2023 Speakers

2023 Speakers

Shaktikanta Das

Governor

Reserve Bank of India

Abdirahman M. Abdullahi

Governor

Central Bank of Somalia

Governor Abdullahi has over 25 years of progressive career in financial management and banking. He started his career working in the Finance Ministry of Somalia 1986, but immigrated to Europe during the civil war in Somalia and worked in number of organizations in Norway and UK, both in public and private sector. For several years Abdi had also been the Regional Managing Director in Europa of a large Money Transfer Business based in UK.

Abdi’s compassion for development issues has also taken him to work in aid organizations operating in Yemen, Djibouti, and Kenya, before returning to Somalia to take part in the rebuilding efforts of his country of birth.

Abdi was appointed as the Governor of the Central Bank of Somalia (CBS) in 2019. Under his leadership, CBS hassuccessfully implemented transformative institutional reforms to develop key policy areas including institutional capacity development, strengthening the regulatory framework for financial institutions, regulating the mobile money services and the implementation of a new national payment system.

Prior to his appointment as CBS Governor, Abdi worked as Senior Public Finance Policy Advisor for the Prime Minister of Somalia, where he contributed significant reforms in the area of fiscal policy and played a major part in Somalia’s debt relief program with IMF.

Abdi holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Norwegian University of Technology and Science (NTNU), andmaster’s degree (MSc) in Finance and International Banking from Liverpool John Moores University (JMU) in U.K

Shirin Hamid

Chief information officer, director information technology department

International Monetary Fund

Shirin Hamid has more than 20 years of executive leadership in digital transformation and innovative use of information management and technologies for complex, large multinational and multi-dimensional organizations. As CIO of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), she is responsible for the Fund’s digital strategies and transformation, and its IT infrastructure, operations, and talent. Before the IMF, Shirin was CIO of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) where, under her leadership, the Bank undertook several innovative digital initiatives which the ICT profession recognized as exemplary and award Shirin and the ADB IT team with the CIO 100 awards in 2019, 2021 and 2022. In 2020, Shirin steered the ADB through the pandemic with IT rapid response and prioritization initiatives for remote work arrangements and operational resilience. These efforts were recognized and documented by Gartner, the world's leading research and advisory company, with an article published in 2020 in its CIO Impact on Digital Business Strategy and Execution series. Prior to ADB, Shirin was the Chief Technology Officer of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in New York from 2005 to 2016, and the General Manager of IS/IT in Singapore's Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd and concurrently, of its parent company, Keppel Corporation in 2001-2005. She started her professional career as a consultant at Andersen Consulting/Accenture in Singapore and subsequently at Deloitte Consulting in Boston, USA. Shirin is a national of Singapore and holds a master’s degree in Business Systems Analysis and Design from City University, UK and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Coventry University, UK.

Andriy Pyshyy

Governor

National Bank of Ukraine

Andriy Pyshnyy assumed the position of Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine on 7 October 2022. The Governor manages the NBU's activities within his competence, as defined by the Law of Ukraine On the National Bank of Ukraine, acts on behalf of the NBU, and represents the NBU’s interests in relations with stakeholders without a power of attorney. He also directly oversees the activities of the NBU units responsible for HR management, legal support, risk management, communications, consumer protection in financial services, security, state secret protection, and anti-corruption efforts. Pyshnyy has been working in the financial sector since 2000. From March 2014 to November 2020 he served as the Chairman of the Management Board of Oschadbank JSC. In 2012, Pyshnyy was elected a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the First Deputy Head of Parliamentary Committee on Rules of Procedure, Parliamentary Ethics, and Administration of Verkhovna Rada’s Work. Between 2009 and 2012 he held the position of the Director of Social Strategy Fund LLC. Between August 2007 and June 2009 Pyshnyy served as Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. From April 2007, Pyshnyy was the First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board at Ukreximbank OJSC, and later a member of the Supervisory Board of Ukreximbank OJSC and Oschadbank OJSC. From 2003 to 2007 he held positions as a Management Board Member, First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, and Acting Chairman of the Management Board of Oschadbank OJSC. In 2000, Pyshnyy embarked on his banking career as Head of the Legal Support Department at Oschadbank JSC. Pyshnyi started his career in 1996 as a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Constitutional, Administrative, and Financial Law at Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University. He graduated from Chernivtsi National University with a degree in law, and from the Ukrainian Academy of Banking of the National Bank of Ukraine with a degree in banking. He holds a PhD in Law.

Valda Henry

Deputy governor

Eastern Caribbean Central Bank

Valda Frederica Henry is the Deputy Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. She is VF Inc.’s former Chief Executive Officer and Principal Trainer. She formerly served as a Senior Investment Officer at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and played an instrumental role in the restructuring of the Investment Unit and the development of the Investment Management Framework of the Bank. She has lectured in, among other subjects, Human Resource Management and Accounting and has extensive experience in organisational reviews, job analyses and job descriptions working with companies in the Caribbean and served as the Coordinator of the Administrative Reform Program of the Commonwealth of Dominica. She has served as a Mentor for Executive and Middle Managers in many sectors including banking, hospitality and utility. Valda is also a Global Human Resources and Organizational Development Expert who excels at collaboration, with very strong interpersonal, communications, leadership and decision-making skills. She has developed and led numerous multi-year personal and professional development programs for youth in Dominica as well as individuals and businesses throughout the Caribbean. She hosted a weekly radio and twice- monthly television programs on which she discussed solutions to challenges faced by businesses in the region. She wrote a Column, “Business and Life,” for the online newspaper, “Dominica News Online. Valda holds formal qualifications in Financial Analysis and Planning, Governance and Business Management. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst, holds a PhD in Industrial Relations & Business, Masters of Business Administration, Bachelors in Management and Bachelors in Law. She is a Certified Global Professional in Human Resources, Society for Human Resource Management, Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) and an Accredited Director. She is also a Certified ProNet Trainer and a Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Practitioner and a Certified “Train the Trainer” for InfoDev and the Women Innovators Network in the Caribbean (WINC).

