Meet our speakers

Born in Genoa on 13 August 1961.

Member of the Governing Board and Deputy Governor of the Bank of Italy from 10 May 2019 (Presidential Decree of 3 May 2019). In this capacity, she is also a member of the Joint Directorate of the Insurance Supervisory Authority (IVASS).

She sits on the Supervisory Board of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) of the European Central Bank.

Since 2021, she has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Bambino Gesù children' hospital in Rome and a member of the Advisory Board of the FinTech and InsurTech Observatory of the Polytechnic University of Milan.

She was previously Italy Country Manager for Barclays Bank and sat on the Boards of Directors of Monte Titoli SpA, A2A and ATM (Azienda Trasporti Milanese).

She worked in Intesa Sanpaolo as Head of International Regulatory & Antitrust Affairs and as CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo Eurodesk. She began her career as a lawyer at leading law firms in New York and Brussels, specializing in the fields of banking law, financial services and public utilities.

She is a member of the New York State Bar.

In Italy, she was a founder and chair of Valore D, an association that aims to help propel talented women to corporate management roles. She also founded and directed the Gemma Project, set up to support female talent within the Intesa San Paolo group.

In the course of her career, Alessandra Perrazzelli has received widespread recognition and awards for her work on diversity and inclusion, and for the promotion of technological innovation in the financial industry.

In 1986 she graduated with honours from the University of Genoa with a degree in law. In 1988 she obtained a Master of Laws in Corporation Law from New York University School of Law.

She has been an alumna of the University of Stanford Business School since 2018.

In 2021, she was awarded a Knighthood in the Order of the Merit of the Italian Republic.

Ben Gray is General Counsel at Paxos, a FinTech leader in regulated blockchain and cryptocurrency infrastructure technology. At Paxos, Ben oversees the company’s worldwide legal, compliance, and risk teams and provides executive leadership on company direction and strategy.

Prior to joining Paxos, Ben served as Block, Inc.’s (formerly Square Inc.) Global Chief Compliance Officer and Deputy General Counsel, where he administered the company’s anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, sanctions, and anti-bribery and corruption compliance programs and advised on Block’s payments and regulatory legal issues. Ben also guided Block’s financial crimes technical function, which included data science and engineering teams. Prior to joining Block, Ben practiced law at Schwartz & Ballen LLP, a Washington, DC based boutique financial services and banking regulatory law firm. At the firm, Ben advised traditional financial institutions, card networks, and fintech Fortune 500 companies on anti-money laundering compliance, licensing, enforcement, policy drafting, reporting, and record keeping. Prior to private practice, Ben worked as a federal financial regulator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in Washington, DC reviewing banks for compliance with federal lending statutes and regulations.

Ben graduated from The George Washington University Law School and Brown University, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa. Ben is CAMS certified, a member of the District of Columbia Bar, and a member of the California Bar.

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.

Daniela Stoffel (born in 1968) took up her role as State Secretary for International Finance at the Federal Department of Finance (FDF) on 1 March 2019. 

In 1998, Daniela Stoffel entered the diplomatic service of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). In 2005, she took over as Head of Public Relations and Culture at the Swiss Embassy in Washington D.C. and in August 2009 she moved to the Swiss Embassy in Berlin as Head of Economic and Financial Affairs. There she was appointed Deputy Head of Mission in 2012. In 2015, Daniela Stoffel assumed a staff function in the General Secretariat of the OECD in Paris.

From 2015, Daniela Stoffel was on detachment to SIF with the title of Ambassador, latterly as Head of Political Staff. From 2016, she was also the Diplomatic Advisor to the Head of the Federal Department of Finance (FDF). In these functions, Daniela Stoffel was involved in safeguarding and dealing with current financial policy issues and challenges and in the corresponding international negotiations and contacts. 

Daniela Stoffel graduated from the University of Zurich in 1992 with a degree in Philosophy, Economics and German Linguistics. Accompanying her work as a University Assistant at the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Zurich, she wrote her thesis in 1996. She is a citizen of Winterthur, in the canton of Zurich, and is the mother of an adult daughter.

Ms Marja Nykänen has been a Member of the Board of the Bank of Finland since 1 February 2017 and Deputy Governor since 15 August 2018. Ms Nykänen is responsible for the financial stability process, financial market issues, macroprudential policy, statistics, legal affairs budget and personnel as well as security and property management issues. She is also responsible for the risk control of investment activities and monetary policy as well as the financial stability process and the activities of the Management Group of the Bank of Finland's pension fund. Marja Nykänen is the Chairman of the Board of the Financial Supervisory Authority.

Ms Nykänen has extensive experience from working in diverse banking sector functions and financial sector supervision. She has been an alternate member with voting rights on the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank, within the Single Supervisory Mechanism, and on the Board of Supervisors of the European Banking Authority.

