Ep #50 with Syed Musheer Ahmed, Finstep Asia

Syed Musheer Ahmed has two decades of extensive experience in the realms of capital markets, fintech and virtual assets – including a decade as a global markets’ trader, prior to coming to Hong Kong to attain his MBA from the University of Hong Kong and London Business School’s joint program.

Since 2016, Musheer has contributed extensively to building the region’s fintech and virtual asset ecosystem, particularly as the co-founder and the inaugural general manager of the Fintech Association of Hong Kong.

For the last five years, he has been the managing director of FinStep Asia – a firm which he founded to provide Venture building and empower cross-border bridges across Asia . In the interim, from October 2022 to January 2024, he served as a financial markets risk assurance lead as part of the foundational team of the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in Dubai.

In this episode of Regulatory Ramblings, Musheer chats with host Ajay Shamdasani about his background, growing up in India’s information technology hub, Bangalore, his initial training as an engineer and his stint as a regulator in the Mideast’s Manhattan.

As the discussion progresses, Musheer reaffirms his faith in Hong Kong as a place for FinTech and crypto entrepreneurs, discussing what it is as about the city and the field that continues to attract and marvel him.

He also stresses that in the evolution of FinTech, the field has long since passed the nascent stage and is no longer all that new and glamorous since the advent of iPhone in 2007 and Satoshi Nakamoto’s paper on Blockchain first released in in 2009. Yet, he acknowledges that technological innovation continues, as he shares his thoughts on the regulatory approaches taken across Asia by mainland China, India, Singapore and Hong Kong – and the similarities and differences between some of the major jurisdictions.

While virtual assets which have evolved in some parts of the world, in others, they are still somewhat of a grey-zone. Musheer also comments on the prospects for cross-border crypto regulation in the Asia-Pacific or even internationally evolving to the level of harmonized rules, or even mutual recognition or common passporting – as was discussed a decade ago for the investment funds sector.

He also shares his views on how the choice between stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) is not binary. Musheer emphasizes it is not an either-or choice because both fulfil different purposes.

The conversation concludes with his assessment on the potential for Hong Kong and mainland China to collaborate with the FinTech and virtual asset hubs of the Middle East such as Dubai.

HKU FinTech is the leading fintech research and education in Asia. Learn more at www.hkufintech.com.