The Delphi Economic Forum is proud to announce our latest initiative, a series of targeted International Roundtables entitled “ Delphi Intelligence Insights”.
Unlike our broader Public Fora, the Delphi Intelligence Insights, is an exclusive, highly curated event series, designed strictly for a select group of Business Leaders, Policymakers, C-suite Executives and Diplomats. Convening monthly in a private, closed-door setting in Athens, Greece, these Delphi Intelligence Insights move away from traditional panel formats to place an elite audience in direct conversation with a single or maximum two Premier Keynote Speakers.
The inaugural session of the Delphi Intelligence Insights series kicked off with a deep dive into "The Future of Finance: Crypto, Neobanks, and Disruption," featuring Creon Butler, Director of the Global Economy and Finance Programme at Chatham House, moderated by Antonis Papagiannis, Managing Director of the Economic Review, Economia Media, with an audience of high level executives and opinion leaders of the Greek market.
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In this opening discussion of the new initiative by the Delphi Economic Forum, Mr. Butler identified three primary sources of systemic risk. These include the trajectory of interest rates and their economy-wide impact, escalating AI-related cybersecurity threats, and the potential overestimation of returns on massive artificial intelligence investments. Citing warnings from the IMF, the former Bank of England official expressed broader concerns over how rapidly the financial system is transforming compared to the capacity of regulatory bodies to manage these shifts.
During his intervention, Mr. Butler cautioned that technological advancement is a double-edged sword, arguing that any deployment of new tech must be preceded by a fundamental question: "What problem are we trying to solve?" While acknowledging that the current financial system has inherent costs, he questioned whether dismantling established structures for the sake of efficiency is worth the risk. He particularly focused on the digitization of financial products, highlighting how the regulatory divergence on stablecoins between the US and the EU poses a contagion risk, as dollar-pegged stablecoins can circulate globally with ambiguous oversight. Ultimately, he stressed that while governments have the power to act, the true obstacle is their political will, expressing deep concern over the "fragile" state of international cooperation and a weakening global commitment to coordinated financial regulation.