Meet Our Speakers

Aaron is an English/Japanese bilingual lawyer (licensed in New York) who has lived in Japan for over 15 years. He is currently the CEO of IPDefine—a Tokyo-based company which has developed the world's first patent infringement discovery AI.

When he's not transforming patents into financial instruments, Aaron enjoys skateboarding, yoga, tennis, gaming, DJing, and creating one of a kind bespoke garments from vintage kimono fabric.

I am in charge of supporting businesses in FSA(Japanese regulater),
and provide information about regulation in Japan with business operaters.

Joining SMBC (Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation) in 1990, Akio Isowa was engaged in corporate banking, legal affairs, corporate planning, human resources management. He established Retail Marketing Department and IT Strategy Department as the General Manager and led the debit card business, the UX project of the 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 is leading digital innovation of the SMBC Group as the Chief Digital Innovation Officer.

Akio Tanaka is Partner at the global venture capital firm Headline based out of the Asia office. His focus is Fintech, Consumer Internet, SaaS and Blockchain. He is also partner at IVC, a leading seed stage crypto investor in Asia.

He was formerly the head of venture investment program for Adobe in Asia and was responsible for Adobe's corporate venture investment in Greater China, Japan, and India. Previous to Adobe, He held the position of CTO for Macromedia Japan working as part of the local management team as well as the position of Technology Advisor to the CEO.

Alan is the head of the FinTech Infrastructure Office at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and is responsible for developing Singapore’s digital financial infrastructure.



Alan leads the development of strategies to drive digital transformation across the financial industry, and spearheads programs to foster responsible innovation such as Project Guardian. He oversees MAS’ initiatives to develop digital money standards and cross border multi-currency settlement. He is responsible for the advancement of digital public infrastructure and platforms for open finance.



Previously, Alan held various leadership roles in the private sector including managing consulting and development teams across Asia Pacific and is a co-author of patents in distributed networks

Alex is a serial entrepreneur with more than 15 years of experience in Business Strategy, Digital Transformation and Innovation. He’s the Deputy CEO at the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology (LHoFT), where he’s supporting international fintechs to establish and grow their operations in Europe.

The aim of the LHoFT is to drive digitalisation and innovation in the Luxembourg financial industry by building a collaborative ecosystem of innovators across all sectors of the domestic and international community.

Disrupter at heart, AI advocate and Stoic philosopher, Alex is also a professor in Business Strategy and Digital Marketing. He holds an MBA in Strategy from the University of Quebec in Montreal, Canada.

Alexis Rocamora is leading the integration of sustainability and finance in the Asia Pacific region at LSEG. He is responsible for developing data solutions that help financial institutions redirect capital flows towards sustainable outcomes, driving thought leadership on key sustainability issues and engaging with investors, regulators and international initiatives on sustainable finance.

Prior to joining LSEG, Alexis worked as a senior consultant at EY Japan, advising global corporations on sustainability strategy, ESG disclosures and net-zero transition. Before that, he was at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), where he helped governments adopt carbon pricing policies and support low-carbon technologies in developing markets.

Based in Tokyo, Alexis holds an MBA from Hult International Business School, an LLM in Environmental Law and a BA in Law, Economy and Management from Aix-Marseille University. He is a certified ‘Sustainability Excellence Professional’ from Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) and speaks French, English and Japanese.

Amanda Anderson is the Global Head of Public Policy & Government Relations for Block (formerly known as Square) where she leads the team responsible for engaging with policymakers and community groups, developing policy strategy, and partnering with internal and external stakeholders on policy priorities.

Before Block, Amanda spent four years in Government Affairs at Uber where she led federal engagement on behalf of the company, working with Congress and the Administration on matters including the gig economy, retirement and benefits for drivers, privacy, tax, and autonomous vehicles.

Prior to Uber, she spent her career in the federal government and on campaigns, including in the Obama White House as a Special Assistant to President Obama for Legislative Affairs, where she acted as a liaison between the White House and Members and Committees of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Amanda also served as Special Assistant to Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel at the White House, as well as Director of Special Projects for the Democratic Caucus of the House of Representatives. She also worked on political campaigns and at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic National Committee. Amanda graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Science in Public Policy.

Amanda Wick served as a federal prosecutor at DOJ for nearly a decade, specializing in crypto money laundering. After working at FinCEN, she served as the Chief of Legal Affairs at Chainalysis. She returned to government service for a year, working for the US House of Representatives as Senior Investigative Counsel on the January 6th Committee. She then launched the Association for Women In Cryptocurrency, a professional association for women and male allies that seeks to build a global network that will advocate for the equal inclusion of women in the future of digital finance. She is also a Principal with Incite Consulting and provides expert and litigation advisory services to cryptocurrency businesses principally focused on business planning, risk and compliance strategy.

As an AI advocate, my focus is on helping industry leaders transform their productivity through the implementation of AI solutions. My expertise spans across various domains including Digital & Business Transformation, Artificial Intelligence, Business Operations Simplification, New Business Creation, Startup Mentoring, Innovation and Ecosystem Engagement. I am a regular speaker at industry events, where I share my insights and engage in discussions on the latest technology advancements and their applications. Additionally, I offer coaching to individuals to help them plan their career paths and navigate their professional journeys.

Anand Ramachandran
Global Head of Banking Solutions Practice, Oracle Financial Services Industry Unit

Anand is the Global VP and Global Head for Banking Solutions at Oracle Financial Services Industry Unit. He has over 25 years of experience working closely with hundreds of senior executives across the globe including CXOs at top 30 of the top 50 banks around the world. He has expertise in helping global & regional Banks & FI's in providing Business Solutions to innovate and improve operational efficiency, capture new opportunities, reduce costs and grow market share. He drives banking outcomes by advising the banks on the right architecture to adopt and path for progressive transformation and helps banks navigate today’s challenges using technology. He has been a key driver within Oracle to champion the adoption of ISO20022 within Oracle technology stack. He has also been pivotal in driving corporate banking transformation at several banks in Japan.

Key Remit:
1. Lead speaker and panelist in several banking forums around the world including SIBOS and several other industry-leading events
2. Advice on digital transformation journey at bank by leveraging cloud, and latest architecture
3. Leads & manages a global team banking and technology experts helping banks re-imagine banking technology architecture to diversifying their fee-based income

Subject matter expertise:
• Cross-border payments, changing face of payments with the adoption of ISO20022 – Challenges & Opportunities
• Corporate Treasury, Credit & Lending Operational Technology Best Practices
• Digital Transformation Journey of Japan’s Financial Future - future of digital technologies, payments, and finance in Japan's financial sector.
• Technology Revolution, Global Trends, and Implications for Japanese Corporate & Retail Bankers to Know
• Impact of cloud adoption to revolutionize operational efficiency, scalability, and cost-effectiveness for Japanese banks.

A veteran of financial User Experience (UX) with 20 years in the business focusing on business needs and innovation, Dr Andras Rung has worked for various banks, institutions, and Fintech companies since 2002. He founded the Ergomania Product Design Agency and obtained his PhD in linguistics backed with AI in 2012. He is currently focusing on voice technologies and finance-related innovation. He was on stage at Money20/20 in Amsterdam (2021-2023) 3 times.

Originally from Adelaide, South Australia, Andy began his musical career with studies on flute and piano, later pursuing a performance degree on tenor saxophone at the Adelaide College of Arts and Education. Following several years performing in Australia, he travelled for a year and a half in South-East Asia, absorbing the various cultures and musical traditions of Indonesia, Thailand, Nepal and India. Along with playing a wide range of woodwind instruments from saxophone to bansuri flute to the Australian aboriginal didjeridoo.

His distinctive sound and the array of colors he brings to any group have put him in great demand in a variety of situations. He is now actively performing and recording in a broad range of musical settings – including original world-music projects, "Tatopani" and "Tokyo Groove Alliance".

In recent years, Andy has performed both in Japan and internationally with bossa nova artist Lisa Ono, as well as Paris-based artist Jun Miyake – recently appearing with his group at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Japan in November 2017 and at Blue Note Tokyo in November 2018.

Angela leads Asia Pacific public policy and regulatory affairs for TRM Labs, a blockchain intelligence company that helps financial institutions, cryptocurrency businesses and public agencies detect and investigate crypto-related fraud and financial crime.
 
A former regulator, Angela spent over a decade at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), where she was most recently Deputy Director in charge of licensing for payment service providers. As part of the pioneering team for Singapore’s payments regulatory regime, she oversaw the development of the licensing framework, and the assessment of several hundred payments and digital asset license applications. Prior to this, Angela held a diverse range of roles at MAS including in regulatory policy, business development and consumer education, giving her deep insight into the full gamut of policymaking considerations for global financial regulators.

Angela was recognised as a LinkedIn Top Voice for Finance in Asia for her thought leadership on digital asset developments in the region. She holds an MBA from INSEAD.

Economist, graduated at Corvinus University, Budapest. Joined the central bank in 2001. She is responsible for promoting digital transformation in the financial sector as well as within the central bank, including the implementation of cutting edge technologies and research on CBDC.

Anju Patwardhan is a globally experienced Fintech Venture Capital (VC) investor, board director, and a former banking executive. She has lived and worked in Singapore, San Francisco, and India. She is an alumna of IIT Delhi and IIM Bangalore and was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Stanford University.

She works with a FinTech VC Fund of USD 1 Billion and also serves as Independent Director on the board of banks and regulated financial institutions in the US, the UK, Europe, and Saudi Arabia. Her other interests include longevity and financial well-being (Designing for a 100-year life), and mentoring other women leaders.

She is a Singaporean citizen and splits her time between Singapore and San Francisco. She has won several global awards and honours for her work.

Ankur is the Group President of JULO, where he works with Julo Board and Management to build Julo into a leading financial institution across S.E Asia

Ankur has over 20 years of experience in building new businesses across Asia, North America, and Europe. He joined Grab at an early stage in 2016 and founded multiple Fintech businesses at Grab, including its lending and insure-tech businesses, and grew them to over 1.5B in asset size.

He spent 7 years at Grab, during which time he served as CEO of its Lending JV with Credit Saison, Board member of its Insurance JV with Zhonghan and Softbank, and Director of multiple fintech subsidiaries across SG, PH and VN.

Ankur started his career at the IMF in Washington DC and after 7 years at IMF, he moved to Asia in 2008 to join Standard Chartered Bank in Structured Finance. He left Banking to launch his startup in 2012, first in Singapore and later expanding it to Indonesia.

He is passionate about furthering access to Credit to empower the financially underserved. He is an avid angel investor and a father of 3 adorable kids.

Anubhav heads the global Business Development for NPCI Products working with its wholly owned subsidiary - NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL). In his present role, he drives International Business initiatives and engagements working with the Governments, Central Banks and Networks like NPCI overseas to create business opportunities and deepen relationships.
He has 25 years of experience in Payments including working with National Payment Network and Commercial Banks managing digital payment products and Business strategies. These include Real Time payment platforms, Cards, ATMs and Digital banking. In his previous role at NPCI he spearheaded the launch of UPI platform and BHIM App. He has also been associated with other citizen scale platforms like NFS, IMPS and *99# in NPCI.
He started his career in 1999 with Cadburys and has since worked with entities such as Axis Bank, Barclays Bank and DBS Bank leading the alternate Channels product strategy and business initiatives. He holds MBA in Human Resources and Marketing.

