The battle for the financial system

Energy, money, and market infrastructure in the new age of economic statecraft

As energy routes, payment rails, reserve currencies – and the return of gold as a strategic asset – are reshaped by geopolitical power, post-trade infrastructure is moving from the background to the strategic centre of global finance. This panel asks whether custody, collateral, settlement, and payment systems are still neutral plumbing – or whether they are becoming the control layer of the next financial system.

• How energy security, sanctions, and payment rails are reshaping the global monetary system.

• Why collateral, custody, and settlement are becoming questions of financial sovereignty.

• Stablecoins, tokenised Treasuries, and digital wallets: the new offshore dollar system?

• What multipolarity means for European asset owners, custodians, and market infrastructures.

• Who controls the next financial system – states, banks, FMIs, big tech, or blockchain networks?