John Ho

John Ho

Global Head of Financial Markets Legal, Standard Chartered Bank

Bio

John Ho is the Global Head of Legal, Financial Markets for Standard Chartered Bank ("SCB"), overseeing and providing legal advisory, transactional and documentation support for Financial Markets (FM) business globally for Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), its branches and affiliates. Mr Ho is on the Financial Stability Board's Taskforce on the Legal, Regulatory and Supervisory Frameworks, and the FIA Asia Pacific Advisory Board. He is also the co-chair of (1) the ISA SouthEast Asia Legal and Regulatory Committee and (2) the ISDA Asia Pacific ESG Working group. Mr. Ho is a member of the panel of experts of P.R.I.M.E. Finance, the financial markets dispute resolution service based in The Hague. John plays an active role in implementing changes within SCB to conform to applicable OTC regulatory reforms impacting FM business. He has been involved in fostering closer working relationship and rapport with industry groups and regulators on key global and regional regulatory reform changes, including Interbank Offered Rate (IBOR) reforms, MIFID I/MIFIR, Dodd Frank, EMIR, CRDIV, FATCA, CCPs and Margin Reforms for Uncleared Derivatives. Prior to joining Bear Stearns, Mr. Ho worked as Asia equity counsel for Lehman Brothers in Tokyo with experience dealing in convertibles, options, warrants, delta one products and other types of equity derivatives transactions, equity finance and equity capital markets. He is qualified as an advocate and solicitor in Singapore since 1995 and he received his law degree from the National University of Singapore

Talks

The Cash Leg Dilemma: Stablecoins vs Central Bank Money

Panel
Tuesday, March 31st 2026
15:05 - 15:45
bema
Description

As tokenization moves into production, one core question is becoming unavoidable: what counts as true settlement finality in digital markets? For decades, the safest standard was delivery versus payment in central bank money. In 2026, that model is being challenged by the rise of regulated stablecoins, wholesale CBDCs, and tokenized market infrastructure. This panel examines the growing divergence between the US and Europe. The US is advancing tokenized securities under a regulated stablecoin framework, while Europe is pairing private stablecoin rules with the launch of wholesale CBDC infrastructure through Pontes. Against this backdrop, leading market institutions are building across both traditional and digital rails, and must make practical decisions about how cash will move in tokenized markets. The discussion will focus on the trade-offs shaping the next phase of market structure: atomic settlement versus netting efficiency, private innovation versus monetary sovereignty, interoperability versus fragmentation, and the broader EUR-USD dynamic in digital finance. Ultimately, this is not just a debate about stablecoins versus CBDCs, but about the future architecture of global capital markets.