Petr Král

Executive director of the monetary department (chief economist)

Czech National Bank

Petr Král (49) completed his studies in finance and economic theory at the University of Economics in Prague in 1990s. He joined the CNB in 1999 and has held various positions in the Monetary Department since then. In 2004–2007, he was head of the Short-term Forecasting Unit and Deputy Director of the Macroeconomic Forecasting Division. In 2006, he headed the CNB’s forecasting team, and in 2005–2007, he represented the CNB in the ESCB’s Working Group on Forecasting (WGF) in Frankfurt. He became Director of the Monetary Policy and Fiscal Analyses Division in 2007 and Deputy Director of the Monetary Department in 2015. Since 2018 Petr Král has been Executive Director of the Monetary Department (Chief Economist) and MPC (ESCB) Member. In 2007–2014, he was an alternate of the CNB Vice-Governor in the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC) in Brussels. The Czech government appointed him as a Member of the Committee on Budgetary Forecasts since April 2018. In his research, publications and lectures, Mr Král specialises in practical monetary policy issues (strategy, instruments, communication and euro adoption).

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Marianne Nessén

Senior advisor to the executive board

Sveriges Riksbank

Marianne Nessén, Senior Advisor to the Executive Board of Sveriges Riksbank 

Dr. Nessén is Senior Advisor to the Executive Board of Sveriges Riksbank, the central bank of Sweden, after having been head of the Monetary Policy Department for five years. Prior to that she held various positions at the Riksbank, including in the Research Department. She was the Riksbank representative in the Markets Committee at the BIS during 2007-2014. She is the Riksbank’s alternate representative in the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS).

Dr. Nessén holds a PhD from the Stockholm School of Economics, where she is an associate professor. She has published research on monetary policy in leading academic journals.

William Lovell

Head of technology strategy and architecture

Bank of England

I am Head of Technology Strategy & Architecture. I set technology strategy for The Bank and ensure projects and programmes are delivered on the right platforms and technologies. I have a particular interest in fintech, digital currencies and digital assets. My background is in engineering, so I like to keep a practical focus while working with those developing policy.
Niko Herrala

Head of monetary policy implementation

Bank of Finland

Niko Herrala works as a Head of Division in the Market Operations Department at the Bank of Finland. He is also a member of ESCB's Working Group on Monetary Policy Implementation.

Emilio Rodríguez Alfonso

Head of asset management, market operations

Bank of Spain

Emilio Rodríguez, CFA, is currently Head of the Asset Management Division, within the Market Operations Department, at Banco de España. He leads a team involved in the management of euro denominated assets and foreign reserves portfolios and is also in charge of the implementation of the Eurosystem asset purchase programs. He received his Bachelor in Economics from Universidad Complutense and MSc in Economics and Markets from Universidad Carlos III in Madrid. He joined the Spanish national central bank in 2005 as a portfolio manager, after a career in the private sector with varied responsibilities in the capital markets and finance areas in banking and corporate firms. He has published several articles in journals and is co-author of a book on fixed-income active portfolio management.

Petia Niederlaender

Director for payments, risk monitoring and financial literacy

Austrian National Bank

Petia took over the role Director for Payments, Risk Monitoring and Financial Literacy of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) in February 2021. She leads the payments strategy and policy as well the work on the digital Euro project within the central bank of Austria. She is member of ECB’s Market Infrastructure Board, chairs the National Payments Committee and acts as a non-executive board member at the Austrian payments’ innovations hub – OeNPAY.

Beyond payments Petia is interested in improving the financial education and competences of the citizenship. She works together with her team in several national initiatives. She is a member of the executive board of the National Financial Literacy Strategy of Austria and holds the role of chairperson of the supervisory board of the Foundation for Economic Education.

Prior to her role in the Austrian National Bank, Petia had several management positions in one of the biggest Retail Banks in Austria, served on the board of EBA Clearing as well as national and international payments bodies. She has more than 15 years of professional experience in payments and banking and holds a master degree in investment banking from Vienna University of Economics.

Dan Alexandru

Senior portfolio manager and coordinator of the SAA

Dutch National Bank

Dan is leading both the management of the rates portfolios and the strategic asset allocation process at the Dutch Central Bank. In his lead PM role, he is overseeing the management of DNB’s government and government-related portfolios. These include three portfolios, namely USD, JPY and multi-currency, totaling in excess of EUR 8 bln equivalent. The USD and multi-currency portfolios each have a green bond target. As the SAA coordinator at DNB, Dan oversees the triennial process of selecting the mix of asset classes that constitute DNB’s own investments. These currently include – next to the rates portfolios – investment grade and high yield corporate bonds, as well as Developed and Emerging Market equities.

Dan holds the CFA, SCR and FRM certifications next to an MSc in Finance from the Stockholm School of Economics.

Ed Dew

Senior manager for banknote analysis, strategy and engagement

Bank of England

Since March 2023, Ed Dew has been the Bank of England’s Senior Manager for Banknote Analysis, Strategy and Engagement, working in the Future of Money Division. He is responsible for leading that Bank's forecast of changing banknote demand, engagement with the cash industry and communication with the wider public on banknotes. Over the past 20 years at the Bank, he has worked across monetary policy, financial stability and financial market areas, as well as working in operational risk and as assistant private secretary to then Governor, Mervyn King. Ed was a Trustee of the Bank of Pension Fund from 2017-2022. He has an Economics MSc (Hons) from Southampton University.