Arjun is Partner & Global Co-Head of Fintech with Arthur D. Little's Financial Services Practice.

He is actively involved across the Tech Start-Up ecosystem - as a passive investors, an advisory board members and as a commentator on the rapidly evolving scene. 

Arjun is also a podcast host of a show called - 'Couchonomics with Arjun'. He is also an author of a weekly newsletter on LinkedIn called - 'Couchonomics Crunch' and a Creator of a Weekly News Reel on Payments called 'Couchonomics Reel'. He was recognized by LinkedIn as Top Voice of his region in 2020. 

He currently resides in Dubai, UAE.

Arvind currently advises the Asian Development Bank on fintech investments. His primary focus is to help institutional fintech investors, global tech leaders and South-East Asian startups accelerate value creation and inclusive impact. He leverages deep operating experience over two decades in multiple Asian markets as a banking leader in retail payments, lending and wealth management. Arvind was previously a Venture Partner at Jungle Venture and is an active investor/board advisor. He is also a senior advisor at McKinsey’s Asia banking practice and a Board Member at AFG Partners, an Asia-focused fintech fund. Arvind serves as a Fellow at raiSE, a Singapore-government supported ecosystem builder for social enterprise startups. He has also been involved in government/industry efforts such as SkillsFuture to help shape career pathways in data science.

Asumi Ota is a Partner at D4V where she manages sourcing, due diligence, and support for investment companies. Prior to D4V, Asumi worked as a Business Design Lead at IDEO Tokyo where she developed a passion for helping Japanese startups grow by leveraging human-centered design tools. She began her career as an M&A advisor at Nomura Securities, then worked at Man Group, a UK-based hedge fund. At Orbis Investments, she launched a new retail platform to make investments more accessible. Asumi holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BC from Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.

Atsuhiko Sakamoto is a Senior Managing Director in the Private Equity Group and
is based in Tokyo. Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Sakamoto was most recently a
Managing Director at Bain Capital where he focused on private equity
investments in Japan. Prior to joining Bain Capital, he was a Vice President and
Associate at Ripplewood. Before joining Ripplewood, he worked in the Principal
Investment Area at Goldman Sachs. Mr. Sakamoto received an MBA from Harvard
Business School and a BA from Yale University.

Boost global productivity by fostering happy work environments.

Atsushi has 35 years of experience in the technology/consumer industries in a variety of roles, including Accenture, Coca-Cola, Richemont Group, and American Online. During his 12 years at SoftBank, Atsushi worked closely with Masayoshi Son, the founder of SoftBank, and held various executive positions within the SoftBank Group. These included the CEO of Bharti SoftBank India, the CEO of MySpace Japan, a board member of InMobi, a board member of SingTel JV, and the CMO of Yahoo! Japan.
With a passion for impact investing and building the startup ecosystem in Singapore, India, and SEA, Atsushi joined Mistletoe Inc. as Chief Growth Officer in 2016 and later became co-founder of Mistletoe Japan. In 2017, he relocated to Singapore to establish Mistletoe Singapore as the global headquarters, serving as Managing Director and working closely with Taizo Son, Mistletoe's founder. In 2023, Atsushi and Taizo Son co-founded The Edgeof in Singapore and acquired SoftBank Venture Asia to establish the Pan-Asia startup ecosystem to support αStartups (cross-border startups that use out-of-the-box thinking and cutting-edge technology to tackle pressing global issues at their core.) 

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Born in Tokyo and graduated from Columbia University with a Master of International Affairs, Ayaki Ito has devoted his entire UN career to helping refugees, forcibly displaced and stateless people. After working as a UN Volunteer in an active conflict zone in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he was dispatched by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, as a Junior Professional Officer (sponsored by the government of Japan) to Myanmar where he was involved in the repatriation of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh. He has worked with UNHCR in a variety of field and protection roles in Rwanda, Armenia, Sudan, Lebanon, and Somalia, as well as in donor relations with the World Food Programme based in Tokyo. Later in his career, he returned to Myanmar as UNHCR Deputy Representative and also served as Deputy Director, Asia Pacific Bureau at UNHCR’s Geneva Headquarters. After serving as UNHCR Representative in Syria and again in Lebanon as the Representative, he took up his current role as UNHCR Japan Representative in January 2023 where he continues to advocate for refugee causes both globally and in Japan. He is fluent in English, French and Japanese.

Bing Yi is a Partner in PwC Singapore’s Sustainability & Climate Change practice, supporting organisations in sustainability strategy, risk management, reporting and assurance across various industries including banks, asset managers, real estate as well as other large corporates. He is the Banking ESG lead at PwC Singapore and has led various sustainability assurance and advisory engagements in his career focusing on sustainable financing, sustainability reporting and climate risk management.

Aside from his specialism in sustainability, Bing Yi is also a Banking & Capital Markets specialist and a practising public accountant, experienced in providing audit, assurance and advisory services to various banks and financial institutions in Singapore and Australia.

Bob Ward has been playing jazz guitar for 30 years in New York, USA, with Jack McDuff, Warne Marsh, Barry Harris, Bob Rockwell, Steve LaSpina, Tim Ries, and Marc Johnson. At Current Sound Studio, which he opened, he has enjoyed recording with MMW, Richie Birach, Benny Golson, John Abercrombie, Moby, Chaka Kahn, John Pizzarelli, Marc Copland, and others. As a composer, he has collaborated on songs by George Benson (including the hit song "The Thinker"), Grover Washington Jr., and Ramsey Lewis.

Bob is a seasoned transformation leader in financial services with a strong track record of building and scaling companies.

He believes in the power of Digital with a Human Touch – combining the ease of digital with the value of personal advice. Pi Digital has transformed from a traditional securities broker into a fintech offering a platform for trading, investments and private wealth solutions in Thailand. Pi’s investment consultants leverage the platform to support their customers with tailormade advice to reshape the investment landscape in Thailand.

Bob joined Pi Financial from bolttech and FWD Insurance where he was part of the pioneering teams launching these disruptive insurtechs in Thailand.

Brenda Hu is responsible for the overall policy planning of the FSC, including the Fintech Development Roadmap, Green Finance Action Plan, Financial educational programs, etc.. She also assists in the integration of policy implementation plan, risk management and other measures.

Brent is a Principal Security Specialist at GitHub Japan, focused on writing secure software using the latest AI technology. His specialty in the security field is writing secure code, but he has held a number of technical positions as well as senior roles including CISO throughout his 24 years in Japan. 

Most recently, he is working on using AI to write secure code, fix insecure code, and assist non-developer stakeholders in validating the security of the code. He is particularly interested in the intersection of AI and finance and how it can assist everything from software development to fraud management. 

He previously worked at Citigroup Japan as a software developer, architect and security officer. He also has worked on numerous projects with companies in Japan and globally helping to secure financial systems and processes. 

Bruno Abrioux is the founder and CEO of encognize G.K., an independent Japan-based boutique consultancy that focuses on building cross-border collaborative engagements between emerging innovative companies, corporations and public organizations.

Prior to launching encognize G.K., since 1999, Bruno has held a variety of IT and business-related senior management positions in Europe and in the Asia-Pacific region, working for global organizations and Fortune 200 company FIS, delivering mission-critical technology solutions to the financial services industry. Bruno has been based in Japan since 2007.

Bruno earned a master of engineering in computer sciences from the French University of Technology of Compiègne (UTC), with a major in automation and real time systems, and a minor in philosophy, technology, and cognition.

Bénédicte is the Head of the BIS Innovation Hub, Hong Kong Centre. Prior to this appointment, she was a managing director at SC Ventures, the innovation arm of Standard Chartered Bank that leads a series of new ventures across digital banking, banking as a service, SME finance and blockchain. From 2018-2019, she was the Vice President of International Government Relations at Circle, involved in the evolution of blockchain and digital assets. From 2012-2018, she was the Head of Risk & Strategy of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), and in that capacity also acting as the Vice Chair of the Committee on Emerging Risks and the Fintech research lead for the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). From 2007-2012, she was a managing director at Credit Suisse and before that from 1997-2007 she was an associate and executive director at Goldman Sachs. Originally from Belgium, she holds LL.M. and M.B.A. degrees from the University of Chicago and the University of Leuven. She is admitted to the New York Bar since 1999. In 2016, she was a recipient of the China Daily Asian Women Leadership Awards for her efforts related to entrepreneurship, innovation and charity.

Carey Hsu is a partner based in Oliver Wyman’s Singapore office, serving Financial Services clients across Southeast Asia and North Asia. Carey has more than 16 years of consulting experience, working with leading institutions in Asia, the Americas, and Europe on strategic transformation programs. He advises global financial institutions on risk management, compliance, capital management, strategic planning and budgeting, risk identification and governance, stress testing, and capital markets risk. Through his work, Carey has witnessed the changing competitive dynamics between domestic and foreign banks in different regions and helped his clients adapt their business strategy accordingly. In the US, he supported his clients to cope with the impact of regulatory reform. In Asia, he applied the lessons learned from other regions to help his clients navigate both growth and risk management.

"We help our clients through their transformational moments. The most impactful moments in my career have been when I served the client in a time of need and built trust and teamwork to solve problems and create lasting change."

Carey combines his track record of leading successful change management in complex organizations with his technical expertise and content knowledge on the most critical issues across finance, risk, and compliance. Carey is a Harvard University graduate and earned his PhD from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

Carole House is an Executive in Residence at Terranet Ventures, Inc., and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. She also currently serves as the Chair of the Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), on Advisory Boards for Third Way’s U.S.-China Digital World Order initiative and the Digital Dollar Project, and as a Senior Advisor at FS Vector. Carole recently left the White House National Security Council (NSC), where she served as the Director for Cybersecurity and Secure Digital Innovation. Carole joined the NSC from the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), where she led cybersecurity, virtual currency, and emerging technology policy efforts as a Senior Cyber and Emerging Technology Policy Officer. Prior to FinCEN, she worked as a Presidential Management Fellow supporting the White House Office of Management and Budget's Cyber and National Security Unit and the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on cybersecurity, supply chain risk management, and critical infrastructure protection policy issues. Carole is a former Army Captain who served in chemical defense and military intelligence until November 2014, including a deployment to Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, from 2012 to 2013 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. She holds a BA in international affairs from the University of Georgia and an MA in security studies from Georgetown University.

Caroline is the VP of Global Public Policy at Chainalysis, leading an expert team working across the globe with regulators and industry. Drawing on Chainalysis’ unique data analytics and tools, she identifies insights on the latest developments in digital asset markets and their intersect with global regulatory trends and requirements, working to ensure the right data and tools will meet the future needs of these industry stakeholders.

Caroline was previously the founding Head of the OECD's Global Blockchain Policy Centre, from 2018 to 2021, working on a diverse range of blockchain-related policy issues, such as fintech, competition policy, data governance, and supply chain transparency. In 2019, she co-led the Financial Stability Board’s workstream on decentralised fintech, and also established the OECD’s Blockchain Expert Policy Advisory Board, bringing together more than 100 experts from across the world in government, industry, academia and civil society. In 2020, Caroline was named a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum, and was a judge in the G20 techsprint hackathon. In 2022, she was a finalist in the Global Australian Awards.

