Global Steering Committee

WORKING EXPERIENCE

▪ Executive Director, Reserve Management Department, Bank Indonesia,

▪ Chief Representative of Bank Indonesia in New York, USA. ▪ Director, Group Head of Macroprudential Research and Regulation, Bank Indonesia.

▪ Senior Economist, Asian Development Bank Institute, Tokyo, Japan 2004.

▪ Senior Economist, Financial Stability Division, Bank of England, London, UK 2003

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Banking & Finance, Cass Business School, University of London, London, UK MIA., International Banking and Finance, Columbia University, New York, USA

OTHER EXPERIENCE/TRAININGS

Digital Transformation – Driving Digital Strategy, Harvard Business School, Executive Education, USA, 2021. Guest Lecturer, Systemic Risk Programs, School of Management, Yale University, USA, 2019. Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme, Said Business School, University of Oxford, 2016.

Mr. Buckle is a member of the Bank of Jamaica’s Senior Management Team, with responsibility for the investment management of the Foreign Currency Reserves of Jamaica reporting to the Bank’s Board, Management Committee and Investment Committee.

He also has responsibility for the investment management of the Central Bank’s Pension Fund optimized with an elongated investment horizon.

Previously, he was the Director of Bank of Jamaica’s Information Communication and Technology team, with specific responsibility for the alignment of the IT Governance, Business Intelligence, Web Presence and Electronic Connectivity with the regulated entities in the financial sector.

Having started his career as an IT professional at CitiBank Jamaica, he also holds a BSc. degree in Information Technology from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica and an MBA with a double major in Finance and Technology from the University of Miami.

Aleksi Grym is Head of the Fintech division at the Bank of Finland. His team is responsible for policy work, analysis and projects covering financial technology, new payment systems and digital currencies. He is a member of the ECB's digital euro project steering group.

Andrea is the founder director of the financial innovation hub within the financial regulation and supervision entities in Costa Rica. She has more than twelve years of experience at the Central Bank of Costa Rica, focused on issues of technological innovation, the operation of national and international financial markets and payments infrastructures, and leading projects and teams related to data & analytics. Additionally, she is a professor at the National Distance Education University, designing a pioneering course on FinTech and Digital Banking in the country.

Economist, graduated at Corvinus University, Budapest. Joined the central bank in 2001. She is responsible for promoting the safe spreading of Fintech innovation, and the digital transformation in the financial sector, as well as within the central bank. With building in-house capacities where finance and technology meet, her key role in the central bank is to facilitate the implementation of cutting-edge technologies like blockchain and AI for the bank, and research and pilot on CBDC. She is member of the Financial Stability Council.

Bachelor of Science in Computing and Master of Business Administration, Mr. Cavalcante works at Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) for 25 years. He is Deputy Head of the IT department and Chief of Cybersecurity and Technological Innovation Office. He is in charge of fostering and collaborating in initiatives related to cybersecurity and technological innovation in the Brazilian financial system.  In Central Bank of Brazil, he conducted the research about Blockchain technology, quantum computing  and served as chair of the studying group about CBDC and Cyber Resilience. Nowadays, he coordinates the Technological and Financial Innovation Lab (LIFT), an open accelerator to fintech, and the internal accelerator to explore AI and Machine Learning to BCB processes. He also leads the IT team on the Brazilian CBDC initiative,  serves as chair of the Open Finance working group in the BIS Innovation Network, he’s in charge of the IT coordination on the Open Finance in Brazil. He also works with the supervision area to improve the cyber resilience in Brazilian financial system.

Jim Cunha was an Executive Vice President and former interim COO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.  His entire career has focused on the interrelationship of payments, security, technology and innovation.

In addition to Cunha’s interim CAO role, for 2022 he was responsible for financial management activities across all Federal Reserve Banks.    

Most recently, Cunha spearheaded the Boston Fed’s efforts to study distributed ledger technology, or blockchain, to determine potential benefits and risks in financial services for internal and external uses. He was also responsible for the Bank’s technology research related to central bank digital currencies (CBDC), including a joint research effort with MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative called “Project Hamilton”. 

Over the last couple of decades be built and ran a number of payment related systems for the U.S. Treasury, was responsible for ACH, Check and Cash operations and run the technology and computer operations groups.   

Cunha has worked at the Boston Fed since 1984. Prior to that, he worked at Fleet National Bank. He holds a bachelor’s in accounting and philosophy from Northeastern University and a bachelor’s in computer science from Rhode Island College.

Jorge Ponce is the Head of the Economic Research Department at Banco Central del Uruguay and coordinator of the Bank’s Innovation Observatory. Jorge is also Professor of Economics and Finance at Universidad de la República in Uruguay. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Toulouse School of Economics. His academic production has been published in the Journal of Financial Intermediation, the Journal of Financial Stability, and the Journal of Banking and Finance, the Latin American Journal of Central Banking, among others.

José Manuel Marqués is Head the Financial Innovation and Market Infrastructures Department Bank of Spain (Banco de España). In this position, he coordinates the contribution from Bank of Spain to Infrastructures related with the TARGET Services (Target 2 Securities and Eurosystem Collateral Management System) and Market Activities Processing System. He also coordinates the analysis of the main trends transforming the financial system: Big tech and Fintech, Cryptocurrencies, CBDC, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Blockchain and DLT. Marqués has joined Bank of Spain in 1996 and has written a number of articles on financial markets and is chair of the Working Group of Green Finance in the BIS Innovation Network and represent Bank of Spain on the High Level Taskforce on the digital euro, the CEMLA Foro Fintech. He has a BA in Economics and Business from University of Zaragoza, and an MSc from University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona.

With over a decade of experience in technology risk supervision, policy formulation, and stakeholder engagement, Ms. Hao brings in key insights and valuable inputs as she leads the Fintech Innovation and Policy Research Group (FIPRG) under the Technology Risk and Innovation Supervision Department (TRISD). FIPRG serves as the primary contact for fintech players in the Philippines, particularly those with underlying BSP-regulated activities. Ms. Hao is likewise heavily involved in various policy initiatives of the BSP such as the recently issued Amendments to the Regulations on Outsourcing, Open Finance Framework and Regulatory Sandbox Framework. Prior to her current role, she was also a pioneer member of the Cybersecurity Supervision and Oversight Group (CSOG) under TRISD.

Kwame Oppong is the Head of Fintech and Innovation at Bank of Ghana.
His background spans Technology, Digital Financial Services (DFS) operations, policy development, and regulation. He has consulted for several governments, public sector institutions, international development organizations and private corporations globally.
Prior to joining the Bank, Kwame worked with CGAP (World Bank Group), Millicom, Hewlett Packard (now HP EB) and other organizations in the banking, housing finance and health insurance industries.
He is a passionate advocate for financial inclusion, innovation, and the development of digital economies.