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Speakers

Keynote Speakers


Le Minh Hung
Governor, State Bank of Vietnam

Le Minh Hung was appointed Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) on April 9th 2016. The youngest ever to be appointed at the helm of the central bank, Hung was previously deputy governor responsible for foreign exchange management and international cooperation. The period when he was deputy governor (2011–2014) is noted for the stabilisation of Vietnam’s foreign exchange and gold markets. He was previously head of the Foreign Exchange Management Department, and held other important positions including as head of the International Cooperation Department and Personnel Department. Hung is a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and former deputy chief of the General Office of the Communist Party.


Nghiem Xuan Thanh
Chairman, Vietnam Banks Association

Thanh currently serves as Chairman of Board of Directors of Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), he is also Chairman of Vietnam Banks Association (VNBA) and Vice Chairman of Asian Bankers Association (ABA). Thanh is a senior banker, with 27 years working in this sector in Vietnam and extensive experience in both commercial and central banking activities. Thanh joined Vietcombank from 2013 as Chief Executive Officer then took his new position as Chairman of Board of Directors starting from 2014. Before joining Vietcombank, Thanh was Chief of the Executive Office of State Bank of Vietnam. Prior to these jobs, he had been through various positions at Vietnam JSC Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank).


Congressman Barney Frank
Former Chairman of House Financial Services Committee, United States Congress

Congressman Barney Frank is the former chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee between the turbulent global financial crisis years of 2007–2011. As one of the sponsors of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, also known as the Dodd-Frank legislation, his efforts at closing the gaps in financial oversight such as creating a financial stability council, finding ways to liquidate systemically important firms, and strengthening the financial system against further shocks, were crucial for the recovery of the US financial services industry. Congressman Frank is also credited with many grassroot initiatives, including creating a low-income housing tax credit in the 1980s. He is widely respected by chairmen and CEOs of banks in the US, regulators, and fellow lawmakers.


Paul Schulte
CEO and Chairman, Schulte Research International

Schulte is currently Chairman of Schulte Research, an independent research company that advises private funds, sovereign wealth funds, consulting firms, and banks on developments in GEMS banks. A policy analyst and consultant to private equity firms, Schulte is also an advisor to governments on the new field of financial technology. His last post was as Head of Global Strategy for CCB International Securities. A professor and author of several books, he created the Far East Research for Credit Suisse in 1992. He was head of the Asian strategy and banks team for Lehman Brothers in 2005, and Nomura after it acquired Lehman in 2008. He has worked for the US House of Representatives, the White House, International Trade Commission, National Security Council, Indonesian Ministry of Finance, and the Government of China.


Janos Barberis
Founder & CEO, FinTech Hong Kong

Janos Barberis' expertise regards the new regulatory considerations generated by the development of the FinTech Sector. He founded FinTech HK, which he established to spur Hong Kong's FinTech eco-system. This led him to produce Hong Kong’s first FinTech report. Barberis also sits on the advisory board of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) FinTech Committee. He was ranked within the Top 35 Global FinTech Financiers Who Make Decisions. He also founded the FinTech Book published by Wiley and the SuperCharger.

 

 

Faculty & Speakers

 

Michael Ong, Chair, Bank Managers Challenge & Convention

Michael Ong was a professor of finance at the Illinois Institute of Technology up till 2014, and author of books on Basel, credit risk modelling and capital allocation that are widely read in the financial services industry. Previously, he was EVP and CRO of Credit Agricole Indosuez, where he held enterprise-wide responsibility for all risk management functions for corporate banking, merchant banking, asset management, capital markets activities, and the Carr Futures Group.


Azzim Gulamhussen, Professor of Financial Institutions, Vlerick Business School and Co-chair, Bank Managers Challenge & Convention

Professor Azzim joined Vlerick from ISCTE where he was dean of the business school, and he was also previously visiting professor at the London School of Economics and the Helsinki School of Economics. He obtained his doctorate in economics (finance) from the Henley Business School, and conducted his post-doctoral studies at Harvard University as a Fulbright/ U.S. Department of State Scholar. His banking research focuses on globalization, regulation and governance and he has published widely in a number of leading academic journals.


Paul Schulte, CEO and Chairman, Schulte Research International

Paul Schulte is currently chairman of Schulte Research, an independent research company that advises private funds, sovereign wealth funds, consulting firms, and banks on developments in GEMS banks. A policy analyst and consultant to private equity firms, Schulte is also an advisor to governments on the new field of financial technology. His last post was as Head of Global Strategy for CCB International Securities. A professor and author of several books, he created the Far East Research for Credit Suisse in 1992. He was head of the Asian strategy and banks team for Lehman Brothers in 2005, and Nomura after it acquired Lehman in 2008. He has worked for the US House of Representatives, the White House, International Trade Commission, National Security Council, Indonesian Ministry of Finance, and the Government of China.


Michael Lor, Director, Canadia Bank & former head of consumer banking, RHB

Michael has led Canadia Bank's senior management team since 2011, successfully transforming the institution from a local bank into a regional financial services group. Under his leadership, Canadia successfully developed and launched a new partnership in micro finance with Fullerton Financial Holdings Singapore in 2013, and a new venture in life insurance with Muang Thai Life Assurance Thailand in early 2016. Prior to Canadia, he was group CEO of Eon Bank, leading Eon to consistent double-digit growth in PBT, total revenue, gross loans & financing and customer deposits. Before that, Michael held positions as head of consumer banking for RHB Bank and managing director of DBS Bank as part of his three decades long track record as a senior banker working across the Southeast Asia.


John Lee, Group Chief Risk Officer, Maybank Group

Dr. Lee is group chief risk officer and a member of the group executive committee of Maybank, responsible for credit and risk management across the Group. He was previously with Amanah Merchant Bank and the Kuala Lumpur Options and Financial Futures Exchange (KLOFFE). Prior to his appointment in Maybank, he served in financial services consulting and advisory as a partner with KPMG Business Advisory for 13 years. He has a Ph.D. in Financial Economics from Monash University and was awarded ‘Risk Manager of the Year 2014’ by The Asian Banker.


Do Khoa Hiep, Chief Risk Officer, Asia Commercial Bank

Mr. Do Khoa Hiep is the chief risk officer of Asia Commercial Bank, Vietnam's largest private bank as measured by assets. He joined the bank in February 2012 as head of operational risk management, and was appointed as CRO on August 2015. He has extensive regional experience in various Southeast Asian countries in the fields of strategy, operations, financial modeling, change management and business process re-engineering. Prior to Asia Commercial Bank, he was a consultant with Renoir Consulting, KPMG Vietnam and KXIOP. An engineer by training, Mr Do Khoa Hiep received his masters in management from the Audencia Business School in Nantes, France.


Dmitriy Kolechko, Chief Risk Officer, VPBank

Dmitriy Kolechko was appointed chief risk officer of VPBank in April 2015, with responsibilities over all key pillars of credit, operational and market risks, collections, fraud prevention and Basel 2 implementation. After starting his career as a on-site bank inspector with the National Bank of Ukraine, Dmitry's two decades long career in risk management included holding positions as the chief risk officer for Raiffeisen Bank in Ukraine and then Alfa Bank in Ukraine, followed by heading retail, market and operational risk for Raiffeisen Bank Aval, and most recently as chief risk officer for Hypo Alpe-Adria Bank in Bosnia and Herzogovina.


Tim Ledingham, Treasurer, Bank of Queensland

Tim is currently Treasurer at Bank of Queensland a position he has held since March 2009 (7 years). Prior to that, he held various senior Treasury roles at Bank of Queensland including Head of Treasury & Head of Financial Markets. Tim has been employed by Bank of Queensland since 1994 (22 years). Tim started his career in Treasury with SBT Bank in Tasmania in 1989. In his current role at Bank of Queensland Tim is responsible for the following functions: Capital Execution, Securitisation (including the REDS Program), Debt Capital Markets, Trading & Market Risk Management, Portfolio Management, Balance Sheet Risk Management and Liquidity Risk Management. Tim is a voting member of the Banks Asset and Liability Committee (ALCO).


Ashish Agarwal, Senior Group President and Chief Risk Officer, YES Bank

He is responsible for the overall Risk Governance and Supervision to ensure an effective implementation of an enterprise wide risk management framework and risk culture through various risk policies, processes, thresholds and controls that would enable prompt risk identification, accurate risk measurement and effective risk mitigation. Ashish has over 17 years of experience in commercial and investment banking spanning across structured and project finance, syndications and underwriting, high yield and distress asset investments, credit ratings, credit research and risk management. Prior to joining YES Bank, he has worked with various organizations such as CRISIL, Citibank, Rabo India and Lehman Brothers.