Jonas Stulz

Head of portfolio management

Swiss National Bank

Jonas Stulz is Head of Portfolio Management and Deputy Head of Asset Management at Swiss National Bank (SNB). His teams of portfolio managers in Zurich and Singapore are responsible for the active management of the fixed income portfolios within SNB’s foreign currency reserves. These portfolios include government and supra-sovereign bonds (rates) as well as investment grade corporate bonds and covered bonds (credit). He is based in Zurich. Jonas joined SNB in 2003; prior to his current position, he was Head of Global Rates at SNB. Before that, he worked as a Senior Economist and as a Senior Portfolio Manager for this institution. He holds a master degree in Economics from University of St. Gallen and a doctorate in monetary macroeconomics from University of Basel. Furthermore, he is a Certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM) with the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP). Jonas Stulz is married with two children.

Gioia Cellai

Head of market operations directorate

Banca d’Italia

Born in Rome on 27 February 1968, she graduated with honours from the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ in 1990 with a degree in Political Science, with a focus on international studies. She joined the Bank of Italy in 1991 and was assigned to the Foreign Exchange Operations Centre, where she worked on exchange market transactions, reserve management, market analysis and the management of Italian debt denominated in foreign currency. During that same period, she also provided support to the Chairman of the Foreign Exchange Policy Sub-Committee in preparation for the launch of the euro. In 1999 she moved to the Official Reserves Management Division of the Monetary Policy and Foreign Exchange Operations Department, managing portfolios in numerous currencies, and was later put in charge of the ECB reserves investment portfolio. In this role, she was also a member, since its creation, of the Eurosystem’s Working Group on Foreign Reserve Assets Management. In 2008 she was made Deputy Head of the Investment Operations Division of the then Financial Investment Department and, in 2011, she became Head of that division, responsible for the operational management of all the Bank’s foreign currency and euro-denominated investments, the Bank of Italy’s staff pension fund and investments on behalf of the ECB. She played an active role in international groups, in particular, the Eurosystem’s Monitoring Working Group. In early 2016 she was appointed Deputy Head of the newly formed Operations and Payments Settlement Directorate, helping to start up this new directorate dedicated entirely to post-trading and other support activities for market operations and the payments sector. In April 2020 she was made Head of the Market Operations Directorate, a member of the Market Operations Committee and one of the advisors to Assiom Forex chosen by the Bank. She has authored publications on the management of central bank’s reserves and has represented the Bank of Italy in a variety of international forums on this topic.

Daniel Felcser

Head of monetary strategy

Hungarian National Bank

Daniel Felcser is Head of Monetary Strategy at the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (Central Bank of Hungary). He joined the Bank in 2008 as an economist in the monetary policy team. The De-partment’s responsibilities include preparing monetary policy analyses and policy positions in support of decision-making and the Bank’s representation in domestic and international fora. He holds an M.A. in economics from Corvinus University of Budapest.

Peter Faykiss
Peter Faykiss

Director, digitalization directorate

Hungarian National Bank

Peter Faykiss is the Director of Digitalization Directorate at the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (the central bank of Hungary), where he is responsible for FinTech, digital finance and digital currencies/CBDC topics. Before entering the digital finance area, he gained experience in financial stability, financial regulation and macroprudential policy. As the Head of Division for Banking Regulations of Ministry for National Economy he was responsible for the domestic implementation of the European regulatory package CRD IV in 2013. In 2014 he was appointed as the Head of Macroprudential Policy Department of the MNB, from 2017 he served as the Director of Macroprudential Directorate. Mr. Faykiss graduated in 2009 from Corvinus University of Budapest and he holds a PhD in Finance from Corvinus University of Budapest.”

 Anikó Bódi-Schubert
Anikó Bódi-Schubert

Head of cash issuance and strategic management division

Hungarian National Bank

Anikó Bódi-Schubert joined to the Cash Logistics Directorate of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank in 2008. She has been the Head of Cash Issuance and Strategic Management Division since 2013. In her current position she is responsible for the strategic management issues of banknote and coin production and handling, the legal framework and the stakeholder management of the Hungarian cash cycle. She is regular presenter at con-ferences in the field of cash supply, central bank cash management and regulation. She holds a master and a PhD degree in management and business administration from the Corvinus University of Budapest.

Ntséliseng Qopana

portfolio manager

Central Bank of Lesotho

Ntseliseng Qopana is an investment professional with over 10 years of professional experience. She currently works as a portfolio manager at the Central Bank of Lesotho, responsible for managing the country’s foreign reserves in the department of financial markets. Ms Qopana joined the bank in 2019 and has demonstrated knowledge and experience in fixed income, money and Forex markets portfolio management, credit and macroeconomic analysis. Prior to this, she worked at Redemption Capital as a research analyst as well as Meago asset managers.  Ms Qopana also worked at Lesotho Electricity Company as an electrical engineer aide over two years before pursuing a degree in the investment field.

At the Central Bank of Lesotho, she has pioneered the introduction of structured products such as bond repacks and FX linked notes in a yield enhancing strategy during the era of low yields that came about as a result of central banks pumping liquidity into the financial markets to curb the impact of the pandemic. She also holds the position as treasurer of the Central Bank of Lesotho’s Staff Association Committee. Ms Qopana obtained her undergraduate degree in Economics and Statistics and a Hons degree in financial analysis and portfolio management from the University of Cape Town. She also holds a Finance and Investment Master’s degree from the University of Witwatersrand. Ms. Qopana is a CFA level II candidate, after passing her level I at above the 90th percentile.

