On July 25, 2019, the China Future Finance Summit was held in Beijing. The forum focused on building an open and inclusive financial society and alleviating the financing difficulties of small and micro enterprises. Former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, a member of the Speakers' Bureau, was invited to attend the summit and deliver an opening speech.



Verhofstadt spoke to the audience about three of the most important trends in the world over the next decade (political upheaval, technological disruption, global uncertainty) and how they will change the world and affect the global financial industry in the near future.



Verhofstadt said that 20 or 30 years ago everyone would have chosen a world based on peaceful coexistence of nation states, but in the future the world will be dominated by the major powers, and illiberal tendencies will gradually become more and more mainstream.



The disruption brought by technology is a huge factor affecting the future, Verhofstadt believes that the disruption of technology means that a lot of the status quo of the financial industry will be subverts by artificial intelligence, quantum computers, new technologies, blockchain, the future organization of the Internet will also change, cryptocurrency will become a new trend. At a time when there is so much technological disruption, it will be important to discuss and set standards.



He also said that uncertainties will only increase in the future, such as the many uncertainties on the issue of Brexit in the EU political ecology, and what kind of situation the UK and the EU will present after Brexit is still unclear. But there is no doubt that Brexit will happen, and it will have a profound impact on the UK, on the EU, and on London, a leading financial centre in the world.



What reforms and changes are expected within Europe? What will happen to the economy, the industry, the financial sector? In this regard, Verhofstadt believes that Europe will first further invest in promoting free trade agreements with Mexico, India, Australia, New Zealand and other countries. Free trade is currently under intense pressure, especially from the Trump administration in the United States, and it should be made clear that they are an important means of opportunity for the future, not a danger. He also believes that the prospect of signing a free trade agreement between China and the EU is very broad.



Secondly, Europe needs to continue to deal with emerging trade protectionism in the future, and continue to complete the integration of the single market in the next few years, transforming some of the key areas, including digitalization, energy, capital, etc., given that the current fintech market in the EU is still fragmented. Promoting the integration of the EU's digital, energy and capital markets will be a huge and important task.



Finally, Verhofstadt stressed that Europe needs to complete the construction of the banking union, while also changing the monetary governance mechanism as quickly as possible, especially the governance mechanism of the eurozone. Verhofstadt pointed out that Europe needs to establish a stable and efficient authority outside the central bank to achieve better governance of the eurozone.