Valerian Crasto, MD & COO, Treasury & Markets, DBS

Valerian Crasto is a seasoned banking professional with over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. Before joining DBS in 2007, Crasto held key positions at BoA, CIBC, BMO, the Ontario Pension Board in Canada, Ernst & Young and Nomura Investment Bank in the Middle East. He has diverse experience in audit, finance, risk management, back and front office having worked in key roles in all the three lines of defence. He has also been chairing the Asia pacific committee of International Capital Market Association (ICMA) since January 2015.


Shivkumar Mahadevan, Regional CRO, ASEAN & South Asia, Standard Chartered

In his 23-year career, Shivkumar Mahadevan has held various key senior risk roles in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, and Mumbai, covering all geographical regions. In his present position, he assumes overall accountability for risk within the ASEAN and South Asia region. Besides governance and managing relationships with the local regulators, Mahadevan is actively involved in performance development and management of the risk approver and risk control teams, including management of costs and capacity plans.


Sanjay Kalra, Senior Economist & Deputy Division Chief, International Monetary Fund

Sanjay Kalra is Deputy Division Chief at the International Monetary Fund. He is currently in the Secretary’s Department which supports the Office of the Managing Director and Executive Board of the IMF. Prior to this, Dr Kalra was the IMF Resident Representative for Vietnam and Lao PDR based in Hanoi, Vietnam from October 2011 to July 2015. He joined the IMF in 1994, and has worked on a range of countries in the Asia and Pacific Department (Japan, Thailand, Mongolia, Nepal, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam) and European Department (Slovenia, FYR Macedonia, Albania, Iceland, Luxembourg). During 2010-11, he was a Visiting Scholar at the Monetary Authority of Singapore and at Columbia University Business School, NY. He holds degrees in Economics from Columbia University, New York, (M Phil. and PhD), Delhi School of Economics (MA) and Delhi University (BA). He has published extensively on macroeconomic and international trade and policy issues.


Andrew Koh, Deputy Chief Manager, Risk Management, China Construction Bank

Andrew has over 25 years of experience in banking, finance, cards and payments. His risk management background includes credit, market, operational, regulatory, sovereign, portfolio and integrated risk management roles, along with cross-functional roles in audit, compliance, fraud and technology risk management. He is actively involved in Singapore fin-tech start-ups a.k.a. new "Silicon Valley" and has written a series of articles on Rethinking Enterprise Risk Management for an award winning risk magazine, StrategicRisk. Andrew holds an M.Sc. in Risk Management from the NYU Leonard N. Stern School of Business and an MBA from Manchester Business School.


Andrew Fuller, Head of Market Risk, Bank of Queensland

Andrew is currently head of market risk at the Bank of Queensland and has been with the organisation for five years. Prior to joining the Bank of Queensland, he worked for 13 years at Credit Suisse in various roles in London, Zurich, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. The last position he held with Credit Suisse was as Asia Head of Fixed Income Product Control. Andrew started his career with seven years as an auditor with Price Waterhouse Coopers, after receiving his education at Macquarie University and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia.


Tham Ming Soong, Meister Inc. & former group chief risk officer, UOB Bank

Ming Soong spent 30 years as a banker and regulator in Canada and Singapore. He was UOB's CRO from 2005-2012, providing strategic risk management directions and overseeing credit, market, liquidity and operation risks for UOB's banking, fund management and insurance businesses. Until the end 2010 he chaired the Association of Banks of Singapore's risk management standing committee. Before UOB, he headed the financial risk supervision department of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He is now a trainer and consultant, with special interests in enterprise risk management, big data, and high performance computing and analytics.


Tsuyoshi Oyama, Partner, financial industries group, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

Tsuyoshi Oyama is a partner of financial industries group at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in Tokyo and mainly engaged in risk management and regulatory advisory services for large Japanese and Asian financial institutions. Oyama joined in May, 2010 after worked 23 years at the Bank of Japan, most recently as deputy director-general in Financial System and Bank Examination Department. At the BoJ, he conducted several projects to deal with Japanese banks' NPL problem, on-site examinations for Japanese major banks, and recently to lead Basel II implementation in Japan.


David T. Hamilton, Managing Director, Head of Stress Testing and Credit Risk Analytics, Asia-Pacific, Moody's Analytics

Dr. Hamilton has been with Moody's for 18 years and has held various senior positions in both Moody's Investors Service and Moody's Analytics. Over his career with Moody's, Dr. Hamilton has done research on various aspects of credit risk in a variety of sectors, including corporate, sovereign, municipal, and structured finance. Prior to joining Moody's in 1997, he worked in the Regional Economics group at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Credit Risk, and has lectured on credit risk topics at such universities as the Columbia Business School and The International Center for Financial Asset Management and Engineering (FAME) in Lausanne, Switzerland.


Lock Kwee Yoong, Risk Practice Lead, ASEAN, SAS

Kwee Yoong has more than 20 years of experience in banking, management and IT consulting, driving risk solution initiatives and helping financial institutions optimise risk and returns. Currently leading the risk practice for SAS in ASEAN, he was previously head of financial services and risk intelligence for SAS Singapore for over six years. Prior to SAS, Kwee Yoong was the director of Oracle Financial Global Business Unit (FSGBU) analytical applications group, covering JAPAC region, where he anchored the strategic and complex Banking transformation programme that covers risk, customer and finance for large banks. Kwee Yoong is a member of Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP).


Pierre Gaudin, Senior Director, Enterprise Risk Solutions, Moody’s Analytics

Pierre is in charge of strategic initiatives in Asia-Pacific for Risk Appetite Management, Stress Testing and Origination at Moody's Analytics, assisting with subject matter expertise, clients requirement analysis, and use case illustrations. He joined Moody's Analytics via Fermat in 2004, and has led several Basel RWA implementations in Europe and Asia. He also developed Fermat Education services, designing and delivering regulatory compliance and AML training to clients and system integrators worldwide. He has 15 years experience delivering software implementation services for capital markets and risk management solutions at major commercial banks in Paris, Bruxelles, London, Hong Kong and Singapore.


Gordian Gaeta, International Resource Director, The Asian Banker

Gordian Gaeta has been a banking consultant for some 25 years. He has advised and served many of the leading financial services organisations across Asia and close to half of the top 100 banks worldwide. He specialises in developing and implementing analytical solutions for complex strategic issues in financial services-related industries undergoing significant change or being exposed to intricate risk issues.



Dinh Thi Thai, Deputy CEO Vietcombank

Mrs. Dinh was appointed executive DCEO of Vietcombank in charge of risk management since June 2015. She joined Vietcombank in 1999 and since then, has held the positions of head of project finance and head of credit risk management in the bank. From June 2014 to June 2015, she was deputy CEO of Agribank. She has won a number of awards for her contributions to Vietcombank's success in risk management and holds a masters degree in banking and finance.


 

Speakers


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

Marc leads the directorate general market infrastructure and payments at ECB. Previously he worked as T2S Programme Manager, as well as managed dossiers related to the promotion of market integration and the definition of the Eurosystem’s operational framework, focusing in particular on payment systems and market infrastructure. He has authored publications on the market infrastructure integration and related issues, such as the euro repo market. Before joining the ECB he worked for ten years at SICOVAM S.A. (now Euroclear France), in particular as Adviser to senior management. He is an active member and chairman of European and international working groups.


G V Nageswara Rao, MD & CEO, National Securities Depository

G V Nageswara Rao is presently managing director and CEO of National Securities Depository. He has over 26 years of experience in various sectors of financial services including capital markets, life insurance, retail banking and corporate banking. Prior to this, Rao was MD and CEO of IDBI Federal Life Insurance since its inception in 2007 till June 2013. IDBI Federal was amongst very few life insurance companies which achieved break-even in the fifth year of its operations, with consistently better than industry growth in business. Between 2003 till 2007, Rao was MD & CEO of IDBI Bank, and following its merger with IDBI he was CEO of the commercial banking SBU. He was also the first MD and CEO of IDBI Capital Market Services between 1997 to 2003. In his early career at IDBI, he held key positions in corporate finance, business development, investment banking, resources and infrastructure finance. He was part of a core team that worked on setting up SEBI, India’s securities regulator.


