Thank you for joining us at GFTN Forum, Japan 2025

Joining SMBC (Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation) in 1990, Akio Isowa was engaged in corporate banking, legal affairs, corporate planning, human resources management. He established the Retail Marketing Department and IT Strategy Department as the General Manager and led the debit card business, and the UX project of their internet banking app. As the head of Transaction Business Division, he led product and sales planning for online payment services such as Bank Pay and Cotra. Since 2023, he has been leading digital innovation of the SMBC Group as the Chief Digital Innovation Officer.

Ayako Fujita
JPMorgan Securities Japan Co. Ltd.
Managing Director
Chief Economist, Economic Research

Ayako Fujita is a Executive Director and Chief Economist, Japan. She joined J.P. Morgan in July 2019. She comes to JP Morgan after 11 years with Nomura Asset Management, where she rose to become chief economist. Prior to that, she started her career at the Bank of Japan and continued at the International Monetary Fund as an economist. She holds a BA from Tokyo University and MSc from London School of Economics.

Mr. Dasgupta is responsible for management of the operations of ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department and Office of Markets Development and Public-Private Partnerships. These departments deliver market solutions to catalyze Asia and the Pacific’s private sector development.

Mr. Dasgupta is a financial industry leader with over 35 years of experience across a range of economies, including in Asia and the Pacific. He was formerly Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd., the largest nonlife insurance company in India. He led ICICI’s successful initial public offering, making it the first listed general insurance company in India.

Currently serves as the Vice President of Tencent Cloud and Managing Director of APAC. Since joining Tencent in 2016, he has been leading the Asia-Pacific team and is committed to operating and expanding the business of the cloud computing industry. He served as the sales director at Hutchison Whampoa, accumulating rich business experience and being proficient in sales strategy and customer relationship management. Before this, he served as a senior engineer at IBM and possessed profound engineering knowledge and skills.

Candace Kelly is the Chief Legal & Policy Officer for the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), a non-profit organization that supports the development and growth of Stellar, an open-source network that connects the world's financial infrastructure. She leads the team responsible for SDF’s legal affairs and the policy team that is focused on bridging the gap between the public and private sectors.

Previously, Candace worked for Uber Technologies, Inc., where she helped navigate the company’s response to regulatory investigations and advised on safety, security, privacy, consumer protection, and law enforcement response. Prior to that she served for 17 years at the United States Department of Justice as a federal prosecutor and as counsel to the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, and the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Chrysty Esperanza is Chief Legal Officer at Block, Inc., where she leads the legal, regulatory, public policy, communications, and compliance teams. A longtime leader of Block’s legal team, Chrysty provides strategic counsel on managing risk on a broad spectrum of issues. She previously held positions at Electronic Arts Inc., served as a Deputy Attorney General at the California Department of Justice, and also as an associate at Farella, Braun and Martel. Chrysty holds a BA from UCLA and JD from UC Law SF (formerly Hastings College of the Law).

Mr. Douglas Feagin serves as President of Ant International and Corporate Senior Vice President of Ant Group.

He joined Ant Group in June 2016 to spearhead the company's globalization strategy, Alipay's global business development, operations and marketing activities. Prior to joining Ant Group, Mr. Feagin worked at Goldman Sachs from August 1994 to May 2016 and served as a Managing Director from 2004 through 2016.

At Goldman Sachs he maintained a broad set of client relationships across sectors including banks, specialty finance, FinTech and insurance in the U.S., Latin America and Asia.

He graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor's Degree in Economics in June 1988, and he received an MBA from Harvard Business School in June 1994.

