Centre for Financial Technology
The financial system is changing. The research that shapes it starts here.
Our financial system is being transformed at pace by digital assets, artificial intelligence (AI) and new payments infrastructure. The Centre for Financial Technology produces the independent, academically rigorous research that ensures those changes are understood and shaped for the public good. From briefing the House of Commons on stablecoins, to informing digital money policy across Latin America, our cross-disciplinary research is trusted by regulators, central banks and industry worldwide. At the Centre of Financial Technology we conduct independent research with real world impact at the frontier of finance.
Research impact areas
Sovereign AI and national security
Designing and maintaining systems under geopolitical stress has become one of the defining strategic challenges of our time. Submitted to NATO, our paper proposed the first comprehensive framework for AI sovereignty across energy, hardware, data, finance and human capital, directly informing the strategic policy debate among NATO allies on the resilience of critical AI infrastructure.
Strategic and financial requirements for a sovereign AI infrastructure
DeFi and blockchain governance
Using a dynamic macro-finance framework, we demonstrated that liquid staking can render a blockchain's core monetary policy instruments ineffective, with direct implications for the design of secure, genuinely decentralised proof-of-stake systems and the regulatory frameworks governing them.
Stablecoins and UK regulatory policy
The UK’s position as a global financial centre depends on getting digital money regulation right - and the window for action is narrowing. Launched to national and international media attention, our report directly shaped live UK and EU regulatory debate, with our findings presented at the House of Commons, the EU Commission and conferences in Asia and the Gulf.
Mind the gap: How stablecoins can secure the UK's financial future
Payments and digital money
The future of payments is digital but only rigorous, independent research can ensure it works for everyone. Co-produced with Citi, our data-driven index has become an essential strategic tool for policymakers and financial institutions across Latin America, directly informing digital policy formulation and financial inclusion strategies across the region.
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Our world is going through major transitions driven by technology, geopolitics and sustainability — transitions that present both profound challenges and extraordinary opportunities. Successfully navigating them requires genuine collaboration between academia, business and policymakers. As part of a leading science and technology university, the Centre for Financial Technology at ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Business School is uniquely positioned to be the home of that collaboration; we bring together the research
Our influence
Our research shapes decisions at the highest levels of government, industry and international policy.
We have presented our findings to finance ministers and central bank governors at the G20, contributed to debates at the EuroFi Financial Forum, and engaged with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. In October 2025, we addressed UK parliamentarians at the House of Commons on the future of stablecoins. Our sovereign AI infrastructure paper has been submitted to NATO, addressing data sovereignty, financial resilience and national security in an era of AI-driven disruption.
Our faculty engage regularly with the Payment Systems Regulator, Revolut UK, The Payments Association and the Digital Monetary Institute. At the FMA European Conference in Braga (June 2026), our researchers led the FinTech and Digital Currencies segment alongside former ECB Vice-President, Vítor Constâncio.
Our academic conference convened researchers from the Bank for International Settlements, the London School of Economics, MIT, INSEAD, the University of Cambridge, UCL, Warwick Business School and the Toulouse School of Economics, among others.
Professor Gilles Chemla serves on the scientific committees of the Western Finance Association, the European Finance Association and the Financial Intermediation Research Society. He collaborates with Gordon Phillips and Richard Freeman at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) to develop Economics of Science events, reflecting the Centre's reach across academic, policy and industry communities worldwide.
Upcoming events