Caroline's career began as a lawyer to the Australian government before she joined the OECD in 2010, to work on international tax transparency issues. She went on to set up the OECD-UNDP Tax Inspectors Without Borders initiative and then became the advisor to the OECD’s Head of Tax during the OECD/G20 BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) Project. During this time, Caroline became more interested in the impact of emerging technologies on policy frameworks and began the first global study of the tax treatment of crypto-currencies.

Caroline holds an LLB and LLM, as well as a BA in Communications.

Carrie Suen is the Senior Advisor at Ant Group, where she is responsible to drive our global strategies and thought leadership of Ant's international policy objectives to bring more inclusive, green and sustainable changes to the ecosystem. She also oversaw the legal and privacy functions for Ant International Business Group.

Carrie is a seasoned lawyer and has experience in wide range of subject matters ranging from fintech regulatory, corporate governance, M&A, equity offerings to listed companies compliance. Since joining Ant in 2014, Carrie has been at the forefront of the global digital payment and regulatory development, where she accumulated practical insight of the market pain points. Carrie has been involved in regular direct communications and dialogues with regulators/government and international organizations, to raise awareness the importance of financial inclusion and help shape the policy landscape globally. Under her leadership, Ant’s International Legal team grew fourfold from 2017-2020, supporting over 100 markets/regions. 

In 2020, Carrie received the APAC outstanding leader award from the IFLR recognizing her support of diversity and empowerment at work. Carrie is an advisory board member of the Emerging Payments Association Asia and an active member of the sub-committees of the Singapore Fintech Association in fostering more support and championship for women fintech leadership in Singapore and the region.

She has more than 20 years working experience as IT Consultant in Financial Industry at Dentsu Soken (formerly ISI-Dentsu). After leading global projects and launching a new business development in capital markets area, she started taking charge of FIBC, the first FinTech pitch contest in Japan, from 2014. Participated in the founding of FINOVATORS. In February 2016, launched FINOLAB project in collaboration with Mitsubishi Estate and Dentsu to build FinTech business ecosystem. In July 2019, established FINOLAB Inc. as a legal entity and she was appointed CEO. In January 2024, appointed executive officer of Dentsu Soken.

Chihiro currently leads the planning and organizing of Japan Fintech Week, focusing on fostering innovation within the financial sector. Her role involves engaging in international relations and conducting comprehensive research on technological and business trends both in Japan and globally.

Chizuru Suga is a policy entrepreneur currently serving as the Counselor for Digital Administrative Reform at the Japanese Digital Agency since 2021. In this role, she is leading a significant regulatory reform effort, orchestrating a one-time revision of 10,000 analog regulations across the government.

Chizuru's impact extends to her role as the Director for Digital Economy at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). She plays a key role in formulating the nationwide comprehensive plan for the Digital Lifeline, contributing to the development of essential public infrastructure for autonomous driving and drone logistics.

Prior to her current roles, Chizuru served as the Founding Head of the World Economic Forum Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Japan from 2018 to 2021. Leading a diverse team comprising members from government, local authorities, industries and academia, she directed global projects addressing data governance, smart cities, next-generation mobility, and healthcare.

Chizuru Suga holds an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. in Law from the University of Tokyo.

Chris Brummer is the Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Financial Technology at Georgetown Law, as well as a trusted advisor to policymakers, founders, firms, and regulators, at the highest levels, around the world.

Professor Brummer is also the CEO of Bluprynt, a disclosure company for crypto assets backed by some of the VC, fintech firms and regulatory authorities in the United States. He is also the founder of DC Fintech Week, one of the world's premier fintech events, and sits on the boards of Fannie Mae, K2 Integrity, and Public.com.

Chris earned a Ph.D from the University of Chicago and graduated from law school with honors from Columbia.

Chris Hollifield is head of business development at Luxembourg for Finance, where his work involves advising FinTech and financial companies looking to develop cross-border activity through Luxembourg-based platforms. He also advises on the development of the ecosystem in Luxembourg and on synergy creation with other key financial centres, with a focus on East Asia.

Prior to working at Luxembourg for Finance, Chris worked in the strategy department of Clearstream Banking SA, an International Central Securities Depository that facilitates the settlement of interbank transactions in over 50 markets worldwide. Here, his work focused particularly on strategic projects concerning distributed ledger technology and other FinTech topics.

Chris is an economic affairs advisor to Ondrej Kovarik MEP in the European Parliament, working principally on drafting EU legislation in the field of financial services and specifically digital assets. Chris was part of the drafting team from the European Parliament on the EU's new MiCA framework and is currently working on the new Payments and Financial Data Access legislation going through the EU's legislative process.

Originally from Northern Ireland, Chris holds a Masters degree in Languages and European Union Studies from the University of Edinburgh. He has worked in the European Parliament for 11 years, advising MEPs from both the UK and the Czech Republic in the Renew Europe political group.

Christopher Hardy
Percussionist

Highly acclaimed percussionist and composer, Christopher Hardy has performed with artists as diverse as Sting, Hamza El Din, The Brad Kelley Big Band, Kazuya Yoshii, Kazumi Watanabe, Yang Bang-ean, and composers Lou Harrison, Elliot Carter, and George Crumb. He has also performed with the Cirque du Soleil show “Zed.”

パーカッション
アメリカ出身。ハンドドラムのスペシャリストとして高い評価を得ている。これまで STING、吉井和哉、渡辺香津美、山下洋輔、梁邦彦、ハムザ・エル・ディン、ルー・ハリソンなどと共演。シルク・ドゥ・ソレイユ「ZED」のミュージシャンとしてステージに参加。

Claire Calmejane is a seasoned executive known for her strategic leadership in digital transformation, leveraging AI and Blockchain to drive growth and operational efficiencies. Her expertise has significantly enhanced client services and profitability, particularly through her roles at Societe Generale and Lloyds Banking Group, where she led major digitalization projects and innovation initiatives, including SG Ventures. With extensive experience across major global markets, Claire has a proven track record in managing large teams and multi-billion transformation projects with an emphasis on sustainability and corporate governance.

A strong advocate for diversity in STEM, Claire has dedicated efforts to mentor women and invest through Leia Capital on women led startups. Her academic credentials include graduating top of her class in Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science from EPITA, holding a master’s degree from HEC, and conducting research at MIT. Claire's achievements in AI and Blockchain have positioned her as a forward-thinking leader, driving significant advancements in the tech and financial industries. She delivered a course on the impact of tokenisation with CFTE and SMU.

Cynthia has an extensive background in senior management for global tech firms overseeing $10B USD product portfolios, is a seasoned expert in market entry and new venture investment. She holds EMBA degrees from Tsinghua and CKGSB and has studied at Wharton Business School and Stanford.

Graduated from Science Po Paris and Paris Sorbonne University, Cyril has led missions in the fields of communication and administrative, financial and legal management of promising and innovative projects in strategic sectors for France.

He joined the Louis Bachelier Group in 2008 to manage the financing, the development and the promotion of more than 60 research programs in four societal transitions: environmental, digital, demographic and financial

In 2011 he became the Secretary General of the The Louis Bachelier Network, which funds, develops and promotes research excellence in economics and finance.

In 2016, Cyril joined the global competitiveness cluster Finance Innovation as Director of Partnerships before becoming Deputy CEO in July 2020.

His missions focus mainly on leading and helping to develop R&D projects for innovative companies in the financial ecosystem: banking, insurance, asset management, real estate, sustainable finance, real estate, corporate finance and Web 3.

Daisuke Aranami joined Microsoft in Dec 2023 as the Managing Executive Officer responsible for Financial Service Industry. Daisuke owns strong passion to lead and drive AI transformation in the Japan FSI by leveraging Microsoft's innovative technology.
Prior to Microsoft, Daisuke experienced several leadership positions, including the ones in McKinsey, Tokyo Star Bank, Stripe Japan and Apple Japan.

Daniel, as a Senior Business Analyst CBDC, provides consultancy to central banks, financial service providers and public authorities on CBDC use cases, design aspects and strategy. He is leading the development of cross-border digital currency solutions within the team. Prior to working at G+D, he was part of a CBDC Think Tank and was a director at an investment management company. He has received education on Banking and Finance. Within G+D, Daniel is part of the CBDC thought leadership team and has (co)authored various papers and concepts, and is working on CBDC projects in Africa. His main research area is the effects of digital currencies on the international financial system and geopolitics.

Daranee Saeju is the Assistant Governor in charge of Payment Systems Policy and Financial Consumer Protection Group. She oversees payment systems policies and regulations, as well as supervision of IT/cyber risks, market infrastructures, payment services providers, and non-banks. Fostering innovations in payments and fintech also come under her purview. In addition, she oversees works on market conduct, consumer protection and financial literacy.

Daranee has served the Bank for over 20 years in various critical functions including risk management, monetary policy formulation and implementation, foreign exchange policy and intervention strategy, markets and financial sector developments, financial stability, micro- and macro-prudential regulations, as well as international strategy.

During 2009-2011, she was seconded to the Monetary and Capital Markets Department at the IMF in her role as an expert on monetary and foreign exchange operations and market developments.

Daranee obtained her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Rochester in the United States, and a B.Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science in England.

Payments veteran with over 30 years of experience. Spending more than 10 years working in a Bank. The rest of my time has been for a Fintech where I’ve worked in senior strategic roles advising banks payments divisions including MUFG, BOC, Citibank, HSBC, Barclays and many other banks in this region such as Westpac, BBL, ANZ and OCBC. I also regularly speak and participate on panels at industry events and was on the Australian SWIFT User group for 10 years, as well as the RTGS industry group. I love how the payments industry is constantly changing new opportunities.

David Brunner, PhD is Founder & CEO of ModuleQ, the Unprompted AI company. ModuleQ helps professionals work smarter and achieve their goals by surfacing hyper-personalized insights at timely moments. For example, working alongside managing directors in advisory businesses, the AI calls attention to market developments impacting the MDs' clients and coverage areas, so they can be first to reach out with strategic ideas and advice. ModuleQ partners closely with Microsoft and the London Stock Exchange Group, and works with the world's largest financial institutions.

David holds a PhD in Information, Technology & Management from Harvard and a BS in Computer Science from Stanford, where he was advised by AI pioneer and Turing Award recipient Professor Edward Feigenbaum. Before his PhD, Brunner was an associate in the Tokyo and San Francisco offices of The Boston Consulting Group.

David holds two US patents for the Personal Data Fusion AI technology he invented at ModuleQ. He has peer-reviewed publications in the AAAI 2022 Spring Symposium proceedings and the Journal of Operations Management. Brunner speaks Japanese and is coauthor with Professor Feigenbaum of The Japanese Entrepreneur: Making the Desert Bloom, a book describing the challenges faced by entrepreneurs in Japan.

Dr. David R. Hardoon is the Chief Executive Officer of Aboitiz Data Innovation and the Group Chief Data and AI Officer of the Union Bank of the Philippines.

Prior to his current roles, David was the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’s first appointed Chief Data Officer and Head of Data Analytics Group reporting to the agency’s Deputy Managing Director for Financial Supervision and subsequently Special Advisor for Artificial Intelligence reporting to Deputy Managing Director for Markets and Development. In these roles, he led the development of the AI strategy both for MAS and Singapore’s financial sector as well as driving efforts in promoting open cross-border data flows.