[Education]
2016 MBA Columbia, London Business School, and HK University
1999 MA Master of Interpretation and Translation: Ewha Woman’s University 
1996 BS Bachelor of Computer Science and Engineering, 
      Minor in Business Administration: Sogang University

[Professional Experience]
2004~present Toss Bank, CEO
2023~2024 DGB Daegu Bank, CFO/CSO/CDO
2019~2023 HSBC, Korea & Regional CFO/Commercial Banking APAC 
2011~2019 Deutsche Bank, Korea CFO 
2007~2011 Standard Chartered Bank, Director of Strategy

[Qualifications]
2010 FRM (GARP)
2006 CFA (CFA Institute)
2002 US CPA (AICPA)

Fujiko Amano is Director for Investment Collaboration at the Investment Facilitation Division, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan ("METI"). She handles policy-making for foreign direct investment promotion jointly with the "Invest Japan" Office of the Cabinet Office and undertakes deregulatory projects, serving as a contact point for foreign corporations and foreign entities in Japan. She brings a unique mixture of public and private sector experiences in trade and investment as well as public policy and regulatory fields.

Prior to joining METI, she served as a trade negotiator for the Japan-EU EPA and the Japan-China-Korea FTA at the Economic Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and has held management positions at multinational corporations and international organizations, including Vodafone, a Global IT company and Japan-ASEAN Centre. As a New York licensed lawyer, she also practiced law at Shearman & Sterling, Jones Day and Sidley Austin. She holds a BA from Bryn Mawr College, a law degree from the University of Oxford, and a Msc. from the London School of Economics.

Hideki Ito is Commissioner of the JFSA.
Mr. Ito joined the Ministry of Finance in 1988. Since 2007 he has worked mainly for the JFSA. From 2020 to 2022, he was Vice Commissioner for Strategy Development. From 2022 to 2024, he was Director-General of the Policy and Market Bureau. He was appointed to his present post in 2024.
Mr. Ito received a B.A. in Law from the University of Tokyo and obtained an MBA at Georgetown University in the US.

1988年大蔵省入省。主計局主査、OECD代表部参事官、広報室長、主計官等を歴任。
金融庁では、市場制度の企画、金融機関の監督・モニタリングに加え、大臣秘書官、国会担当課長等に従事。
2018年総合政策局審議官（監督局担当）、2019年総合政策局審議官（市場担当）兼公認会計士・監査審査会事務局長、2020年総合政策局政策立案総括審議官、金融庁全体の横断的な政策立案に携わる、2022年企画市場局長、2024年7月より現職。
東京大学法学部卒業、米国ジョージタウン大学でMBA取得。

Jesper Koll
Expert Director & Global Ambassador for the Monex Group and the Japan Catalyst Fund

Jesper Koll has been researching and investing in Japan since becoming a resident in 1986. Over the past two decades, Jesper has been consistently recognized as one of the top Japan strategists/economists, having worked as Chief Strategist and Head of Research for U.S. investment banks J.P. Morgan and Merrill Lynch. He currently serves as Expert Director for the Monex Group and the Japan Catalyst Fund (Japan’s 1st retail investor based corporate engagement/activist fund). His analysis and insights have earned him a position on several Japanese government and corporate advisory committees and he is an Ambassador for FinCity Tokyo. Jesper serves on the board of directors of OIST (Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology) and Asia Society (Japan). Jesper is an economist, angel-investor, patron; and yes, a Japan Optimist.

Joined Bank of Japan on 1994 mainly in charge of bank examinations. Since 2015, Director of Fintech in Financial Services Agency and produced 1st FIN/SUM. Since 2017, Joined Moneyforward as an Executive Director. In 2021, won the election to be a Member of the House of Representatives. In 2023, assumed office as Parliamentary Vice-Minister of the Cabinet Office (economic revitalization, financial services, etc.) in Kishida Cabinet and in 2024, as Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Justice in Ishiba Cabinet.
Graduated from the Faculty of Economics, the University of Tokyo and Graduate School, Yale University.

大野(おおの)　敬太郎(けいたろう) (OHNO KEITARO)
　　　　衆議院議員（自民党、香川県第三区）
　　　　　１９６８年１１月１日生　Ｏ型

自由民主党政務調査会副会長
自由民主党経済安全保障推進本部幹事長
　　　　　衆議院財務金融委員会理事




略歴
東京工大卒・同大院修士・東京大学博士号取得。富士通研究所・カリフォルニア大バークレー校客員フェロー・国務大臣秘書官・東大産官学連携研究員などを経て、第４６回総選挙で初当選。爾来、防衛大臣政務官、内閣府副大臣（経済安全保障・防災等担当）、党副幹事長、党総務会副会長、党政務調査会副会長、党科学技術イノベーション戦略調査会長、党財務金融部会長代理などを歴任。党経済安保推進本部では、事務局長として国家安保戦略の着実な実施に向け、サイバーセキュリティー、セキュリティークリアランス、経済インテリジェンス、経済威圧対処など、国家安保戦略の着実な実施に向けた政策の具体的実装に関する提言を起草した。

