Dr. Alessandro Curioni is an IBM Fellow and Vice President of Europe & Africa, IBM Research - he is based in Zurich, Switzerland. In addition, he is also responsible for the global research strategies for Security and the Future of Computing.

Dr. Curioni is a world recognized leader in the area of high performance computing and computational science where his innovative thinking and seminal contributions have helped solve some of the most complex scientific and technological problems in healthcare, aerospace, consumer goods and electronics. He was a member of the winning team recognized with the prestigious Gordon Bell Prize in 2013 and 2015.

Dr. Curioni received his undergraduate degree in Theoretical Chemistry and his PhD from Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy. He started at IBM Research in Zurich as a PhD student in 1993 before officially joining as a research staff member in 1998.

Caesar Sengupta is the CEO and co-founder of Arta Finance. Arta is a digital wealth platform for the savvy. Available globally to accredited investors, Arta is democratizing private banking by combining access to exclusive investment opportunities with powerful AI to give millions more access to financial superpowers that have been the preserve of the ultrawealthy till now. Arta was founded by ex-Google executives and is backed by Peak XV, Ribbit Capital, Coatue, EDBI and over 140 luminaries in tech and finance including Ralph Hamers, Eric Schmidt, Sundar Pichai & Michael Miebach.

This is a continuation of Caesar's passion for using technology to bring greater access. In his last role at Google as VP & GM of Payments & the Next Billion Users initiative, he led Google Pay, which went from 0 to 200M+ users in ~5 years. Prior to that, he started and led Chromebooks to become the #1 device used in education and #2 overall and helped drive strategic investments for Google into Asian unicorns like GoTo (Indonesia), Reliance Digital (India), Glance (India) etc. Caesar previously worked as an engineer at Encentuate (acq. IBM) and HP Labs.

Caesar has an MBA from Wharton, an MS in CS from Stanford, and holds 16 patents in operating systems design. He and his wife are members of the UNICEF International Council and Founding Philanthropists of The/Nudge Foundation. He is based in Singapore. To see his LinkedIn profile, please visit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caesar-sengupta/

Elise is the Executive Director of Global Digital Finance (GDF), board member, and also board advisor to several start-ups on policy & regulatory issues.

Previously, she was at the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), leading Digital Assets and Data Strategy work, and prior to that she worked at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), across both their Technology, Resilience and Cyber Division. and International Division.

Named ‘Next Generation Leader of the Year’ at the 2022 Women in Finance Awards UK, Elise’s dual public and private sector experience positions her to lead both regulatory advocacy and contribute technical knowledge to support the growth of the digital assets ecosystem.

Gregor Kaelin leads the Financial Services Enterprise sector at Google Cloud Switzerland, supporting the biggest banks and insurance companies in Switzerland with their digital transformation.

Before joining Google Cloud, Gregor worked at Salesforce in the Financial Services sector driving some of the most innovative transformation projects within the Swiss banking industry. He holds an Executive Masters degree from University of Zurich.

Jason Lau’s career spans more than 25 years of cybersecurity leadership. He serves as Chief Information Security Officer at Crypto.com, overseeing a global platform with more than 100 million users, global Board of Directors for ISACA, Advisory Board for BlackHat, and former Cybersecurity Advisor at Microsoft.

Jason has helped shape some of the world’s most consequential cybersecurity, data privacy and AI policies, certifications and frameworks and has advised numerous Fortune 200 companies, governments and contributed to Think Tanks from from the World Economic Forum to the Center for Information Policy Leadership to name a few.

Jason is also an Adjunct Professor for cybersecurity and data privacy and recognised by CSO30 and other bodies as one of the top CISO's globally.

Lavanya Chari is Head of Wealth and Premier Solutions at HSBC International Wealth and Premier Banking, responsible for the products, platforms and propositions that make up a digitally-empowered and internationally-connected client offering. Lavanya leads teams for Wealth Solutions across markets from Chief Investment Office, Managed Solutions, Capital Markets, Advisory, Discretionary and Sustainable Investments to Lending, Trust, and Insurance as well as Retail products such as unsecured lending, mortgages and transaction banking.
 
Based in Singapore and a member of the International Wealth and Premier Banking Executive Committee, Lavanya joined HSBC in July 2020 and created a unified global products function the following year, well positioned to serve the diverse needs of Personal Banking, Premier, High Net Worth and Ultra High Net Worth clients, in a scalable and efficient way.
 
Lavanya is passionate about sustainable investing, particularly in helping clients make investment decisions that bring about positive and impactful environmental and social change. She is the sponsor of Gender Equity under the Diversity and Inclusion Forum, an employee resource group where colleagues are empowered and inspired to develop and progress in their careers. Lavanya is also a non-executive director at HSBC Global Asset Management.
 
Lavanya started her career at Deutsche Bank in London, spending 14 years in Global Markets in various product leadership roles before joining the private bank in 2016 and relocating to Singapore, where she ran products and solutions for Asia Pacific before assuming global responsibility.  
 
Lavanya holds a BA in Aerospace Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore.

Mr Leong Sing Chiong was appointed as Deputy Managing Director for Markets and Development on 1 February 2021. He oversees the Markets & Investment, Development & International, FinTech & Innovation, as well as Sustainability Groups. Prior to this, Mr Leong served as Assistant Managing Director overseeing the Monetary & Domestic Markets Management Department and the Reserves Management Department since June 2018. He also served as Assistant Managing Director of the Development and International Group from 2013-2018.