David holds a PhD in Computer Science in the field of Machine Learning from the University of Southampton and graduated from Royal Holloway, University of London with First Class Honors B.Sc. in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence.

David has been leading advancements in agribusiness, manufacturing and supply chains for almost a decade
Always a problem solver, he started his career in medicine. Today, his passion for technology—and how it can be used to solve complex problems—inspires him to completely reimagine digital money and asset flows as well as utilisation for AI for programmable workflows and efficiencies.
Through data, David has changed the narrative of what’s possible; we are harnessing the power of AI to suit real work requirements in trade, credit and regulatory applications.
David is a change-maker at the forefront of this industry shift into the digital age.

デイビッドは、農業ビジネス、製造業、およびサプライチェーンの進歩をほぼ10年にわたり牽引してきました。常に問題解決者であり、彼は医学分野でキャリアをスタートさせました。今日、彼の技術への情熱—そしてそれが複雑な問題を解決するためにどのように使用できるか—は、デジタルマネーと資産の流れ、さらにはAIを用いたプログラマブルワークフローと効率性の完全な再想像を彼に触発させています。
データを通じて、デイビッドは何が可能かの物語を変えました。私たちは、貿易、信用、および規制のアプリケーションにおいて実際の作業要件に適したAIの力を活用しています。
デイビッドは、この業界がデジタル時代に移行する最前線の変革者です。

David manages Metaco’s custody solutions sales across APAC. He has a deep background in product strategy and commercialisation, leveraging more than 15 years of markets, digital asset and technology experience in roles from sales to infrastructure. David is a fluent Japanese speaker and is based in Tokyo.

Dea is Managing Director and the Digital Assets practice lead for Forefront Advisers, a Brussels and London-based political risk and intelligence firm. Her team forecasts and scrutinises the geopolitical and regulatory risks affecting digital finance and critical emerging technologies.

Dea moved into this role, having led advocacy campaigns in digital finance, crypto-assets regulation and AML in 2020-2023, as the EU negotiated its seminal regulatory frameworks in these areas.

Prior, Dea was part of the FinTech and Innovation Group of the MAS, responsible for market-differentiating infrastructure for innovation initiatives. Dea spent 10 years in London, as an adviser on financial regulation in the post-GFC reregulation period as well as the first Head of Strategic Programmes for Innovate Finance, the UK FinTech trade association.

Dea is an affiliate with the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance and Evaluation Committee Member for IFSCA, Gujarat, India. She holds MSc in Financial Regulation from the LSE, and speaks Spanish, Russian, Bulgarian and Portuguese.

As President and COO of Kore.ai, DK leads Go-to-Market functions, revenue growth, client success, strategy and cross-functional collaboration. Till recently he served as the CEO of a pioneering payments startup and a lending incubator. As ex-CIO of Citigroup International, he spearheaded large scale core modernization and digitalization initiatives. He is renowned for driving enterprise-grade software development and scaling sustainable growth.

Dongpyo Hong is Vice Chairman of Korea Fintech Industry Association and Chair of Global Alliance & Partnership there to bridge Korea and global fintech industries. He is also Founder & CEO of KnowWhere which is providing business matching service in global IT industry.

Donovan Foo stands as a dynamic figure at the intersection of technology and entrepreneurship, fuelled by a profound commitment to innovation within the startup realm. With a solid foundation in science and a keen entrepreneurial acumen, his journey commenced with the inception of Bumpp—a pioneering platform redefining conventional networking through digital business cards. In his capacity as a co-founding partner and Director at Bumpp, Donovan has been instrumental in shaping strategic product initiatives and spearheading the development of cutting-edge solutions. Through harnessing the power of data analytics, he remains steadfast in his mission to empower organisations, facilitating the extraction of invaluable insights from their interactions with clientele.

Donovan's work at Bumpp has provided him with invaluable insights into the intricacies of the startup ecosystem. Juggling academic pursuits alongside professional endeavours, he has cultivated a nuanced understanding of investor expectations and adeptly navigated the complexities inherent in early-stage ventures. An ardent advocate for knowledge sharing and collaborative innovation, Donovan is poised to drive transformative change and deliver enduring impact within the tech industry.

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.

Eiji Miyakawa founded Digital Wallet based on his dream to strengthen and sustain the global economy by connecting and working with many people around the world.

Initially, Mr. Miyakawa became a licensed lawyer in 1999. He then entered Sony Corporation. At that time, he launched FeliCa Networks as a joint venture company with NTT DoCoMo to offer a mobile payment service.

The next step he took was to become a General Manager at Sony Corporation in the Global Cloud Platform Development and Management Department in 2001. There, he was responsible for digital services of TV, audio, PlayStation, entertainment services and more for 150 million users all over the globe.

After he resigned from Sony, he took the initiative to establish Digital Wallet Corporation in 2014, inviting a team of former engineers and cloud designers of Sony Corporation. The company is now commonly known to be the developer and owner of Smiles Mobile Remittance, the most popular global remittance service in Japan and recipient of Good Design Award 2021. Currently, Digital Wallet's business is rapidly growing with a team of 13 nationalities, majority female, and expanded in the US, Canada, Singapore and five other locations across the globe. After acquiring Seven-Eleven Group's remittance service, its remittance service has now become the largest ATM network in Japan.

Emily Parker is CoinDesk's executive director of global strategy. Previously, Emily was a member of the Policy Planning staff at the U.S. State Department, where she advised on Internet freedom and digital diplomacy. Emily was a writer/editor at The Wall Street Journal and an editor at The New York Times. She is the co-founder of LongHash, a blockchain startup that focuses on Asian markets. She is the author of "Now I Know Who My Comrades Are: Voices From the Internet Underground" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux). The book tells the stories of Internet activists in China, Cuba and Russia. Mario Vargas Llosa, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, called it "a rigorously researched and reported account that reads like a thriller." Her book has been assigned at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Tufts, UCSD and other schools. She was chief strategy officer at the Silicon Valley social media startup Parlio, which was acquired by Quora. She has been interviewed on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, BBC and many other television and radio shows. Emily has lived in China and Japan and speaks Chinese and Japanese.

Eric Wei founded Dimes, Inc. in 2021 to build an AI machine-learning based skill matching platform- timelyhero.com that empowers people to offer their knowledges in AI chatbot, video content and real-time video chat format to help users learning without language barrier. In a previous role, he launched Germany-based Delivery Hero's food delivery business in Japan as CEO of foodpanda Japan, where he oversaw the country's operations, grew the organisation from zero to over 100 employees and expanded services to 10 cities within six months. Prior to foodpanda, Eric was CPO leading DiDi Japan launch for Chinese ride-hailing unicorn DiDi and Japan telecom giant Softbank, providing online to offline ride-hailing services across all major cities in Japan. With over 20 years of experience in e-commerce, including stints at Amazon and Google, Eric brings a proven track record for building and developing business as well as driving digital transformation in Japan and Asia Pacific. Eric graduated from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan with a master’s degree in systems and naval mechatronic engineering, e-commerce and supply chain management. He was also nominated by Google to attend its Executive Marketing Academy at The Wharton School.

Having held numerous executive positions with global players in traditional and new finance, Eva is now entrusted by the Swiss Government to build up a brand new Financial Innovation Desk for Switzerland. She is admitted to the New York and Zurich bar and is also known as an innovation concierge. She specializes in build and change projects and roots for disruptive and fresh ideas. She founded PEPPERMINTAS, a private initiative to inspire girls for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and was nominated a Top 10 Women in Tech to Follow in Switzerland in 2024.

Felix Frenzel is a venture capital investment professional, based in Singapore. He most recently worked as Investment Manager with Antler. Previously, he worked as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company and, prior to that, gained experience in management consulting and investments. Felix received an MBA from INSEAD, an MSc International Finance from HEC Paris and a BSc Economics from the University of Bonn.

Dr. Felix Schneider is heading the investment activities in the FinTech space for global markets at KfW DEG. He is responsible for the impact-oriented investment strategy across the themes FinTech, InsurTech and Embedded Finance and manages a diversified portfolio of direct investments and funds in Asia, Africa and LatAm. In his role, Felix frequently represents DEG as Board and LPAC Member at the portfolio companies and funds. Felix holds a PhD. from University of Cologne and a CEMS Master in International Management from HEC Paris and University of Cologne.

Fernando’s career began in academia where he first became deeply involved with the budding Linux community in the early 90s. This led him to the corporate world with a number of roles at the NTT Group starting in 2003, where he contributed to the mainstreaming of open source. He transitioned into the FinTech world, joining Japanese financial conglomerate SBI in 2016. He became CEO of SBI Digital Asset Holdings in July 2020, where he is leading its digital asset strategy and digital business' global expansion. He is also a member of the Monetary Authority of Singapore's International Technology Advisory Panel.

Frederick T. Pye is the Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of 3iQ Digital Holdings Inc. He is also the portfolio manager and UDP of 3iQ Corp.

Mr. Pye is an entrepreneurial investment industry executive with four decades of experience in investment management, mutual funds, ETFs, and private client management. He is well known for creating and promoting creative and unique investment products for the investment industry.
As founder and CEO of 3iQ, he and his team have worked cooperatively with the Ontario Securities Commission to launch the first exchange listed Bitcoin and Ether funds in North America.

Mr. Pye is active in the Bitcoin mining industry, Web 3 and the metaverse and works diligently to promote regulated digital asset investment vehicles on a global scale. He obtained his Master’s in Business Administration from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.

Ganesh Rengaswamy, a seasoned entrepreneur and venture investor, leads Quona’s investments in Asia. Before co-founding Quona, Ganesh led Accion Frontier Investments’ work in India. Prior to his time with Accion, Ganesh was a General Partner of Lok Capital, a venture growth fund that invests in financial inclusion and social enterprises. Ganesh previously served as the Asia Director for Unitus Inc., a global organization investing in sustainable solutions in financial inclusion. During these stints, Ganesh invested and advised leading financial institutions and banks including SKS/Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd, Ujjivan, Equitas, IFMR/NorthenArc, Vistaar, TechProcess and Bandhan.

He previously led the entry of Greylock Partners, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund, into the Indian market and also co-founded Travelguru.com, acquired by Travelocity. Early in his career, Ganesh worked for Infosys, where he was responsible for customer acquisition and growth engagements for US-based Fortune 1000 clients.

Ganesh is a frequent speaker at global industry events including Singapore Fintech Festival, Asia Investment Conference, SuperReturn, Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), India-China Fintech Summit, and LendIt. Ganesh’s exits include IndiaMart (IPO), Coins.ph (Go-Jek), Shubham (Premji Invest), IFMR, TechProcess (Ingenico), Vistaar, Rural Shores, and Securent (Cisco). Ganesh’s current and past investment and entrepreneurial advisory roles include Village Capital, Accion Venture Lab, GSF Accelerator and IIM-Ahmedabad, and he has been featured in Bloomberg, CNBC, The Economic Times, The Mint, and others.

Gen has over 20+ years of business development experiences assisting foreign start-ups expanding to Japanese market - across FinTech, Tourism, Quantum Computing, Cyber / Data Security, Payment, Smart Building with solid track records. He has ample experiences with market penetration, enterprise deal closure, mission critical system deliveries and crisis management. Gen is currently involved with several start-ups in senior business development / advisory role.