Komitas Stepanyan

Director of corporate services and development directorate

Central Bank of Armenia

Komitas Stepanyan is an internationally certified professional and recognised IT and cybersecurity expert for the IMF and The World Bank Group. Komitas is the Director of the Corporate Services and Development Directorate at Central Bank of Armenia and leads several key directions and functions. He is one of the key players driving digital transformation at the country level. For more than 13 years he has been working in the Internal Audit department holding different positions such a sdeputy chief audit executive and head of the IT audit division. Komitas works with the IMF and the World Bank as an expert in cyber risk management, regulation, supervision and digital transformation. He has conducted and led many technical assistance and capacity building missions covering a diverse range of countries, including several African countries, and topics.  Komitas has 23+ years of extensive experience in IT including; internal audit, IT audit, information security and cybersecurity. In recent years, he was actively engaged in different programmes and forums and was a speaker at many international events in the USA, Europe, Asia, Africa, and post-Soviet countries. He is adjunct professor at the American University of Armenia, holds a PhD degree in applied physics and has four international certificates, CRISC, CRMA, Cobit and the SE&Phishing Mastery Certificate. He is a graduate of a Public Policy and Public Administration Certificate Programme at Tufts University (USA) from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Thusjanthan Gunapalasingham

Head of risk management

National Bank of Denmark

Mr. Thusjanthan Gunapalasingham is Head of Risk Management division within the Banking and Markets department at Danmarks Nationalbank. The division has the overall responsibility of the reserve management and risk management activities related to the government debt portfolio. In entails developing the strategic asset allocation, hedging strategies, ESG framework, limits setting, monitoring and risk reporting (including Operational Risk) to the Group Executive management.

Before joining Danmarks Nationalbank Thusjanthan worked in Group Treasury for Nordea Bank Abp as Chief Analyst. Prior to that Thusjanthan also worked at the ECB’s Directorate Risk Management.

Thusjanthan Gunapalasingham holds a Master of Science in Business Administration and Mathematical Business Economics from Copenhagen Business School and is also a CFA charterholder.

Enrique Martínez García

Senior research economist and policy advisor

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Enrique Martínez García is senior research economist and policy advisor in the Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Currently, he is also affiliated with the Globalization Institute and is the lead scholar for the International House Price Database (IHPD) and the Database of Global Economic Indicators (DGEI) of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Martínez García holds a PhD and an MSc in economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, an MA in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA in economics from the University of Alicante in Spain. His main research areas are international macro and finance, monetary economics, asset pricing, real estate, and applied econometrics. He has published extensively on globalization, inflation, housing, trade and exchange rate determination, and macroeconomic forecasting.

Clair Mills

Director of strategic change and operations for markets, banking and payments

Bank of England

Clair Mills is the Director of Strategic Change and Operations for the Markets, Banking and Payments Deputy Governorship, at the Bank of England, and is responsible for middle and back office operations, which includes delivery of the Markets, Banking and Payments Operations and Data Strategy, Budget, Operational Resilience and Risk and the Investment and Change Portfolio. Clair has over 20 years’ extensive financial services experience operating at board level and leading successful strategic and transformational change in a number of complex organisations, having started her career in the Building Society and Retail Banking sector, before moving into Operational and Technological Change Management and Consultancy. Clair joined the Financial Services Authority in 2011 to lead the Internal Twin Peaks programme transition to the PRA and FCA regulatory model, moving across to the Bank of England with the PRA becoming the Chief Operating Officer in the PRA in 2018. In her current role, as well as providing the leadership, management and vision necessary to support the business and to ensure that the proper operational controls, administrative and reporting procedures, and people systems are in place, Clair is also responsible for leading the area’s extensive project portfolio, helping translate business and policy vision into deliverable change programmes, this includes giving key note speeches both in the UK and internationally on topics such as Financial and Regulatory Technology (FinTech/RegTech) and how Central Banks and regulators can take advantage of the advances in technology in the work we do.

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Jennifer Johnson-Calari

Consultant

Central bank and sovereign investments

Ms. Johnson-Calari created and led the World Bank's Reserves Advisory and Management Program (RAMP), which is one of the world's leading providers of consulting and capacity building services to public sector asset managers. In this capacity, she worked globally with central banks, national pension funds and sovereign wealth funds in strengthening governance and building investment management capacity. She contributed to setting global standards of best practice for the management of sovereign assets and liabilities working with the IMF on the Reserves Management Guidelines and the ISWF's "Santiago Principles". Ms. Johnson-Calari has contributed to several books on the topic of portfolio and risk management and was a contributing author and editor of Sovereign Wealth Management, London: Central Banking Publications, 2008. She is a well-known expert on issues relating to central bank reserves management and portfolio management and has spoken widely at international conferences in both official and private sector fora.

She began her career with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in banking supervision with a focus on commercial bank asset/liability and risk management issues. She has earned advanced degrees from the Harvard Business School (GMP, 2004) the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) (MA, 1981) and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). She currently serves as a consultant to several international financial institutions.