Valerian Crasto, MD & COO, Treasury & Markets, DBS

Valerian Crasto is a seasoned banking professional with over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. Before joining DBS in 2007, Crasto held key positions at BoA, CIBC, BMO, the Ontario Pension Board in Canada, Ernst & Young and Nomura Investment Bank in the Middle East. He has diverse experience in audit, finance, risk management, back and front office having worked in key roles in all the three lines of defence. He has also been chairing the Asia pacific committee of International Capital Market Association (ICMA) since January 2015.


Frederick Shen, Head, Business Management, Global Treasury, OCBC Group

Frederick Shen is tasked with strengthening the infrastructure, processes, monitoring, and analytics of the OCBC Group to tackle increasing regulatory and risk requirements; and enabling the Treasury business to grow in different areas and countries. Shen started his career as a professor of finance at the University of Waterloo, Canada. With over 20 years in the financial industry, his experience includes extensive assignments in various financial institutions and areas, which includes leading the group market risk unit (Emirates NBD); risk oversight of the financial engineering trading group (RBC Capital Markets); bank-wide economic capital and risk modeling (Bank of Montreal); and life insurance and asset management risk management (Manulife).


Ahmed Tabaqchali, CIO of AFC Iraq Fund

Ahmed Tabaqchali is an experienced capital markets professional with over 22 years experiences in US and MENA markets. Currently a board member of the Credit Bank of Iraq, he is a former executive director of NBK Capital, the investment banking arm of the National Bank of Kuwait as head of Brokerage. Prior to that he was MD and head of international institutional sales at WR Hambrecht + Co. based in London, New York and San Francisco. This followed on from roles as a managing director at KeyBanc in London charged with international sales, and as director & head of capital markets & institutional sales at Jefferies Int’l in London. He started his career at Dean Witter Int’l in London.


Tsuyoshi Oyama, Partner, financial industries group, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

Tsuyoshi Oyama is a partner of financial industries group at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in Tokyo and mainly engaged in risk management and regulatory advisory services for large Japanese and Asian financial institutions. Oyama joined in May, 2010 after worked 23 years at the Bank of Japan, most recently as deputy director-general in Financial System and Bank Examination Department. At the BoJ, he conducted several projects to deal with Japanese banks' NPL problem, on-site examinations for Japanese major banks, and recently to lead Basel II implementation in Japan.


Chong Kin Tuck, Global Head, Securities Services, Transaction Banking, Maybank

Chong Kin Tuck joined Maybank in September 2014 and was appointed as director of global securities services / CEO of Maybank Trustee. He is responsible for spearheading the growth of securities services regionally, leveraging his knowledge, experience, network and drive to bring the business in Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines to the forefront and explore potential business in Singapore, Hong Kong and China. Chong has more than 20 years of experience in the banking industry, including a 20 years at Citibank covering loans operations, mortgage business, share financing and investment operations, securities and fund services operations and product development. He was also head of direct custody and clearing at JPMorgan Chase.


Verinder Sharma, Policy Advisor, International Organization of Securities Commissions

Verinder Sharma joined the IOSCO General Secretariat in January 2015. He is seconded from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), where he served in a policy role in the derivatives market. Sharma is currently involved in the Policy Standing Group of the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and IOSCO, which is reviewing the principles for financial market infrastructures to address central counterparty clearing house risk; and the CPMI–IOSCO harmonisation working group.


Christopher Balding, Associate Professor, Finance & Economics, HSBC Business School of Peking University

Christopher Balding is an expert in sovereign wealth funds and has recently written a book entitled “Sovereign Wealth Funds: The New Intersection of Money and Power”. Balding’s work has been cited by a variety of global media outlets including Wall Street Journal, BBC & CNBC and he speaks regularly on the Chinese economy and financial markets. His scholarly work has been published in such leading journals as the Review of International Economics, the International Finance Review, and the Journal of Public Economic Theory on diverse topics including CDS pricing, the WTO, and the economics of adoption and abortion. Balding worked as associate VP in private equity prior to entering academia.


James Varun Sehgal, former MD and APAC Head of XVA, RBS

James Varun Sehgal has been working in the financial services industry for almost 19 years across 3 continents. He is specialised in XVA portfolio management, risk management (market & credit), Basel III regulation, capital optimisation, documentation, risk policy & control and governance. In his last role, he was MD and APAC head of XVA for a UK based bank. He is also co-author of PRMIA Handbook on Counterparty Risk & CVA.


Hasan Rauf, Executive Director/Head of Business Development – Asia Pacific, Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC)

Hasan Rauf is executive director and head of business development for the Asia Pacific region at DTCC, managing and driving business growth for the company’s portfolio of leading-edge solutions in the region. He covers institutional trade matching, data services and collateral management. His responsibilities also include providing strategic direction to organisation by assessing and penetrating new markets, building alliances with key partners, managing P&L for the company’s sales and business development unit. Prior to this he played senior sales roles at Omgeo, a subsidiary of DTCC, focusing on markets in South Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Before Omgeo, he held various business development positions in Australia with CommSec, St George Bank, National Australia bank and Westpac.


Alex Medana, Risk & Compliance Expert, Start-Up Advisor & Investor

With 17 years of relevant experience in the securities industry, Medana has held a number of key management roles in global tier 1 financial institutions in operations across various asset classes, client segments, business lines and locations particularly in post-trade. His front-to-back knowledge of regulations, inner workings of banks, brokers and buy sides with his uncanny drive for simplification through a lean methodology approach is a great asset to take start-ups from concept to market. He is currently developing ecosystems on the blockchain to improve risk and controls whilst cutting costs and generating revenue.


Sam Ahmed, Managing Director, Deriv Asia

Sam Ahmed is the managing director and founder of Deriv Asia, a technical management consultancy firm focusing on credit risk modelling, collateral management architecture, OTC regulatory implementation, Basel 3 liquidity solutions, CVA methodology and enterprise risk management. Prior to opening Deriv Asia, Ahmed was Citi’s head of collateral services sales for the Asia Pacific region. Ahmed’s career spans 18 years in Asia across top tier international banks such as Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch where he worked across various faculties from derivatives trading, risk management to middle office.


George Jia, Chief Representative China, Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC)

George Jia serves as the China chief representative for DTCC, responsible for managing their China business with a focus on sales, relationship management and industry relations. Before DTCC, Jia was with Omgeo since since April 2009. Prior to that he worked at Thomson Reuters, where he headed the China expert network business unit, focusing on providing primary research to the hedge fund industry. Before entering the financial services industry, Jia spent nine years in the semiconductor industry working for Future Electronics, the world’s third largest semiconductor distributor.

 

Advisory Council


Paul Chow, ex CEO, HongKong Exchanges and Clearing

Paul Chow has been a key architect in the expansion of Hong Kong’s modern securities and derivatives markets. He has also made significant contributions to the development of global financial markets. Mr Chow was former chief executive of the Hong Kong Exchanges between 2003 and 2010 and a founding member of the Hong Kong Securities Institute. He served as Chairman of the East Asian and Oceania Stock Exchanges Federation from 1994 to 1995 and was Chairman of the Working Committee of the Federation Internationale des Bourses de Valeurs (FIBV, now known as the World Federation of Exchanges, or WFE) from 1995 to 1996. Mr Chow was Chairman of the WFE Working Committee from 2007 to 2008 and became WFE Vice Chairman in 2009.


Thomas McMahon, MD & CEO, UD Trading Group Ltd Pte

Thomas McMahon is currently the Director/CEO of UD Trading Group Ltd Pte. He previously served as the CEO of the Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX) from 2009 to 2011. Before that Thomas was President, Deputy Chairman at the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange HKEx from 2007 to 2009. In addition, he served as Director-Asia Vice President Tokyo, Singapore at New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) during 2003-2007. Thomas has also served as Advisor at the Dubai Mercantile Exchange and was Member, Board of Directors, and Chairman of the Natural Gas & Petroleum Advisory Committees a t NYMEX. Thomas has a combined 30 years of experience across U.S. and Asian exchange and regulatory frameworks with a focus on the development of exchange traded and cleared futures and OTC products as well as exchange architecture development

Speakers

 

Nghiem Thanh Son, Deputy Director General, Payment Systems Department, State Bank of Vietnam
Nghiem Thanh Son has been working for the SBV since 1997.In 2005, he assumed his post,which involves preparing Vietnam’s payment systems development strategy. Currently, he is involved in preparing the national financial inclusion strategy.