Kosuke Mori serves as the CEO of Saison International, the international headquarters of Credit Saison. Founded in 1951, Credit Saison Co. Ltd is one of Japan’s largest non-bank financial companies with over 70 years of history and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The Company is a leading credit-card issuer in Japan and has evolved into a diversified financial services company globally.

In his role as Board Director and Head of Global Business for Credit Saison Co. Ltd., he oversees Credit Saison's global business operations and creates the strategic vision for driving global expansion and innovation of the group, focusing on the areas of lending and investments.

Under his leadership, Credit Saison’s global business has expanded its footprint to Singapore, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam. Additionally, he serves as Managing Partner for Saison Capital, the venture capital arm of Credit Saison, focusing on Pre-Seed to Series B companies, particularly in Southeast Asia, India and Brazil.

He is currently appointed as Board Director for Credit Saison Brazil and Credit Saison Mexico, and serves as Chairman of Credit Saison India.

Kosuke Mori graduated from the University of Tokyo with a bachelor’s degree in law, and received a Master of Business Administration from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Kristo Käärmann is the co-founder and CEO of Wise.

Wise is a global technology company, building the best way to move and manage the world's money.

With Wise Account and Wise Business, people and businesses can hold 40 currencies, move money between countries and spend money abroad. Large companies and banks use Wise technology too; an entirely new network for the world's money. One of the world’s fastest growing, profitable tech companies, Wise launched in 2011 and is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker, WISE. In fiscal year 2024, Wise supported around 12.8 million people and businesses, processing approximately £118.5 billion in cross-border transactions, and saving customers over £1.8 billion.

Prior to Wise, he was a consultant at Deloitte and PwC. Kristo holds an MSc in Mathematics and Technology from the University of Tartu.

Laura is currently a Director in Temasek’s Blockchain team, which focuses on venture building and investment opportunities in the space.

She is a Board Director of Temasek’s venture studio, Menyala, supporting the development and growth of startups. Laura is also part of the founding venture teams of various start-ups initiated by Temasek –Partior, a joint venture with JP Morgan and DBS to setup a multi-currency payments network to enhance cross-border clearing and settlements as well as Affinidi, a start-up that uses decentralised technologies to develop data and self-sovereign identity solutions.

Before joining the Blockchain team, Laura spent over a decade originating and evaluating investment across various sectors at Temasek. Her expertise spans B2B, B2B2C and B2C industries such as Consumer Tech, Industrials, Specialty Chemicals, Offshore Marine, Transportation, and Logistics.

Prior to joining Temasek in 2007, Laura had worked at Ernst & Young, followed by General Electric (“GE”) in various finance roles pertaining to GE’s Financial Management Program and CAS Programs, which spanned several geographies including US, China, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia.

Laura is a Fellow of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (FCCA) and holds a BA(Hons) in Accounting and Finance from Sheffield Hallam University, UK. Additionally, she serves on the Advisory Committee of Elevandi. Laura has also been recognized as a Singapore 100 Women in Tech (SG100WIT) 2023 honoree and a 2022 Fintech65 Leader.

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.

Loren brings over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry to her role as Principal for AI Policy at the Federal Reserve Board. In her current role, Loren evaluates and recommends policy for the supervision and regulation of the banking sector across cutting edge topics such as artificial intelligence and the use of data. She was previously a Managing Director at the Institute of International Finance and held a variety of roles of J.P. Morgan including Executive Director and Investment Strategist.

Loren holds an M.S. in Data Science, a B.S. in Systems Engineering and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.