Mr Leong began his MAS career with the Reserves Management Department in 1993 and served as Staff Assistant to the Managing Director from 1997-1998. In 1999, he joined the Monetary Management Division and was responsible for the implementation of MAS’ monetary policy and money market operations. Thereafter, Mr Leong was appointed Chief Representative of MAS’ London Representative Office from 2002-2004. Mr Leong spent six years with the International Department from 2004-2010 and was appointed as the Executive Director of Financial Centre Development Department from 2010-2013.

Mr Leong is a recipient of the Public Administration Medal (Silver). He holds a B.Sc Economics (Monetary Economics) from the London School of Economics and is married with two children.

Maha is Centre Head, BIS Innovation Hub Singapore.

Having been newly appointed, most recently Maha was Head of Department for Early and High Growth Oversight leading the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) response to the Kalifa review of Fintech. A Senior Leadership Team member, she is setting up this new department from the ground up as part of the FCA’s strategy.

Prior to this, Maha served as Chief Payments Officer at Pay.UK on secondment from the FCA, responsible for running the payments operations of BACS, Faster Payments, Image Clearing Services and related managed services.

Maha joined the FCA in 2017 to set up the first Payments Department and was responsible for crafting and implementing the FCA supervisory strategy for the UK Payments Sector. This included leading the implementation of the Second Payments Services Directive (PSD2) and Open Banking.

Maha has a keen interest in observing and participating in the many exciting changes that are unfolding in the financial services, innovation and fintech environment. She recently sat on the SteerCo developing the strategy and blueprint for the UK’s newly created Centre for Finance Innovation and Technology.

She has a Degree in Commerce from Macquarie University and a Masters in Public Administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Marco is Head of International at iCapital and a member of the Firm's Executive Committee. In this role, he is responsible for the global expansion and overall development of the Firm's business outside the United States with a focus on EMEA, APAC and LATAM markets.

Marco has more than 25 years of international experience in the financial industry and has held senior executive positions in global organizations in wealth management and private equity. He joined iCapital from UniCredit, where he was CEO of Group Wealth Management and a member of the Group Executive Management Committee. Previously, Marco was with Deutsche Bank for 14 years, including nine years as Head of Wealth Management EMEA and CEO of Deutsche Bank Switzerland and, prior to this, as Global Head of Private Equity for the Wealth Management division. Before joining Deutsche Bank, Marco was Head of Private Equity Secondary Investments at LGT Capital Partners. He started his career with UBS where he held various roles in investment banking and private equity in Zurich, London, and New York.

He received a Master of Arts (lic. oec. HSG) from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and has served on the boards of the Swiss Bankers Association, the Association of Foreign Banks in Switzerland, and the Swiss Finance Institute. He is currently a member of the Advisory Committee of Elevandi, an organization set up by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to foster an open dialogue between the public and private sectors to advance fintech in the digital economy.

Peter advises on Technological Innovation, Digital Transformation and Cybersecurity at the European Commission’s financial services department. He has lead work on the European Commission’s Fintech Action Plan and Digital Finance Strategy and co-chaired the European Commission’s Fintech Taskforce. Peter is often referred to as the father of Mica (the EU Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation) and Dora (the EU Digital Operational Resilience Act).

Peter has extensive experience in EU policy and regulation in a wide variety of fields, including single market, financial services, digitalisation, security, foreign policy sanctions, consumer protection as well as health and food safety. Earlier in his career, Peter was Finance Counsellor at the EU Embassy in Washington DC. He has also been a member of the private offices of the commissioner for the internal market and services and the commissioner for health and consumer protection. Before joining the European Commission, Peter advised major corporations on EU policy and regulatory affairs.

He is a Dutch national and holds double magna cum laude master degrees in European affairs and political science from the College of Europe in Bruges and the University of Leuven, Belgium. He is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University Law School and a consummate public speaker.

Petra Tschudin is a Member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank and Head of Department III, overseeing Money Market and Foreign Exchange, Asset Management, Banking Operations, Information Technology, and the Singapore branch office. She was appointed to this role by the Swiss Federal Council, effective 1 October 2024.

Previously, she served as an Alternate Member of the Governing Board (2022–2024) and held various positions at the SNB, including Deputy Head of the Economic Affairs division and Head of the Monetary Policy Analysis unit.

She earned a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Basel in 2002, where she also lectured and completed her post-doctoral studies (Habilitation) in 2007. She worked as an economist at the Bank for International Settlements (2009–2011) and later conducted research in Dublin as an Associate Research Professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute while teaching at Trinity College (2011–2014).

Simon is one of fintech's most respected voices, providing unparalleled insights from over 20 years driving innovation. His popular Fintech Brainfood blog boasts 40k+ subscribers including top CEOs and VCs.

As a sought-after keynote speaker and advisor, Simon leverages his experience pioneering mobile banking apps and leading digital transformation for global banks.Simon is a a regular industry commentator for media like BBC, CNBC and the financial times

Trusted by the industry's biggest names, he provides guidance to regulators, financial institutions, and tech companies on strategically capitalizing on emerging trends in fintech, open finance, and AI.