VIRTUAL

Senior policymakers and industry will come together to discuss key aspects of FinTech regulation at the

5^th Annual Conference on
‘FinTech and Regulation:
New Challenges and New Solutions’

from 2 February to 4 February 2021

Click here to see the 2021 highlights

Programme

Download Programme

Tuesday, 2^nd February 2021

Morning session

10.00 – 10.05: Conference opening

10.05 – 10.30: Keynote speech: Mairead McGuinness, Commissioner for Financial Services, European Commission

10.30– 11.45: Panel on e-ID/KYC and digital on-boarding

11.45 – 12.15: Fireside chat: Christopher P. Buttigieg, Chief Officer Supervision, Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), Chair of the ESMA Data Standing Committee

Conference opening

Nickolas Reinhardt,

Director, Afore Consulting

Anne Keane,

Director, Afore Consulting

Keynote speech

Mairead McGuinness,

Commissioner for Financial Services, European Commission

Panel on e-ID/KYC and digital on-boarding

The huge and steady increase in the use of cross-border digital services in the EU’s Single Market has raised new challenges around identification, KYC requirements, AML, data protection and safety. The financial services industry has consistently been calling for a harmonised EU KYC regime for on-boarding, as well as for an EU digital identity. What potential would this unlock? How could this objective be best achieved – public vs private solutions? What regulatory requirements would need to be put in place to ensure legal certainty? Can the solution be based on an extended E-IDAS framework or is sector-specific regulation required for the financial services sector? What should be the scope of any KYC on-boarding: should it be limited to authentication or extend into other areas of consumer protection, such as the appropriateness and suitability texts under MiFID?

Panellists:

Marius Jurgilas, Board Member, Bank of Lithuania
Jan Ceyssens, Head of the Digital Finance Unit, DG FISMA, European Commission
Richard Blore, CEO KY3P, IHS Markit
Emmanuel Givanakis, Deputy CEO ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority
Matt Henderson, Business Lead EMEA, Stripe
Alison Russell, Head of Innovation Department, UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

Moderator: Daniel Trinder, Senior Policy Advisor, Afore Consulting

Fireside chat

Christopher P. Buttigieg,

Chief Officer Supervision, Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), Chair of the ESMA Data Standing Committee

Tuesday, 2^nd February 2021

Afternoon session

14.30 – 15.15 Fireside chat on Emerging Payment Trends in a post-COVID World, Philip McHugh, CEO, Paysafe

15.15 – 15.45: Fireside chat: Jose Manuel Campa, Chairman of the European Banking Authority (EBA)

15.45 – 16.15: Fireside chat: Lisa Rabbe, Chief Government and Public Affairs Officer, Moody’s

16.15 – 17.30: Panel on European Financial Data Spaces

17.30 – 18.15: Fireside chat: Duncan Olby, Head of Wallet & Payments for International Markets, Apple Pay

Fireside chat on Emerging Payment Trends in a post-COVID World

Philip McHugh,

CEO, Paysafe

Fireside chat

Jose Manuel Campa,

Chairman of the European Banking Authority (EBA)

Fireside chat

Lisa Rabbe,

Chief Government and Public Affairs Officer, Moody’s

Panel on European Financial Data Spaces

The objective of Open Finance is to empower financial institutions and allow them to share information efficiently and securely. The drive to foster a data driven financial sector offers a real opportunity for financial services companies to collaborate in the area of non-personal data, such as related to fraud and incident reporting, optimising their risk management techniques and have access to analytical data sets. Such information exchange will need to be fully compliant with EU competition law and other legal requirements. Similarly, the concept of customers granting access to their data to third parties (the so called Open Finance initiative) have been intensively discussed in recent years. The European Commission made a commitment to present a proposal for a new Open Finance Framework by mid-2022. Open Finance could create a digital marketplace that will benefit financial services and could lead to the emergence of new customised financial products.

Panellists will discuss different ways of opening up and the sharing of data within the financial services sector. They will look at the main benefits and risks of creating European Financial Data Spaces. How will this help the financial services sector in generating new synergies and to assist in better risk management? Is an Open Finance policy desirable and what regulatory changes would be required to reap them? They will also address the regulatory implications and consumer protection issues. What are the lessons from PSD2 and whether the approach of PSD2 and open banking should be expanded to cover other financial sectors?

Panellists include:

Alain Deckers, Head of Unit, Corporate reporting, Audit and Credit Rating Agencies, DG FISMA, European Commission
Jeffrey Brown, Senior Vice President, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, Charles Schwab
James Kemp, Managing Director of the Global FX Division, Technology and Operations and Policy Divisions, GFMA and AFME
Stephan Bredt, Director General Economic Sector, Financial Services, Exchanges, Ministry of Economics, Energy, Transport and Housing of the State of Hessen
Coen ter Wal, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB)
Mounaim Cortet, Senior Manager Strategy, Innopay

Moderator: Nickolas Reinhardt, Director, Afore Consulting

Fireside chat

Duncan Olby,

Head of Wallet & Payments for International Markets, Apple Pay

Wednesday, 3^rd February 2021

Morning session

10.00 – 10.30: Keynote speech: Pentti Hakkarainen, Member of the Supervisory Board of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, ECB representative

10.30 – 11.45: Panel on digital operational resilience

11.45 – 12.00: Keynote speech: Thomas Lillelund, CEO Europe, Middle East & Africa, AIG

12.00 – 12.30: Fireside chat: Gabriel Bernardino, Chairman of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA)

Keynote speech

“Digitalisation disrupts traditional banking? “

Pentti Hakkarainen,

Member of the Supervisory Board of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, ECB representative

Panel on digital operational resilience

The Commission has presented a legislative proposal to strengthen the digital operational resilience of EU financial sector entities, which is currently being discussed. The proposal aims to streamline the existing rules and fill in the gaps in the ICT risk management framework of the financial sector. For the financial institutions, the legislation aims to harmonise local rules, setting an EU-wide standard for digital operational resilience testing, ICT risk management and incident reporting. Will the new framework introduce a plethora of new processes compared to what the industry has already implemented? Given that the Regulation will apply to a wide range of financial institutions, has proportionality been sufficiently taken into account? Is the Regulation future-proof given that the cyber-threat landscape is constantly evolving? How does the draft Regulation interact with existing EU cross-sectoral rules on cyber security? Is the new oversight framework for ICT providers to the financial services industry a template as to how to address new technologies in Europe going forward? How do we ensure international consistency?

Panellists include:

Tomáš Nýdrle, Head of Payment services and Market Infrastructure Unit, Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic
Claudia Guagliano, Team Leader – Innovation and Products, European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)
William Hoffman, Regional CISO UK & Ireland and Head of CSO Governance & Control, Deutsche Bank
Stella Nunn, Director, Operational Resilience and IT Risk, PWC
Jan Eger, Government Relations and Regulatory Strategy, LSEG

Moderator: Linda Strazdiņa, Head of Technology Practice and Senior Consultant, Afore Consulting

Keynote speech

“Digital aspirations for insurance – 2021“

Thomas Lillelund,

CEO Europe, Middle East & Africa, AIG

Fireside chat

Gabriel Bernardino,

Chairman of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA)

Wednesday, 3^rd February 2021

Afternoon session

15.00 – 15.30: Fireside chat on How can FinTech contribute to the economic recovery? Carmine Di Noia, Commissioner, Italian Securities and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) and Chair of the ESMA Committee for Economic and Markets’ Analysis – CEMA

15.30 – 16.00: Keynote speech: Robert Ophèle, Chairman of the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF)

16.00 – 17.15: Panel on the use of technology in AML

17.15 – 17.45 Fireside chat: Billy Kelleher, Member of the European Parliament (RE, IE)

17.45 – 18.15 Fireside chat: Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud, and Joachim Wuermeling, Member of the Executive Board, Deutsche Bundesbank

Fireside chat on How can FinTech contribute to the economic recovery?

Carmine Di Noia,

Commissioner, Italian Securities and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) and Chair of the ESMA Committee for Economic and Markets’ Analysis - CEMA

Keynote speech

“Regulatory considerations in an era of digital acceleration “

Robert Ophèle,

Chairman of the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF)

Panel on the use of technology in AML

The use of technology has been particularly important in the areas of compliance with anti-money laundering legislation and the fight against fraud. This panel explores some of the use cases of technology in this area and whether the existing AML requirements lend themselves to the increased use of RegTech and SupTech. As the European Commission finalises draft legislation to update the AML framework does this adequately take into account the possibility of industry applying and introducing new technologies? How should any outsourcing arrangements be designed to allow for the pooling of data and use of third party providers? How do we incentivise the industry to continue and invest in new solutions? How do we make suspicious transaction reporting useful to the supervisors and law enforcement agencies while moving to risk-based, AI supported and machine readable solutions?

