W&F Issue 8 2018

www.wealthandfinance-news.com 16 Wealth & Finance International - Issue 8 - 2018 Javed Khattak is a qualified actuary, as a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries in the UK, and an expert in finance, strategy, risk, investments, technology and start-ups. As a FTSE100 advisor, he is a recognised expert and a strong proponent of blockchain technologies, seeing them as the inevitable next step in the corporate and professional landscapes. It is, however, his role as CFO of Humaniq that brought him to Wealth & Finance’s attention. Javed starts the interview by outlining the importance of the work he is doing at the firm, “Amongst other roles, I am the CFO of Humaniq, this role has been my primary focus over the last year. Humaniq is a financial inclusion project that, through use of technology in namely blockchain and biometric ID, aims to bring financial services to the unbanked population of the world and has successfully launched in several African countries.” Perhaps a crucial element to Javed’s work is his advocacy for blockchain technologies, believing them to be the ‘next big thing’; a revolutionary development for innumerable sectors and fields. “Humaniq, and many other innovative ventures, are able to come into existence thanks to this technology. This is in two ways; blockchain first made the initial funding for these companies possible through ICO’s, and alongside blockchain also provides these ventures with the tools and technology to execute their novel ideas and make them a reality.” Through effective utilisation of the technology, Javed sees limitless possibilities with most sectors benefitting from it, including technology, financial services and real estate industries, alongside transforming supply chains and empowering end users (e.g. through control of their personal data). However, Javed admits that blockchain is becoming stigmatised due to false parties adopting the name to make money quickly; this is a frequent occurrence with an exciting emerging technology but seems to be amplified in the case of blockchain and cryptocurrency. “Blockchain has become a buzz-word which is also attracting the wrong players who are using the opportunity to create outright scams and frauds. We have all seen the various non-blockchain businesses changing their trading names to add the magic word and see their stock prices rise. I believe this will all fade away once the regulators catch up and alongside the non-sophisticated ICO investors or contributors get burnt. Though amongst the noise, there are genuine players of course.” “Fundamentally, I see blockchain as an enabler. It is still early in the technology’s lifecycle, but once the technology matures, it can and will revolutionise lives. I hope that the blockchain will do what the internet did for information and prove to be the empowering tool that helps decentralise the world’s wealth and resources.” Javed’s work at Humaniq is only one part of his current workload; he is also the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of two companies, Zisk Properties and JKCoach. Javed takes a moment to talk us through his history with them, “I founded Zisk Properties in 2014. Zisk is an innovative property investment business, focusing on providing investment options to people with insufficient savings or a lack of financial understanding to have a more secure future and Javed Khattak is, among many roles, the Chief Financial Officer for Humaniq, a fintech firm that aims to be the herald of the next generation of financial services. In July, Javed was named as the CFO of the Year for 2018 by Wealth & Finance International Magazine. Following this, we spoke with Javed to find out how he achieved the extraordinary success he celebrates today. A Harbinger of Global Financial Change 1808WF06 Name: Javed Khattak Web: www.linkedin.com/in/javedkhattak Roles: CFO of Humaniq Co-founder & CEO of Zisk Properties Co-founder & CEO of JKCoach Investment Director at Stratamis “Fundamentally, I see blockchain as an enabler. It is still early in the technology’s lifecycle, but once the technology matures, it can and will revolutionise lives.”