Gordon Niamatali has 18 years of experience working for investment banks in Asia, most recently running Equity Execution Services for Citigroup in Japan, and Equity Flow Derivative Sales for Morgan Stanley in Japan before that. Prior to trading, Gordon spent 3 years in Finance at Lehman Brothers and Deutsche Bank, handling product control and accounting for derivative products. Gordon has a BA in economics from Cornell University, with concentrations in Japanese language and mathematics.

Grace heads the Financial Regulatory practice in Gibson Dunn Singapore. She has extensive experience advising on cross-border and complex regulatory matters, including licensing and conduct of business requirements, regulatory investigations, and regulatory change. A former in-house counsel at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), she regularly interacts with key regulators, is closely involved in regional regulatory reform initiatives and has led discussions with regulators on behalf of the financial services industry.

Grace was named Fintech and Digital Assets Lawyer of the Year at the Law.com Asia Legal Awards 2023, and is an elected board member of the Singapore Association of Cryptocurrency Enterprises and Startups (ACCESS). She has advised banks, exchanges, asset managers and startups across Singapore and Hong Kong on regulatory issues such as banking and payments regulations, implementation of electronic trading platforms, licensing, outsourcing, virtual banking, derivatives and structured products, and data protection and security.

As a finance professional, Henry lives and breathes technology. His passion is supported by his extensive experience and track record in managing international financial institutions. He previously served as the Deputy CEO at Citibank China, Standard Chartered Bank China, and the Greater China CEO at East West Bank. "Technology is a powerful enabler. I see in it the tremendous potential to address numerous pain points in the current financial system. We aim to bridge the gaps between DeFi and TradFi."

Since joining Accenture in 1996, Hideyuki has developed over 27 years of consultancy expertise, primarily focusing on transformative projects for the banking and insurance industries.

In 2011, he took the initiative to set up the Japan Desk team to contribute to the global expansion of Japanese financial institutions. Committed to this effort, he spent 10 years in Singapore and Thailand, where he also led Accenture ASEAN's banking practice, enhancing his proficiency in fintech innovations and digital strategies.

After returning to Japan in 2021, Hideyuki has been focusing on spearheading transformation initiatives, particularly targeting the changes in core system architectures.

He holds a Master of Science degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Hikari Kawano joined Bloomberg in June 2014 as an Ownership and Portfolio Holdings Data Analyst, based in Tokyo. Recognizing the critical role of quality ESG data in driving sustainability solutions, she transitioned to become the APAC ESG Data Product Specialist in 2020. In her current capacity, Hikari plays the important role of ensuring the integrity and accuracy of ESG data operations and management, which serve as the cornerstone for Bloomberg's ESG Scores and Climate Data Solutions. Hikari firmly believes that high standards of data quality forms the foundation of reliable information in addressing climate and ESG-related challenges.

Engaged in new business development of digital financial services in Japan and overseas at consulting firms and financial service companies and CVC investment/collaborative development with Fintech/SaaS startups. And SaaS/PaaS business development for banks at a major JP SIer.
Currently working as an Industry Advisor in Financial Services at Salesforce.

Hiroshi Nakatake is a Managing Director of Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) and representative of the GLEIF Japan Office.
He is serving as a committee member and observer at several government-sponsored digitization-related working groups. He also works as an expert in various technology standard bodies, such as ISO committees and the Japan Internet Society.
Prior to joining GLEIF, he worked for MUFG, where he led the global cash management products and served as a member of the board of SWIFT and GLEIF. He earned his undergraduate degree from Kyushu University and studied bank management at University of Mannheim.

Huey Lin leads special projects at Terraformation whose mission is to catalyze global forest restoration to solve climate change. Terraformation has launched the world's first forest carbon accelerator program that empowers local communities to become carbon entrepreneurs. The company is backed by the the founders of OpenAI, Salesforce, and Asana.

Huey was the founding Chief Operating Officer at Affirm (NYSE: AFRM). She was responsible for building the Finance, Compliance, Legal, HR, G&A, Business Operation, Client Success, and Customer Service teams.

Huey began her career at PayPal as one of the company’s first product managers. She subsequently spent more than a decade at the firm where she led China and Asia-Pacific operations.

Most recently, she was the President of Asia at Flexport, a modern freight forwarder and one of the fastest-growing companies in global trade.

Huey holds a B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University and an A.M. from Stanford University. Huey serves on the board of directors of Hang Seng Bank, SGX Group, and Nium. She advises Chainlink Labs, PayU, TrueLayer amongst others.

Joanna Yeo is an impact investor and fintech entrepreneur, an Asia Society Asia 21 Young Leader, and speaker on technology and capital markets innovation for financial inclusion and sustainability - ISSB, UNFCCC, Financial Times, Euromoney
CEO and founder of Arukah, a fintech financing carbon credit development for farmers and MSMEs in food & agriculture supply chains across Asia and Africa
Impact investment committee member, United Nations Sanitation and Hygiene Fund
Independent director for the IFC’s distressed asset recovery program (DARP) partner for Southeast Asia
New business builder in capital markets and fintech, including new $2B AUM fund at Morgan Stanley, and a Silicon Valley unicorn that has run over $12B+ in regulated financial services on blockchain
Graduated summa cum laude from Harvard with master’s degrees from Stanford GSB and Cambridge (Gates Cambridge Fellowship)

An MIT engineer by background, an entrepreneur by nature, and more generally a “big picture” person, Huy Trieu Nguyen has led Citibank, RBS, SocGen as Managing Director through many large scale Fintech ventures. As a leader in the Fintech world, Huy also dedicates to teaching and preparing the next generation for digital finance as a Fellow at Oxford and Fintech Advisor at the World Economic Forum.

Mr. Mortimer-Schutts is a financial, digital and data sector development and policy expert. Formerly at the World Bank Group, based in Asia for nearly 12 years he has advised private companies, financial services authorities and industry organizations on financial and digital sector innovation and investments. He previously held positions with BNP Paribas in emerging markets business development and securities regulation, at a joint Science-Po and AEI-Brooking think tank on trade and regulatory policy as well as with financial securities intermediaries in Europe.

Ivan is a graduate of the London School of Economics, Science Po (Paris) and the UWC of the Atlantic.

Jack is the Executive Director of SMU Academy and is responsible for the Academy’s mission to equip and empower Singapore’s workforce with the competencies and career resilience required for this era of technological disruption. 

Jack brings extensive expertise in business development, strategy, business building and transformation from his experience across multiple industries to forge innovative partnerships across the adult learning and training ecosystem. He possesses a wealth of insight and global experience from a 26-year career spanning the education, telecommunications, financial services and professional services sectors. Jack has been a key driver in developing and executing strategies to evolve SMU Academy into one of the top continuing education and training programme provider in Singapore.  
 
Before joining SMU Academy, Jack was the Director of Markets and Partnerships in SMU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business. He was also previously the Head of Custom Programmes and Client Director in SMU’s Executive Development.  

Jaclyn has a great deal of experience in both the private sector and the public sector.

She had previously served as a District Court judge from 1982 to 1991, after which she worked as IBM's General Counsel in Taiwan from 1991 to 1995, and later the Greater China region from 1995 to 1998.

She founded Lee, Tsai & Partners with Dr. Lee in 1998 and specializes in technology law, M&A and investment matters.

In 2013, Jaclyn was appointed as the Minister without Portfolio in the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) and became one of the few female ministers in the government. During her term as Minister without Portfolio, she was responsible for a number of inter-ministry affairs, such as the reformation of laws relating to virtual world development, e-commerce, the shared economy, digital convergence, the startup environment, open data, and the maker movement.

Jaclyn returned to the firm in 2016, and she is currently the Executive Director of Asia FinTech Association and the Honorary Chairwoman of Taiwan FinTech Association.

James is a Partner with Oliver Wyman, based in Sydney, Australia. He leads our AI and Data Science capabilities in Australia and our Digital Assets Platform for Asia Pacific. Prior that that James was part of Oliver Wyman’s global Data Science and Engineering senior team, based out of Boston and then New York.



James specializes in advanced analytics and technical solution development, and has deep experience in large language models, predictive analytics, risk, and pricing, and is focused on delivering impact through the application of machine learning and the deployment of innovative, sustainable technology solutions.



Much of his work is focused on financial services, specifically around anti-financial crime, but he regularly spends time in other industries and supporting the FinTech ecosystem.



James holds a PhD in astrophysics from the University of Cambridge, a first-class masters with honours in physics and astronomy from Durham University, and contributed to research at the University of Oxford’s Planetary Astronomy and Science department. He has completed executive education at Wharton and INSEAD business schools.

Jan spent most of his career managing portfolios with Stanley Druckenmiller. Prior to TOGGLE, he was Co-CIO of global macro strategies at Lombard Odier, and also managed portfolios at Fortress. Jan has the record for fastest ever Harvard Economics PhD (2.5 years), studying under Ken Rogoff.
In addition to his Economics PhD, he holds BA and MA degrees in Mathematics and Economics from Yale.

Building the biggest EdTech Accelerator in the world. 1,000+ Companies by 2025 (SuperCharger Ventures) and building a market-defining platform to improve founders mental health & wellbeing (Founders Taboo)

Jason is Head of Product at SBI Digital Asset Holdings, the digital arm of Japanese financial conglomerate SBI. He drives technical product initiatives and roadmaps across multiple areas within the digital asset space and was instrumental in the early-stage creation of AsiaNext Digital Exchange, a joint venture between SBI and SIX. Having a background in systems development and solution architecture, he is a veteran of the technology and finance industries with over 25 years' experience, mainly building out fixed income trading solutions and exchange platforms, with previous firms including UBS, DRCM, Nomura, and Singapore Exchange.

Julius Caesar Parreñas is Senior Advisor of the Daiwa Institute of Research at the Daiwa Securities Group. He coordinates the Asia-Pacific Financial Forum (APFF) and represents the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) in the APEC Finance Ministers’ Process. Previous to this, he had served as Senior Advisor at Mizuho Bank, Nomura Research Institute and Nomura Securities, Advisor on International Affairs of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd and Senior Advisory Fellow of the Institute for International Monetary Affairs in Tokyo. He received his Ph.D., magna cum laude, from the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany. He has authored over 100 publications on finance and economics.

Jean-Eric Paquet is the Ambassador of the European Union (EU) to Japan since autumn 2022.
He held various mandates at the European Commission, where he contributed in shaping EU policy in various fields and achieved major breakthroughs. As the Director-General for Research and Innovation from 2018 and 2022, he set up the European Innovation Council and promoted a whole-of-government approach for R&I, notably via the creation of several EU Missions to solve major ecological, societal and economical challenges.
He gained considerable experience at international level as Director for the Western Balkans in the Directorate-General for European Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations and as EU Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania from 2004 to 2007.
From 2015 to 2018, he was Deputy Secretary-General of the European Commission, in charge of Better Regulation and Policy Coordination.
He also led the development of the Trans-European Transport Network Policy and was responsible for Europe’s transport infrastructure policy and investment strategies, the single European rail area, inland waterways and port policy.
In all his endeavours, he puts co-creation and systemic change at the heart of the decision-making process, and strongly believes that citizens should be more involved in shaping public policy agendas.