Panellists:

Eero Heinalouma, Member of the European Parliament (S&D, FI)
Noé de la Rubia, Criminal Intelligence Officer, Interpol
Tom Shane, AI Product Lead, Google Cloud

Darren Innes, Vice-President, Head of AML Technology, Nasdaq
Kate Salottolo, Vice President, Global Head of AML, Anti-Bribery and Corruption and Brand Risk Management, PayPal
Hartwig Gerhartinger, Chair of EPIF Technical Committee and Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Paysafe

Moderator: Paloma García Muñoz, Head of Payments Practice and Senior Consultant, Afore Consulting

Fireside chat

Billy Kelleher,

Member of the European Parliament (RE, IE)

Fireside chat

Thomas Kurian,

CEO Google Cloud

Joachim Wuermeling,

Member of the Executive Board, Deutsche Bundesbank

Thursday, 4^th February

Morning session

9.00 – 9.30: Keynote speech: Sylvie Goulard, Second Deputy Governor, Banque de France

9.30 – 10.00: Fireside chat on Green Fintech Innovations: Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and Michael Cole-Fontayn, Chairman, Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) and Board Member of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA)

10.00 – 10.30: Keynote speech: Roberto Viola, Director-General, DG CONNECT, European Commission

10.30 – 11.45: Panel on how new technologies interrelate with financial services

11.45 – 12.45: Fireside chat on the digital euro

Keynote speech

“Glance at innovation in payments : a central banker’s view“

Sylvie Goulard,

Second Deputy Governor, Banque de France

Fireside chat on Green Fintech Innovations

Sopnendu Mohanty,

Chief Fintech Officer, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)

Michael Cole-Fontayn,

Chairman, Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) and Board Member of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA)

Keynote speech

Roberto Viola,

Director-General, DG CONNECT, European Commission

Panel on how new technologies interrelate with financial services

The EU is embarking on a comprehensive public policy and regulatory programme around the digitalisation of the European society and economy. By the end of this Commission term, we are likely to see a European framework for AI, the use and sharing of non-personal data, blockchain and other innovative technologies, as well as the cross-border recognition of e-ID solutions.

In this panel we want to explore the role of financial services in facilitating this digital transformation. The ECB is considering the launch of a digital euro. How does this fit with calls for a programmable euro to support Europe’s industrial transformation and the creation of common data spaces? How do we facilitate the Internet of Things through machine-to-machine payments? Are we increasingly moving towards a new partnership between financial services institutions and their corporate but also retail customers? Does this offer opportunities for the established financial services sector? How does this interrelate with some of the other themes of this conference such as on Open Finance, e-identification and Suptech?

Panellists include:

Ondrej Kovarik, Member of the European Parliament (RE, CZ)
Peteris Zilgalvis, Head of Unit, Digital Innovation and Blockchain, DG CONNECT, European Commission
Christian Catalini, Chief Economist, Diem Association (FKA Libra Association)
Philip Sandner, Head of the Frankfurt School Blockchain Center (FSBC), Frankfurt School of Finance & Management
Eva Kaili, Member of the European Parliament (S&D, EL)
Patrick Armstrong, Member of the Secretariat, Financial Stability Board (FSB)

Moderator: Daniel Trinder, Senior Policy Advisor, Afore Consulting

Fireside chat on the digital euro

Marcel Haag,

Director for Horizontal Policies, DG FISMA, European Commission

Ulrich Bindseil,

Director General of Market Infrastructure and Payments, European Central Bank (ECB)

Antony Cahill,

Managing Director, Europe Regions, VISA

Jaakko Weuro,

Director, Head of Banking and Finance Unit, Ministry of Finance, Finland

Wednesday, 4^th February 2021

Afternoon session

15.00 – 15.30: Keynote speech: Steven Maijoor, Chairman of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)

15.30 – 16.00: Fireside chat: Lance Uggla, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, IHS Markit

16.15 – 17.45: Panel on crypto-assets and international regulation

17.45 – 17.50: Conference closing

Keynote speech

“Safely Navigating the Accelerating Digital Transformation”

Steven Maijoor,

Chairman of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)

Fireside chat

Lance Uggla,

Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, IHS Markit

Panel on crypto-assets and international regulation

The emergence of crypto-assets, stablecoins and other tokens is one of the most visible examples of how technology is fundamentally transforming the financial sector both in Europe and globally. The European Commission presented a proposal for a Markets in Crypto-Assets (MICA) legislation, creating a bespoke regulatory and supervisory regime, as well as a taxonomy for cryptocurrencies, to ensure the most is made of the opportunities they create whilst addressing the risks they may pose. The EU’s approach builds on existing EU financial services regulation. Yet crypto activity is not limited in the EU thus any approach needs to be internationally consistent. How does MiCA fit in the international scene? Does it sufficiently consider the recommendations, principles and standards delivered by international standard setters? Is further work ongoing at international level to ensure compatibility of national frameworks across jurisdictions? Should the international standard setting bodies take more of a leadership role in this debate?

Panellists:

Stasys Jakeliunas, Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA, LT)
Eva Hupkes, Head of Regulatory and Supervisory Policies, Financial Stability Board (FSB)
Jean-Paul Servais, Vice Chair of the IOSCO Board, Chairman of Belgium's Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA)
Sharon Yang, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Financial Markets, U.S. Treasury
Valerie Szczepanik, Director of the Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub) Office, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Peter Kerstens, Adviser for Financial Sector Digitalisation and cybersecurity, DG FISMA, European Commission
Anne Choné, Senior Officer, Financial Innovation, ESMA

Moderator: Nickolas Reinhardt, Director, Afore Consulting

Conference closing

Nickolas Reinhardt,

Director, Afore Consulting

Speakers

Afore consulting team

Linda Strazdina

Senior Consultant & Head of Technology Practice

Afore Consulting

Biography

Anne Keane

Co-founder and Director

Afore Consulting

Biography

Esther Bleys

Junior Consultant

Afore Consulting

Biography

2020 highlights

Senior policymakers and industry came together to discuss key aspects of FinTech regulation at the 4th Annual Conference on ‘FinTech and Digital Innovation: Delivering for the Future’ on 3rd March 2020.

The conference came at an important juncture in the European political cycle. One year after the formal launch of the European Commission’s Action Plan on FinTech, the keynotes and panels took stock how technology and the financial services industry has evolved, what progress the EU has made on its policy objectives and, importantly, helped set out some of the policy and regulatory priorities for the new European Parliament and European Commission.

Speakers included Valdis Dombrovskis Vice-President of the European Commission, Yves Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, Christopher Giancarlo, Chairman of the CFTC, Steven Maijoor, Chair of ESMA, Gabriel Bernardino, Chair of EIOPA, and Robert Ophele, President of the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF).

Mairead McGuinness

Commissioner for Financial Services, European Commission

Mairead McGuinness is the European Commissioner for financial services, financial stability and Capital Markets Union.

The Commissioner’s vision for the portfolio is focused on ensuring the financial sector’s strength and stability, so that it can deliver for people, society and the environment.

Before joining the Commission in October 2020, Ms McGuinness was First Vice-President of the European Parliament from 2017. She served as an MEP from Ireland for 16 years, and was a Vice-President of the Parliament since 2014.

As Vice-President, she oversaw relations with national Parliaments, led the Parliament’s dialogue with religious and philosophical organisations, and had responsibility for the Parliament’s communication policy.

During her time in the Parliament, Ms McGuinness sat on a range of committees, covering agriculture, environment, public health, budgets, petitions and constitutional affairs. Her legislative work included leading for the EPP Group on the European Climate Law, the revision of medical devices legislation, and CAP reform post-2013. As an Irish MEP representing the border region, she was outspoken on Brexit and the consequences for the EU and Ireland.

In 2006-2007, Ms McGuinness chaired the Parliament’s investigation into the collapse of the Equitable Life assurance company which identified issues around weak financial regulation.

Prior to becoming an MEP, she was an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and commentator.

Jose Manuel Campa

Chairman of the European Banking Authority (EBA)

José Manuel Campa, is the Chairperson of the European Banking Authority (EBA). He was appointed in March 2019 and is serving a renewable five-year term. He represents the Authority and by chairing the meetings of the Board of Supervisors and of the Management Board, he steers the strategic direction of the Authority.

From 2015 and prior to this appointment, Campa served as Global Head of Regulatory Affairs, for the Grupo Santander. Prior to that, he was Professor of Finance and Economics at IESE Business School.

Between 2009 and 2011, Campa served as Secretary of State for the Economy in the Ministry of Economy and Finances of Spain. He was a member of the Financial Stability Board, the board of the European Financial Stability Facility, the Economic and Financial Committee and alternate governor in multilateral financial institutions. He has served in the Expert Group, chaired by Mr. Erkki Liikanen, evaluating policy recommendations on structural reforms for the European Banking industry.

He has also taught at the Stern School of Business of New York University and at Columbia University. He has been Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and Research Fellow at the Center for Economic Policy Research. Mr. Campa has also been a consultant to a large number of international organizations, including the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Bank of International Settlements in Basel, and the European Commission.

He has served on the boards of Prime Collateralised Securities (PCS) Europe, Bruegel, and General de Alquiler de Maquinaria.

José Manuel Campa holds a Ph.D. and a master degree in economics from Harvard University and a Licenciatura in law and in economics from the Universidad de Oviedo.

Pentti Hakkarainen

Member of the Supervisory Board of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, ECB representative

Mr Pentti Hakkarainen has been a Member of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) since 1 February 2017. Among other tasks, he holds responsibility for digital agenda, budgetary issues, supervisory reporting, IT issues and audit activities. He was also a member of the Steering Committee of the Supervisory Board from 1 April 2017 until 31 March 2020.