Sein Maung, Chairman, First Private Bank
Sein Maung founded First Private Bank,one of the largest private banks in Myanmar. He is also a permanent member of the committee on finance, investment, and trade in the ASEAN Bankers Association. Prior to founding First Private Bank, Maung served as loan officer and economist in the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He also served in Myanmar’s Ministry of Finance and Planning in various capacities, including director, deputy secretary, and member of official delegations.


Lisa Robins, Managing Director, Vice Chair of Corporate & Investment Bank, Asia Pacific Regional Head of Global Transaction Banking, Asia Pacific, Deutsche Bank
Lisa Robins is a managing director at Deutsche Bank and the Head of Global Transaction Banking, Asia Pacific, based in Singapore. Ms. Robins is responsible for the bank’s commercial banking activities including cash management, trade finance, securities and trust services in Asia Pacific. In Jan 2016, she was appointed as Vice Chair of Corporate & Investment Bank for Asia Pacific. In 2014, she was awarded ‘Transaction Banker of the Year Award’ by The Asset’s Triple A awards and also by The Asian Banker in 2013. In 2014, she was named in Hall of Fame - Legend by the Global Custodian Magazine. In 2011, Finance Asia ranked Ms Robins as one of Top 20 Women in Finance.


Soon Su Long, CEO of Indochina Cluster and Vietnam Country Head, Maybank
Soon Su Long joined Maybank in December 2012. He is responsible for growing the business within the Indochina cluster comprising Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, and Vietnam; as well as further cementing Maybank’s footprint in the region. Soon Su Long has extensive regional exposure to Asia Pacific’s banking environment with over 20 years of experience in investment banking, commercial banking, and Islamic banking.


Deborah Elms , Executive Director, Asian Trade Centre
Elms provides consulting services on a range of trade issues to governments including the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Taiwan, and Singapore. She is a senior fellow in the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s Trade Academy. Elms’ present research involves the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and ASEAN Economic Community negotiations; and global value chains. She publishes the Talking Trade Blog.


Jens Ruebbert , Managing Director, Chief Country Officer Vietnam, Head of GTB Vietnam, Deutsche Bank
Ruebbert joined Deutsche Bank in 1991. After four years in corporate banking and risk management, he held various positions in Hong Kong (corporate banking), Singapore (global banking), Istanbul(global corporate finance), and Germany (corporate finance and country coverage). Before moving to Vietnam in May 2014, Jens was the chief operating officer of Deutsche Bank (China) based in Beijing.


Sanjay Kalra, Senior Economist & Deputy Division Chief, International Monetary Fund
Kalra is currently with the Secretary’s Department, which supports the Office of the Managing Director and Executive Board of the IMF. Prior to this, Kalra was the IMF Resident Representative for Vietnam and Lao People’s Democratic Republic based in Hanoi from October 2011 to July 2015. He joined the IMF in 1994, where he has covered several countries in the Asia and Pacific Department (Japan, Thailand, Mongolia, Nepal, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam);as well as European Department (Slovenia, FYR Macedonia, Albania, Iceland, Luxembourg). He has published extensively on macroeconomic and international trade and policy issues.


Thuy Nguyen, Former Deputy Director General, SBV and former Representative of Vietnam, World Bank
Thuy Nguyen has worked for the State Bank of Vietnam since 1980. She spent the first 10 years working at the Monetary, Credit and Banking Research Institute; three years at the Foreign Exchange Management Department; and more than 10 years with the Central Banking Department. Before being promoted to deputy director general, she was head of the Treasury Division of the Central Banking Department. She was assigned as representative of Vietnam to the World Bank,and as an Advisor to the Executive Director of Southeast Asia Voting Group from 2006 to 2011.


Swaminathan Janakiraman, Head, Financial Institutions Group, State Bank of India
Janakiraman oversees SBI’s correspondent banking relationships through the Financial Institutions Group (FIG), which manages about 300 correspondents and over 1,600 RMAs spread across 90 countries. Janakiraman is also the money laundering reporting officer of SBI’s International Banking Group. Earlier, he was head of Global Trade Services within the International Banking Group. In a career spanning over 27 years with SBI, he has held a variety of assignments across corporate banking, trade finance, retail banking,and branch management.


Stanley Wachs, Global Head of bank engagement, Global payments innovation, SWIFT
Stanley Wachs joined SWIFT in 2015 and leads engagements with banks globally to drive and promote innovation in crossborder payments. Prior to SWIFT, Stanley worked at PayPal as director of strategy & business development Europe, Middle East & Africa. While at PayPal, he was also director of global business development for Europe, Middle East & Africa and, general manager for Greater Europe, leading PayPal’s business strategy, sales and partnerships in Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe and Turkey.


Lionel Choong, Board Vice Chairman, Emerson Radio
Aside from being independent vice chairman of the board of Emerson Radio, Choong is currently acting CFO for Global Regency, a partner for large retailers handling annual FOB turnover exceeding $150million. He has wide experience in a variety of senior financial positions with companies in Hong Kong, China, and London. His experience encompasses logistics, branded apparel, consumer and lifestyle, consumer products, pharmaceuticals, building businesses, and corporate finance.


Boon-Hiong Chan, Head of Market Advocacy, AP Deutsche Bank
In his present position, Chan leads the regional market advocacy team in global transaction banking, Asia Pacific, which provides clients, markets, and Deutsche Bank with regulatory and trend analyses to support sustainable growth and sound business practices. Chan currently serves as the Sherpa of the trade and supply chain finance work stream in APEC's Asia Pacific Financial Forum. In addition, he is also the chair of the Association of Global Custodians Asia Focus Committee; and vice-chair of the European Chamber of Commerce, Singapore Financial Services Committee.


Fairuz Radi, Global Head, Products and Channels, Transaction Banking, Maybank
Radi, as the managing director of strategy for global banking, is responsible for defining the strategy and implementing transformation initiatives across 19 countries where Maybank has presence. Radi supported the consolidation of transaction banking and the regionalisation of its businesses. He was also instrumental in the implementation of a centralised and standardised regional platforms for transaction banking, such as regional cash management system across eight countries, and regional front-end trade finance platform across 12 countries.


Michelle Geraci, Head of China Economic Policy Program, Nottingham University Business School, China and Global Policy Institute 
Geraci is an economist and concurrently senior research fellow and adjunct professor of finance at Zhejiang University. He has worked since 2008 as advisor to governments, corporations, and investors, offering policy recommendations and investment advice on China. Geraci is a frequent guest speaker at conferences and forums, a frequent host of TV shows,a regular contributor of opinion editorials to China Daily, and a columnist for Caixin magazine.


Michele Geraci, Head of China Economic Policy Program, Nottingham University Business School, China & Global Policy Institute
Michele Geraci is an economist and concurrently senior research fellow and adjunct professor of finance at Zhejiang University. He has worked since 2008 as advisor to governments, corporations, and investors, offering policy recommendations and investment advice on China. Geraci is a frequent guest speaker at conferences and forums, a frequent host of TV shows, a regular contributor of opinion editorials to China Daily, and a columnist for Caixin magazine


Christopher Balding, Associate Professor, Finance and Economics, HSBC Business School of Peking University
Balding is an expert in sovereign wealth funds, and has recently published a book, Sovereign Wealth Funds: The New Intersection of Money and Power. Balding’s work has been cited by a variety of global media outlets including Wall Street Journal. He speaks regularly on the Chinese economy and financial markets.


Joe M.K. Ng, Head of Renminbi Payments Product Management, AP Deutsche Bank
Ng joined Deutsche Bank to assume his current post in 2013. He is responsible for product development of the bank’s Renminbi business, which is reposed in the Global Transaction Banking Institutional Cash Management group. Ng has a wide range of knowledge in Renminbi clearing, corporate treasury, and trade finance. He has gained extensive field experience since the commencement of the first Renminbi trade settlement pilot scheme.


Paul van Sint Fiet, Senior Vice President, Global Corporate Sales, Transaction Banking, Asia and Oceania, Bank of Tokyo-MUFJ
van Sint Fiet leads the Asia and Oceania cash management sales team within MUFG’s transaction banking group. Previously, he held leadership positions at HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank focusing on liquidity management, treasury transformation, and overall cash management. Prior to joining banking, he was a strategy consultant, advising global corporations on corporate restructuring, treasury management, shared service centre, and mergers and acquisitions.