Jeff Wentworth is a Co-founder of Curvegrid, a blockchain software company founded in Tokyo, Japan in 2017. Curvegrid's MultiBaas blockchain middleware makes it easy and cost effective to build on blockchain. Previously, Jeff worked in financial services and enterprise data storage.

Jeremy is the Founder and CEO of Rimark, headquartered in the Bay Area, California. His leadership guides Rimark's strategic direction, operations, and growth initiatives. With a background in design, finance, and business development, Jeremy is dedicated to driving Rimark's mission to build banking better on the blockchain.

Prior to founding Rimark, Jeremy served as the General Manager (GM) of a boutique record label specializing in music intellectual property (IP) investment. Before that, Jeremy accumulated valuable experience in finance, marketing, and technology while working for the state of California at Sonoma State University.

Jeremy holders and masters in Global Entertainment and Music Business from Berklee College of Music.

Jesayas Ferdinandus is a visionary leader and entrepreneur with a passion for creating innovative solutions in the fintech space. As the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of OY! Indonesia, he has spearheaded the development of a collaborative payment platform that aims to revolutionize the way people transact in Indonesia.
Jesayas brings a wealth of experience to his role, having previously worked as an analyst at Accenture and as a Business Development professional at aCommerce. However, it was his time as a VP for GoFood at Gojek that truly ignited his passion for creating a more efficient and inclusive financial ecosystem in Indonesia.

With OY! Indonesia, Jesayas is on a mission to provide a reliable payment system platform for all parties involved, from consumers to merchants and financial institutions. His vision is to build the best financial infrastructure for every money-movement need, ultimately connecting people all over Indonesia and empowering them to thrive in the digital economy.

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.

Jessica Renier is Managing Director of Digital Finance at the IIF. She previously served as Associate Director at the Office of Management and Budget in the Executive Office of the President at the White House where she oversaw a range of Federal Government agencies, including the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Treasury, Commerce, and the Small Business Administration. She also served as Senior Counselor for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes and Senior Advisor for Domestic Finance at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, leading financial technology and innovation policy. She additionally previously worked at the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Dallas, J.P. Morgan Securities, the Hoover Institution, and Deloitte Consulting, and holds an MBA from Stanford GSB.

Meet Jil Ebanoidze: A Fintech executive, NLP coach, and visionary Entrepreneur. With a passion for merging Neuroscience and Technology, she champions equality, empathy, and sustainability.

Jil pioneers payments innovation and ESG wallet integration within major tech and fintech enterprises, collaborating with industry giants worldwide. As a startup mentor across the globe, she contributes her expertise through affiliations with Cyberport in Hong Kong and Venture builders in the Middle East and Africa.

Formerly of eBay, Naspers Group, and Director of Payments at Booking.com, Jil's journey embodies leadership and innovation.

As an advocate for female empowerment, she established Maison AVAZA, a personal branding company empowering women to authentically express themselves and share their stories.

John Ho is the Global Head of Legal, Financial Markets for Standard Chartered Bank (“SCB”), overseeing and providing legal advisory, transactional and documentation support for Financial Markets (FM) business globally for Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), its branches and affiliates.

Mr Ho is on the Financial Stability Board’s Taskforce on the Legal, Regulatory and Supervisory Frameworks, and the FIA Asia Pacific Advisory Board. Mr. Ho is also the co-chair of (1) the ISDA South East Asia Legal and Regulatory Committee and (2) the ISDA Asia Pacific ESG Working group. Mr. Ho is a member of the panel of experts of P.R.I.M.E. Finance, the financial markets dispute resolution service based in The Hague

Mr. Ho has supported digitisation in SCB and adoption of new or innovative technology initiatives such as blockchain, distributed ledger technology and smart contracts. He is an active participant in the industry’s Fintech events and has shared insights on the legal and regulatory framework relating to the development of Fintech, Digital Assets, Stablecoins, Web3 and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). He has acted as a mentor for the UK FCA Sustainability TechSprint, FCA Digital Sandbox, R3 and LongHash, both global incubator networks which provide a full range of support for start-ups working on blockchain or distributed ledger related projects.

He is qualified as an advocate and solicitor in Singapore and he received his law degree from the National University of Singapore.

Joichi “Joi” Ito is a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, writer, and scholar focusing on the transformation of society and technology. He served as director of the MIT Media Lab from 2011 to 2019 where he lead the establishment of the Digital Currency Initiative in 2015. He has served on numerous boards, including at The New York Times Company and Sony Corporation. He was a senior independent advisor to Japanese Financial Services Agency from 2016-2019. He is a member of The Digital Society Council of the Digital Agency of Japan.

Jonathan Whittle is co-founder and Managing Partner at Quona, where he leads Quona’s Latin America investment strategy.

Jonathan is a seasoned investor and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in Latin America. Before co-founding Quona, he was co-founder and CEO of Acesso, a leading prepaid financial service provider for the unbanked population in Brazil. Prior to launching Acesso, Jonathan managed Darby Technology Ventures, a pioneering technology venture capital fund for Latin America. He joined Darby after a decade of experience as part of the founding team of leading venture capital-backed telecommunications and data services companies in Latin America, including Diveo (acquired by UOL), and Optiglobe (now Tivit).

Jordan Fisher is Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Zehitomo, Japan’s premier marketplace for local services:
From photographers, to plumbers, to personal trainers, Zehitomo empowers small businesses and freelancers that conduct their business offline. By providing a platform where customers can make highly customized requests, and service professionals can follow through with highly tailored solutions, Zehitomo is actively disrupting Japan’s $200 billion local services industry.

Prior to founding Zehitomo, Jordan was Vice President at J.P.Morgan in Tokyo. He worked as a programmer and project manager in Fixed Income Technology, before moving to help grow the Equity business as an Electronic Sales Trader covering both Japanese and international clients.

Born and raised in New York, Jordan holds a B.S. Computer Science from the University of Southern California. Outside of Zehitomo, Jordan is an active mentor to several Tokyo startups. He is also a loving husband, and a father to two young daughters.

Joyce Phillips is an accomplished CEO and transformative leader. Ms. Phillips is Founder & CEO of EqualFuture Corp., a FinTech startup based in San Francisco, building an Ai enabled analytics based financial technology Super Ap platform that delivers affordable personal financial wellness and education to individuals and businesses. 
 
Ms. Phillips previously held senior executive roles for Citigroup including CEO of International Retail Banking, Country Manager for Citibank Japan, and CEO of DinersClub and Citi Cards Japan.
 
Prior executive roles include Group Managing Director M&A, Group Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer, of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) and CEO of the Global Wealth Division.
 
Prior to joining ANZ, Ms.Phillips was President and Chief Operating Officer at American Life Insurance Company (ALICO), then a subsidiary of AIG. 
 
Ms. Phillips serves as director on several boards including the Smithsonian National Board, and First Interstate Bank Holdings (NASDAQ FIBK) where she Chairs the Technology, Innovation and Operations Committee.

Ms. Phillips was included in the U.S. Banker "25 Most Powerful Women in Banking and Finance" list multiple years and named one of the Top 100 Fintech leaders in Asia. Ms. Phillips’ 
innovation in marketing has also been recognized at the prestigious Cannes Lion marketing festival.

Launched in 2014, Juanita Woodward is the Founder of Connecting the Dots, a boutique consultancy in Singapore focused on Digital and Inclusive Financial Services projects in the Asia Pacific region. Her work has included engagements with Singapore and international FinTech companies, global tech companies, UN Specialized Agencies, the Asian Development Bank, and the World Bank.

Arriving in Singapore in 1991, Juanita held regional and global roles at Citi, ABN AMRO Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, and Eurogiro, a global payment network.

She is passionate about women’s economic empowerment across her professional and community work. She is the Founding President of the PrimeTime Business and Professional Women's Association launched in 1997, Founding Co-Chair of BoardAgender launched in 2010, and currently serves as an Advisor to the Women in Business club launched in 2021 at the NUS Business School.

Juanita is an Advisory Board Member at the NUS Business School Corporate Governance and Sustainability Centre, and a FinTech Fellow at the Singapore University of Social Sciences.

Junghoon Park's career, spanning three decades, includes key positions within the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Financial Services Commission (FSC) in Korea. As Commissioner of the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), he played a crucial role in establishing and managing the regulatory framework for virtual assets. In his capacity as FSC's Standing Commissioner, Park significantly contributed to the evaluation of regulatory sandbox applications, fostering financial innovation. His international experience encompasses work with the Asian Development Bank, contributions to the G20 Summit on IMF reforms, and a tenure as a Senior Financial Sector Expert at the IMF. Currently, as the CEO of Woori Finance Research Institute, he drives research in finance and economics. Park holds an MBA from Northwestern University, a B.A. from Seoul National University, and has obtained his USCPA certification, currently pursuing a Ph.D. in law.

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 reshuffled Kishida Cabinet.
Graduated from the Faculty of Economics, the University of Tokyo and Graduate School, Yale University.

Kate has been at the forefront of technology-driven changemaking for over 20 years. As Web 2.0 emerged, Kate was appointed the UK government’s first ever Head of Social Media; She helped Lego rally after their near-death experience in the noughties by embracing online communities; And helped Toyota recover from their global recall crisis by embracing Social Media across 32 countries. As Web 3 proliferates, Kate is helping to transform the financial services industry with the last 2 years spent leading digital assets for National Australia Bank and now leading Zodia Custody across APAC.

Kathy is the former Vice Chair of Goldman Sachs Japan and Chief Japan Equity Strategist. Her groundbreaking ʻWomenomicsʼ research spurred the Japanese government to promote gender diversity, and she has advised corporations on governance and diversity best practices. She has an MA from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and an AB from Harvard.

Experienced professional with 23 years in Alternative investment. Starting as a hedge fund investor for life insurance companies, Keiko covered various Alts strategies for institutional investors in Japan. She established the Alternative Investment Strategy Department at JP Morgan Asset Management Japan, serving as the department head, then as a Head of Institutional Client Solution, Managing Director at the Blackstone Group. In July 2021, Keiko co-founded LUCA Japan, a digital platform for alternative investments, to provide globally competitive alternative investment opportunities for broader investors.

Keiko is a one of founding members of FWJI (Financial Women in Japan Initiatives), a network empowering female professionals and bridging the gender gap in financial industry. Actively engaged in the ESG field, serving as a judge for the Hult Prize Foundation in 2022.

Graduated from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies with BA in Russian & East European Studies, and MA in International Economics and Russian Studies from Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Originally from Aichi Prefecture, with living experience in Moscow, Washington DC, and New York. In private life, Keiko is a mother of three sons. 

Kelvin Lee
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Alta Alternative Investments

Kelvin is the Co-Founder and CEO of Alta Alternative Investments, Asia's leading digital securities exchange. Kelvin leads Alta’s vision for democratizing private investments, making them more accessible to everyone. Today, Alta has built critical capital markets infrastructure empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs and investors.

Under Kelvin's stewardship, Alta has navigated mandated transactions exceeding USD 45 billion and facilitated capital inflows exceeding USD 700 million for private entities and funds, gaining recognition by the Financial Times as the 107th fastest growing company in Asia Pacific, Fintech of the Year by The Asset, and 21st fastest growing company in Singapore by The Straits Times.

