Asian Financial Forum 2026
The Great Transformation of Future Finance: The Era of Productive Capital and the New Order
Thursday, May 21, 2026, 09:00 to 15:30 ｜ The Westin Josun Seoul Grand Ballroom (1F)
Event Overview
At this forum, Asia Business Daily will host leading experts from the financial sector, academia, and related fields, both domestic and international, under the theme “The Great Transformation of Future Finance: The Era of Productive Capital and the New Order”
The forum will provide an in-depth analysis of key issues affecting global and domestic financial markets and explore future growth strategies for Korea’s financial industry.
Date
Thursday, May 21, 2026, 09:00 to 15:30
VIP Teatime: 08:30 ~ 09:00
location
The Westin Josun Seoul Grand Ballroom (1F)
Theme
The Great Transformation of Future Finance:
The Era of Productive Capital and the New Order
program
Time
NO.
Title
Speaker
09:00~09:10
Opening Ceremony
09:10~10:00
Keynote Speech
NAKASO Hiroshi
Chairman, Daiwa Institute of Research
Former Deputy Governor, Bank of Japan (BOJ)
10:00~10:40
Special Lecture 1
“Can Dollar Dominance Last?”
Strategic Choices for Korea Amid Shifts in the Global Monetary Order
Adam S. Posen
President, Peterson Institute for International Economics
10:40~11:30
Special Lecture 2
Structural Shifts in the Global Economy and the Evolving Role of Asian Financial Markets
SHIRAI Sayuri
Professor of Economics, Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University
Former Member of the Policy Board, Bank of Japan
11:30~12:30
Lunch & Networking
12:30~13:10
Session 1
AI-Driven Financial Revolution: Risk Management and the Investment Paradigm
Byung-doo sohn
CEO, Toss Insight
13:10~13:50
Session 2
Five Forces Reshaping Asian Economies
Sonal Varma
Managing Director
Chief Economist, India and Asia ex-Japan
13:50~14:30
Session 3
The Great Transformation of Financial Security:
AI-Powered Hacking Threats and Cyber Resilience in Finance
Sang won park
President, Korea Financial Security Institute
14:30~15:10
Session 4
Paul Bluestein
Economic Journalist
Author of King Dollar (2025)
Programs may be partially modified depending on the schedule.
speeches
Keynote Speech
Keynote Speech
NAKASO Hiroshi
Chairman, Daiwa Institute of Research
Former Deputy Governor, Bank of Japan (BOJ)
Hiroshi Nakaso was appointed chairman of the Daiwa Institute of Research (DIR) in July 2018 after completing his term as Deputy Governor of the Bank of Japan. He served as the Deputy Governor of the BOJ since March 2013. In his 40 years at the Bank, his main responsibilities have been crisis management of financial systems and markets focusing on global systems.
Mr. Nakaso joined the Bank of Japan in 1978. He dealt with the homegrown financial crisis of the 1990s. He headed the exit operation from the Quantitative Easing Policy, a prototypical unconventional policy that lasted from 2001 to 2006. In addition, he played an instrumental role in addressing the Global Financial Crisis together with his peers at major central banks including the FRB.
He has participated in numerous international meetings, and during his terms as Director-General of the Financial Markets Department and Assistant Governor, he chaired the BIS Markets Committee and Working Group on Financial Reference Rates, the G20 Study Group on Commodities and several other international forums.
Nakaso was appointed chairman of a new organization to promote Tokyo as a global financial center. The new organization is known by its abbreviated name, “FinCity.Tokyo”.
Nakaso was elected as Japan’s ABAC (APEC Business Advisory Council) Member in 2021. Established in 1996, ABAC is the sole official private sector body to provide business perspectives and policy recommendations to APEC Leaders and Ministers.
In 2023, Nakaso was appointed chairman of Finance Task Force (from 2024, renamed Finance & Investment Task Force), one of ABAC’s task force.
In 2025, Nakaso was appointed convenor of ABAC Voluntary Carbon Markets(VCM) Pathfinder Initiative Steering Group.
Nakaso became a member of the Investment Advisory Committee for the University Endowment Fund within the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) on October 1, 2021 and subsequently chairman in November 2021. Its investment objective is to secure financial resources to provide support necessary for building world-class research universities.
Special Lecture
special lecture
Adam S. Posen
President, Peterson Institute for International Economics
“Can Dollar Dominance Last?” Strategic Choices for Korea Amid Shifts in the Global Monetary Order
Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, Dr. Posen earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University (1988) and later received a Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government.
After research appointments at the Deutsche Bundesbank and Deutsche Bank (1992–1993), and serving as the Okun Fellow at the Brookings Institution (1993–1994), he worked as an International Research Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (1994–1997).
During this period, he co-authored Inflation Targeting (1999) with Ben Bernanke and others, now considered a classic in the field.