Alan Seow, Head of Cyber Security, Singapore Ministry of Communications and Information
Seow is a certified security professional. At the Ministry of Communications and Information, he oversees the resiliency of Singapore’s information communication and media sectors, focusing on cyber protection of the sector’s critical infrastructures. Prior to this, he ran the government’s ICT and cyber security for the public sector. Early in his early career, he served in the Ministry of Home Affairs, undertaking IT security consultancy work for various Singapore government agencies. He also held an academic chair (digital security and forensics) in a government tertiary institution.


Oliver Massmann, Partner, Duane Morris Vietnam LLC
Massmann has more than 15 years’ experience as a commercial lawyer in Vietnam. He practices in the area of corporate international taxation, privatisation and equitisation, mergers and acquisitions, and general commercial matters for multinational clients in relation to investment and doing business in Vietnam. Massmann is currently the chairman of the Legal Sector Committee of the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, and a registered Arbitrator of the Vietnam International Arbitration Centre. Marsmann also teaches international law at the Ministry of Justice in Hanoi.


Ivan Mortimer- Schutts, Regional Leader for Retail Payments and Mobile Banking, International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group
Mortimer-Schutts is a payments and digital finance specialist with business and policy experience, having worked in the private sector, in economic and regulatory policy, and with microfinance NGOs. Ivan joined IFC from BNP Paribas, where he led the retail and mobile banking strategy and development initiatives for emerging markets. Also at BNP Paribas, he led the implementation of new European financial market legislation for the Group Compliance Team.


Nguyen Van Van, Head of Information Security, VP Bank
Nguyen Van Van is responsible for handling the organisation’s information security risks through its information security management system. He has over 12 years of experience in implementing information security solutions and standards in IT security, IT audit, and project management in banking sector.


Alex Medana, CEO, WIP Solutions, Risk & Compliance Expert, Start-Up Advisor & Investor
With 17 years of relevant experience in the securities industry, Medana has held a number of key management roles in global tier 1 financial institutions in operations across various asset classes, client segments, business lines and locations particularly in post-trade. His front-to-back knowledge of regulations, inner workings of banks, brokers and buy sides with his uncanny drive for simplification through a lean methodology approach is a great asset to take start-ups from concept to market. He is currently developing ecosystems on the blockchain to improve risk and controls whilst cutting costs and generating revenue.


Akshaya Gaur, Founder, Aayan and Advisor, Intech50
Akshaya Gaur has more than 26 years of experience in banking technology holding senior leadership roles covering the UK, Africa and Asia. Until recently, Gaur was the chief information officer of Mashreq Bank and CEO of Mindscape IT. He led the transformation of Mashreq’s Technology function creating a stable, business-aligned organisation and delivered the bank’s innovation agenda with a focus on mobility, customer solutions and straight-through processing; under his leadership the bank won multiple awards for the innovative solutions it took to market. Gaur is the founder of Aayan, an independent advisory service for the banking technology space. He is also on the advisory board of Intech50, an organisation committed to creating a positive eco-system for young entrepreneurs.


Brian Edmondson, Global Head, Trade and Working Capital Finance, Misys
Brian Edmondson is the global lead for trade and working capital finance and corporate channels at Misys. Brian has worked in Trade Finance solutions since 1992. He was formerly executive VP at China Systems based in Asia-Pac responsible for product management moving to MD in 2000. Edmondson then moved to Europe to become VP sales and product for financial services at Filenet. In 2009 Brian joined Misys and has been instrumental in the development of the Misys Model Bank concept for transaction based banking and the application of the global processing solution for large international banks.


David Chance, Senior Vice President, Product Strategy, Dovetail
Chance joined Dovetail in 2008 and has subsequently led product development and management, to ensure Dovetail solutions remain at the forefront of financial services technology innovation. With over 20 years in the industry as a payments professional, Chance is a recognised thought leader, with significant global strategy, business, and solutions development background. He is a regular participant in industry working groups. His experience includes senior roles in e-funds in corporate cash management, middleware, and real-time payments, including supporting financial institutions in strategic planning at UK Faster Payments.


Santosh Pokharel, Relationship Manager, Trade Finance Program, Asian Development Bank
Pokharel is an investment specialist at ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department, where he manages the trade finance program in Bhutan, Indonesia, Mongolia, and Vietnam. He has over eight years of experience in private sector financing in emerging markets. Prior to joining ADB, Pokharel was with the International Finance Corporation.


Moti Porath, Head of Product Management, D+H
Porath has over 25 years of Software and product management and business development experience, including over 15 years of implementing high-performance, secure transaction systems for the financial industry. Moti was instrumental in developing D+H's CLS and Total Transact products. He has been involved as industry consultant with Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, and others. He recently managed the design and successful implementation of Sweden’s Payment in Real Time initiative.


 

Advisory Council

 

Tod Burwell, President & Chief Executive Officer, BAFT
Tod Burwell is president and chief executive officer of Bankers' Association for Finance and Trade (BAFT). He is responsible for leading the association in its mission to provide advocacy, education and training, and a common industry voice for the global transaction banking community. Prior to joining BAFT, he was a managing director at JPMorgan Chase. Burwell has over 25 years of trade, supply chain and cash management experience as a banking practitioner, as well as serving as a consultant to global corporations and suppliers of strategically integrated trade solutions.


James Cullen, former Senior Vice President, Wells Fargo
James Cullen was senior vice president in Wells Fargo’s global financial institutions group, with specific focus on Asia. He has over four decades of experience in the financial services industry, including posts in San Francisco, Hong Kong, Singapore and Seattle with Wells Fargo, Bank of America and US Bancorporation before venturing on his own in 2010. Prior banking experience includes involvement in a variety of business sector including corporate banking and finance and institutional banking.


Bill Chua, Former MD and head of global financial institutions group, UOB
Bill Chua was former MD and head of global financial institutions group, UOB, managing relationships with banks, non-bank financial institutions, supra-nationals, sovereigns and sovereign entities. In his 34 years of experience in the financial services industry, he has covered institutional wholesale and consumer banking in the front, middle and back offices. Prior to joining UOB in 2000, Chua was with Citibank for 20 years. He serves as a director for several UOB-owned companies and/or joint ventures, and is also an active member of the financial and education communities in Singapore.


Mathew Welch, Partner, Asia Capital & Advisors
Mathew Welch has spent over 25 years in financial services in Asia. His experience covers a wide range of areas including investment / wholesale banking, asset management and PE investments. Previously, Welch worked as managing director and head of financial institutions group Asia at ING, and as global head of banks & financial institutions head of Asia for Standard Chartered Bank (SCB). Working in SCB, he grew the FI revenues of the bank for more than fivefold in a four year period, adding more than US$1bln to revenues and creating one of Asia’s largest FI businesses.


Damian Glendinning, Vice President and Group Treasurer, Lenovo
Damian Glendinning has over 26 years’ experience in the field of finance, accounting and treasury. He is currently vice president and group treasurer at Lenovo, which he joined in 2005 after 21 years with IBM. Prior to this, Glendinning was IBM’s Asia Pacific treasurer from 2001 to 2005. He was also director of their global treasury operations in New York. Glendinning also served in a variety of corporate finance roles at IBM, including accounting and internal audit.


 

 

Advisory Council

 


Mathew Welch, Partner, Asia Capital & Advisors
Mathew Welch has over 25 years of financial services experience in Asia. He has a strong track record of building and leading various financial institutions businesses throughout the region. Previously, Welch was global head of banks for Standard Chartered. He began his career at SCB as FI Head of Asia, and in that capacity from 2003, grew the FI revenues of Standard Chartered more than fivefold in a four year period. Welch worked at Merrill Lynch FIG Investment Banking in the early 2000’s and in that capacity was involved in transactions such as the NYSE ADR listing of HDFC Bank of India, and the privatization of Bank Central Asia in Indonesia.


Paul W. Bradley, Chairman and CEO, Caprica International
Paul Bradley chairman and CEO of Caprica International, Asian advisory board member for the Avista-Houlihan Lokey Investment Bank joint venture, vice chairman of Supply Chain Asia, strategic advisor to the CEO’s of several Asian companies and is also involved in several entrepreneurial ventures. He has been involved in the successful launch of two IPO’s. He previously served as president of Arshiya International, a leading Indian multinational company focusing on supply chain management, FTWZ logistics parks and rail operations. In the past, Bradley also served as MD of IDS International, a part of the Li & Fung group of companies. He was selected as a “New Asian Leader” by the World Economic Forum and “Asian Supply Chain Manager of the Year” by Lloyds Publications.