Before co-founding Alta, Kelvin honed his expertise as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan, where he adeptly serviced clients across North and Southeast Asia, overseeing transactions totaling over USD20 billion. Prior to this tenure, he contributed significantly to Standard Chartered, focusing on leveraged finance and alternative structured capital raising solutions.

In addition to his professional achievements, Kelvin is a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), Singapore Business Federation’s Young Business Leaders Network (YBLN), and Young Entrepreneurs Network (YEN).

Kelvin is the Head of Platform Tech Business of Ant International. Since joining Ant Group in 2016, Kelvin took a number of leadership roles in our Global Funds & Treasury team where he led the team in building the world’s leading next-generation global liquidity and treasury system leveraging cutting-edge in-house developed decentralized technology to support the growing needs of our corporate clients in a more scalable and sustainable manner. Under Kelvin’s leadership, together with our major partner banks including JP Morgan, Citibank, Barclays and HSBC, we were able to propel transformation of FX and liquidity management framework connecting five global treasury hubs in Singapore, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, New York and London, covering more than 40 currencies and over 100 currency pairs across 60 entities. Ant Group was awarded the Adam Smith Awards Asia in 2021 as the winner in the best liquidity management solution.
Prior to joining Ant Group, Kelvin was the Head of Corporate Solutions Group for the China region from 2010-2016. He was also the Head of FX Sales of JP Morgan China from 2009 to 2010. Kelvin was an alumni of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Personal History:
March 1996 Graduated from Senshu University
(Faculty of commerce)
April 1996-Sept. 2002 Worked for HAKUHODO Inc.
Sept. 2002 Established “green bird”
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 (Incorporated non-profit organization)
April 2003-April 2015 Member of Shibuya city assembly
April 2015- Mayer of Shibuya City

Concurrent Post: Chairperson of Shibuya City Welfare Service Organization
(Social welfare corporation)

Hobby: Running, swimming
Motto: “Simple and Balance” /　harmony

Kento Miura joined Persefoni as Country Manager for Japan in May 2022. Prior to joining Persefoni, he spent over 25 years in IT companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Dell, and NTT. Most recently at Apple, Kento took leadership positions such as General Manager of iPhone Japan, and Country Manager of Apple Pay Japan & Korea.

In a career spanning nearly two decades, Kevin Naylor has led large, multi-cultural teams across Financial Services, Technology, Retail and Industrial sectors for one of the market leaders in recruitment in Japan. ​Kevin specializes in advising global firms from start-ups to fortune 500 companies in attracting and retaining top talent, including on cross-border executive searches. He hails from the United States where he completed his master's degree at The Pennsylvania State University before coming to Japan 28 years ago.

Kimmo Soramäki is the Founder and CEO of FNA. Kimmo started his career as an economist at the Bank of Finland where he developed in 1997 the first Simulator for interbank payment systems. In 2004 while at the research department of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, he was among the first to apply methods from network theory to improve our understanding of financial systems.

During the financial crisis of 2007-2008 Kimmo advised several central banks, including the Bank of England and European Central Bank, in modeling interconnections and systemic risk. This work led him to found FNA in 2010 to develop technology for solving important issues around financial risk and for exploring the complex financial networks that play a continually larger role in the world around us.

FNA now helps financial authorities, institutions, and market infrastructures around the globe to make the financial system safer and more efficient. Kimmo holds a Doctor of Science in Operations Research and a Master of Science in Economics, both from Aalto University in Helsinki.

Mr. Sasaki joined the Ministry of Finance, Japan in 1983 and then spent more than 20 years at Financial Services Agency (FSA) Japan as Director General of Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC), Director General of Certified Public Accountants and Audit Oversight Board (CPAAOB) as well as Director General of Department of Strategy Development and Management. He has a number of experiences in financial sector supervision and capital market oversight both at policy development and execution level. His professional experiences and expertise cover prudential risk management, compliance/conduct risk management, oversight of misconducts in financial markets, AML/CFT including financial sanction compliance, internal and external audit functions, corporate governance, digital transformation (DX) including crypto assets and cyber security threats, and sustainability.

He also has lots of experiences in international front, including working experiences at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He has actively joined and made contributions to policy discussions at international forum including Financial Stability Board (FSB), Basel Committee for Banking Supervision (BCBS), International Organization for Securities Commission (IOSCO), International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators (IFIAR), Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and G-7 financial sector expert meeting.

After leaving FSA in July 2019, he is currently working as Visiting Professor at National Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Business Administration in charge of programs for global financial regulation and oversight, and as Chair of its Global Financial Regulation Study Forum.

Kiyo is a Senior Financial Sector Specialist in the World Bank's global unit for "Financial Inclusion, Infrastructure & Access", advancing the global dialogue and working with developing countries on strengthening market infrastructures, and ensuring households and firms have access to financial services (www.worldbank.org/en/topic/financialinclusion). Recent work includes regional cross-border payment systems integration, SME Access to Finance and fast payments. He splits his time between Tokyo, DC and work travel.

Kohei is the Head of Digital Transformation, Global Transaction Banking Department at Mizuho Bank Limited. He leads the overall DX initiatives globally with a focus on transaction banking related services/products.
Prior to joining Mizuho, he was Head of Digital Channels and Data Unit at Citibank Tokyo Branch.

Koichi Kano is currently heading up the newly established joint venture between SBI Digital Asset Holdings and Zodia Custody. He has over 20 years of FX and Fixed Income trading and senior management experience at global banks, including Head of Foreign Exchange & Local Markets for Citigroup Japan. Kano's previous public appointments include Board Member of the Japan ACI (International Relations) 2005-2015, and Bank of Japan Markets Committee (2017-2019).

Koichiro works for NTT Digital Inc, a subsidiary of NTT docomo Inc, as a director for token exchange business such as Crypto Asset, NFT, Stable Coins, and is primarily responsible to establish business platforms including government licenses. Before joining NTT docomo in 2023, he managed to establish a new crypto exchange start-up licensed in Japan and also helped building a corporate governance framework for another licensed crypto exchange in Japan and Singapore.
He spent most of careers in Mitsubishi UFJ financial group for more than 20 years primarily in the bank's own capital investment team and risk management.

• Koji founded Atlas Technologies in 2018.
• During his time at SB Payment Service, Koji was responsible for business
planning in the field of acquiring, issuing, payment processing and remittance. He
oversaw projects with international brands such as Visa, Mastercard, and
UnionPay, as well as global companies such as Apple, Google, PayPal, and
Amazon.
• Prior to joining SB Payment Service, Koji worked for a private space company and
the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), where he was involved in the
management of astronaut candidate selection, control of the Space Shuttle and
International Space Station, and open innovation programs.
• Koji is a graduate of Keio University, Faculty of Economics.

Kris Marszalek is CEO of Crypto.com, the world’s leading cryptocurrency platform with more than 80 million customers worldwide.

Founded in 2016, Crypto.com is the industry leader in regulatory compliance and security certifications. Kris is committed to responsible innovation and driving the global adoption of cryptocurrency, with an ultimate vision of cryptocurrency in every wallet.

Kris is a seasoned entrepreneur and digital commerce pioneer, having grown multiple companies from the ground up to exceed nine figure revenue.

Joining Equinix in 2020 after gaining ICT experience at major companies such as IBM Japan, at Equinix, Ms. Ogawa plays the role of leading the business strategist in Japan, focusing on supporting customers who aim to implement Digital Transformation and expanding overseas businesses.

Ms. Ogawa is also a strong advocate of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (DIB) and is actively involved in the Equinix Women's Leadership Network and other DIB initiatives.

Kyoko is a Regional Lead, Capital Markets, Japan for CDP Worldwide-Japan, engaging with financial institutions to promote the transition to a decarbonized, climate-resilient economy.
Before assuming her current role in January 2018, she worked for the investment industry with performing various positions, including Senior ESG Analyst at the Japanese asset management company and Director/Co-Head of Credit Research at the European investment bank. She made a strong showing in analyzing Japanese financial sector.
She holds Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Certified Member Analyst of the Securities Analysts Association of Japan (CMA) and 1st grade Certified Skilled Professional of Financial Planning.

Laura is a Director at Temasek and is part of the team responsible for investments and venture building, with a focus on accelerating and scaling blockchain technologies to create robust ecosystems, innovative products and impactful solutions.

She is a Founding Team Member and a Board Observer of Partior, a joint venture with JP Morgan, DBS and Standard Chartered Bank to setup new financial market infrastructure to enhance cross-border clearing and settlements.

Laura also contributes actively to the public domain. She sits on the Advisory Committee of Elevandi, an independent legal entity, founded by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, to foster an active and open dialogue between the public and private sectors, to advance FinTech further in the global digital economy.

Laura joined Temasek in 2007, prior to her current role she has also held roles in the Consumer, Industrials, Transportation and Logistics groups looking at both investments and working closely with their Boards and management teams on strategy and value creation initiatives, ensuring sustainable and profitable long-term growth for the organizations she's working with.

Prior to joining Temasek, Laura was in General Electric and Ernst & Young in various roles, spanning several geographies including US, UK, China, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia. She is a Fellow of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants and holds a BA(hons) in Accounting and Finance from Sheffield Hallam University, UK.

Former Fintech Sector responsible at the Danish Embassy in Singapore with a focus on globalisation and partnerships in South East Asia. Experience from the Danish FS working as a management advisor to senior management in Insurance. Extensive experience with strategy, M&A, partnership and change management. Head of Global Partnerships in Copenhagen Fintech.

Mr. Leiming CHEN has been our Senior Vice President since March 2016, responsible for International Public Policy and Government Affairs of Ant Group. He also leads the ESG initiatives and the implementation of the sustainable development strategy of Ant Group’s international businesses.

Mr. Chen joined us in March 2016 and served as our General Counsel from March 2016 to May 2020. In his day-to-day responsibilities, Mr. Chen undertakes a broad range of regulatory engagement in connection with our Group's international business activities. Prior to joining us, Mr. Chen was a partner and head of China practice at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, a New York-based international law firm, where he worked on a variety of equity and debt offerings and mergers and acquisitions involving primarily PRC companies, including his lead role in advising Alibaba in its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014. Mr. Chen has extensive experience in corporate governance and regulatory matters. Mr. Chen is qualified to practice law in the State of New York and is a solicitor of the High Court of Hong Kong. Mr. Chen obtained a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University in Toronto, Canada.

Lima is the Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Habitto
20+ years in brand, marketing and tech
Liam is a creative entrepreneur who has built and exited
businesses across adtech, fintech and ecommerce.
Starting in advertising he worked with agencies across the
globe, developing a passion for marketing and brand. With this
experience Liam become a partner in Vocanic which went on to become
South-East Asia’s largest social media agency and
ultimately acquired by WPP.
Liam pivoted his focus to fintech building one of the region's
largest fintech development teams, teen neo-bank Canvas and
joining Singlife as its CMO and then chief strategy officer.
Australian born, Liam is passionate about taking consumer
insights and translating them into tech products that consumers
really want.

Lisette is passionate about digital financial services and its positive impact on poverty alleviation having worked with the most successful mobile money service in the world, M-Pesa, at Vodafone Group. She has expertise in payments, card acquiring and issuing, and alternative payment methods garnered from her experience working in Europe, Africa, and Asia and the Pacific. She is currently the Practice Team Lead for Digital Finance and Innovation within ADB’s Finance Sector Group working on projects that involve new technologies that can drive financial inclusion such as digital ID, cloud technology, and central bank digital currencies. Her role involves supporting ADB’s Developing Member Countries navigate the digital world of financial services.