Before joining the ECB, Mr Hakkarainen was a Member of the Board of the central bank of Finland (Suomen Pankki – Finlands Bank) from 2002 to 2017, serving as Deputy Governor from 2008 onwards. He was mostly in charge of the financial market stability function, monetary policy implementation, investment activities, risk management and macroprudential policy.

Prior to central banking, Mr Hakkarainen worked in the private sector for more than 17 years. Having worked at an international industrial corporation for around ten years, mostly as Finance Director, he subsequently held successive positions as CEO of two systemically important banks for seven years.

In addition to his core tasks, Mr Hakkarainen is Chairman of the Board of Directors of OLVI plc and Chairman of the Board of Directors of FINNVERA Oyj (state Export Credit Agency) since April 2017. He has been for 10 years Chair of the Board of the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority, an alternate to the ECB Governing Council and an alternate of the IMF Board of Governors. He was also Chair of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) Committee on Controlling and Chair of the ESCB Budget Committee, a member of the Economic and Financial Committee of the EU, and a member and Chair of the IMF Audit Committee.

Robert Ophèle

Chairman of the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF)

Graduated from the ESSEC business school Robert Ophèle joins the Banque de France in 1981 where he will make the largest part of his professional career in banking supervision, in developing and implementing monetary policy and in the financial management of the bank.

Following a secondment to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, he took up the position of Director of the Management Control and Budget Directorate, then was appointed Deputy Director-General Economics and International Relations, before being promoted Director General Operations. He held the position of Second Deputy Governor of the Banque de France from January 2012 until July 2017; in this role, he became a member of the Supervisory Board for the European Central Bank.

On 1^st August 2017 he was appointed Chairman of the Autorité des marchés financiers.

Steven Maijoor

Steven Maijoor has been the Chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) since taking up office 1 April 2011. He is the first chair of the authority and is currently serving his second five-year term. He is responsible for representing the Authority as well as chairing ESMA’s Board of Supervisors and the Management Board. The role of the Board of Supervisors is to give strategic guidance to ESMA and make all main regulatory and supervisory decisions. The Management Board’s purpose is to ensure that the Authority carries out its mission and performs its tasks.

Prior to taking up this role, Steven was Managing Director at the AFM, the Dutch financial markets regulator, where he was responsible for capital market supervision, including financial reporting and auditing, prospectuses, public offerings, and the supervision of the integrity of financial markets. During his term, the scope of activities of the AFM vastly expanded and he was responsible for building and implementing supervision in the capital market area. In his regulatory role at the AFM, Steven has held a number of international positions, including the Chairmanship of IFIAR (International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators).

Before joining the regulatory world, Steven was the Dean of the School of Business and Economics at Maastricht University and had pursued a long career in academia which included a variety of positions at Maastricht University and the University of Southern California.

He holds a PhD in Business Economics from Maastricht University, was a research student at the London School of Economics, and has a master in Business Economics from the University of Groningen.

Valerie Szczepanik

Director of the Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub) Office, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Valerie A. Szczepanik is the Director of the Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (FinHub) Office at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Before that, she was the Senior Advisor for Digital Assets and Innovation and an Associate Director in the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance. She also served as Assistant Director in the SEC Division of Enforcement’s Cyber Unit. Ms Szczepanik served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. She clerked for federal judges on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and, prior to clerking, practised patent law. Ms Szczepanik received her Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University and her Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Marius Jurgilas

Member of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania

Marius Jurgilas has brought his experience in both academic and government to the important role of Member of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania with responsibility for supervision, payment systems and research. During his tenure Lithuania emerged as a top jurisdiction for fintech companies within the EU under the leadership of the Bank of Lithuania, forging Mr Jurgilas’ reputation as a leading European thinker on the future of banking.

Prior to joining the Bank of Lithuania, Marius Jurgilas worked as Economist at Norges Bank and the Bank of England, a researcher at the European Central Bank, and gained academic experience in the US. As Member of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, he is in charge of the fields of supervision that falls under the responsibility of the Financial Market Supervision Service, payment systems that fall under the responsibility of the Market Infrastructure Department, research that falls under the responsibility of the Center for Excellence in Finance and Economic Research (CEFER), and organisational management (administration) to the extent that it is implemented by the Security Department. To address related issues, he participates in meetings of the ECB Governing Council and committees, scientific conferences, as well as represents the central bank of the Republic of Lithuania at various international economic fora and organisations.

Eero Heinäluoma

Member of the European Parliament (S&D, FI)

Mr. Eero Heinäluoma is a Member of the European Parliament and a Bureau member of the Group of Socialist and Democrats. He is a member of the ECON and the Budget committees, as well as the tax subcommittee FISC. In the Parliament, he is also a member of the Russia and Turkey delegations. He is the chair of the Anti-Money Laundering task force of CEPS think tank.

Mr. Heinäluoma is a former party leader and secretary-general of the Social Democratic Party of Finland (2002-2008). He acted as the Speaker of the Finnish Parliament 2011-2015 and Minister of Finance (2005-2007). He was the Chairman of the Audit Committee of the Parliament (2015-19).

Peteris Zilgalvis

Head of Unit, Digital Innovation and Blockchain, DG CONNECT, European Commission

Pēteris Zilgalvis is the Head of Unit for Digital Innovation and Blockchain in the Digital Single Market Directorate in DG CONNECT and is the Co-Chair of the European Commission FinTech Task Force. He was nominated on the list of CoinDesk’s Most Influential People in Blockchain 2017. He was the Visiting EU Fellow at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford for 2013-14, where he is an Associate of the Political Economy of Financial Markets Programme. From 1997 to 2005, he was Deputy Head of the Bioethics Department of the Council of Europe, in its Directorate General of Legal Affairs. In addition, he has held various positions in the Latvian civil service (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Environment). He was Senior Environmental Law Advisor to the World Bank/Russian Federation Environmental Management Project and was Regional Environmental Specialist for the Baltic Countries at the World Bank. He has been a member of the California State Bar since 1991, completed his J.D. at the University of Southern California, his B.A. in Political Science Cum Laude at UCLA, and the High Potentials Leadership Program at Harvard Business School. A recent publication of his is “The Need for an Innovation Principle in Regulatory Impact Assessment: The Case of Finance and Innovation in Europe” in Policy & Internet.

Matt Henderson

Business Lead EMEA, Stripe

Matt is Stripe’s Business Lead for EMEA. He manages Stripe’s regulated entities in Europe and the product and engineering offices in the region. He is an angel investor in numerous startups and a former entrepreneur, who founded Rangespan, an ecommerce software company acquired by Google in 2014. Matt has spent much of his career building internet platform businesses, including 12 years at Amazon.com and Google.

Lisa Rabbe

Chief Government and Public Affairs Officer, Moody’s

Ms. Rabbe is Chief Government and Public Affairs Officer of Moody’s Corporation overseeing global engagement with regulators, policymakers and other external groups and identifying emerging policy areas and initiatives that may impact business operations and strategies.

As founder and CEO of Stratosphere Advisors LLC, a political risk and public policy consultancy, and of Stratosphere Analytics LLC, a regulatory analytics startup, she has extensive experience in financial regulation, financial technology (FinTech) and regulatory technology (RegTech) within global banking, securities regulation, anti-trust and data privacy.

Earlier in her career, Ms. Rabbe was Managing Director and Head of Public Policy for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region for Credit Suisse and Managing Director and Head of Government Affairs EMEA region for Goldman Sachs International.

Alain Deckers

Head of Unit, Corporate reporting, Audit and Credit Rating Agencies, DG FISMA, European Commission

Alain Deckers has over 20 years of experience in public service at the European Commission. He has been responsible for policy reviews and policy development in areas including trade in goods, environmental policy, public procurement and financial services regulation.

He currently heads a team of responsible for corporate reporting, including both financial and non-financial reporting; audit; and credit rating agencies as part of DG Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union. He is also the Vice-Chairman of the European Lab@EFRAG Steering Group.

Alain graduated in physics and holds a masters in the economics of technical change, both from the University of Manchester (UK).

Ulrich Bindseil

Director General of Market Infrastructure and Payments, European Central Bank (ECB)

Ulrich Bindseil is Director General Market Infrastructures and Payments at the European Central Bank (ECB), a post he has held since November 2019. Previously, he was Director General Market Operations (from May 2012 to October 2019) and head of the Risk Management Division (between 2005 and 2008). Mr Bindseil first entered central banking in 1994, when he joined the Economics Department of the Deutsche Bundesbank, having studied economics. His publications include, among others, Monetary Policy Operations and the Financial System, OUP, 2014, and Central Banking before 1800 – A Rehabilitation, OUP, 2019.

Jeffrey Brown

Senior Vice President, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, Charles Schwab

With over three decades of securities markets experience, Jeffrey Brown leads Charles Schwab’s Office of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs. 2003, Mr. Brown joined Schwab as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Schwab Capital Markets, L.P.

Mr. Brown began his career as an option trader on the floor of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, later serving on its Board of Governors. In 1992, Mr. Brown joined the US Securities and Exchange Commission, where he served as Senior Counsel in the Division of Market Regulation.

Upon leaving the Commission, Mr. Brown helped lead a US project to assist the Government of Romania in creating their emerging securities market. He later was General Counsel at the Cincinnati Stock Exchange and chaired the Operating Committee of the National Market System Plan governing NASDAQ securities.