He joined the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) in 1997 and has served as its President since January 2013.
From 2009 to 2012, he was appointed by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer as an External Member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England, where he played a leading role in quantitative easing policy.
He was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 2014.
He is a globally recognized authority on G20 economic policy, central bank independence, and the economies of Japan and Europe.
special lecture
SHIRAI Sayuri
Professor of Economics, Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University
Former Member of the Policy Board, Bank of Japan
Structural Shifts in the Global Economy and the Evolving Role of Asian Financial Markets
Sayuri Shirai is a Professor at the Faculty of Policy Management at Keio University and an ADBI Fellow at the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI). Her research focuses on macroeconomics, international finance, monetary policy, and sustainable finance.
At ADBI, she founded and leads the ADBI–ADB Asian Policy Dialogue for Resilience and Prosperity, which promotes a deeper understanding of climate-related policies among financial regulators and central banks in Asia. In 2024-25, she also served as a Senior Consultant to the Asian Development Bank.
Previously, she was a Member of the Policy Board of the Bank of Japan from 2011 to 2016. Earlier in her career, she worked as an economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and taught at Sciences Po in Paris. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University.
She is the author of numerous books and academic papers on green central banking, monetary policy, and international finance. In July 2025, she delivered a keynote lecture titled “Climate Risk and Central Banking in Asia: Balancing Price Stability and Financial Stability” at the Bank of Korea, and the paper was later published in the Journal of International Money and Finance.
She frequently appears as a commentator on various international and domestic media.
session
Session 1
Byung-doo sohn
CEO, Toss Insight
Role of Technology-Advanced Nations and Finance
CEO, Toss Insight
Senior Advisor, Korea Exchange
Chairman & CEO, Korea Exchange (7th)
Vice Chairman, Financial Services Commission
Session 2
Sonal Varma
Managing Director
Chief Economist, India and Asia ex-Japan
Five Forces Reshaping Asian Economies
Sonal Varma is a Managing Director, and Nomura’s Chief Economist, India and Asia ex-Japan, based in
Singapore. Her responsibilities include analyzing and forecasting key regional trends and publishing in-depth,
thematic reports on the economy as part of Nomura’s Asia ex-Japan Global Markets Research team. She
manages a team of economists covering the region. She joined Nomura in October 2008 from Lehman
Brothers, where she served as India Economist.
Sonal was ranked No.1 for pan-Asia research by The Asset in 2022 and 2023, No. 3 in 2024 and received
an Honorable Mention in 2025. The same publication also ranked her as one of the top two economists for
India research from 2012 to 2019. Additionally, Sonal was ranked by Asiamoney’s Brokers Poll as the No.1
India economist in 2020, and No.3 in 2021. She was consistently ranked among the Top 2 economists in
India by Institutional Investor every year from 2013 to 2018.
Sonal previously worked as an economist at ICICI Bank and rating agency CRISIL. She was a member of
the Indian government’s working group to construct the index of industrial production, and her views are
frequently sought by the media, think tanks and policymakers.
Sonal holds a Master’s in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, in India.
Session 3
Sang won park
President, Korea Financial Security Institute
The Great Transformation of Financial Security: AI-Powered Hacking Threats and Cyber Resilience in Finance
Head, Financial Conglomerates Supervision Department, Financial Supervisory Service (FSS)
Head, Bank Risk Supervision Department, Financial Supervisory Service (FSS)
Secretary General, Financial Supervisory Service (FSS)
Senior Deputy Governor, Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) (Planning & Management)
Senior Deputy Governor, Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) (SME & Consumer Finance)
President, Korea Financial Security Institute (K-FSI)
Session 4
Paul Blustein
Economic Journalist
Author of King Dollar (2025)
Paul Blustein is a renowned American economic journalist and author specializing in international finance, trade, and global economic policy.
He earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin (1973) and was selected as a Rhodes Scholar, receiving a Master’s degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) from Merton College, Oxford (1975).
He joined The Wall Street Journal in 1979, serving as a senior economics correspondent, and from 1987 to 2006 worked as an economics reporter for The Washington Post. He also served as Tokyo correspondent, dedicating nearly four decades to international economic reporting.
He later served as Journalist in Residence at the Brookings Institution, Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), and Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), continuing active research and writing.
His six books—including The Chastening (2001) on the IMF and global financial crisis, And the Money Kept Rolling In (and Out) (2006) on Argentina’s debt crisis, Schism (2019) on U.S.-China trade tensions, and King Dollar (2025) on dollar dominance—have received critical acclaim from major publications such as the Financial Times and The Economist.
He currently resides in Kamakura, Japan.
Location
Sogong-ro 106, Jung-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
City Hall Station (Line 1 & 2), Exit and walk.