・Graduated from Waseda University Faculty of Law
・3rd generation middle wholesaler at Ota Fruit and Vegetable Market
・President, Tokyo Junior Chamber
・Lecturer at Keio University Graduate School
・Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry
・State Minister of Cabinet Office (in charge of disaster prevention, administrative reform, IT policy, space policy, Promotion of Science and Technology and Innovation, Cool Japan Strategy, local development, National Strategic Special Zones, etc.)
・Director, Masayoshi Ohira Foundation
・100 people who will change Japan (“Shukan SPA!”, January 2021)
・125 Outstanding Talent to Energize Japan (“Bungeishunju,” February 2016)

Matthew joined the FCA as the new Director of Payments & Digital Assets in October 2022. In his role, Matthew is responsible for Market Interventions, Market Analysis and Policy across the

Payments and Digital Asset Portfolios. In addition, Matthew continues the FCA’s leadership in international crypto initiatives as the Lead of the IOSCO Fintech Taskforce Crypto and Digital Assets Working Group.
 
Matthew is the former Director of the National Economic Crime Command within the National Crime Agency (NCA). His responsibilities included leading the multi-agency National Economic Crime Centre which has a strategic UK system leadership role for economic crime and illicit finance. He also led the UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU) which has national responsibility for receiving, analysing and disseminating financial intelligence submitted through the Suspicious Activity Reports Regime. At the NCA, he has driven the public-private partnership with financial services to find solutions for government and industry problems together, most recently with a Crypto Summit. Matthew works to balance risks and opportunity of innovation and has carried this into his role at the FCA.
 
Operationally, he is a multi-agency Commander with extensive experience in leading international initiatives and collaboration, including through his work with Interpol, Europol and international roundtables on serious and organised crime. Prior to this, Matthew was leading the response to Organised Immigration Crime, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, Drugs, Firearms, Borders and the programme to build the National Data Exploitation Capability. Matthew’s career began as a detective in Kent Police where he qualified as Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) having led over 400 investigations, including a number of high profile child abuse operations.
 
He is proud of his international collaboration in both illicit finance and child exploitation delivering both operational and policy results. He received national and international awards for his investigations and innovation.
 
Matthew holds a PhD in Risk Management and has been part of a team creating worldwide child abuse risk assessments. In his academic life he is currently working on applying child abuse risk models to terrorism.

Mr. Mitsutoshi Kajikawa is the Deputy Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs at Japan’s Ministry of Finance (MOF). In this role, he oversees critical areas including anti-money laundering (AML), counter-terrorism financing (CFT), and counter-proliferation financing (CPF), while leading Japan's delegation to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
He also has served as the rotating Co-Chair of the Asia / Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) since September 2024. APG leads global action to tackle money laundering, terrorist and proliferation financing as well as FATF. He brings a wealth of expertise to his role in advancing the APG's mission, backed by an extensive career at the MOF, where he has worked in areas such as financial regulation, fiscal analysis, budget management, and government reform.

Apr. 2023 President & CEO, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc. (current position)
Representative Executive Officer, Group COO of Japan Exchange Group, Inc. (current position)

Jun. 2021 Director, Japan Exchange Group, Inc. (current position)

Apr. 2021 Executive Officer, Japan Exchange Group, Inc.
President & CEO, Osaka Exchange, Inc.
Representative Director & Chair, Chairperson of the Board, Tokyo Commodity Exchange, Inc.

Apr. 2020 Senior Executive Vice President, Japan Securities Clearing Corporation

Jun. 2019 Director, Japan Securities Clearing Corporation

Apr. 2019 Executive Vice President, Japan Securities Clearing Corporation

Apr. 2018 Director & Executive Vice President, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc.

Apr. 2017 Director & Senior Executive Officer, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc.

Jun. 2013 Senior Executive Officer, Japan Exchange Group, Inc.
Senior Executive Officer, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc.

Jan. 2013 Executive Officer, Japan Exchange Group, Inc.

Jun. 2012 Executive Officer, Tokyo Stock Exchange Group, Inc.

Jun. 2009 Executive Officer & Director, Corporate Marketing Management Department, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc.
Director, Japan Securities Clearing Corporation

Jun. 2008 Executive Officer & Director, Corporate Strategy Department, Tokyo Stock Exchange Group, Inc.

