Alan is a Mastercard Fellow, a recognised industry expert and representative of the company with the private and public sectors in cross-border and domestic payments, particularly P2P payments, disbursements, business payments and account-to-account transfers. He previously led Transfer Solutions, the Mastercard business unit responsible for disbursements and remittances (Mastercard Move), B2B cross-border payments and consumer bill payments.

Previously, Alan was Chief Business Development Officer of CLS, the systemically important global foreign exchange settlement utility.

Prior to these roles, he had a distinguished legal career as General Counsel of CLS and Barclays Africa Corporate and Investment Banking and as Global Head of Transaction Legal at Dresdner Kleinwort.

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.

Andréa M Maechler became Deputy General Manager of the BIS on 1 September 2023.

Ms Maechler was a member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) from 2015 until 2023. At the SNB, she was responsible for the Money Market and Foreign Exchange, Asset Management, Banking Operations and Information Technology portfolios.

Prior to joining the SNB, she was Deputy Division Chief in the Global Markets Analysis Division of the International Monetary Fund. She has worked at other international organisations, including the European Systemic Risk Board and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

She was Chair of the Global Foreign Exchange Committee of central banks from December 2021 to June 2023. Ms Maechler has a PhD and a master's degree in International Economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Diploma of Higher Studies (DES) in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.

Antonio is responsible for leading worldwide regulatory compliance across Crypto.com's entire product ecosystem. His compliance background expands across payments, remittances and cryptocurrency offerings. Prior to joining Crypto.com, Antonio led a successful Anti-Money Laundering (AML) program that was deployed across European and Asian markets at Coinbase. Antonio also served as senior business leader at Visa and has held senior roles at a number of other payments companies including Western Union. During a 13-year tenure at American Express, Antonio was responsible for leading the business transformation and compliance governance programs across multiple business lines and geographies.

Ari Redbord is the Global Head of Policy at TRM Labs, the blockchain intelligence company.

Prior to joining TRM, Ari was the Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary and the Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the United States Treasury. In that position, Ari worked with teams from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and other Treasury components to use sanctions and other regulatory tools effectively to safeguard the financial system from illicit use by terrorist financiers, weapons of mass destruction proliferators, drug kingpins, and other rogue actors, including Iran, Syria, North Korea and Venezuela. In addition, Ari worked closely with regulators, the Hill and the interagency on issues related to the Bank Secrecy Act, cryptocurrency, and anti-money laundering strategies. Prior to Treasury, Ari was an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia for eleven years where he investigated and prosecuted terrorism, espionage, threat finance, cryptocurrency, export control, child exploitation and human trafficking cases.

Audrey Metzger is the Director of Innovation and Financial Markets Infrastructures Directorate. Previously, she was Director of the Strategy Directorate at Banque de France.
She joined Banque de France in 2003 after being graduated from EDHEC business school and receiving a master in civil law from Paris Descartes University. After several positions in financial markets law and implementation of monetary policy fields, she has worked intensively during more than 8 years in oversight of financial markets infrastructures and in developing a strategic understanding and vision of those infrastructures.

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/

Carmen Hett is UNHCR’s Corporate Treasurer and a seasoned corporate finance professional with over 25 years of experience across blue-chip companies and public sector organizations. She leads global financial delivery of aid, advancing direct access to financial ecosystems for recipients. A champion of financial transformation technologies, she drives scalable digital payments to enhance emergency preparedness and promote economic and financial inclusion for all.

Catrin Hinkel serves as CEO of Microsoft Switzerland. She assumed the role in May 2021. Having spent more than 25 years in the tech industry across a variety of organizations and diverse cultures, Hinkel champions technology development as a solution to many challenges in the world, innovation as well as sustainability. Prior to joining Microsoft, Hinkel held notable roles at Accenture, most recently as Senior Managing Director, Europe Cloud First Strategy & Consulting Lead.

With her team at Microsoft, she is driven by staying on the cutting edge of new trends, ideas and themes to further impactful digital (cloud) transformation strategies and partnerships for customers in Switzerland and beyond needed to get the job done. She is a strong believer that technology enables organizations to solve their biggest challenges, drive sustainable growth and create new business models that improve the way we live and work.

Hinkel is a member of the Executive Committee of Digital Switzerland, the ASUT Industry Association Board and the Supervisory Board of the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security. Alongside these roles, she is also a spokesperson for the Board of “Generation CEO”, a non-profit association and established network for women leaders in German-speaking countries.

