Atilla Arda is a Senior Financial Sector Expert in the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Monetary and Capital Markets Department; prior to this, he was a Senior Counsel in the IMF’s Financial & Fiscal Law Unit. Mr. Arda joined the IMF in February 2007 from the central bank of the Netherlands where he held a Senior Counsel position and was Substitute Secretary to the Board; he also contributed to the workings of the Legal Committee of the European System of Central Banks. Mr. Arda has consulted for over 70 countries, half of which on-site, including for countries as diverse as Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland, Jamaica, Kosovo, Myanmar, Portugal, Sri Lanka, and Ukraine. Most recently, he was the deputy head for the Switzerland Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), and he led the FSAP crisis readiness teams for the United Kingdom, United States, and euro area. Mr. Arda is specialized in central bank governance and law, financial law, institutional frameworks for macroprudential policy and crisis management, financial safety net arrangements, crisis preparedness, and bank resolution regimes. Mr. Arda undertook his undergraduate at the Amsterdam Academy of Banking and Finance; he is a graduate of both the Amsterdam Law School and the Amsterdam Graduate School of Law of the University of Amsterdam, where he specialized in international economic and financial law. He is a regular speaker at international conferences and has been chairing Central Banking Publications’ course on ‘Central Bank Governance and Legal Risks’ since 2014.

Atilla Arda is a Senior Financial Sector Expert in the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Monetary and Capital Markets Department; prior to this, he was a Senior Counsel in the IMF’s Financial & Fiscal Law Unit. Mr. Arda joined the IMF in February 2007 from the central bank of the Netherlands where he held a Senior Counsel position and was Substitute Secretary to the Board; he also contributed to the workings of the Legal Committee of the European System of Central Banks. Mr. Arda has consulted for over 70 countries, half of which on-site, including for countries as diverse as Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland, Jamaica, Kosovo, Myanmar, Portugal, Sri Lanka, and Ukraine. Most recently, he was the deputy head for the Switzerland Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), and he led the FSAP crisis readiness teams for the United Kingdom, United States, and euro area. Mr. Arda is specialized in central bank governance and law, financial law, institutional frameworks for macroprudential policy and crisis management, financial safety net arrangements, crisis preparedness, and bank resolution regimes. Mr. Arda undertook his undergraduate at the Amsterdam Academy of Banking and Finance; he is a graduate of both the Amsterdam Law School and the Amsterdam Graduate School of Law of the University of Amsterdam, where he specialized in international economic and financial law. He is a regular speaker at international conferences and has been chairing Central Banking Publications’ course on ‘Central Bank Governance and Legal Risks’ since 2014.

Eamonn is Director of Ardhill Advisory LTD, an independent consulting firm focused on advising financial institutions, central banks, national authorities and international organisations, including the International Monetary Fund, on financial stability policy. This includes advising on prudential regulation, bank resolution, central bank liquidity and crisis management.

Between 2020 and 2022, Eamonn was a senior advisor to the Bank of England (BoE), leading a resolution planning team for a large UK bank as part of the BoE's Resolvability Assessment Framework, contributing to UK resolution policy development and cross-border cooperation with international authorities on resolution issues.

From 2016 and 2019, Eamonn was Head of the Resolution Office at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). During this time, he was responsible for leading the development of the domestic statutory/regulatory resolution regime for all Hong Kong banks, leading resolution planning for banks in Hong Kong, often in close cooperation with foreign authorities, and contributing to the international cross-border resolution policy framework and resolution plans for global banks through his work as a member of the Financial Stability Board committees and for the cooperative organization of East Asia-Pacific Central Banks (EMEAP).

Before joining the HKMA, Eamonn worked on financial stability topics, including bank resolution at the Bank of England for 4 years. He was also a senior policy advisor to the Chancellor of the Exchequer at HM Treasury (HMT) for 7 years. At HMT he worked at the centre of the UK’s policy and strategic response to the financial crisis, both managing bank failure and the policy response to the Too-Big-To-Fail problem.

In his early career, Eamonn was a diplomat in Washington DC, covering EU foreign policy and trade issues.

Born 1953. Mr. Grønn holds a graduate degree in economics (cand.oecon. 1979) from the University of Oslo. Work experience since 1980 includes various positions at Norges Bank, including Director of International Department, Director of Statistics Department, and Special Advisor to the Governor. Mr. Grønn spent altogether eight years at IMF’s Executive Board in Washington DC, as Senior Advisor (1989-1992), Alternate Executive Director (2011-2013) and Executive Director (2013-2016), as well as one year at the ECB in Frankfurt as national central bank expert, monetary policy (2005-2006). He retired from his position at Norges Bank in July 2021, but continues as a consultant on a part-time basis.

Jess Cheng is senior counsel at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, where she specializes in a broad spectrum of payment system issues, including policy analysis of digital assets, stablecoins, and central bank digital currencies, and oversight of the Federal Reserve’s payment services, including the FedNow Service. She was formerly counsel at the International Monetary Fund, where she advised on the strategic direction of the Fund’s fintech work agenda and provided technical assistance to advance law reform in central bank legislation.  Previously, she was deputy general counsel at Ripple, a San Francisco-based fintech company specializing in DLT-based cross-border payment solutions. Prior to Ripple, she was counsel and officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and an associate at the New York law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. She holds a B.A. in economics from Yale University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. She currently serves as the Vice Chair of the American Bar Association’s Uniform Commercial Code Committee of the Business Law Section.