Jokūbas Markevičius

Director, financial stability department

Central Bank Lithuania

Jokubas Markevicius ir currently heading the Financial Stability Department at the Bank of Lithuania and has been in central banking for 9 years. He has led an active implementation of macroprudential policies in Lithuania since the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic and worked on various policies and recommendations aimed at strengthening the financial system in Lithuania. Jokubas is also responsible for the resolution function within the Bank of Lithuania, he is a plenary member of the Single Resolution Board and is a council member at the Deposit Insurance Company in Lithuania. Jokubas previously also worked at the European Central Bank and has an Economics with Econometrics BA from the University of Exeter and Quantitative Finance MSc from Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Garrett Dunker

Managing director

Financial Transparency Solutions

Garrett Dunker is the Managing Director of Financial Transparency Solutions GmbH and oversees development of Suptech solutions for Supervisors, such as Strix AML, that performs risk assessments, improves compliance with regulatory standards, and provides a recurring savings through automation. Garrett manages a team of developers and administrative personnel to design software products while strategically up-valuing the tools by organizing intensive peer reviews from expert supervisors, engaging 3rd party developers for review of software quality and security, and incorporating a constant feed of client feedback. Since 2016, Garrett has supported, on a technical level, the formation of Inherent Risk and Controls assessment models for a number of international clients. Leveraging experience from previous Excel-based risk models and other risk model software, he has designed an efficient, powerful, and flexible mathematical backbone for the Strix AML scoring algorithm.
Seemanta Patnaik

Co-founder & CTO

SecurEyes

Seemanta Patnaik heads advisory and consulting along with product innovation at SecurEyes primarily focused on supervisory & regulatory technologies. He has been instrumental in helping achieve service delivery maturity, expanding offerings, providing advisory & consultancy to numerous clients across industries and geographies. With two decades of experience in ITES, Cyber Security & regulatory audits, he has worked extensively across verticals and has helped several companies and regulatory authorities meet their cybersecurity and supervisory goals. After having worked in Japan and the US, he returned to India to co-found SecurEyes. His main areas of expertise include information security governance, end-to-end risk and compliance audits, risk based supervision and product engineering amongst others. He has been a visionary with multiple products being conceptualised and implemented under his able guidance and direction. He has worked closely with the product innovation team to develop products in the regulatory, supervisory and compliance technology (RegTech, SupTech & CompTech space).

Benjamin Weigert

Director general financial stability

Deutsche Bundesbank

Benjamin Weigert is Director General for Financial Stability at the Deutsche Bundesbank, and a member of the German Financial Stability Committee, since August 2016. He served as Secretary General of the German Council of Economic Experts before that and worked at Deloitte & Touche. He graduated from the Technical University of Dresden in 2002 with a degree in Economics and received his Ph.D. from the University of Konstanz in 2007.
Sigitas Šiaudinis

Head of monetary policy division

Central Bank Lithuania

Sigitas Šiaudinis joined the Bank of Lithuania in 1996 and held various positions in Market Operations Departments (2005-2012) and the Economics Department (1996-2005 and since 2012 till now). In 2005-2012, he was a member of ESCB’s Working Group on Monetary Policy Implementation. Since 2017, he is a representative of the Bank of Lithuania in ESCB’s Monetary Policy Committee; since 2021, a co-chair of Committee’s expert group on CBDC. Sigitas Šiaudinis holds PhD in Economics from Vilnius University, where he is an associate professor.
Mariana Fostyk

Deputy head of international relations

National Bank of Ukraine

Mariana Fostyk joined the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) in 2005 and was promoted to the deputy head of international relations in 2016. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, where she worked as a research assistant until 2005.

She is actively engaged in many international projects and initiatives of the NBU, including those in the area of currency management.

Per Nymand-Andersen

Emeritus adviser

European Central Bank

 

Per Nymand-Andersen has over 25 years of Central Banking Experiences and was part of creating and developing the European Central Bank from scratch. Per has developed his expertise in banking and financial markets, fintech, data science, communications, securities settlement systems, statistics and Management.

Per holds several Fintech/data science Advisor Board positions in private and simi-public organisations. Per is a Lecture at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt and is a frequent speaker at international events and author of several publications/articles regarding financial markets, data science, communication and statistics. His recent renown book “Data science in Economics and Finance for Decision Makers” was published by Riskbooks.com.

Prior to joining the ECB, he provided market research consultancy services for the European Commission, Luxembourg.

Per has an MBA in Economics and Management Science from Copenhagen Business School, Denmark and has a Fintech certificate from Harvard University.

Per speaks four languages (English, German, French and Danish).

Further details: https://www.linkedin.com/in/per-nymand-andersen-81609913

Jonas Kanapeckas

Director of the market operations department

Bank of Lithuania

I joined the Bank of Lithuania in 1996 and have worked in asset allocation, risk management, and monetary policy implementation. Quantitative methods for asset allocation and risk management were my main areas of professional interest during the years I was the head of the Middle Office, a deputy director, and a director of the Market Operations Department. I substantially deepened my experience and expertise by being a member of the Investment Committee of the Bank of Lithuania and a member of the Risk Management Committee of the European System of Central Banks for many years. I am also a European System of Central Banks Market Operations Committee member.

Johanna Lasker

CEO, North America and Head of of central banks and institutions

BNP Paribas Asset Management

Johanna is the CEO North America for BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM). She is also the Head of Central Banks and Official Institutions.

As CEO for North America, Johanna is responsible for our strategic leadership and development. She manages the growth of our business, overseeing business development, and maintaining direct oversight of management and effective governance in the region. In her capacity as Head of Central Banks & Official Institutions, Johanna’s responsibilities include managing and growing the official sector business globally, while also ensuring we are meeting our clients’ needs.

Johanna originally joined FFTW, a predecessor of BNPP AM, in 1997. She then left the firm in 2000, rejoining in 2004 to focus on the official institutions business. Since 2013, she has been the head of the Central Banks and Official Institutions team, successfully growing our client base and increasing our AUM for this sector. In addition to working for BNPP AM and FFTW, Johanna worked in the Corporate Finance division at UBS for two years, where she was an Associate Director in the Consumer Products Group in New York. She later transferred to the Global Industrial Group in Japan where she lived for a year.

Johanna has over 20 years of experience. She earned an MBA in Finance and International Business from New York University, and a BA in East Asian Studies from Stanford University. She is based in New York.