Srinivasan Venkita Padmanabhan, President and Global Head of Finance, Olam International
Srinivasan Venkita Padmanabhan is the president and global head finance of Olam International Limited. He also heads and drives worldwide corporate planning department, capital investment and review committee and sustained cost management initiative, along with being CFO of Invenio, a subsidiary of Olam. Venkita has more than 22 years of extensive experience in leadership areas, including oversight on multiple subsidiaries & product verticals, risk control & management, processes reviews, and more.


Lionel Choong, Board Vice Chairman of Emerson Radio Corp. & CFO of Global Regency Ltd
Lionel Choong is independent vice chairman of the board of Emerson Radio, currently acting CFO for Global Regency, a partner for large retailers handling annual FOB turnover exceeding US$150m. He has a wide range of experience in a variety of senior financial positions with companies in Hong Kong, the PRC and London. His experience encompasses logistics, branded apparel, consumer and lifestyle, consumer products, pharmaceuticals, building businesses, and corporate finance.

Faculty

 

Jaspar Roos 
Chief Inspiration Officer, XL Family and Founding, Partner, Ventur.es

Jaspar Roos is a renowned authority in the field of innovation and was chief inspiration officer for ABN AMRO Bank for many years. Managing the innovation and venturing lab Dialogues Incubator, Roos has been one of the pioneers in themes such as wearable technology and crowd funding. He is also an expert innovation member of the OISP group for the European Commission. He is partner at XL Family, an international incubator and accelerator. He is also teaching courses on innovation leadership and innovation models as visiting professor on innovation in Master in Business Innovation program at CEDIM México.


Matt Dooley, Managing Director, Connected Thinking
Matt Dooley is founder and director of Connected Thinking, providing digital strategy, marketing, and training to banks. He is a member of the Next Bank team with over 20 years international experience driving change at two of the world’s leading banks, across three continents. He was global head of Internet strategy and head of digital experience for the global commercial banking division in HSBC. He pioneered HSBC’s global Internet design standards as a result of establishing the first Internet banking platform back in 2000. He stays abreast of the latest trends in mobile and virtual technology as well as social media and is instrumental in helping participants develop their own personal disciplines in handling these areas.


Howard Mannella
Managing Principal, Alternative Resiliency Services

Howard Mannella, CBCP, MBCI, is a seasoned executive in business resiliency, business continuity, disaster recovery, crisis management and related disciplines. As managing principal of Alternative Resiliency Services he is serving clients such as global expense and travel management firms, market-leading pre-paid credit card processors and name-brand member service organisations. Prior to this he was principal resiliency strategist for Expedia where he established the global program that covered over 5,000 people in a dozen locations across North America and EMEA


Leonhard Weese
President, Bitcoin Association of Hong Kong

Leonhard Weese is an expert on Bitcoin, information security and online privacy. He currently serves as president of the Bitcoin Association in Hong Kong and as a mentor at the Fintech Supercharger. He holds a degree in statistics from the University of Hong Kong and economics from the Vienna University of Economics and Business. He previously worked as a data analyst for MeToo! and Demand Analytics, focusing on spontaneous deals and group buys.


Mobasher Zein Kazmi
Head of Research, The Asian Banker

Mobasher Zein Kazmi is the Head of Research responsible for the research business function at The Asian Banker, which is a strategic provider of intelligence to the financial services industry. Earlier, he also served as the senior researcher overseeing The Asian Banker’s Risk and Regulation working group and coverage of its financial markets subject matter. Prior to joining The Asian Banker in 2013, Kazmi wrote on Islamic banking and finance topics for a range of media publications in the GCC and South-East Asia.


Listen to many more speakers at the Technology Decision Makers Conference

Speakers

 

Andra Sonea
Lead Solutions Architect, Innovation & Digital Development Directorate, Lloyds Banking Group, UK

Andra Sonea is lead solutions architect with the Innovation & Digital Development Directorate at Lloyds Banking Group in London where she is focusing on building the next generation data analytics platform, collaborating with start-ups and monitoring the global FinTech scene. As part of her role she conducts well-structured experiments that answer important business questions. Sonea joined the bank in November 2014. Prior to this, as an international consultant, Sonea gained over twenty years first-hand experience of building and changing the IT architectural landscapes at some of the world’s largest banks whilst working for leading IT services companies and consultancies including IBM, SAP, EY and KPMG. Sonea has a BSc in Economics and Political Sciences, and an MBA in Corporate Finance from London Business School.


Neal Cross
Managing Director and Chief Innovation Officer, DBS Bank

As managing director and chief innovation officer at DBS Bank, Neal Cross is driving the bank’s innovation agenda, working with internal stakeholders and external collaborators to enhance customer experience and better engage customers in the digital landscape. Cross has more than 20 years’ experience in financial services technology. Prior to DBS, he worked for MasterCard as vice president of MasterCard labs in Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. Cross also worked with Microsoft in Australia and in Singapore as financial services industry director. During his spare time he established the Hotel Orangutan, a social enterprise in Sumatra, to help save the critically endangered Sumatran Orangutan and give local villagers employment and education.


Amit Sethi
President and CIO, Axis Bank,India

As president and chief information officer at India’s Axis Bank, Amit Sethi is responsible for driving growth with profitable business solutions as well as for delivering operational excellence. Sethi has played a leading role building an agile and lean IT organisation at Axis Bank. Prior to his current position, he was senior president and chief information officer at Yes Bank where he headed the technology solutions group and was responsible for driving innovation projects, and developing strategic planning guidelines in accordance with the business strategy of the bank. He started his career at ICICI bank where he successfully implemented transformational technology initiatives for retail banking, corporate banking, treasury, finance, digital channels, and business intelligence.


Gyorgy Ladics
Chief Operating Officer, Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam Berhad

Dr. Gyorgy Ladics has over 20 years of banking experience. Prior to his current role, he was chief information officer at Barclays – emerging markets region. As a key member of the team for M&A and integration activities, he helped enable Barclays' geographical expansion into new markets including India, Pakistan, and Russia, and re-launch of businesses in the UAE, Egypt and Uganda. Prior to joining Barclays, he was vice president at Citigroup – Central Europe region where he held various senior positions in operations and technology departments. This included leading efforts to standardize and migrate business processes into strategic end state operating models and onto technology platforms.


Igor Mushakov
CIO, Vietnam Prosperity Bank, Vietnam

Igor Mushakov has 18 years of international experience developing IT strategies and building platforms, managing projects and upgrading IT processes at a number of multinational organizations. Currently he is CIO at Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VPBank), one of the oldest joint-stock commercial banks in Vietnam. Prior to joining the bank, Mushakov was the CIO of X5 Retail Group, the 2nd largest food retail chain in Russia. He has also held the roles of CIO at Bank Uralsib and head of the customer relationships division in Sberbank. Previously he worked as a business consultant at IBM Eastern Europe and Africa, and held different management roles in Alfabank.


Dennis Khoo
MD and Head of Personal Financial Services, Singapore, United Overseas Bank

Dennis Khoo is the managing director and head of personal financial services, Singapore at United Overseas Bank (UOB) where he is responsible for consumer banking business in Singapore, covering all consumer banking products and segments from core banking to privilege banking. Prior to joining UOB in 2013, Khoo worked for Standard Chartered Bank, holding various positions including global head, personal and preferred banking, head of consumer banking (Singapore & Brunei), general manager, lending/retail banking products, wealth management and head of marketing, business intelligence, e-commerce & strategy. He started his career with Hewlett-Packard.


Jaspar Roos
Chief Inspiration Officer, XL Family and CEO, Ventur.es

Jaspar Roos is a renowned authority in the field of innovation and was chief inspiration officer for ABN AMRO Bank for many years. Managing the innovation and venturing lab Dialogues Incubator, Ross has been one of the pioneers in themes such as wearable technology and crowdfunding. He is also a columnist with the Dutch Financial Times, international keynote speaker, advisory board member of an hospital incubator and expert innovation member of the OISP group for the European Commission. He is partner at XL Family, an international incubator and accelerator.


Markus Gnirck
Partner & Co-Founder, tryb, Former Co-Founder and Global COO, Startupbootcamp Fintech

Markus Gnirck co-founded Startupbootcamp FinTech in London, now the largest innovation program for FinTech companies and the financial industry with offices in London, Singapore and New York and supported by 18 corporate partners. In his position of expanding Startupbootcamp to Asia, he played an instrumental role in building up FinTech ecosystems across the region and driving policy change and he is now rated as one of the key FinTech influencers in APAC. Gnirck has worked with more than 100 early stage companies in Asia to create partnerships with financial institutions. Additionally, he supports the financial industry and regulators in the digital transformation through the use of technology.


