The Lord Mayor of London, Michael Mainelli, unveiled two new reports from the Smart Economy Network steering group at Mansion House today [4 November] focused on utilising international data and digitalisation to improve international trade - spanning cross-border commerce, trade finance, and international payments.

The reports; ‘Towards a Smart Economy: How Digital Technologies will Transform Global Trade and Finance’ and ‘The City of London – an identity for the new, smarter economy’ look at how countries that embrace real-time and open data, alongside shared ledgers and artificial intelligence, to drive forward efficiency and effectiveness to prosper by increasing productivity and trust while reducing costs.

The reports found the UK is well placed to be a global leader in this. It was the first G7 country to make digital records and is a global leader in digitising documents of title with the full sanction of UK Common law –  the preferred legal framework globally. The UK’s ability to digitalise all the elements of a contract combined with the adaptability of the UK’s common law system has meant the risks associated with automation of international contracts have been effectively mitigated.

However the UK still has some way to go and the steering group has called on the UK to learn more from countries like Estonia which runs a successful global digital identity project, the e-Residency system, which extends the Estonian national e-ID system to non-residents.

X-Road is the core enabling technology for all of Estonia’s e-government infrastructure. Created in 2001, it is an open-source enterprise software package designed to enable government departments to work together and businesses to transact without the need for parties to move their entire operation to a new platform in order to collaborate with other institutions. This makes X-Road an ideal platform for incremental innovation and building consensus.

The Steering group is calling on the UK to adopt a similar system and take key steps towards this expansion by:

• adopting digital identity infrastructure, both personal and corporate;
• further expanding market adoption of open source data, information, and documentation
• utilising exchange systems, in particular X-Road;
•  creating an environment for a wider acceptance of a variety of digital payment mechanisms.

The steering group is part of the Lord Mayor, Michael Mainelli’s, Smart Economy Networks Initiative and involves figures from industry, academia and government within the financial and professional services as well as the science and technology fields, and the sectors.

Lord Mayor of London, Michael Mainelli, said:  

“It brings me great joy to launch these two reports from the Smart Economy Networks Steering Group as part of my ‘Connect to Prosper’ theme – which has focused on leveraging the City of London’s strengths and connections to tackle global challenges and seize new opportunities.

“One of those opportunities is the use of real-time open data and digitalisation to drive innovation and frictionless international trade in goods and finance. London is Europe’s fintech capital - attracting more Fintech investment than the next 13 European cities combined - the City of London ecosystem can show new leadership as the global digital economy evolves to the point where smart data is used across all aspects of the economy. We have world-renowned financial services, an enabling legal and regulatory environment and access to incredible talent and skills.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

About the City of London Corporation

The City of London Corporation is the governing body of the Square Mile dedicated to a vibrant and thriving City, supporting a diverse and sustainable London within a globally-successful UK. www.cityoflondon.gov.uk