Steven Moons

Team lead, supervisory technologies and data

European Central Bank

Steven JF Moons is a senior IT manager with over 25 years of experience. He joined the European Central Bank in 2020 and has been entrusted with the leadership of a dynamic team dedicated to the design, development, maintenance and support of innovative services for banking supervision. Prior to this Steven honed his skills and expertise in the private sector gaining expertise in various industries such as banking and insurance. Throughout his career, he consistently held influential senior positions at major accounts.
Jan De Wit

Head of the financial markets department

National Bank of Belgium

Since early 2022, Jan De Wit holds the position of Head of the Financial Markets Department at National Bank of Belgium, the organization he has been affiliated with since 2000. He oversees the areas of monetary policy implementation, collateral management, reserves and portfolio management, settlement of operations, financial risk management, payment systems and the domestic securities settlement system. Before being appointed in his current role, Jan served for nine years as the Head of front office, covering both dealing rooms for monetary policy implementation (including the asset purchase programmes) and reserve & portfolio management. Jan holds Master’s degrees in International Securities, Investment and Banking from ICMA Centre, University of Reading; in Financial Management and Investments from HUB, Brussels; and in Commercial Engineering from EHSAL, Brussels. Jan is a CFA Charterholder and Past President of the Belgian CFA Society.
Juha Niemela

Head of market operations

Bank of Finland

Juha Niemelä is a Head of Market Operations at the Bank of Finland. The department is responsible for the preparation and implementation of monetary policy, management of foreign currency reserves and the management of the payment system.

Before joining the Bank of Finland in 2019 he worked 10+ years at the pension fund industry in different roles including Head of Fixed Income, Head of Alternative Investments and Head of Asset Allocation of a pension fund balance sheet. Before that, he worked as a portfolio manager both in banking sector and fund industry. He started his working career at the Bank of Finland, as a portfolio manager, in 1997.

Carl Andreas Claussen

Senior advisor

Sveriges Riksbank

Carl Andreas is senior advisor at the Riksbank. He is an experienced central banker and is currently involved in questions related to money and the digitalisation of payments. His latest research focus on cash demand. Claussen has worked at several central banks and done technical assistance and consultancy work for many more. He has published in academic journals, central bank outlets and blogs. He has a Phd in political economy from the University of Oslo, Norway.

Arnab Das

global market strategist, EMEA

Invesco

Arnab Das joined Invesco in London in 2015 as head of EMEA and EM macro research and has been global macro strategist, EMEA since 2018, engaging on economics, policy and markets with institutional and official investors, governments, the IMF and other official institutions, as well as Invesco investment teams. Arnab has 30 years of investment industry experience, including co-head of economic research and strategy, Roubini Global Economics (2009-2013); co-head, global economics and strategy, head of FX strategy and head of EM research, Dresdner Kleinwort (2001-09); head of EMEA EM research and senior EM strategist, JP Morgan (1992-2001). He has provided policy advice and views on economics, markets, communication, sovereign risk and ratings to policymakers in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, South Africa, India, Indonesia, South Korea, governments affected by the Eurozone crisis, the IMF and the US Treasury. Arnab studied at Princeton (AB) and LSE (PhD). His research interests include economics, economic and financial history, geopolitics and geo-economics.

Batur Vakhidov

Deputy director of monetary operation department

National Bank of Kazakhstan

Batur Vakhidov play senior, leadership role at Monetary Operations Department of National Bank of Kazakhstan with emphasis on analysis and risk management, IT system implementation and external asset management selection. In this capacity, he worked globally with central banks, external asset managers, custodians and software vendors in strengthening and building investment management capacity. Mr. Batur has started his career in banking in 2008 in BCC-Moscow in Moscow Russia as an analyst at corporate finance division. He has earned advanced degrees from the Bauman Moscow State Technical University (Machine-building Technology 2008) the Portland State University (MBA, 2012), Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM) and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Jean-François Rigaudy

Former deputy head of the banking department

Formerly BIS

Jean-François Rigaudy became Deputy Head of Banking and Head of Treasury in July 2013.

He joined the BIS in 1988 as a Portfolio Manager and, after holding various positions in Treasury and Asset Management, was appointed Head of Treasury in 1999.

Mr. Rigaudy retired from the BIS on 1 September 2020.

Before joining the BIS, he worked at the Bank of France, first in banking supervision and then in the foreign exchange and reserve management area.

Mr Rigaudy holds degrees in private law and history and a diploma from the Institut d'Études Politiques in Paris, where he also lectured in economics from 1984 to 1988.

Barbara Jaroszek

Director, cash and issue department

National Bank of Poland

Barbara has been working at Narodowy Bank Polski (NBP) for eleven years. She began work at Poland’s central bank as Deputy Director of Cash and Issue Department, where she currently holds the position of Director. During her work for the central bank she was involved in the introduction of a new series of circulation banknotes and coins, the change of denominational structure, and the introduction of new regulations regarding cooperation with the cash market. Before she joined the central bank, for seven years she had held the position of Sales Director at the Mint of Poland. The professional experience gained at the central bank and the mint allowed her to optimise many processes along the supply chains. She is the chairwoman of the Polish Cash Circulation Council and is active in the NBP and Polish Security Printing Works research and development group, which was established on her own initiative. She specialises in product development, and in addition to cash management, she is also responsible for collector values issued by NBP. She is considered an expert in this field in Poland. She graduated from the University of Szczecin and completed postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Management of the University of Warsaw.

Marek Ličák

Departmental head, financial stability

National Bank of Slovakia

Marek Ličák studied at Faculty of Economics and Management in Nitra, graduating in finance. He also studied a post gradual program – Master in Banking and Finance at Ghent University in Belgium. He has a PhD in business intelligence.

He started his career in banking in 2001 in Dexia Bank in Belgium.