Mr. Brown is an alumnus of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Ohio Northern School of Law.

Christian Catalini

Chief Economist, Diem Association (FKA Libra Association)

Christian Catalini is the Chief Economist of the Diem Association, and a co-creator of Diem. He is currently on leave from his role as Associate Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he founded the MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab and designed the MIT Digital Currency Research Study. He is also a Faculty Research Fellow in the Productivity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Christian’s research focuses on blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, and he previously worked on the economics of equity crowdfunding and startup growth, and the economics of scientific collaboration. He holds a PhD from the University of Toronto (Rotman School of Management), and MSc (summa cum laude) in Economics and Management of New Technologies from Bocconi University, Milan.

Claudia Guagliano

Team Leader – Innovation and Products, European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)

Claudia Guagliano has been working at ESMA since 2014. She leads the Innovation and Products Team in the Risk Analysis and Economics Department. The team is responsible for Financial and Technological Innovation and for the analytical work around sustainable finance and retail investors. Before ESMA, Claudia has worked for Consob (Italian Securities Markets Authority), the Italian Federation of Cooperative Banks and the Treasury Department of the Italian Ministry of Economy. Claudia holds a PhD in International Economics and a Degree in Economics from Bocconi University and a MSC in Economics from Pompeu Fabra University.

Duncan Olby

Head of Wallet & Payments for International Markets, Apple Pay

Duncan Olby is Apple’s Senior Director for Wallet, Payments & Commerce International [Europe, Middle East, India, Africa, & Asia]. In this role Duncan leads business expansion for Apple WPC.

Prior to joining Apple he held senior roles at Visa, PayPal and Lloyds Bank. Specialising in Mobile Payments, Digital Wallets, ECommerce, Loyalty and Innovation in Financial Services.

He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accounts and holds a degree in Mathematics & Psychology.

Jean-Paul Servais

Vice Chair of the IOSCO Board, Chairman of Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA)

Internationally, he holds mandates as Vice-Chairman of the IOSCO Board, as well as Chairman of the IFRS Foundation Monitoring Board, the IOSCO European Regional Committee and the Audit Committee of IOSCO.

He is also a board member of several international supervisory bodies for the financial sector: ESMA, ESRB, etc. He also chairs the Euribor and Eonia Benchmarks colleges and is member of the Euronext College of Supervision.

He teaches at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB, University of Brussels), where he is part-time professor in the LL.M in International Business Law and in the specialized Master in Tax Law. He is author or co-author of more than 300 contributions, in particular in areas of relevance to the European and international system of financial supervision, to the FSMA’s activities and to the academic and scientific activities undertaken at the ULB.

He obtained a Master of Law (Master en droit) from the ULB and a Master of Economics in Business Management (Master in de economie, bedrijfskunde) from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).

Jan Ceyssens

Head of the Digital Finance Unit, DG FISMA, European Commission

Jan Ceyssens is Head of the “Digital Finance” Unit in the Directorate General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union at the European Commission. He was previously Member and Deputy Head of the Cabinet of Vice President Dombrovskis and Member of the Cabinet of Vice-President Barnier, and Team Leader for Financial Supervision at the European Commission’s Internal Markets and Services Directorate General. He graduated in law from Humboldt University in Berlin and holds a Masters degree in European Law from King’s College London. He works at the European Commission since 2006, initially in the Directorate General for Competition’s Cartels enforcement Directorate and since 2009 in the Internal Markets and Services Directorate General.

Noé de La Rubia Gonzalez

Criminal Intelligence Officer, Interpol

Noé de La Rubia Gonzalez is seconded from the Spanish National Police, currently attached at INTERPOL´s Financial Crime Unit, as Criminal Intelligent Officer since June 2019.

Previously he worked as team leader for 10 years at the Judicial Police Headquarters within the Anti Money Laundering Central Unit. Before that, he worked 4 years as a deputy team leader in a group in charge of investigations against organized and violent groups and two more years in the public security field.

He has a degree in Law from the Complutense University of Madrid and in Police Science from the University of Salamanca.

Prof. Dr. Philipp Sandner

Head of the Frankfurt School Blockchain Center (FSBC), Frankfurt School of Finance & Management

Prof. Dr. Philipp Sandner has founded the Frankfurt School Blockchain Center (FSBC). From 2018 to 2020, he was ranked as one of the “top 30” economists by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), a major newspaper in Germany. Further, he belonged to the “Top 40 under 40” — a ranking by the German business magazine Capital. Since 2017, he has been a member of the FinTech Council of the Federal Ministry of Finance in Germany.

The expertise of Prof. Sandner includes blockchain technology in general, crypto assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, the digital programmable Euro, tokenization of assets and rights and digital identity.

Richard Blore

Chief Executive Officer, KY3P, IHS Markit

Mr. Richard Blore leads strategic business initiatives for Know Your Third Party (KY3P®), the industry standard for third-party risk management.

Mr. Blore is responsible for managing product and business development teams for KY3P, our solution designed in partnership with leading global financial institutions to increase efficiency and standardize third-party due diligence and assessment processes. Previously, he worked at Goldman Sachs where he was Global Head of Vendor Management, Global Head of Procurement and Vendor Management and Global Co-Head of Supply Chain. He had accountability for the firm’s third-party risk management, shared services management as well as all aspects of procurement including strategic sourcing, procurement operations, supply chain ESG and enabling technologies. Mr. Blore also represented Goldman Sachs as a member of the KY3P Board from 2017 to 2019. Prior to his time in the financial service industry, Mr. Blore has held a number of Supply Chain Leadership roles across fast-moving consumer goods (Coca-Cola), construction (Anglo America) and manufacturing (Rolls-Royce). He holds a BSc in Applied Physics from Nottingham Trent University and qualified with the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.

Thomas Kurian

Chief Executive Officer Google Cloud

Thomas joined Google in November 2018 as the CEO of Google Cloud. Prior to Google, Thomas spent 22 years at Oracle, where most recently he was President of Product Development. Before that, Thomas worked at McKinsey as a business analyst and engagement manager. His nearly 30 years of experience have given him a deep knowledge of engineering, enterprise relationships, and leadership of large organizations.

Thomas’ degrees include, an MBA in Administration and Management from Stanford University as an Arjay Miller Scholar and a BSEE in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. Thomas serves as a member of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council and Princeton University School of Engineering Advisory Council.

William Hoffman

Regional CISO UK & Ireland and Head of CSO Governance & Control, Deutsche Bank

William Hoffman is Deutsche Bank’s Regional Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the UK and Ireland and heads the Governance and Control function for the bank’s Chief Security Office globally. Previously he has been the Regional CISO for Europe, Middle East and Africa, the global Chief Operating Officer for CISO and has led the Information Security Strategy, Portfolio and Governance functions.

William joined Deutsche Bank in 1995 and spent ten years in Global Transaction Banking in client management, strategy and business management roles. He has also worked in many of the bank’s operational areas, most recently as the global chief operating officer for Equities Operations. During his 25 years with DB, William has lived and worked in New York, London and Frankfurt.

William has as a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Washington University in St. Louis and has also studied Agricultural Economics at Melbourne University in Australia.

Tomáš Nýdrle

Head of Payment services and Market Infrastructure Unit, Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic

Mr. Tomáš Nýdrle received his master’s degree in economic policy at Prague University of Economics and Business, and in law at Charles University in Prague. He works for the Ministry of Finance of The Czech Republic as a head of Payment Services and Market Infrastructure Unit. He has represented the Czech Republic in The Council of the EU during negotiations of several EU legislations such as the PSD2, MIFR, PAD, cross-border payments regulation etc. Currently, he takes part in the MiCA and DORA negotiations in the Council of the EU. He is professionally focused on financial market regulation, especially in the area of payments, AML, open finance and FinTech.

Darren Innes

Vice-President, Head of AML Technology, Nasdaq

With 20+ years’ experience in RegTech focused on AML, KYC and regulatory data, Darren Innes is leading Nasdaq’s expansion of its globally-recognized trade surveillance into complementary areas. As the General Managers for Mantas in EMEA and Asia, he was instrumental in the sale of Mantas to Oracle and was also instrumental in enabling the sale of C6 Intelligence to Acuris as the C6 Intelligence CEO. He spent 5 years at Barclays responsible for training and development of new regulated sales people, and prior to this spent 9 years in the British army, primarily focused on counter-terrorism activities.

Ondřej Kovařík

Member of the European Parliament (RE, CZ)

Mr. Ondřej Kovařík was born on August 21, 1980 in Kyjov. He studied international trade, international politics and diplomacy at the University of Economics in Prague and later completed an international program in public administration, regional development and EU programmes at the prestigious school for civil servants, the École nationale d’administration (ENA), in Strasbourg and Paris.

Between 2003 and 2010 he worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Prague in the Economic Relations department and as Commercial Counselor at the Embassy of the Czech Republic to Canada in Ottawa.

In the years 2007 – 2009 Ondřej worked in the Office of the Government where he dealt with security, transport and coordination with the ministries during the Czech Presidency to the EU. Since 2010 he was the Head of Cabinet of the First Deputy Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic. After he was representing the Czech Republic at the European Defence Agency. From May 2013 until June 2019 he has served as Senior Adviser in the European Parliament and as Parliamentary Assistant to MEP Dita Charanzová.