Thomas J. Curry is a recently retired partner in Nutter McClennan & Fish’s Corporate and Transactions Department and was a co-leader of the firm’s Banking and Financial Services group. He was a regulatory attorney who advised clients on a wide range of policy, financial services regulation, governance, and other issues.

Tom serves on the board of directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston (FHLBB) and serves on The Brookings Institution's Center for Regulation and Markets Policy Advisory Council. He also chairs the Milken Institute’s Fintech Advisory Council and is a foundation board member of the Alliance for Innovative Regulation (AIR), which helps regulators integrate technology into financial supervision and regulation.

Prior to joining Nutter, Tom served as the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency until May 2017. He also served as an expert consultant for the International Monetary Fund in 2017-2018 and 2021-2022. 

In 2012, Tom was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as Comptroller of the Currency – the head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the federal agency that charters, regulates, and supervises national banks and federal savings banks. As Comptroller, he launched the OCC’s Responsible Innovation Initiative, proposed the Fintech national bank charter, and established the OCC Office of Innovation, a first among federal financial regulators. In this role, Tom served as an ex-officio member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Financial Stability Oversight Council. He was also a member of the Group of Governors and Heads of Supervision (GHOS), the oversight body of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

Tom also served as Chairman of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) for a two-year term from April 2013 until April 2015.

Before becoming Comptroller in 2012, Tom served as a member of the Board of Directors of the FDIC. He was nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2003. He continued to serve on the FDIC Board until May 2017. Tom was a FDIC Board member during the Global Financial Crisis and the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 and participated in the adoption and implementation of its post-crisis reform regulations as well as the United States’ adoption of the Basel 3 capital reforms.

Prior to joining the FDIC’s Board of Directors, Tom served five Massachusetts Governors as the Commonwealth’s Commissioner of Banks from 1995 to 2003 and from 1990 to 1991. He was appointed by Governor William F. Weld, a Republican, in 1995 and by Governor Michael S. Dukakis, a Democrat, in 1990.

Tom served as the Chairman of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors from 2000 to 2001 and served two terms on the State Liaison Committee of the FFIEC, including a term as Committee chairperson.

Previously, Tom served as Acting Commissioner of Banks from February 1994 to June 1995. He previously served as First Deputy Commissioner and Assistant General Counsel within the Massachusetts Division of Banks. Tom entered state government in 1982 as an attorney with the Massachusetts’ Secretary of State’s Office.

Tom was a longtime member of the NeighborWorks America Board of Directors (NWA). He twice served as Chairman of the Board of Directors, most recently from March 2014 through June 2016. NWA is a Congressionally chartered non-profit whose mission is to support affordable and sustainable housing and community development.

Nikita Aggarwal is a lawyer and researcher at the Oxford Internet Institute and Faculty of Law, University of Oxford. Her research examines changes to the regulatory landscape occasioned by the proliferation of data-driven technology, with a particular focus on the implications of machine learning ('artificial intelligence') applications in consumer credit markets. Previously, as the Research and Course Design Fellow in Law and Technology at the Faculty of Law, she researched the educational skills gaps in legal education and training created by technological growth, and helped to design and deliver a more interdisciplinary approach to law and technology education at the University. Prior to entering academia, Nikita was an attorney in the legal department of the International Monetary Fund, where she advised on financial sector law reform in the Euro area and worked extensively on initiatives to reform the legal and policy frameworks for sovereign debt restructuring. She previously practiced as an associate solicitor with Clifford Chance LLP, where she specialized in EU financial regulation and sovereign debt restructuring. She earned an LLB (Hons) from the London School of Economics and Political Science. 

Eamonn is Director of Ardhill Advisory LTD, an independent consulting firm focused on advising financial institutions, central banks, national authorities and international organisations, including the International Monetary Fund, on financial stability policy. This includes advising on prudential regulation, bank resolution, central bank liquidity and crisis management.

Between 2020 and 2022, Eamonn was a senior advisor to the Bank of England (BoE), leading a resolution planning team for a large UK bank as part of the BoE's Resolvability Assessment Framework, contributing to UK resolution policy development and cross-border cooperation with international authorities on resolution issues.

From 2016 and 2019, Eamonn was Head of the Resolution Office at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). During this time, he was responsible for leading the development of the domestic statutory/regulatory resolution regime for all Hong Kong banks, leading resolution planning for banks in Hong Kong, often in close cooperation with foreign authorities, and contributing to the international cross-border resolution policy framework and resolution plans for global banks through his work as a member of the Financial Stability Board committees and for the cooperative organization of East Asia-Pacific Central Banks (EMEAP).