He joined the National Bank of Slovakia in 2003. He is a director of Financial stability department. He is responsible for analysis of systemic risk in the Slovak financial system and the preparation of Financial stability reports and other risk-oriented analyses. He is also responsible for the implementation of macroprudential policy in Slovakia.

Mr. Ličák is also a member of different working groups and committees in the European Central Bank, European Systemic Risk Board, European Commission, and other international institutions. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars in Slovakia and abroad. He has several publications mainly in the field of financial stability.

Jan-Mark Geusebroek

Policy advisor, cash department

De Nederlandsche Bank

Jan-Mark Geusebroek is currently policy advisor at the Cash Department of the Nederlandsche Bank. His areas of responsibility include sustainability of cash and banknote procurement and quality control. Dr. Geusebroek started his career as a researcher in Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Amsterdam. He was owner of the company Perceptech, leading to award-winning industry innovations, such as banknote soil determination on high-speed sorting machines, genuine-or-counterfeit detection on mobile phone devices, and multi-currency detection for automated cash order picking and packaging. Dr. Geusebroek holds a Ph. D. in Computer Science in the field of physics-based computer vision, and a B. Eng. in Electronic Engineering.

John Nash

Head of function, financial markets division

Central Bank of Ireland

John has almost 30 years’ experience of financial markets, spanning central banking, private sector investment management and investment banking.

Having worked in the reinsurance industry and investment banking he joined the Central Bank of Ireland in 2002 in an investment policy role. Since then John has worked both in the areas of reserves management and monetary policy implementation. He is Head of Function in the Financial Markets Division where his responsibilities focus on investment management, financial markets analysis and financial operations.

Tihomir Mavriček

Executive director, currency

Croatian National Bank

Tihomir Mavriček is an Executive Director of the Currency area at the Croatian National Bank. He has over 25 years of experience in cash and payment business, as well as in management and leadership roles. He has successfully led and implemented various national and international projects in the fields of payment and cash services, card management, eCommerce and utilities bill payment. Recently he was also been involved in the preparation for the euro introduction in the Republic of Croatia, where he was in charge of the preparation and implementation of all activities related to the cash component of the transition to the new currency. With the strong IT background he strives to create innovative and efficient business models for the cash and payment services.
Alan Copping

senior strategy principal

Simcorp

Alan has over 30 years’ experience in financial markets. He brings a wealth of experience from the financial services industry from both investment management firms and vendors. With a career including positions held as Head of Investment Operations, Head of Professional Services he has worked with some of the largest banks and asset owners globally. He now focuses on how SimCorp addresses the needs of the central banks, sovereign wealth, pension, and insurance industries.
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Pedro Duarte Neves

Former vice-governor

Bank of Portugal

Pedro Duarte Neves is Adviser for the Board of Directors of Banco de Portugal. He was Vice-Governor of Banco de Portugal from June 2006 to September 2017. Pedro Duarte Neves participated at the main high-level supervisory and regulatory fora like the EBA, SSM, ESRB, and FSB. He was Alternate Chairperson of the EBA from July 2013 to June 2018 and he has chaired a number of committees in the scope of the FSB, EBA, and the Joint Committee of the ESAs. His research interests include banking supervision and regulation, macro-prudential policy, and the real economy.

Pedro Duarte Neves is a Visiting Professor at Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics. He is also Associate at the Systemic Risk Centre, London School of Economics. Pedro Duarte Neves holds a PhD in Economics from Université Catholique de Louvain. He published in scientific journals like The Journal of Econometrics, Economics Letters and Economic Modelling.

Vasilis Papaefthymiou

Supervisory technologies analyst

European Central Bank

Vasilis Papaefthymiou is a supervisory technologies analyst specialising in the development of Natural Language Processing (NLP) applications and leading transformative projects and initiatives in this domain. Since joining the European Central Bank in 2019, Vasilis has developed a diverse range of supervisory content expertise and has contributed to various stages of innovative IT project development. Previous assignments at the ECB included managing and analysing large datasets of fintech companies and crypto-assets exchanges. Vasilis is an electrical and computer engineer with a specialisation in computer science and the management of information systems and prior to the ECB, he has worked in a tech company and research projects.

Rainer Olt

Head of payment and settlement systems department

Bank of Estonia

Rainer Olt Head of Payment and Settlement Systems Department at Eesti Pank (the Estonian central bank). Before joining Eesti Pank in 2011, he worked for over six years in retail banking, responsible for customer offering, incl. payment services. He started as a a policy expert at Eesti Pank, promoting the smooth operation of payment systems and the overall harmonisation and integration of the retail payments market. Building on his central banking experience, he spent four years as an financial market expert at the European Central Bank. Today, his team of experts is responsible for the operator, oversight and catalyst functions in Estonia. Since 2020, active work on central bank digital currencies started with experimenting Estonian blockchain technology and continued at Eurosystem level with digital euro investigation phase and research into wholesale CBDC.
Alexandre Stervinou

Director - cash and retail payments policy and oversight directorate

Banque de France

Alexandre Stervinou is currently Director in the Cash and Retail Payments Policy and Oversight Directorate at the Banque de France, a 50+ staff directorate in charge of strategic policy orientations for, and the oversight of, all types of retail payments, with a focus on fostering innovations in those fields (e.g. CBDC with the digital euro). The Directorate also has a direct responsibility on cash anti-counterfeiting matters. Prior to this, Alexandre held a Deputy Director role in the Market Infrastructures and Innovations Directorate and, between 2019 and 2021, he was a member of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) Secretariat, where he mostly dealt with innovation related matters on the G20 agenda for financial services, and more specifically on cutting-edge topics such as cross-border payments, cybersecurity, crypto-assets and stablecoins, BigTechs, cloud services, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Between 2015 and 2019, Alexandre was the Head of the Non-cash Means of Payment Oversight division at Banque de France, in charge of policy and oversight issues for cashless payments. In this role, he was the Secretary of the Observatory for the Security of Payment Means, chaired by the Governor of Banque de France, and Secretary of the National Payments Committee. To this end, he contributed to the development of a national and European retail payment strategy supported by Banque de France, in collaboration with the private sector.