Political Group: Renew Europe

Parliamentary committees: Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) – as a substitute Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) – as a substitute

Inter-parliamentary delegations: Delegation for relations with Canada (D-CA); Delegation for Northern cooperation and for relations with Switzerland and Norway and to the EU-Iceland Joint Parliamentary Committee and the European Economic Area (EEA) Joint Parliamentary Committee – as a substitute.

Stasys Jakeliūnas

Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA, LT)

Stasys Jakeliūnas is a member of the European Parliament from Lithuania. He works at ECON and is chair of the FinTech working group. In 1987 he graduated from Vilnius University with a degree in psychology. His interests in this area include cognitive (behavioural) economics and finance. During 1993-1995 he lived and studied in the USA and graduated with a master’s degree in business administration (finance) from Michigan State University. He has worked for ten years as investment manager and CFO for the largest insurance group in the Baltic states. Since 2007, he has been writing and commenting on finance, economics and politics, and in 2010 he published a book in Lithuanian called “The Anatomy of Lithuanian Crisis”. In 2016, he was elected to the Lithuanian Parliament (Seimas) and chaired the Budget and Finance Committee. He initiated and led the parliamentary inquiry into the 2009-2010 economic crisis in Lithuania. A book about the inquiry and its findings, “Wild Horses from Sweden“, was published in English in the autumn of 2020. Another book about banking in Lithuania, “The Swedbank Case”, was published in English in the summer of the same year.

Peter Kerstens

Adviser for Financial Sector Digitalisation and cybersecurity, DG FISMA, European Commission

Peter advises on Technological Innovation, Digital Transformation and Cybersecurity at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union. He has led work on the European Commission’s Fintech Action Plan and Co-chairs the European Commission’s Fintech Taskforce. He has extensive experience and expertise in EU policy and regulation covering financial services, digitalisation, security and consumer protection. Earlier in his career the Peter was Finance Counsellor at the EU Embassy in Washington DC. He has also been a member of the private offices of the commissioner for the internal market and services and the commissioner for health and consumer protection. Before joining the European Commission, Peter advised major financial services companies on EU regulatory affairs. He is a Dutch national and holds master degrees in European affairs and political science from the College of Europe in Bruges and the University of Leuven, Belgium.

Gabriel Bernardino

Chairman of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA)

Gabriel Bernardino is Chairman of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA). He is responsible for the strategic direction of EIOPA and represents the Authority at the Council of the European Union, the European Commission and the European Parliament. Mr. Bernardino prepares the work of EIOPA’s Board of Supervisors and also chairs the meetings of the Board of Supervisors and the Management Board.

Mr. Bernardino is the first Chairperson of EIOPA. He was elected by the Board of Supervisors of EIOPA on 10 January, 2011. His nomination followed a pre-selection of the European Commission and was confirmed by the European Parliament after a public hearing held on 1 February, 2011. Mr. Bernardino assumed his responsibilities on 1 March, 2011 for a first five-year term. On 16 December 2015 the European Parliament confirmed the re-appointment of Mr Bernardino for a second five-year term, which started on 1 March 2016.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Bernardino was the Director General of the Directorate for Development and Institutional Relations at the Instituto de Seguros de Portugal (ISP). He has served in several positions of increasing responsibility since he joined the ISP in 1989 and represented EIOPA’s preceding organisation, CEIOPS, as Chairman between October 2009 and December 2010.

Tom Shane

Product Manager – Cloud AI & Financial Services

Tom is a Product Manager on Google Cloud’s AI and Financial Services team. Tom leads the team’s work in the Risk Management space that focuses on utilizing AI/ML to help financial services organizations better detect and prevent risk, and operate more efficiently. Tom started his career in financial services and consulting before moving into the technology space, where he has utilized AI/ML to manage risk, detect anomalies, and optimize pricing. While based in Google Cloud’s California Headquarters, Tom has worked around the world, including temporary assignments prior to Google in Brazil, China, and Zambia. Tom holds a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of North Carolina.

Marcel Haag

Director for Horizontal Policies, DG FISMA, European Commission

Marcel Haag is Director for horizontal policies at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union. He has worked in different Commission services, including prior to his present assignment, as a Director for policy coordination at the Secretariat General of the Commission. Mr Haag is a lawyer and qualified as a judge in Germany.

Joachim Wuermeling

Member of the Executive Board, Deutsche Bundesbank

Since November 2016, Joachim Wuermeling has been a Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank and he is currently responsible for Directorates General Information Technology, Banking Supervision and Risk Control.

Prior to this, he worked on the Board of Directors of the Association of Sparda-Banken in Frankfurt. Before that, for 3 years he held the role of the Member of the Executive Board of the German Insurance Association (GDV). From 1999 to 2005 he was a Member of the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg, focusing in particular on legal and economic issues. In 2002/2003 he was also a Deputy Member of the European Constitutional Convention. Following the 2005 parliamentary election in Germany, Joachim Wuermeling was appointed State secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology in Berlin, an office he held until 2008.

Having completed his academic training, he worked as a ministry official at the Bavarian representative office in Bonn, at the European Commission in Brussels and at the Bavarian State Chancellery in Munich.

After studying law at the Universities of Bayreuth, Erlangen and Dijon, Joachim Wuermeling earned a PhD in European Law from the University of Bayreuth and subsequently a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Comparative, European and International Laws at the European University Institute, Florence.

Since 1995 Joachim Wuermeling has taught as a visiting lecturer, first at the University of Bayreuth, then at the University of Potsdam, where he was awarded an honorary professorship in 2011.

Antony Cahill

Managing Director, Europe Regions, VISA

Antony became Managing Director of the European Region at Visa in November 2018. He is responsible for growing Visa’s business in 35 countries across mainland Europe, focusing on deepening client relationships and driving the transformation of Visa’s business in Europe. In addition, Antony also has accountability for Merchants and Acquiring, Visa Consulting Services and the ongoing development of Visa’s Corporate Solutions across Europe.

Antony brings over 20 years of experience in banking and financial services to Visa and has held Executive leadership roles across product, retail, corporate, institutional and business banking, finance and strategy. He joined Visa from his position as Chief Operating Officer at NAB (National Australia Bank) where he spent eight years in multiple senior roles, four of which on the Group Executive. Prior to NAB, Antony spent 12 years at ANZ (Australia and New Zealand Banking Group). He holds a BSc (Hons) from Loughborough University and an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management.

Thomas Lillelund

CEO of Europe, Middle East & Africa, General Insurance, AIG

Mr. Thomas Lillelund has been Chief Executive Officer for Europe Middle East and Africa, AIG General Insurance since January 2019. Prior to this Mr. Lillelund was Chief Executive Officer, Europe, AIG General Insurance from November 2018.

Before joining AIG, Mr. Lillelund was the Chief Executive Officer of Aspen Re based in London from May 2016 and prior to this the Managing Director of Asia Pacific, Aspen Re from 2008, building this business from inception.

Previously Mr. Lillelund spent four and a half years at AIG in Southeast Asia where he was the Regional Vice President for Commercial Property. He has also held senior underwriting management roles at Swiss Re in Hong Kong and South Africa and originally began his underwriting career at Gen Re in the United States in 1995. In this role he undertook further professional study to become an Associate in Reinsurance (ARe) of the American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters.

Mr. Lillelund has also served as the Chairman of the Singapore Reinsurance Association (SRA) from 2014 to 2016 and was a member of the Board of the Singapore College of Insurance from 2015 to 2016. He was on the organising committee for the Singapore International Reinsurance Conference (SIRC) during this period.

Mr. Lillelund holds a Bachelors of Arts in Economics from the College of William & Mary in Virginia and an MBA from the Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario.

Lance Uggla

Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, IHS Markit

Lance Uggla is Chairman and CEO of IHS Markit, responsible for leading the strategic direction and operational results of the company. He founded Markit in 2003 having identified opportunities to create greater transparency and data accuracy in illiquid financial markets, initially focusing on derivatives. He grew the company both organically and through acquisition, taking Markit public in 2014 at a valuation of $4.3 billion. In 2016 he jointly led the merger of equals between IHS and Markit, becoming Chairman and CEO in January 2018. Since merger, which was targeted to meet the growing demands for alternative data and leverage the trend towards data science and advanced analytics, the company has grown revenues at a CAGR of 11% and in 2019 had revenues of $4.45 billion. Lance earned his BBA at Simon Fraser University and his MSc at the London School of Economics. He was previously Head of Global Markets at CIBC and latterly Head of Europe and Asia and Cohead Credit Trading at TD Securities. He was the UK EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012 and won the Outstanding Alumni Award, 2014 at Simon Fraser. Lance sits on the Board of Directors of Mastercard is a Trustee and Honorary Member of Tate Foundation.

Emmanuel Givanakis

Deputy ceo & senior executive director, policy & legal – financial services regulatory authority

Emmanuel Givanakis is the Deputy CEO and Senior Executive Director of the Policy & Legal Division at the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). Under this division, he is responsible for overseeing the FSRA’s Policy, Legal and Enforcement teams.

Emmanuel joined ADGM in October 2014 as the Head of Policy & Legal and oversaw the establishment of ADGM’s legislative framework, which was a pivotal step in the creation of ADGM as an international financial centre.