Hinkel holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Reutlingen (European Business School Reutlingen and London). She is also recognized for her commitment to digital innovation, including being named one of Switzerland’s Digital Shapers 2022 by Swiss Bilanz magazine and as one of the Top 100 by Women in Business magazine.

Cecilia Skingsley became Head of the BIS Innovation Hub in September 2022. She is a member of the BIS's Executive Committee. Previously, she held the position of First Deputy Governor of the Riksbank since November 2019.
Most recently she chaired the BIS's Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures Future of Payments Working Group, was the Governor of the Riksbank’s alternate on the General Council of the ECB and member of the Advisory Technical Committee (ATC) of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB).
Prior to holding the position of Deputy Governor of the Riksbank from May 2013 to November 2019, Ms Skingsley held various roles including Head of FX and Fixed Income Research and Chief Economist at Swedbank (2007-2013); financial journalist and Head of Financial Market Section at Dagens Industri (2000-2007); Macro Analyst, ABN Amro Bank (1998-2000).

Ms Skingsley holds a degree in economics and political science from Stockholm University. She received a financial analyst degree from SSE Executive Education at Stockholm School of Economics (formerly IFL at Stockholm School of Economics) and studied journalism at Poppius School of Journalism in Stockholm.

Yam Ki Chan is Vice President at Circle, responsible for overseeing partnerships, policy, and market expansion across Asia. Since joining Circle, he has led the team in first-of-kind partnerships and advised regulatory and business stakeholders on how stablecoins unlock economic opportunities for individuals and businesses.

Prior to Circle, Yam Ki held strategy and public policy roles at Google Payments and Google Cloud, where he worked on partnership strategy, market launches, and government affairs.

Before Google, Yam Ki served as the Director for Global and Asia Economics at the White House National Security Council in the Obama Administration, where he coordinated the interagency process on US economic strategy in Asia and was a member of the U.S. sherpa negotiations team for the G-20 and the G-7. Before joining the National Security Council staff, Yam Ki was with the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue and Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. Earlier in his career, Yam Ki worked in technology investment banking at Jefferies in Silicon Valley.

He earned a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University - School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Carleton College.

Chris Brummer is the Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Financial Technology at Georgetown University Law Center and founder of Bluprynt, the crypto disclosure company. He is also the founder of DC Fintech Week, the leading fintech policy conference in the United States.

As a professor, advisor, board member and advocate, Professor Brummer has lent his expertise to policymakers, founders, startups, and nonprofits around the world grappling with some of the most challenging puzzles facing innovation, regulation, and inclusion. His work has been featured in The New York Times, CNN, Marketwatch, Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Yahoo Money, Roll Call, Cointelegraph, and Coin Desk, among others.

He serves on the boards of directors of Fannie Mae, PayPal Digital, and K2 Integrity.

Christian Kettel Thomsen took office as Governor by Royal Appointment and Chairman of Board of Governors of Danmarks Nationalbank as of 1 February 2023.

Christian Kettel Thomsen has an MSc in Economics from Copenhagen University. He has amongst others served as Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance (2005-2010) at the Prime Minister’s Office, and Council of State Secretary (2010-2020), and most recently as Vice-President at the European Investment Bank (2020-2023).

Christian has extensive experience within economics and in his capacity of Governor of Danmarks Nationalbank and Chairman of the Systemic Risk Council he monitors that Danmarks Nationalbank meets its three main objectives: Stable prices, safe payments and a stable financial system.

David is the CEO of 11:FS and since his dream of being a sportsperson was crushed (along with the ligaments in his knee!) and he had to get a proper job, he has worked in pretty much every angle of the financial services industry never losing that competitive desire to drive forwards and win.Having pitched, established and run billion-pound transformations for some of the biggest FS companies on the planet the realisation that Digital Financials Services Is Only 1% Finished has spurred his desire to establish an organisation that can actually support the industry through its greatest challenge.

David founded R3 in 2015 and in his role of Chief Executive Officer is responsible for the strategic direction of R3. With 40 years of experience leading some of Wall Street’s top institutions, David is a longtime creative thought leader in financial markets and innovation and has played a significant role in the adoption of electronic trading in the global OTC derivatives industry.

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.