Alexandre has represented the central bank since 2008 in various international (G20, G7) and European committees related to payments, cybersecurity and innovation, notably working on regulation, supervision and oversight frameworks, and is currently also a member of the digital euro project steering group.

Alexandre started his career in the private sector, working in the financial services and telecom industry

Stelios Georgakis

Head of financial market infrastructures & payments

Central Bank Cyprus

Stelios joined the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) in 1992, after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) in the UK. In January 2013 he became the Head of the Licensing and Regulatory Compliance Section of the Supervision Division. As such, he negotiated the AML action plan with the Troika relating to the banking sector, and oversaw its successful implementation. With the introduction of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) of the European Central Bank, he became responsible for the On-Site Inspections, the AML/CFT supervision and the prudential supervision of credit, payment and e-money institutions that fall outside the scope of the SSM. In March 2017 he became Head of the supervision of significant and less significant credit institutions. He was the CBC member of the EBA Board of Supervisors and alternate member of the Supervisory Board of the SSM. As of 1 November 2020, he is Head of the Financial Market Infrastructures & Payments Department. Stelios also holds a B.Sc.(Hons) in Civil Engineering and an MBA.
Evertjan Veenendaal

Senior portfolio manager

BIS

Evertjan Veenendaal is Senior Portfolio Manager within the BIS Asset Management unit. His responsibilities include managing the first BIS Green Bond Fund since its inception in 2019 and managing the BIS Asian Green Bond Fund since its inception in 2022. Prior to joining the BIS, Evertjan worked as senior portfolio manager at the Dutch Central bank where he worked on unconventional monetary policy before moving to Asset Management and ultimately assuming the responsibility for all internally managed funds. He started his career as a derivatives trader at one of the large principal trading firms in Amsterdam. Evertjan earned his master’s degree in analytical finance with distinction from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He is a CFA charterholder and an FRM.
Jose Ramon Martinez-Resano

Senior adviser

Bank of Spain

Joase Ramon Martinez-Resano is Adviser in the Financial Stability Department of Bank of Spain. He is currently focusing his work there on the risks and opportunities of digitization for financial stability. In particular, he has written several pieces on the regulatory challenges posed by big techs, on the risks to digital resilience raised by cyber-risks and cloud operations and on reporting of digital assets. He contributes to Eurosystem and ESRB committees on these and CBDC matters. Previously, Jose Ramon has worked and written on sovereign/country risk matters (delegate to Paris Club), financial independence of central banks, money and capital market topics and sovereign debt issuance at the Spanish Treasury. Jose Ramon has consulted for World Bank and IMF on some of these areas.

Johannes Turner

director, statistics department

Bank of Austria

Johannes Turner is director of the Statistics Department of the Bank of Austria (OeNB), which is in charge of compiling and analysing monetary, interest rate, supervisory and external statistics, of maintaining Austria’s Central Credit Register and of generating company ratings. He is a member of the ESCB Statistics Committee (STC) and Austrian representative on the Committee on Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments Statistics (CMFB) in Luxembourg. Since 2019 he has been president of the European Committee of the Central Balance-Sheet Data Offices (ECCBSO). He is a member of the European Recovery Programme (ERP) Audit Committee and an Advisory Board Member of the Statistics Council at Statistics Austria. Since 2020 he has also been chair of the quality committee of the Statistics Council Austria. In 2014/2015, he chaired the STC Task Force on the European Reporting Framework. In 2019/2020, he chaired the Task Force from Micro to Macro and from Macro to Micro data, which aims at enhancing the classification of the large volumes of available microdata to allow for better data utilisation. In 2015, the OeNB’s Statistics Department was extended to comprise the OeNB’s bank resolution activities. Johannes was promoted to his current position in June 2010 after having worked on banking supervision at the OeNB for 18 years, ultimately as Head of the Off-Site Banking Analysis Division from 2008. He started his career at Raiffeisen Zentralbank Vienna (1985–1986). From there, he moved on to Fessel+GfK Institute for Market Research (1986–1992), where he held the position of assistant to the management. He holds a Master's degree and a Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Vienna.

Clément Bourgeois

Deputy head Investment division

Bank of France

Clément Bourgeois has started his central banker career when joining the Banque de France Risk Management division in 2010, after having worked for the ministry of finance and for the ministry of transports since 2004.

He joined the management of foreign exchange reserves in 2012, where he has been in charge of managing the USD national portfolio first, and later he has been managing the USD et JPY portfolios on behalf of the ECB.

Since mid-2019, he is deputy head of the asset management division.

Philippe Lintern

Head of foreign exchange division

Bank of England

Philippe Lintern is the Head of the Foreign Exchange Division at the Bank of England, which manages the UK’s foreign exchange reserves. Prior to joining the Bank of England in 2020, Philippe spent 20 years working in industry mostly as an FX Option trader at NatWest then Standard Chartered Bank.

Michael Stellini

Partner

Financial Transparency Advisors

Michael Stellini, Partner at Financial Transparency Advisors, is responsible for management and coordination of the company’s technical assistance projects.

He specializes in providing advisory services to national governments and public authorities on matters related to Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation (AML/CFT/CFP).

He received a LL.D and Master of Arts in Financial Services from the University of Malta. He is admitted to practice law in Malta.