His financial services regulatory expertise and management experience span over 20 years. Prior to joining ADGM, Emmanuel held a number of leadership positions in both Australia and the UAE, including senior positions at the Dubai Financial Services Authority and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Emmanuel holds a Bachelor of Laws from the Queensland University of Technology, as well as holding qualifications in Islamic Finance and a Graduate Diploma in Company Secretarial Practice from the Governance Institute of Australia.

Philip McHugh

Chief Executive Officer, Paysafe

Philip has been an international leader in the banking and payments industry for over 25 years with experience across Latin America, Europe, EMEA, and North America.

Before Paysafe, Philip was the SVP and President of TSYS Merchant Solutions where he drove over 30% growth in two years through M&A, product, and platform investments. Prior to TSYS, he spent 11 years at Barclays where he held a number of roles including global CFO for Barclaycard, and CEO of their Business and Payments division covering merchant acquiring, commercial payments, and sales finance. Prior to Barclays, Philip was with Citigroup for 11 years with roles in Brazil and the United States. Philip has always stayed active in the industry sitting on boards in South Africa, advisory boards for the Payments Service Regulator in the UK and is currently with the Electronic Transaction Association in the US.

Sharon S. Yang

Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Financial Markets, U.S. Treasury

Sharon S. Yang is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Financial Markets in the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of International Affairs. Sharon heads a team of international economists and financial analysts responsible for addressing a wide range of international financial policy issues, including advocating U.S. financial regulatory interests in multilateral forums such as the Financial Stability Board, G7 and G20, bilaterally through formal dialogues with international counterparts in Europe and Asia, and by assessing potential systemic financial risk in key international financial markets. Sharon is currently Treasury’s representative at the FSB’s Standing Committee on Supervisory and Regulatory Cooperation, Standards Implementation, Resolution Steering Group, Surveillance Framework Group, and Regional Consultative Group for the Americas. She also co-chairs the current G7 workstreams on digital assets and data governance. Sharon was previously the Director of the Office of International Financial Markets and in Treasury’s Office of the General Counsel. She is the recipient of the 2017 Legal Team of the Year award for her work on financial regulation and of the Treasury 2016 Special Act award for her work on China.

Sharon’s work at Treasury builds on 15 years’ private sector financial regulatory, strategy and legal experience, including as in-house counsel and in private practice in New York. Sharon began her career as a management consultant, where she advised Fortune 500 companies on corporate strategy. Sharon holds a Juris Doctorate from the Georgetown University Law Center and is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Kate Salottolo

Vice President, Global Head of AML, Anti-Bribery and Corruption and Brand Risk Management, PayPal

Kate Salottolo oversees the AML, Anti-Bribery and Corruption (ABC), and Brand Risk Management programs within the Global Financial Crimes organization at PayPal. In her role she is responsible for AML and ABC policies, procedures and training as well as analytics, risk assessment activities, KYC requirements and ongoing due diligence practices. Additionally, Ms. Salottolo and her team partner closely with business and technology teams at PayPal to provide AML advisory and ongoing support as new products and services are developed and implemented. Prior to joining PayPal, Ms. Salottolo spent over seven years leading various programs within the Financial Intelligence Unit at American Express, including the ongoing development and implementation of AML program initiatives, oversight of investigators in the FIU’s Strategic Investigations team, coordination of complex investigations, and conducting training focused on best investigative practices for new employees. Prior to her career in AML Compliance Ms. Salottolo worked as an investigative analyst at the New York County District Attorney’s Office and earned her law degree from New York Law School.

James Kemp

Managing Director of the Global FX Division, Technology and Operations and Policy Divisions GFMA and AFME

James Kemp has been the Managing Director of the GFMA’s Global FX Division since establishing it in 2010 and additionally is also the MD of both AFME’s Technology and Operations Division, which he created in 2016, as well as the Compliance, Tax and Accounting Committees which he has merged to form a new Policy Division. He is heavily involved with efforts to enhance industry conduct, having been instrumental in the formation of the Global FX Code, as a Board member of the UK’s FICC Market Standards Board and as a member of the Bank of England’s FX Joint Standing Committee. He is actively involved in initiatives that involve the application of technology and the transformation this will bring to investment banking. He is a strong supporter of diversity initiatives to bring forward the best talent.

James has previously been a business strategy consultant at The LEK Partnership, working out of London and Chicago, as well as UK Head of Equities and Fixed Income Products at Reuters. He was the founder and managing director of the financial markets technology consultancy, Stentra, a market leader in FX e-trading, as well as commodities, fixed income and swaps. Six years after the company was established, it was sold to ION Trading. James is a keen hockey player and for the last 10 years has been a lead junior section coach at Spencer Hockey Club.

Jan Frederic Eger

Government Relations and Regulatory Strategy, LSEG

Jan Frederic Eger is a senior member of the Government Relations and Regulatory Strategy team, London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).

LSEG is a global financial markets infrastructure business. Its diversified global business focuses on Information Services, Risk and Balance Sheet Management and Capital Formation. The Group supports global financial stability and sustainable economic growth by enabling businesses and economies to fund innovation, manage risk and create jobs. The Group can trace its history back to 1698.

Jan Frederic Eger started his career at Panasonic and in the European Parliament, prior to joining Thomson Reuters in London in 2011. In 2016 he moved to Hong Kong to establish the Thomson Reuters Government Affairs presence in Asia-Pacific. In 2017, Jan returned to London to manage the Financial Services Government and Regulatory Affairs team at Thomson Reuters. On 1 October 2018, the Financial & Risk business of Thomson Reuters became Refinitiv following the closing of a partnership deal between Thomson Reuters and private equity funds managed by Blackstone. Jan led the International Government and Regulatory Affairs team at Refinitiv, a leading global provider of market and financial data, analytics and workflow solutions. On 1 February 2021, the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) completed its all-share acquisition of Refinitiv, to create a financial markets infrastructure leader of the future. He is Vice-Chair and Member of the Board of the EU-Asia Financial Services Roundtable.

Sopnendu Mohanty

Chief Fintech Officer, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)

Sopnendu Mohanty is the Chief Fintech Officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). He joined MAS in August 2015 responsible for creating development strategies, public infrastructure and regulatory policies around technology innovation. Since 2015, Singapore has become one of the top global fintech hubs covering a wide range of financial asset classes including adjacent technology innovations in areas like insurance, digital assets, blockchain, artificial intelligence, reg-tech and green-finance.

Before MAS, Sopnendu spent over 20 years in various leadership roles in technology, finance and innovation with most of his career in Citigroup. Sopnendu is a member of multiple advisory committees of multilateral global agencies, associations, universities, and governments. He is an avid speaker, global thought leader in FinTech, and advocate of accelerated transformation to a digital economy for solving financial inclusion and sustainability challenges.

Dr Christopher P. Buttigieg

Chief Officer Supervision, Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), Chair of the ESMA Data Standing Committee

Dr Christopher P. Buttigieg is the Chief Officer Supervision of the Malta Financial Services Authority. In this role, he is responsible for the co-ordination and implementation of the supervisory and regulatory strategy across all the sectors under the MFSA’s remit. At present, since 30 October 2020, he also holds the role of Chief Executive Officer ad interim and is a member of the MFSA’s Board of Governors.

Dr Buttigieg joined the MFSA in 2000. Prior to his appointment as Chief Officer Supervision he held the position of Chief Officer Strategy, Policy and Innovation and prior to that he was the Head of the Securities and Markets Supervision function. Dr Buttigieg has gained professional experience in different areas of financial regulation, supervision and enforcement of market malpractice. He was also responsible for implementing various pieces of EU legislation and has led various regulatory and supervisory teams within the Authority.

Dr Buttigieg sits on the MFSA’s Executive Committee, is the Chair of the Authority’s Regulatory Committee and the Chair of the Authority’s AMLCFT Committee and is a member of the Board of Supervisors of the European Securities and Markets Authority and the European Banking Authority. Since November 2018, he is also the Chair of the ESMA Data Standing Committee, the objectives of which are to enhance the quality of the market data reported to EU National Authorities and Trade Repositories and to foster supervisory convergence amongst national authorities within its area of competence.

Dr Buttigieg has a commerce degree (B.Com 1998), an accountancy degree (B.Accty. Hons. 2000) and a financial services law degree (M.A. Fin. Ser. 2003) from the University of Malta, as well as a European Union Law degree (M.A. EU Law and Soc 2005) and a doctoral degree in law (Ph.D 2014) from the University of Sussex (UK). His Doctoral thesis deals with the governance of EU securities regulation and supervision. Dr Buttigieg is a senior lecturer in the Banking and Finance Department of the University of Malta and has published various papers in reputable journals, including the Columbia Journal of European Law, the ERA Forum, the Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance, the Journal of Business Law, the Law and Financial Markets Review, the European Company and Financial Law Review and the European Law Review. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Academy of European Law in Trier and a visiting lecturer at the same institution.

For a period of two years, between April 2013 and April 2015, Dr Buttigieg was a director of the Malta Resources Authority, Malta’s former energy regulator. From 2015 to 2019 he was a board member of the President of Malta’s Fund for Voluntary Organisations, which promotes social justice by encouraging reflection and action within the voluntary sector in the area of social solidarity and care.