Jun. 2007 Director, Corporate Strategy Department, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc.

Apr. 1984 Joined Tokyo Stock Exchange

Mr. Naphongthawat Phothikit currently works as the Senior Director of Payment Systems and Financial Technology Policy Department, Bank of Thailand. With more than twenty-year experience in central banking, Mr.Phothikit has experience in banking supervision, payment systems and FinTech. Mr.Phothikit is currently responsible for the formulation and implementation of national policies regarding payment systems and related financial technologies to ensure efficiency and safety of the economy. His main responsibilities include the national policy for the development of payment systems infrastructure, promotion of the use of electronic payment transactions in public and private sectors, and the oversight of payment systems operators and payment service providers. He also participated in “Your Data” initiative to enable users to securely send their personal data to financial service providers through digital channels.

Richard Teng is an experienced executive with over three decades of financial services and regulatory experience. Richard has been the CEO of Binance since his appointment in November 2023. By working closely with various stakeholders including regulators, policymakers, industry players and users, Richard is furthering the growth of Binance in a compliant and sustainable manner. Prior to this role, Richard held various senior leadership roles within the company since joining in August 2021.

Before joining Binance, Richard was CEO of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), where he showcased his capabilities as one of the world’s foremost innovative regulators. Richard’s vast experience also includes being the Chief Regulatory Officer of the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and the Director of Corporate Finance in the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Richard received his Masters in Applied Finance from the University of Western Australia.

Russell is the Founder and former Executive Chairman of Paidy, Japan's leading BNPL ("Buy Now, Pay Later") service. After becoming a Unicorn in 2020, Paidy was acquired by PayPal in September, 2021 for US$2.7 billion, the highest-valued Japanese venture M&A transaction ever.

Russell is also the Founder of Tokyo-based AltX Research, a web3 company building a Layer 1 blockchain optimised for Japan. Prior to founding Paidy & AltX, Russell worked at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong and Japan.

Russell holds a B.Sc. in Physics from Imperial College London and an M.S. in Financial Mathematics from Stanford University.

Sam brings over 20 years of unique vantage point and global experience in Technology and Finance. Her track record spans across banking, investment and insurance in 4 continents, as an investor, entrepreneur and executive.

Consistently recognised as top cohort of women in fintech, Sam is now leading her new venture, Habitto, helping people save, invest and protect their money in Japan.

Siddharth Shetty designs Digital Public Infrastructure that socio-economically empowers individuals and small businesses. His leadership spans the areas of technology, public policy, foreign policy, institution building, and engaging civil society, private and public sector market players, governments, and regulators in building digital ecosystems.

He’s the Principal Architect of the Finternet. He’s also been leading the strategy & design for the Data Empowerment & Protection Architecture, a techno-legal framework that gives individual & small businesses control of their data. It’s currently being rolled out in India and is the largest implementation of Open Finance globally.
Siddharth Shetty is the CTO of Sahamati and has been a participant in numerous government and regulatory committees in India. He’s a former Advisor to India’s Ministry of Finance on Digital Public Infrastructure and has been advising advanced and emerging economies on their design & deployment of Digital Public Infrastructure.

He’s been involved in designing the India Stack, Personal Health Records for India’s Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, a digital health infrastructure backbone, DigiYatra for seamless aviation travel, Digital Sky to integrate drones into civilian airspace, and numerous other digital infrastructure.

Profile of the Governor
Born: July 15, 1952, in Hyogo Prefecture
Education: BA in Sociology, Cairo University (October 1976)

Career:
July 2020: Re-elected to a second term as Governor of Tokyo
July 2016: Elected Governor of Tokyo
October 2011: Director, Committee on Budget, House of Representatives
September 2010: Chairperson, General Council, Liberal Democratic Party
July 2007: Minister of Defense
September 2006: Special Advisor to the Prime Minister for National Security Affairs
September 2004: Minister of the Environment and Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs
September 2003: Minister of the Environment
July 1993: Member of the House of Representatives
July 1992: Member of the House of Councillors