Alex Medana
CEO, WIP Solutions, Risk & Compliance Expert, Start-Up Advisor & Investor

With 17 years of relevant experience in the securities industry, Medana has held a number of key management roles in global tier 1 financial institutions in operations across various asset classes, client segments, business lines and locations particularly in post-trade. His front-to-back knowledge of regulations, inner workings of banks, brokers and buy sides with his uncanny drive for simplification through a lean methodology approach is a great asset to take start-ups from concept to market. He is currently developing ecosystems on the blockchain to improve risk and controls whilst cutting costs and generating revenue.


Axel Winter
Global Head of Retail and Private Banking Architecture, Standard Chartered Bank

As global head of retail and private banking architecture at Standard Chartered Bank, Axel Winter is driving the retail transformation and digital strategy for the bank. In his current role he is adopting the API and big data architecture that he defined in his prior role as global head of process & data architecture. Previously, Winter has worked as CTO for Cisco Systems, global chief architect at GE Capital, and as a consulting executive for Deloitte and Accenture pioneering their cloud and e-business. In the earlier times he ran a startup aimed at implementing internet and e-businesses in various countries across the Asia region.


Rahul Joshi
Digital, Mobile Payments Leader, ICICI Bank

Rahul Joshi has more than 22 years of experience in retail banking, especially in the areas of payments, e- and m-commerce and digital channels including internet, mobile and ATM. As a member of RBI’s technical committee, he was at the forefront of mobile expansion in India bringing basic banking products and services onto the mobile phones of millions of customers. His deep technical knowledge has enabled him to play a key leadership role in changing payment services at ICICI Bank into a profit centre, with the development of a platform capable of customer acquisition and sale of third party products and services in addition to payment services.


Andrew Koh
Deputy Chief Manager, Risk Control, China Construction Bank

Andrew Koh is a risk and governance professional, currently as risk control deputy chief manager at China Construction Bank. He has 25 years experience covering the banking, finance, cards and payment sectors where he has worked in credit, market, operational, regulatory, sovereign risk management and cross-functional roles within audit, compliance and fraud risk management. Prior to re-joining the banking sector, Koh was vice president and head of enterprise risk management for Singapore’s national payment operator, where he was in charge of managing the group’s enterprise risk management policies with direct responsibility for on-boarding major online merchants and other international payment operators.


Vivek Bhanot
Director, Business Intelligence Competency Center, Vietnam Prosperity Bank

Vivek Bhanot has extensive knowledge and experience of data governance, data warehousing, business intelligence, business analytics, MIS & Reporting as well as CRM systems. As business intelligence director, Bhanot is responsible for realizing the CEO’s long term vision of transforming VPBank into an “information driven bank” by framing & implementing data management strategies and providing decision analytics to stakeholders. Under his leadership, VPBank has implemented a comprehensive data governance mechanism that won international recognition. He has also set up a BI Competency Center (BICC) at the bank. Prior to joining VP Bank, Bhanot had responsibilities for customer analytics & campaign management for TechcomBank.


Paulus Adinata Widia
Group Head Transaction Banking Product Development, Bank Mandiri

Adinata Widia is head of transaction banking product development at PT Bank Mandiri responsible for profitably growing the bank’s wholesale banking capabilities by identifying and targeting market segments with product innovations. He addresses the minutiae of developing existing and new products focusing on for example dimensioning, segmentation, buyer behavior, pricing, sales cycles, and delivery channel capabilities. Prior to joining Bank Mandiri, he worked in a variety of senior product development roles at PT Bank Danamon, PT CIMB Niaga, PT LippoBank and Citibank N.A. Indonesia. Widia started his career with Ernst & Young Intl., Philippines.


Piyawat Jirapongsuwan
SVP, Business Engineering Division Head, CIMB Thai Bank PCL, Thailand

Dr. Piyawat has more than 25 years of experience in the business process reengineering, business process management, Lean Six Sigma, operational risk, strategy and transformation within the financial services industry. He plays the key role in the area of customer experience management, process improvement, cost and productivity management and operational excellence across CIMB Thai and CIMB Group. Dr. Piyawat received his B.Eng. from Kasetsart University, Thailand and his M.S. and Ph.D. in industrial engineering from The University of Texas at Arlington, Texas.


Nazmul Karim Chowdhury
Senior Vice President & Head of Brand, The City Bank Limited, Bangladesh

Nazmul Karim Chowdhury is currently senior vice president and head of brand at City Bank. He joined the bank in July 2009 and has since reshaped the bank’s brand image. He has overseen multiple product launches and marketing campaigns including the bank’s award winning American Express ‘My Life My Card’ campaign. During his brand leadership tenure the bank has won several prestigious industry awards, receiving recognition at an international level. Previously, he spent six years in the advertising industry.


Arnab Ghosh
Head of Cards & Consumer Lending, Vietnam International Bank

Arnab Ghosh is a consumer banking, digital banking and payments professional specializing in emerging markets across the Asia Pacific region. In 2014 he joined Vietnam International Bank as head of cards and consumer lending. Prior to that, he served over three years as director and business head for cards and ATMs at Maritime Bank, Vietnam where he envisioned the payments business strategy for the bank. Ghosh also held a variety of roles in sales, marketing and product management within the credit cards business of HDFC Bank in India. Over the last five years, he has won multiple regional awards including the industry’s highest honours for innovation, product excellence and marketing.


Asmita Panchal
Deputy Vice President, Information Technology, RBL Bank

As deputy vice president – information technology at RBL Bank, Asmita Panchal is currently handling large enterprise banking projects, including enterprise HR initiatives, credit card, e-banking and digital banking projects. She has more than 12 years of experience in various domains such as identifying business requirements, building IT systems/infrastructure and applications, IT operations management and service delivery, project implementation, transition management, network administration, service help desk management in multiple business industries like IT, telecom, banking and financial environment.


Kitinan Toomngern
Head of IT Security Division, Bank of Ayudhya

Kitinan Toomngern has more than 15 years of experience in IT security within the finance and banking industry. In 2013, he was appointed head of IT security at Bank of Ayudhya, commonly called Krungsri Bank, the fifth largest bank in Thailand. Since then, he has led initiatives to improve and strengthen IT security control in multiple critical areas at Krungsi Bank. Toomngern also played a leading role in developing and maintaining the cyber security framework for the bank. Prior to joining Krungsri Bank, Toomngern worked for GE Capital Thailand for over 10 years as IT security leader.


Ken Arthur J. Tiambeng
Head of Electronic Banking, Banco de Oro, Philippines

Ken Tiambeng is currently head of electronic banking at Banco De Oro Unibank, Inc., where he is responsible for the online, mobile, and phone banking business. He has over 15 years of experience in electronic banking, technology and operations, and marketing. Previously he was vice president for the information systems group at Asiatrust Bank and prior to this he spent 10 years with Citibank, Philippines rising to become assistant vice president for operations and technology. Mr. Tiamberg has extensive expertise in engineering and holds a masters degree in technology management from the University of the Philippines.


Endra Halim
IT Consultant and former Group Head of Core Banking Application Management, PT. Bank Central Asia

Endra Halim has more than 30 years of experience in application design, core banking, treasury systems, data warehousing, business intelligence, banking business processes and project management. As group head of core banking application management, Halim led BCA’s strategic projects where he implemented new technologies and headed a team involved in maintaining and developing core applications for the bank. Before joining the bank, Halim held key positions at Inti Salim Corporation and Caltex Pacific Indonesia. He holds a mechanical engineering degree from the Institute Technology Bandung, Indonesia.


Alan Seow
Cyber Security Practitioner

Alan Seow is head of cyber security at the Ministry of Communications & Information in Singapore. He heads the cyber function overseeing the resiliency of Singapore’s infocomm and media sectors, focusing on cyber protection of the sector’s critical infrastructures. Prior to this, he ran whole-of-government level ICT, Cyber security for the public sector. During his early years, he served in the Ministry of Home Affairs undertaking IT security consultancy work for various Singapore government agencies coupled with periods in academia where he held an academic chair (digital security & forensics) in a government tertiary institution. Seow is a certified security professional and has an MSc in Information Security from Royal Holloway, University of London.


