies.
Fellow
Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance
Keith is focused on research and industry collaboration in Digital Assets, AI and Fintech innovation at CCAF and Financial Innovation for Impact. He chairs the Cambridge Digital Asset Research programme, and teaches on our Digital Assets for Regulators and Enterprises course.
Director, Central Banks and Financial Market Infrastructures Solutions
FNA
Carlos León is the Director of Central Banks and Financial Market Infrastructures Solutions at FNA. He is also co-editor of the Latin American Journal of Central Banking, associate editor of the Journal of Financial Market Infrastructures and is a guest researcher at Tilburg School of Economics and Management. Additionally, he is an independent board member of the Colombian Central Counterparty.