Ms Nykänen was the Financial Supervisory Authority's (FIN-FSA) Deputy Director General in 2014–2017 and Head of the Institutional Supervision Department in 2010–2017. The department was responsible for the prudential supervision of the FIN-FSA's authorised supervised entities and the overall analysis of risks and capital requirements. The department also coordinated international cooperation between the supervisory colleges.

Before transferring to the Financial Supervisory Authority, Ms Nykänen held various positions within Nordea and its predecessor banks, in the areas of corporate finance, risk management and credit risk control. Her last post in the banking sector was Head of Group Credit Control, Nordea Bank Ab, in 2005–2010.

Ms Nykänen graduated from the University of Helsinki in 1987 and holds a degree of Master of Laws (LLM). Ms Nykänen trained on the bench in 1990.

Matthias Kröner is the Founder and Managing Director of Tradelite Solutions, a company operating at the intersection of video games and the world of finance.

With a distinguished career spanning over 30 years in the financial services industry, Matthias brings unparalleled expertise in innovation leadership and corporate strategy. Prior to his current role, he served as the Founder and CEO of both Fidor Bank and DAB Bank. Additionally, Matthias holds a key position as a Board Member at Elevandi.io, the owner of the prestigious Singapore Fintech Festival. His dedication to shaping the future of fintech and finance is a testament to his commitment to driving innovation and excellence in the industry.

Naveen Mallela is the global head of the Coin Systems team at Onyx by J.P. Morgan, which focuses on building innovative payment products and infrastructure based on digital currencies and blockchain technology.

Most recently Naveen led the pilot launch of Deposit Tokens for J.P. Morgan as part of Project Guardian – a flagship industry initiative anchored by Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). He was previously the chief designer and product lead for JPM Coin, which is a cornerstone product offering of Coin Systems. Prior to his current role, Naveen was the Digital Payments lead for JPMorgan’s Corporate and Investment Bank in the Asia Pacific region and as part of his role he spearheaded the co-founding of Partior, a Singapore based technology company seeking to provide a first of its kind multibank ledger solution for payments clearing and settlement.

Keen enthusiast of all things digital currencies, Naveen has authored white papers on CBDCs, Shared Ledgers and Deposit Tokens and has been part of multiple industry initiatives shaping the landscape of digital money.

Naveen is a graduate from the prestigious Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore and a CFA Charter holder.

Oliver Bussmann is a globally recognized technology thought leader and driver of large-scale transformation at multi-national organizations and portfolio companies of private equity firms. The Founder and CEO of Bussmann Advisory AG, he advises enterprises and private equity companies looking to stay ahead of the digital disruption curve in the financial services and high-tech industry. 

He is a Non-Executive Board Director at Bank of America Europe, BSI Software, AD Ports Group Digital Cluster, Board Chairman at xSuite Group and Advisory Board member of the largest European Asset Manager Amundi and Advisor to the Board of Nationwide and Royal London. 
In addition, he also holds important mandates in industry associations, including Board Member at Elevandi as part of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and at ID2020 Digital Identity Alliance. Oliver was Co-founder and former President of the Swiss Crypto Valley Association which is the largest blockchain ecosystem with over 1’000 startups in Switzerland. 

From 2013 to 2016 Bussmann was Group Chief Information Officer of UBS, where he successfully led a major Business and IT transformation effort, instituted a new group-wide innovation framework and established UBS as a pioneer in the development of blockchain for use in financial services. Prior to joining UBS Bussmann was Global Chief Information Officer at SAP, where he also spearheaded significant technology transformation and integration of company acquisitions, and before that CIO for North America & Mexico at Allianz. Previous roles have included executive positions at Deutsche Bank and IBM. 

Bussmann's achievements and thought leadership have been widely recognized. He was named COO/CTO of the year by Financial News/The Wall Street Journal, European CIO of the Year by INSEAD/CIONET, Top FinTech Influencer to follow by Onalytica, Swiss FinTech Award, received the Elite 8 Award, which is given to the most innovative leaders in technology working in capital markets by Wall Street & Technology Magazine, and has twice been included on the Financial News "FinTech 40" list of innovators shaping the future of finance. 

Appointed Deputy Governor for the period 2 August 2021-2027. Børsum has particular responsibility for the Government Pension Fund Global. Børsum is Second Deputy Chair of the Executive Board and the Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Committee.

His work experience includes the post of chief economist at Swedbank and positions in the Budget and Asset Management Departments of the Ministry of Finance. Børsum holds a degree in economics from the NHH Norwegian School of Economics, masters’ degrees from Sciences Po and London School of Economics and a doctorate in economics from the University of Oslo.

