Maha is Chief Executive Officer, GFTN Solutions. GFTN (Global Finance and Technology Network) bridges policy, capital and technology to build resilient, efficient and inclusive ecosystems.
Prior to this Maha served as Centre Head, BIS Innovation Hub Singapore. The centre develops public goods in the technology space to support central banks in how they discharge their roles in a digital economy and improve the financial system using emerging technologies.
In previous roles, 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. She served as Chief Payments Officer at Pay.UK on secondment from the FCA, responsible for running the payments operations of the UK’s payment operator.
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.
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 mostly enjoys crafting and implementing solution with tangible impact.
She is the author of Fintech Regulation in Practice. A book that provides a clear, hands on guide to the practical considerations that fintechs, banks adopting fintech and other key players in the fintech ecosystem need to take into account when embedding regulation.
She serves as the independent reviewer of the Australian Regulatory Sandbox, appointed by the Australian Treasury.
Maha has a Degree in Commerce from Macquarie University and a Masters in Public Administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Roundtable Room 3, Ground Floor
Open
Countries worldwide are competing to attract fintech investment, talent, and innovation. But understanding the quality of fintech regulation remains a work-in-progress. Are rules and institutions working in lockstep to promote fintech? Are these rules findable, coherent, and comprehensive enough to give firms, consumers, and supervisors genuine confidence? Can they promote innovation, market access as well as economic opportunity?
The Financial Regulatory Futures Index (FRFI) is a joint initiative of the Fintech Foundation and GFTN designed to fill that gap. Structured around five analytical pillars, the FRFI will assess regulatory environments not by perception or reputation, but by reference to verifiable primary sources: statutes, supervisory guidance, licensing frameworks, and enforcement records. Its methodology is being developed by five specialist working groups comprising leading regulators, central bankers, academics, and industry practitioners from over 30 jurisdictions. An Executive Council – comprising globally recognized thought-leaders and experienced policy innovators – will oversee the development of this initiative.
This roundtable will offer one of the first public windows into the emerging draft methodology, including how the Index defines and scores: regulatory clarity and comprehensiveness, consumer protection and market conduct, innovation and market infrastructure, resilience and integrity as well as economic opportunity and market access.
It will open a moderated discussion on the Index's intended policy impact, the trade-offs embedded in any cross-jurisdictional benchmarking exercise, and how the FRFI can best serve as a tool for peer learning and reform rather than as a simplistic league table. Feedback from regulators, practitioners, academics and subject matter experts in this conversation will inform the methodology ahead of its launch at DC Fintech Week in October 2026.
Kongresssaal, Level 1
Open
The technology is proven. The regulation is arriving. So why aren't tokenised assets mainstream yet? The answer lies not in the rails themselves, but in the institutional plumbing around them: interoperable networks, central bank money that can settle on-chain, and regulatory frameworks that work across jurisdictions simultaneously.
- How can central bank money underpin private tokenisation markets without constraining innovation?
- Can MiCA, the GENIUS Act, and Asia-Pacific frameworks converge enough to allow truly cross-border tokenised asset flows?