Ian Estrada
Vice President of Consumer Lending, Mynt

Ian Estrada is the vice president of consumer lending for Mynt, a Philippine startup which aims to be the next billion's “bank”. He leads Mynt’s activities to create, test, and launch consumer credit products. This involves building partnerships, exploring new technologies and developing best practices to provide credit powered by technology and data. Previously, Estrada played a leading role in the creation of the consumer lending business of BanKO, the mobile based Philippines bank founded by Bank of Philippine Islands, Globe, and Ayala Corporation to drive financial inclusion in the country.


Daniel Wolfram
Business Solutions Group Head, FIS Asia Pacific

Daniel Wolfram serves as the head of the business solutions team for the FIS Banking Group for ASEAN and North Asia markets. In this role, he is responsible for working directly with clients on solution design, innovation, and implementation of leading edge technology that facilitates banks in technology transformation. Wolfram has been with FIS for more than 15 years and has provided leadership and strategic consulting in the areas of core banking, integration, electronic banking channels, digital banking, analytics and customer centricity. Within the region, he has led large client engagements in innovative and transformative projects, and has provided strategic counsel to FIS' Innovation Center for Asia Pacific banking.


David Brearley
CEO, Silverlake Consultancy

David Brearley is currently working with Silverlake, on the development of innovative software architectures to enable banks to compete in the Digital Economy. Brearley has spent 45 years in consulting and senior management positions in financial services world-wide, including 18 years as a CIO. In 1988 he was appointed the first Group Head (CIO) of Standard Chartered Bank. In the last fifteen years, David has focused on practice areas of Business Transformation, IT Strategy and Enterprise Architecture working particularly with large local bank CEOs, COOs and CIOs in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. He has also worked on the early stage development of software businesses in search, middleware and omni-channel services.


Alex Kwiatkowski
Senior Marketing Strategist, Banking & Digital Channels, Misys

Alex Kwiatkowski focuses on strategic developments in banking and digital channels after becoming a member of the Misys Global Solutions Marketing team in October 2014. He was formerly a research director for IDC’s financial insights division, where he was responsible for all advisory and consulting services in EMEA, working closely with banks, technology vendors and service providers. Before joining IDC, Kwiatkowski spent 4 years as a principal analyst within Ovum’s Financial Services Technology practice. Prior to this he was a senior manager within Lloyds TSB’s business delivery team. He began his career with Vodafone, where he served in variety of roles between 1995 and 2000.


Dean Young
Head of Product Management, eWise

 Dean Young is the head of product management at eWise, a large international provider of personal data management and money management solutions. Young has over twenty years of experience in the financial service industry. Based on his extensive work with retail banks across the world he gained expertise in customer management strategies, client engagement based on consumer insights and optimization of client relationships. This includes online and mobile banking strategies, and how banks must adapt to changes in customer behavior. Young joined eWise in July 2014 and is based in Singapore. Prior to this, he worked as vice president for product management retail banking at SunGard and as manager of Aperio Solutions for Fiserv.


Hitesh Arora
Director, Strategy and Customer Advocacy, CRMNEXT

Hitesh Arora has over 25 years of experience in global technology, strategy, sales, and operations in financial, retail, and technology services. He has held leadership positions in organisations across emerging markets and Asia Pacific, including Bank of America, Max Life Insurance, Yum Brands, Nucleus Software, Polaris Financial Technologies, and NIIT Technologies. Arora has led transformational change in various organisations including delivering greenfield start-ups; ensuring an organisation’s future readiness; and building capacity in people, processes, and platforms. He has established global operating models and led transformation initiatives for analytics, share of wallet programs, and digital channels.

 

Moderators

 

Gary Heatherington
Board of Directors and CEO Advisor, Bhutan National Bank

Gary Heatherington is a highly experienced, industry leader with significant board and international experience. He has served as Chairman and CEO at a number of payment and technology companies, establishing and growing new businesses and brands, and reinvigorating existing ones. Since 2013 he has been based in Bhutan advising the Royal Government of Bhutan on economic, monetary, fiscal and regulatory policy. He also assists new business start-ups in the country, creating employment opportunities and building long term sustainability.


Howard Mannella
Managing Principal, Alternative Resiliency Services

Howard Mannella, CBCP, MBCI, is a seasoned executive in business resiliency, business continuity, disaster recovery, crisis management and related disciplines. As managing principal of Alternative Resiliency Services he is serving clients such as global expense and travel management firms, market-leading pre-paid credit card processors and name-brand member service organisations. Prior to this he was principal resiliency strategist for Expedia where he established the global program that covered over 5,000 people in a dozen locations across North America and EMEA


Matt Dooley
Managing Director, Connected Thinking

Matt Dooley is founder and director of Connected Thinking, providing digital strategy, marketing, and training to banks. He is a member of the Next Bank team with over 20 years international experience driving change at two of the world’s leading banks, across three continents. He was global head of Internet strategy and head of digital experience for the global commercial banking division in HSBC. He pioneered HSBC’s global Internet design standards as a result of establishing the first Internet banking platform back in 2000. He stays abreast of the latest trends in mobile and virtual technology as well as social media and is instrumental in helping participants develop their own personal disciplines in handling these areas.


Akshaya Gaur
Founder, Aayan and Advisor, Intech50

Akshaya Gaur has more than 26 years of experience in banking technology holding senior leadership roles covering the UK, Africa and Asia. Until recently, Gaur was the chief information officer of Mashreq Bank and CEO of Mindscape IT. He led the transformation of Mashreq’s Technology function creating a stable, business-aligned organisation and delivered the bank’s innovation agenda with a focus on mobility, customer solutions and straight-through processing; under his leadership the bank won multiple awards for the innovative solutions it took to market. Gaur is the founder of Aayan, an independent advisory service for the banking technology space. He is also on the advisory board of Intech50, an organisation committed to creating a positive eco-system for young entrepreneurs.


Alexander C. Escucha
SVP, Investor and Corporate Relations Group, China Banking Corporation, Philippines

Alex Escucha has chaired or moderated sessions at the technology conferences of the Asian Banker Summit since 2006 and has attended every Asian Banker Summit since the first event in 2000. At China Banking Corporation he is responsible for investor relations, corporate marketing, and service quality elements of customer experience management. He is also a board director of the bank’s China Bank Savings subsidiary, serving on risk management, corporate governance and IT steering committees. Escucha has over 35 years of banking experience across multiple disciplines and was one of the incorporators of BancNet, the largest ATM consortium in the Philippines in 1990. He has also served as chairman of the Federation of ASEAN Economic Associations.


Neeti Aggarwal
Senior Research Manager, The Asian Banker

Neeti heads the Technology Research practice at The Asian Banker. With over 12 years experience in research and publication industry, she specializes in banking research and technology developments across Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa. She earlier worked for five years at The Economic Times, India’s largest selling financial daily. Neeti is a CFA Charterholder from CFA Institute USA, and an MBA (Finance) from India.

Advisory Council

 

Anne Weatherston
Chief Information Officer, EnergyAustralia, Non-Exec. Dir., Mint Wireless Ltd. and Advisor, Venturetec

Anne Weatherston has over 28 years of experience in banking and technology. She was group CIO of ANZ Bank for four years, during which she was responsible for a major transformation of the bank’s technology strategy which resulted in a major turnaround of underlying infrastructure and the design and execution of a new technology roadmap to underpin the bank's super-regional agenda in Asia. Prior to ANZ, Anne was group CIO at Bank of Ireland. She has also played technology leadership roles at Santander, National Australia Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland.


Eric Tachibana
Managing Director, eXtropia Holdings

Eric Tachibana has held senior banking roles at Barclays Capital, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, and most recently as Chief Operating Officer for the Asia Pacific technology office at UBS where he covered business management, enterprise applied innovation, strategy, marketing and engagement for investment banking, wealth management, and asset management. Eric has experience as entrepreneur in Silicon Valley as well as a successful private equity fund manager. He has also taught as an adjunct professor at the National University of Singapore and Thammasat University business schools. Currently he is working with Amazon Web Services in Platform Strategy and transformation.


Pravir Vohra
Former President & Group Chief Technology Officer, ICICI Bank

Pravir Vohra has over 30 years of working in the banking industry with senior roles in technology at ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and Times bank. He retired as the President and Group Chief Technology Officer of ICICI Bank in 2012 where he was responsible for IT strategy and innovation, enterprise architecture, process automation and leveraging technology synergies across the operations of the bank. Pravir is now a mentor to two start-up companies and advisor to a few technology companies.




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