Jan Frait was born on 28 November 1965 in Slavičín. He graduated from the Faculty of Economics at VŠB-Technical University of Ostrava in 1988, where he also completed his postgraduate studies in 1995. The same year he received the Young Economist of the Year award from the Czech Economic Society for his paper Portfolio Model of the Balance of Payments (and its Application to the Czech Republic in 1992–1995). Since 1990, he has lectured at the Economic Faculty of VŠB-TU Ostrava, where he qualified as an Associate Professor in Economics in 1998 and was appointed Professor of Economics in 2002. In 2000 the President of the Czech Republic appointed him as a member of the CNB Bank Board. After his mandate expired in 2006, he stayed with the CNB, working first as an adviser to the Board and later as Deputy Executive Director of the Economic Research Department responsible for financial stability analysis. He became Executive Director of the independent Financial Stability Department in 2010 and of the multi-divisional Financial Stability Department in 2018. In these posts, he represented the CNB on the European Central Bank’s Banking Supervision Committee, among other responsibilities. From 1999 to 2007 he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Czech Economic Society (CSE) and from December 2001 to January 2004 he held the post of CSE President. He has long worked as editor of Finance a úvěr – The Czech Journal of Economics and Finance. He specialises mainly in macroeconomics, financial stability, monetary theory and the international financial system. He has an extensive publication record on these topics in Czech and international journals. He became a member of the CNB Bank Board on 1 July 2022. Jan Frait has served as CNB Deputy Governor since 13 February 2023.

Sarah Breeden became Deputy Governor for Financial Stability on 1 November 2023. She is a member of the Monetary Policy Committee, Financial Policy Committee, Prudential Regulation Committee and the Bank’s Court of Directors. She has specific responsibility within the Bank for financial stability, the supervision of financial market infrastructures, international issues, central bank digital currency and fintech.

Sarah also leads the Bank of England’s work on climate change, domestically and internationally, a role she has held since 2016. She has been a Steering Group member of the international central bank and supervisors’ Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) since its inception in 2017, and chaired its macrofinancial workstream from 2018 until early 2022.

Sarah joined the Bank in 1991. Prior to her current role, Sarah was the Executive Director for Financial Stability Strategy and Risk and a member of the Financial Policy Committee (2021-2023). Previously, she was the Executive Director for UK Deposit Takers Supervision (2019-2021), responsible for the supervision of the UK’s banks, building societies and credit unions, and Executive Director for International Banks Supervision (2015-2021), responsible for supervision of the UK operations of international banks. Before that, Sarah held a variety of roles, including leading the design and risk management of financial market operations undertaken by the Bank during the financial crisis, and then leading the Bank’s work to support the transition of prudential regulation of banks and insurers from the Financial Services Authority to the Bank.

Sarah has an MA in Economics from Cambridge University and an MSc in Finance from the London Business School. She is a trustee of the Education Endowment Foundation.

Sharon Donnery was appointed Deputy Governor, Financial Regulation on 1 July 2022. She is an ex-officio Member of the Central Bank Commission and is a member of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank (ECB). As Deputy Governor, Financial Regulation, Sharon is responsible for leading credit institutions supervision; insurance supervision; policy and risk; and prudential analytics and inspections directorates.

Sharon was previously Deputy Governor, Central Banking from 1 March 2016 to 30 June 2022 and was the Governor's Alternate on the Governing Council of the ECB. She is also a member of the General Board of the European Systemic Risk Board having been appointed by the ECB Governing Council in December 2016. Sharon was appointed as co-chair of the Standing Committee on Supervisory and Regulatory Cooperation Open-ended Funds Working Group (OEFWG) in January 2023.

Sharon was Acting Governor from 1 June 2019 to 31 August 2019. She has chaired a number of European Committees including being Chair of the ECB Budget Committee (BuCom), Chair of the ECB High Level Group on Non-Performing Loans (NPLs), Chair of the European Banking Authority's (EBA) Consumer Protection Group and Vice-Chair of the EBA Standing Committee on Consumer Protection and Financial Innovation.

Sharon joined the Central Bank in 1996 as an Economist in the Monetary Policy Division and has held a range of senior positions. From February 2013 to August 2014, she held the statutory position of Registrar of Credit Unions and from April 2014 to May 2016 was Director of Credit Institutions. Prior to joining the Central Bank, Sharon lectured in economics at the National University of Ireland Maynooth.

Sharon holds a B.A. in Economics and Politics and a M.A. in Economics from University College Dublin and a Diploma in Company Direction from the Institute of Directors. In 2019, she was admitted to the Institute of Directors in London as a Chartered Director. In 2020, she was appointed as an Adjunct Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin.

Sopnendu Mohanty, currently the Chief Fintech Officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, is responsible for creating development strategies, public infrastructure, and policies around technology-driven innovation. Mohanty has over two decades of public and private sector experience in technology, operations, digital Finance, and investment strategies.

Mohanty extensively engages with global technology and financial services ecosystems and has championed notable collaborative public goods like API Exchange (APIX), Singapore Fintech Festival, Payment Rails, Data exchange platforms, and experimental programs like Project Ubin. In addition, Mohanty advises many international global advisory bodies on Fintech, Innovation and Inclusion. Within five years of his leadership, Singapore has become a leading global Fintech hub producing unicorns and home to many vibrant fintech companies.

He has co-authored several patented works in the application of digital technology in Finance and won many industry recognitions.