Dr. Stephan Bredt

Director General Economic Sector, Financial Services, Exchanges,
Ministry of Economics, Energy, Transport and Housing of the State of Hessen, Wiesbaden

Since 2011 Dr Stephan Bredt heads the department of the Economic Sector, Financial Services and Exchanges at the Ministry of Economics, Energy, Transport and Housing of the State of Hessen in Wiesbaden.

He leads i.a. the development of the Financial Center Frankfurt, the supervision of the Frankfurt exchanges and the public banks, in particular the savings banks, the state bank and the development banks. Major milestones of his work include the establishment of the leading Frankfurt Start Up Hub TechQuartier, of the Green and Sustainable Finance Cluster Germany and of the Financial Big Data Cluster within the framework of Gaia X.

Prior to his engagement at the Ministry, he was Senior Legal Counsel for regulation and competition law in the Legal Department at Deutsche Bahn AG. Dr Bredt also worked at Deutscher Bundestag in Berlin.

Dr Bredt earned his doctor in law at Humboldt University Berlin and completed his law studies in Germany and France, with study visits to Italy and Israel.

Sylvie Goulard

Second Deputy Governor of the Banque de France

Sylvie Goulard was appointed second deputy governor of the Banque de France on 17 January 2018. Her portfolio includes international issues, research, public financial education and climate related financial stability issues.

She served as Minister of the Armed Forces (May-June 2017) in the first government of President Macron.

She carried out most of her career in European institutions. From 2009, she was Member of European Parliament. As a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) group, she sat on the Parliamentary Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) where she served as coordinator/spokesperson for the ALDE group. She was rapporteur or co-rapporteur for various legislative texts, in particular on the governance of the euro, the banking union and the role of the EU in global finance. From 2010 to 2017, she chaired the European Parliament Intergroup against Extreme Poverty.
Between 2001 and 2004 she was political adviser to the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi.

Born in 1964, Sylvie Goulard holds a law degree from the University of Aix-en-Provence (1984). She then graduated from the Institut d’études politiques in Paris (1986) and the Ecole nationale d’administration (1989). Upon leaving the ENA, she worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on legal and European affairs.

Sylvie Goulard is the author of several books on Europe.

Michael Cole-Fontayn

Chairman, Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) and Board Member of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA)

Michael previously spent 35 years with BNY Mellon, the last seven as Chairman, Europe, Middle East & Africa. In addition to his role at AFME, Michael is currently Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment (CISI), a member and co-chair of the Wholesale Banking Group of the European Financial Services Chairman’s Advisory Council, a member of the Advisory Council and the Financial Services Skills Taskforce of TheCityUK, and member of FICC Markets Standards Board Advisory Council. He is also a member of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum Advisory Board and a Board and Executive Committee Member of the Global Financial Markets Association. Michael is Trustee of the mental health charity, the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust and of education charity, Engage with China Ltd. He was recently awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) from Cass Business School.

Roberto Viola

Director-General, DG CONNECT, European Commission

Director General of Directorate General of Communication, Networks, Content and Technology (CONNECT) at the European Commission since 2015 and Deputy Director-General from 2012 to 2015.

From 2005 to 2012 Roberto Viola was Secretary General of the Italian media and communication regulator AGCOM and Director at AGCOM from 1999 to 2004. He was a member of the BEREC Board (Body of European Telecom Regulators), and Chairman of the European Regulatory Group (ERG) in 2007

From 1985-1999 he held various positions at the European Space Agency (ESA).

Roberto Viola holds a Doctorate in Electronic Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA).

Alison Russell

Head of Innovation Department, UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)

Alison is acting Head of the FCA’s Innovate department and is responsible for leading the FCA’s Innovate activities, including regulatory sandbox, Global Financial Innovation Network, cross border testing and direct support. Prior to this Alison led the FCA’s supervision of fintech consumer credit firms. Alison joined the Financial Services Authority (the FCA’s predecessor) in 2008, initially in its Enforcement and Market Oversight Division.

Coen ter Wal

Policy Advisor, Netherlands Central Bank (DNB)

Coen ter Wal, is a Policy Advisor at the Netherlands Central Bank (DNB), where he currently leads DNB’s policy work on data-sharing and Open Finance. He also developed DNB’s supervisory policy on the use of AI and data analytics by financial institutions. In 2019-2020, Coen was seconded as a financial attaché to the Netherlands Permanent Representation to the EU.

Eva Hupkes

Head of Regulatory and Supervisory Policies, Financial Stability Board (FSB)

Eva Hüpkes is Head Regulatory and Supervisory Policies at Secretariat of the Financial Stability Board (FSB). She oversees the FSB Secretariat support on regulatory and supervisory policy cooperation and resolution, covering a broad range of issues including addressing regulatory and supervisory issues associated with technological innovation. Since she joined the FSB in 2009 she has contributed substantially to the development of the FSB/G20 post-crisis policy reforms, in particular the framework for addressing threats to financial stability posed by systemically important financial institutions and global standards for resolution.

Prior to joining the FSB, she served as Head of Regulation at the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) where she, for over a decade, helped design and draft a broad range of legislative and regulatory reforms. During 1997-1999 she worked at the International Monetary Fund where she supported the Fund’s response to the Asian financial crisis. Eva Hüpkes is a member of the New York Bar and holds degrees in law and international relations from the University of Geneva, the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, and Georgetown University, the University of Passau, Germany, and a PhD in law from the University of Berne.

Stella Nunn

Director, Operational Resilience and IT Risk, PWC

Stella is a Director in PwC’s Enterprise Resilience practice, specialising in Financial Services Operational Resilience and has more than 15 years of industry experience in working with a number of FTSE 100 FS organisations.

Stella works with numerous organisations across the financial sector including delivery of Operational Resilience strategy and programme design; assurance and maturity assessments of Operational Resilience programmes; reengineering of IT and Operational Resilience functions; design and implementation of resilience governance structures, MI and reporting; and large scale programme management and implementation.

Stella leads the team at PwC which has been at the forefront of Operational Resilience, working with the regulators on topics such as impact tolerance. The team has produced several white papers including the setting of impact tolerance and the identification of business services. Stella was also one of the main contributors to the PwC / City UK ‘Time to Act’ report in 2019, which was used as evidence at the Treasury Select Committee on Technology Failures in the Financial Sector.

Mounaim Cortet

Senior Manager Strategy, Innopay

Mounaim Cortet is a seasoned strategy consultant at INNOPAY, fascinated by the nexus of business strategy and the rising opportunities of regulation, data and technology.
At INNOPAY, Mounaim heads-up the Strategy practice supporting various market players with innovation and transformation challenges in digital payments, digital identity, and data sharing (PSD2, Open Banking and Open Finance) in digital ecosystems. INNOPAY is a fast growing management consultancy specialised in open business model innovation and transformation in digital transactions and data ecosystems.

Anne Choné

Senior Officer, Financial Innovation, ESMA

Anne Choné is Senior Risk Analysis Officer at ESMA, where she monitors financial innovation and financial activities across the EU. Among the topics that she has recently addressed are Distributed Ledger Technologies and Crypto-Assets, FinTech and Regulatory Sandboxes. Before joining ESMA, Anne was Principal at Mercer Investments, where she advised institutional clients on their investment strategies. Prior to that, she worked as a Director in charge of financial institutions and banks at FitchRatings. Anne holds of master’s degree in Finance from NEOMA Business school and has earned the CFA certification.

Billy Kelleher

Member of the European Parliament (RE, IE)

A former Irish Minister for Trade, Commerce and Industry, Billy was elected to the European Parliament in 2019, representing the people of Ireland South and is head of the Irish delegation in the liberal Renew Europe group. Prior to his election, Billy was his party’s national spokesperson on Business, Enterprise and Innovation and led his party’s work on amending the Constitution with regard to abortion rights.

Serving as a full member of the ECON and FISC committees, Billy is particularly interested in retail financial services and consumer rights, the digitalisation and greening of the economy, and macro-economic and taxation policies. In the coming year, Billy will hold the rapporteurship of the Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on Digital Operational Resilience, a cornerstone of the Commission’s Digital Finance package. Alongside this, Billy is the shadow rapporteur on the Parliament’s report on the review of the macroeconomic framework which will consider the necessary adjustments needed to ensure a smooth recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic as well as a transition to a carbon neutral economy.

Additionally, Billy serves as a substitute member of the ENVI committee and a full member of the ANIT committee, as well as a member of the US-EU and substitute member of the ACP-EU delegations.

Hartwig Gerhartinger

Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel at Paysafe and Chair of EPIF Technical Committee

Dr. Hartwig Gerhartinger is a dedicated payments industry professional, an expert in payment services and e-money regulation as well as in anti-money laundering legislation.

As Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Hartwig advises Paysafe on all regulatory matters, including payment services and electronic money regulations, PSD2 transposition and licensing. He has additional responsibility for governmental affairs, representing Paysafe with political stakeholders and regulatory authorities globally.

Hartwig is Managing Director of paysafecard.com, part of Paysafe Group and at the Boards of several regulated entities of Paysafe Group. He is also at the Board of Directors of the European Payment Institutions Federation (EPIF) and Prepaid Verband Deutschland (PVD). Further to this, Hartwig is member of the Payment Systems Market Expert Group (PSMEG).

He holds a doctorate in law and is currently a guest lecturer for e-payments law at Danube University. He is the author and co-author of numerous publications in the field of payments regulation and IT law.