Before joining the HKMA, Eamonn worked on financial stability topics, including bank resolution at the Bank of England for 4 years. He was also a senior policy advisor to the Chancellor of the Exchequer at HM Treasury (HMT) for 7 years. At HMT he worked at the centre of the UK’s policy and strategic response to the financial crisis, both managing bank failure and the policy response to the Too-Big-To-Fail problem.

In his early career, Eamonn was a diplomat in Washington DC, covering EU foreign policy and trade issues.

Diarmuid has spent a considerable part of his career working on and writing about financial resilience and the operational aspects of central banking, and he has worked across the globe with many central banks and national supervisory and resolution authorities.  

Diarmuid began his central banking career at the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) and was part of the team that played a key role in the CBI’s response to the Irish financial crisis. Diarmuid has also worked in the market operations area of the European Central bank and spent several years at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in both the central banking and crisis management areas, where he participated in the IMF’s technical assistance and Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) work. Having returned to the CBI in 2018, Diarmuid took over responsibility for Brexit and fintech related banking/payment institution/e-money authorisations and banking contingency planning, establishing a new unit. In 2020, Diarmuid undertook a fellowship program with the Financial Stability Institute at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel focusing on crisis management issues.

In late 2021 Diarmuid commenced a secondment to the EU Commission, where he is now part of the Commission’s team responsible for implementing its published Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy where his focus continues to be on financial resilience issues.

Diarmuid also co-leads the development and delivery of a dedicated comparative central banking module as part of a new online Global Central Banking and Financial Regulation master’s degree course with Warwick Business School (and in partnership with the Bank of England).

Mrs. Elsie Addo Awadzi was appointed 2^nd Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana in February 2018, with responsibility for financial supervision, financial stability, and financial integrity, among others. She is the second woman to be appointed Deputy Governor in the Bank’s 62-year history. 

Before her appointment as Deputy Governor, she was Senior Counsel of the Financial and Fiscal Law Unit of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s Legal Department, based in Washington, D.C. In that role, she helped to assess the stability of financial systems in a number of G-20 member countries, and provided technical assistance to help strengthen financial systems and manage financial crises in a variety of IMF member countries. She also advised on legal and institutional aspects of public financial management, public debt management, and fiscal responsibility frameworks.

Mr Marques is currently a Senior Financial Sector Expert at the IMF. He was previously Head of Division at the Resolution Department of the Bank of Portugal, responsible for legal, policy and regulatory affairs related with banking resolution and deposit insurance. Before that, between 2004 and 2013, he worked as a legal counsel in the Baking Supervision Department of the Bank of Portugal, mainly advising on regulation and policy issues related with capital requirements, internal governance, licensing and crisis management. He is a Law Graduate from Universidade Nova de Lisboa.

Mr Marques has been an active participant in the European discussions on banking resolution and crisis management since 2009. He represented Portugal as an expert in the negotiations of the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive and the Single Resolution Mechanism Regulation in the Council of the European Union. He also participated actively in the European Banking Authority’s work on recovery and resolution issues, and chaired several working groups. During the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union he co-chaired the Council Ad-Hoc Working Party on the Establishment of a European Deposit Insurance Scheme.

Finally, Mr Marques has extensive practical experience in the resolution of systemic banks in Portugal. In 2014 he was a senior manager in the resolution process of one of the largest banks in Portugal (Banco Espírito Santo, SA) and in 2015 he chaired the task force at the Bank of Portugal responsible for the resolution of BANIF – Banco Internacional do Funchal, SA.

Pier Mario Lupinu is a PhD Candidate in Banking and Finance Law jointly at the Universities of Luxembourg and Roma Tre (Italy). He is a Young Researcher at the European Banking Institute and he has been a Visiting Scholar at the Columbia Law School in New York and a DAAD-funded visiting researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE at the Goethe University Frankfurt. Currently, he is a visiting researcher in Bank Insolvency at UNIDROIT. Ahead of the PhD, he worked for the European Commission, the European Investment Bank and the Single Resolution Board.

Atilla Arda is a Senior Financial Sector Expert in the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Monetary and Capital Markets Department; prior to this, he was a Senior Counsel in the IMF’s Financial & Fiscal Law Unit. Mr. Arda joined the IMF in February 2007 from the central bank of the Netherlands where he held a Senior Counsel position and was Substitute Secretary to the Board; he also contributed to the workings of the Legal Committee of the European System of Central Banks. Mr. Arda has consulted for over 70 countries, half of which on-site, including for countries as diverse as Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland, Jamaica, Kosovo, Myanmar, Portugal, Sri Lanka, and Ukraine. Most recently, he was the deputy head for the Switzerland Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), and he led the FSAP crisis readiness teams for the United Kingdom, United States, and euro area. Mr. Arda is specialized in central bank governance and law, financial law, institutional frameworks for macroprudential policy and crisis management, financial safety net arrangements, crisis preparedness, and bank resolution regimes. Mr. Arda undertook his undergraduate at the Amsterdam Academy of Banking and Finance; he is a graduate of both the Amsterdam Law School and the Amsterdam Graduate School of Law of the University of Amsterdam, where he specialized in international economic and financial law. He is a regular speaker at international conferences and has been chairing Central Banking Publications’ course on ‘Central Bank Governance and Legal Risks’ since 2014.