FMI and Fintech: Oversight and Innovation in Payments and Settlements 2023

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.

Patrick Papsdorf is Head of Section of Payments Oversight in the Directorate General Payments and Market Infrastructure (DG-MIP) at the European Central Bank (ECB). His area of responsibility comprises the oversight of payment systems and schemes, and encompasses the assessment of emerging risks and developments in the payments ecosystem, including aspects cyber resilience and financial innovation. Prior to this, Mr Papsdorf was Adviser to DG-MIP's Market Infrastructure Management Division, where he was in charge of analytical and compliance matters, and contributed to the operations and development of key market infrastructures.

Earlier positions include a commercial bank, the Deutsche Bundesbank and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Mr Papsdorf holds the German recognition as bank officer, a bachelor's degree in business management from the University of the Deutsche Bundesbank and a master in global management.

Kwame Oppong is the Head of Fintech and Innovation at Bank of Ghana.

His background spans Technology, Digital Financial Services (DFS), Public Policy, 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, HP (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.

Agnes Beatrice Gambill West is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.  

Agnes' research focuses on decentralized finance (DeFi) regulation, lowering barriers to innovation, the role of surveillance and privacy in DeFi payment transactions, the freedom to transact, and novel models of corporate governance for decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).      

Prior to joining Mercatus, Agnes worked for Appalachian State University as an assistant professor and as an attorney-advisor for startups.  Agnes is Co-Chair of the North Carolina Blockchain Initiative, is an appointee to the North Carolina Innovation Council, and serves on the Business and Consumer Payments Advisory Council for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.  She has experience working as a proprietary trader and is the co-founder of an Ethereum-based blockchain payments company.  Her research has been published in the American Intellectual Property Law Association's (AIPLA) Quarterly Journal.   

Agnes received a JD from University of North Carolina School of Law, an LLM from Duke University School of Law, and an MSc from Oxford University. 

Ms Sharmyn Powell has been employed at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank for over 25 years and currently holds the position of Chief Risk Officer.  She leads the Office of Corporate Strategy and Risk Management with responsibility for Enterprise Risk Management, Compliance, Strategic Plan development and monitoring and Business Continuity Management. 

Prior to assuming this role, she served in various capacities at the Bank including, Deputy Director, Accounting Department, Director, Currency Management Department and Director, Support Services Management Department.  She is the Chairperson of the Bank’s Fintech Working Group, which is leading the implementation of the DCash Pilot Project for the issuance of a block-chain based digital version of the EC Currency. 

Ms Powell is a Certified Accountant (ACCA), and also carries the designations of Chartered Director (C. Dir) and Audit Committee Certified (A.C.C). 

Amanah is a Data Scientist at FNA and serves as the primary client-facing Data Scientist in the Asia-Pacific region. She is the lead data scientist developing and delivering FNA’s agent-based CBDC Simulator to central banks and financial institutions. She holds a Ph.D. in Computational Finance from University College London. Her main research interest is systemic risk, with a particular focus on the application of complex networks to the study of financial stability. Prior to joining FNA, she was affiliated with the Bank of England and the International Monetary Fund.

Carlo looks after Market Infrastructures globally within SWIFT’s Products group, recently focusing on the integration with cross-border instant payments. Previously, Carlo managed the Payments Standards development, supporting the evolution from the SWIFT-proprietary standards towards ISO 20022, and worked in the SWIFT Corporate team, responsible for corporate connectivity to the SWIFT network. He represented SWIFT in international organisations, such as ISO, UN/CEFACT and the EPC. Before SWIFT, he worked in electronic banking at KBC Bank and participated in the creation of the Belgian domestic Isabel-platform.

Carlo Palmers has a master degree computer science from the University of Louvain, Belgium.

Richard Heckinger is a financial markets management professional. He retired in 2015 as Vice President and Senior Policy Advisor, Financial Markets Group, at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He started his career in financial markets at the Chicago Board Options Exchange in 1973, with subsequent executive positions at the Montreal (Stock) Exchange, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as Clearing House Manager, and as Vice President, Financial Marketing, with a four-year posting in its London Representative Office. Following that, he was Chief Operating Officer and Council (Board) Member of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, and eventually Chief Executive and Board Member of its subsidiary, the Hong Kong Securities Clearing Corporation. After six years in Hong Kong he joined State Street Corp. in Boston as Senior Vice President, Global Operations. Other experience includes Head of the U.S. Representative Office for Deutsche Börse AG and Eurex. He has served on international committees, including a Federal Reserve Bank of New York working group, the OTC Derivatives Regulators’ Forum, SWIFT, and the International Securities Services Association (ISSA).  Presently, he is a Contributing Editor to the Central Banking Journal, Associate Editor of the Journal of Financial Market Infrastructure and a Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Global Commodities Applied Research Digest. He earned an M.Phil. degree in Economics from the London School of Economics, a B.A. degree in Mathematics from the Illinois State University, is a U.S. Army (Infantry) veteran and completed the Advanced Management Course at the University of Chicago.