Carmine Di Noia

Commissioner, Italian Securities and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) and Chair of the ESMA Committee for Economic and Markets’ Analysis – CEMA

Carmine Di Noia is the Commissioner at the Italian Securities and Exchange Commission (Consob).
He is also an Alternate member of the Board of Supervisors at ESMA, the Chair of the Committee of Economic and Markets’ Analysis at ESMA and the Deputy Chair of the Corporate Governance Committee at OECD.

Before joining Consob, Carmine Di Noia was Deputy Director General and Head of Capital Markets and Listed Companies at Assonime (the Association of the Italian Corporations), and he served two tenures as a member of the Securities and Markets Stakeholders Group at the European Securities and Markets Authorities (ESMA). He was also member of the board of directors of the Italian Stock Exchange (Borsa Italiana Spa).
He was appointed to various expert groups selected by the European Commission, including the ESME (European Securities Market Expert) Group, the Clearing and Settlement Advisory Monitoring Expert Group (CESAME) (2005-06), the Forum Group on Auditors Liability (2005-06), the Securities Expert Group on Financial Services Action Plan (2003-04). He was also member of the Consultative Working Group on Market Abuse of CESR (The Committee of European Securities Regulators).

He was chairman of the Policy Committee of EuropeanIssuers and member of the Legal Committee of EALIC (the European Association of Listed Companies). He was member of the working group that drafted the new version of the Italian Corporate Governance Code.

He received a Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Pennsylvania (USA) and a doctorate in Economic Theory at the University “Tor Vergata” of Roma, Italy.

Eva Kaili

Member of the European Parliament (S&D, EL)

Eva Kaili is a Member of the European Parliament, part of the Hellenic S&D Delegation since 2014. She is the Chair of the Future of Science and Technology Panel in the European Parliament (STOA) and the Centre for Artificial Intelligence (C4AI), Member of the Committees on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), Budgets (BUDG), and the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age (AIDA).
Eva is a member of the delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (DACP), the delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula (DARP), and the delegation for relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (DNAT).
In her capacity, she has been working intensively on promoting innovation as a driving force of the establishment of the European Digital Single Market. She has been the draftsperson of multiple pieces of legislation in the fields of blockchain technology, online platforms, big data, fintech, AI and cybersecurity, as well as the ITRE draftsperson on Juncker plan EFSI2 and more recently the InvestEU program.
She is the founder of the Future Forum, a network of influential politicians, officials and public figures promoting innovation. She has also been the Chair of the Delegation to the NATO PA in the European Parliament, focusing on Defence and Security of Europe.
Prior to that, she has been elected as a Member of the Hellenic Parliament 2007-2012, with the PanHellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK).
She also worked as a journalist and newscaster prior to her political career.
She holds a Bachelor degree in Architecture and Civil Engineering, and Postgraduate degree in European Politics.

Patrick Armstrong

Member of the Secretariat, Financial Stability Board (FSB)

Patrick is a Member of the Secretariat of the Financial Stability Board with a focus on financial innovation. Prior to joining the FSB in January 2020, Patrick worked for the European Securities and Markets Authority where he led the financial innovation work. Previously, Patrick was Head of Investment Risk Management at State Street Global Advisors. Patrick is a CFA, FRM and PRM.

Jaakko Weuro

Director, Head of Banking and Finance Unit, Ministry of Finance, Finland

Jaakko Weuro heads the Banking and Finance unit at the Financial Markets Department in the Ministry of Finance, covering banking regulation, financial stability and government finance policy. He rejoined the Ministry in January 2021 from the Permanent Representation of Finland to the EU in Brussels, having served as financial services attaché, focusing on Banking Union, financial markets infrastructures and AML/CFT. Previously, he has held various positions at the Ministry of Finance, specializing in banking crisis management and financial stability issues, as well as national security aspects and government preparedness in the financial domain. He has also served as Deputy Member of the Board in the Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) of Finland.

Linda Strazdina

Senior Consultant, Head of Technology Practice

Linda covers FinTech policy, cryptoassests and stablecoins, cloud technology and blockchain, Digital Single Market, CMU and competition policy. Before joining Afore Consulting she was in the Cabinet of the European Commission’s Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis. Linda previously worked in the Permanent Representation of Latvia on Institutional affairs during the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

She is a graduate of the European College in Bruges, Science Po and the university of Maastricht. Linda is Latvian and speaks English, French and elementary Spanish.

Paloma Garcia Munoz

Senior Consultant, Head of Payments Practice

Paloma leads on payments, data protection and cyber security issues. She has a background in the European Parliament where she worked with the Spanish Press Delegation of the EPP. She also worked at the state tax agency in Granada, Spain.

Paloma studied law and business management at the University of Granada in Spain and obtained her BA in International Business Management from the University of Northumbria in Newcastle, UK.

She is Spanish and speaks English and French.

Anne Keane

Co-founder and Director, Afore Consulting

Anne co-founded Afore Consulting in 2007. She has been in Brussels for 20 years and is a trained barrister, called to the Bar of England and Wales by The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. She oversees the running of the company. Having worked in the EU institutions, she also advises on engagement, strategy and campaigns.

Anne is Irish and has an MA in European Studies in European law, economics and politics from the University of Limerick. She also speaks French and German.

Nickolas Reinhardt

Co-founder and Director, Afore Consulting

Nickolas co-founded Afore Consulting in 2007. Over a career of 20 years, he has come to be regarded as one of the most influential financial services consultants in Brussels. Previously, he ran the global regulatory practice at a public affairs company. He has extensive experience in all areas of financial services and competition policy. He trained and worked as a merchant banker in Hamburg.

Nickolas has an MA in History and Politics from the Christian-Albrechts University, Kiel and has also studied and lectured at the University of Limerick and Queens University, Belfast. He speaks German, English and French.

Daniel Trinder

Senior Policy Advisor

Daniel leads on banking, securities markets, Brexit from a UK perspective and supports on tech issues.

He has an extensive background in banking having worked at Goldman Sachs International, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Barclays. He oversaw the supervisory engagement, advocacy and regulatory policy impacting the business. Earlier in his career he was at HM Treasury where he led on the UK’s strategy towards the EU on financial services and G7/8. Daniel bring a hands-on business approach to consulting.

Linda Strazdina

Senior Consultant

Senior Consultant, Head of Technology Practice

Linda covers FinTech policy, cryptoassets and stablecoins, cloud technology and blockchain, Digital Single Market, CMU and competition policy.

Before joining Afore Consulting, she was in the Cabinet of the European Commission’s Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis. Linda previously worked in the Permanent Representation of Latvia on Institutional Affairs during the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU. She is a graduate of the European College in Bruges, Science Po and the University of Maastricht. Linda is Latvian and speaks English, Spanish and French.

Anne Keane

Co-founder and Director, Afore Consulting

Anne is Irish and has an MA in European Studies in European law, economics and politics from the University of Limerick. She also speaks French and German.

Esther Bleys

Junior Consultant

Esther is part of our technology team and covers EU data policy and cyber security as well as cloud services.

She previously worked at the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the EU. She is also a former Blue Book Trainee at the European Commission and has worked at a communications company. Esther holds an MA in European Public Affairs from Maastricht University and an MA in Political Sciences from the Université de Liège. She is Belgian with French as a mother tongue and speaks English and Dutch.

5th Annual Conference on ‘FinTech and Regulation: New Challenges and New Solutions’

Programme

Morning session

Conference opening

Nickolas Reinhardt,

Anne Keane,

Keynote speech

Mairead McGuinness,

Panel on e-ID/KYC and digital on-boarding

Fireside chat

Christopher P. Buttigieg,

Afternoon session

Fireside chat on Emerging Payment Trends in a post-COVID World

Philip McHugh,

Fireside chat

Jose Manuel Campa,

Fireside chat

Lisa Rabbe,

Panel on European Financial Data Spaces

Fireside chat

Duncan Olby,

Morning session

Keynote speech

“Digitalisation disrupts traditional banking? “

Pentti Hakkarainen,

Panel on digital operational resilience

Keynote speech

“Digital aspirations for insurance – 2021“

Thomas Lillelund,

Fireside chat

Gabriel Bernardino,

Afternoon session

Fireside chat on How can FinTech contribute to the economic recovery?

Carmine Di Noia,

Keynote speech

“Regulatory considerations in an era of digital acceleration “

Robert Ophèle,

Panel on the use of technology in AML

Fireside chat

Billy Kelleher,

Fireside chat

Thomas Kurian,

Joachim Wuermeling,

Morning session

Keynote speech

“Glance at innovation in payments : a central banker’s view“

Sylvie Goulard,

Fireside chat on Green Fintech Innovations

Sopnendu Mohanty,

Michael Cole-Fontayn,

Keynote speech

Roberto Viola,

Panel on how new technologies interrelate with financial services

Fireside chat on the digital euro

Marcel Haag,

Ulrich Bindseil,

Antony Cahill,

Jaakko Weuro,

Afternoon session

Keynote speech

“Safely Navigating the Accelerating Digital Transformation”

Steven Maijoor,

Fireside chat

Lance Uggla,

Panel on crypto-assets and international regulation

Conference closing

Nickolas Reinhardt,

Speakers

5^th Annual Conference on
‘FinTech and Regulation:
New Challenges and New Solutions’