Lotte provides strategic advisory support and leadership across the finance sector, including shaping sector policies, spearheading initiatives, and devising solutions that have a tangible impact. Work spans areas such as advancing emerging capital market issues, promoting contractual savings, championing sustainable and digital finance innovations, pioneering upstream development, overseeing quality assurance, and contributing to learning and development. Prior positions at ADB include Regional Director of the Pacific office and Chief of the Finance Sector Group. Before joining ADB, she was Director for International Economic Policy at the Swedish Ministry of Finance, a financial supervision and regulation expert at the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority and central bank, and an IMF consultant.

Maiko Meguro, Director, International Data Strategy and International Affairs, Digital Agency. She is currently in charge of international cooperation on data governance in the Japanese Government, with a focus on DFFT/Data Free Flow with Trust. She led the establishment of the Institutional Arrangements for Partnerships, the first international mechanism to strengthen multi-stakeholder cooperation to enhance cross-border data flows, which was endorsed at the Hiroshima Summit. Prior to her current appointment, she was Director of the International Division of the Commerce and Information Policy Bureau of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), where she was responsible for the digital track of the G7 under the Japanese Presidency. She has also worked as a legal officer at the European Commission DG CONNECT.

Mr. Shibata is currently in charge of FINOLAB community operation since 2019. In his former position at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, he was leading R&D initiatives in emerging technology and online/mobile financial services as Head of Global Innovation Team. He also held positions in corporate planning, accounting, corporate finance, and retail customer services at the bank. He is one of the founders of FINOVATORS, a mentor group consists of FinTech experts. He also became an external board member at new digital bank, UI Bank, when it acquired a banking license in 2021. For his undergraduate course, he studied Economics at the University of Tokyo, with a year at Harvard University. And for his graduate course, he studied at the University of Oxford to obtain Master of Science in Development Economics.

Mamoru Yanase has been assigned to the current position since June 2022. His responsibility includes promotion of fintech and supervision of the fintech industry such as funds transfer services and crypto exchanges as well as AML/CFT and cyber security policies for the financial sector.
He joined the Ministry of Finance of Japan in 1992 and has held various positions at the JFSA, the MOF and the International Monetary Fund mainly in the area of macroeconomic and financial sector policies.
He graduated from the University of Tokyo (LL.B) in 1992 and the University of California, Berkeley (MBA) in 1996.

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, 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. 

Dr. Marek Dubovec is the Director of Law Reform Programs at the International Law Institute (ILI). For over 15 years, Marek has been working with international standard-setters, including UNCITRAL and UNIDROIT, to draft conventions, model laws, principles, and guides that assist States in modernizing their commercial law frameworks. He has worked on implementing these standards under projects funded by the World Bank Group, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, FSD-Kenya, and others. He has assisted countries in Africa (e.g., Kenya), Asia (e.g., the Philippines), Eastern Europe (e.g., Ukraine), the Middle East (e.g., the UAE) and Latin America (e.g., Colombia) with reforms of their frameworks on secured transactions, factoring, warehouse receipts, and related legislation. In these projects, Marek drafted laws and regulations, assisted with building technological infrastructures, including collateral registries, and provided capacity building to various stakeholders, including financial institutions, government officials, and judges.

Marek has produced several policy papers, reports, and other publications for international organizations, including the Secured Transactions, Collateral Registries, and Movable Asset-Based Financing Knowledge Guide, and Guidance Notes on Distributed Ledger Technology and Secured Transactions for the World Bank Group. He has authored and co-authored numerous articles and books, including the 2019 Secured Transactions Law Reform in Africa. Additionally, Marek is a Professor of Practice at the University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law, and has served as a visiting scholar at the Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies of the Bank of Japan and a visiting professor at the University of Puerto Rico, School of Law.

Mark Bivens is a Silicon Valley native and former entrepreneur, having founded three startups before becoming a venture capitalist. He has spent his past 24 years as a VC, including 15 in Europe and 6 years in Japan, with a career investment IRR exceeding 150% annually. Mark's first VC fund in Japan has distributed 3.5x cash returns in four years. His hobby is competing in triathlons, where he often finishes in last place.

In 1998, Masahiko joined JAFCO Co., Ltd., where he was involved in investments in Silicon Valley and Israeli internet companies. He also established joint ventures and helped them expand into Japan. In 2001, he joined Accenture Co., Ltd. and worked in corporate development and venture capital. In 2003, he joined Works Capital Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation, where he invested in and supported companies including MonotaRO from startup to IPO. In 2007, He established Core People Partners, a VC fund specializing in seed stage investments. In 2010, Masahiko co-founded Incubate Fund and is a General Partner. He is the head of overseas investment which currently focuses on Southeast Asia, India, and the US.

Mr. Fukuhara is the CEO and Founder of Institution for a Global Society. Before IGS, Fukuhara was with MUFG and then with Barclays Global Investors (now BlackRock), where he became the youngest managing director. He is also Adjunct Professor at Hitotsubashi University and Project Professor at Keio University in Japan. After establishing the IGS in 2010, he has developed a range of HR-Tech and Ed-Tech solutions, GROW, making use of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Bias-free technology to systematically assess personality traits and competencies (soft-skills) of students and professionals. Today, GROW applications ranges from predictive recruitment to growth monitoring, on various scales, from individual to organization-wide or industry-wide analysis projects. IGS is listed in TSE Growth Market (4265). Fukuhara majored in statistics and econometrics at Keio University. He obtained his MBA from INSEAD, a Master’s degree in International Finance with distinctions from HEC, and Ph.D. from Tsukuba University.

Masaki joined the Bank of Japan in 1994. His career at the Bank includes: legal services/studies, research at foreign offices (London, Frankfurt), representation at subcommittees of the Basel Committee, and reserve management. Currently, as Head of FinTech Center, Payment and Settlement Systems Department, he leads the Bank’s projects on innovations in payments and settlements and engages with business leaders, tech experts and academics, representing the Bank at various forums in and abroad. He received an LL.M. from the University of Virginia (1999) and an LL.B. from Kyoto University (1994). He is admitted to practice law in the State of New York.

Masashi Watanabe is a Managing Director at the Corporate Planning Division in MUFG Bank, leading the Digital Asset / Web3 Business Development team based in Tokyo, Japan.

He has been involved in the bank’s business development for more than 25years, including Transaction Banking, IT & Payments and Digitalization area, working abroad in London and Bangkok.

Prior to his current role, he took part in developing a payment platform utilizing blockchain technology in Tokyo.

Mathias is a Co-Founder and Group CEO of Sygnum. Prior to Sygnum, he was General Manager at RNT Associates, Mr. Ratan N. Tata’s personal investment platform, which he joined as the first team member. He led multiple venture capital and private equity investments and participated in blockchain and DLT-related equity deals globally.

Mathias started his career at Bain & Company where he led advisory projects for private equity funds, family offices and technology companies.

He holds a PhD from the University of St. Gallen and a Master of Science from the London School of Economics (LSE).

Matt is the Co-Founder and Co-Head of the Cambridge SupTech Lab, a multimillion, multiyear initiative to craft the digital future of financial supervision.

He is a seasoned leader in expanding the frontier of the digital technology space, with over 15 years of broad-ranging, global experience to draw from. His driving passion throughout has been maximizing impact through effectively applied technologies, with an emphasis on meeting the needs of otherwise excluded or vulnerable people. This pursuit has led him into roles as a pioneering fintech entrepreneur, startup acceleration fund lead, hackathon & techsprint organizer, innovation gallery curator, academic lecturer, and strategic advisor for myriad financial innovation and digital transformation initiatives.

Matt’s specialization is in the collaborative design, deployment, and integration of digital technologies. Within the bounds of financial services and supervision, he often serves as a translator in cutting through the intimidating jargon and hype that can plague cutting-edge tech, and instead guides an earnest exploration of the real value of these tools through practical demonstration cases.

Among the programs that Matt has collaboratively led in the past are the RegTech for Regulators Accelerator (R²A), the Catalyst Fund Startup Accelerator, the GSMA’s Mobile Money Profitability 2.0 model, and the Target Product Profile framework for development of inclusive payments products.

Matt holds a degree in Aerospace Engineering, and formal certifications in Data Science, Social Entrepreneurship, Machine Learning, and Humanitarian Innovation.

Regulatory futurist, advocate for open-source digitally-native regulation, Co-Founder of Hummingbird.co, first head of compliance at Circle.com, former US Treasury.

Michael Low serves as the Deputy Director of Curriculum Development & Digitalisation and Head of Finance & Technology Programmes at SMU Academy, the professional training arm of Singapore Management University (SMU). As a seasoned learning and development professional, Michael possesses extensive expertise in advisory services for learning and development, competency-based learning, curriculum design, talent programme management, facilitation, and the implementation of human capital development interventions.

A distinguished Singapore Public Service Commission scholar, Michael has held various roles at the Ministry of Education, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), and the State Courts of Singapore before joining SMU. With over 18 years of comprehensive experience, Michael offers a valuable combination of skills, knowledge, and an extensive network to the organizations he collaborates with. In his role at the Academy, Michael is responsible for overseeing all continuing education programmes under the Finance & technology pillar. His collaborative efforts with academics, industry partners, and experienced practitioners contribute significantly to the creation of curriculum and content that addresses the dynamic learning needs of businesses and organisations across various industries, with a specific focus on finance, innovation and technology-related areas.

Michinobu joined SMBC in 2022 as General Manager, Transaction Business Planning Department. He is Swift National Member Group Chairperson Japan. Prior to the curent position, he spent over 31 years at Bank of Japan.

Min-Jeong Lee is a journalist covering Japanese technology and venture capital companies for Bloomberg's Tokyo bureau. She also has years of experience writing about financial markets. Previously, she was a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal's Seoul bureau.

Kohei is the Head of Digital Transformation, Global Transaction Banking Department at Mizuho Bank Limited. He leads the overall DX initiatives globally with a focus on transaction banking related services/products.
Prior to joining Mizuho, he was Head of Digital Channels and Data Unit at Citibank Tokyo Branch.

Mukund is a capital markets professional with over 28 years of experience in Fixed Income secondary capital markets which includes ten years at UBS in Japan as a market-maker/dealer in JPY Interest Rates and FX derivatives. After graduating from IIT Bombay, he started off as a programmer and joined Lehman Brothers Japan Fixed Income technology team for Cash and Derivatives.

He is an ardent fan of the Bollywood genre of music and loves to teach about capital markets and math.

Currently, as Chief Operating Officer of TP ICAP Japan, he is part of the leadership team to expand TP ICAP's Japan footprint. TP ICAP Group is the leading interdealer broker in OTC Secondary Capital Markets. The group operates 5 brands across 25 countries and specializes in OTC price discovery and trade facilitation across Fixed Income, Rates, Currencies, Equities, Energy, and Commodities.

Not applicable

Naotaka Nishiyama, ex-Deloitte Tohmatsu Group Regional Head for Asia, founded Tech Japan in 2019. A trailblazer, he partnered with Indian Institutes of Technology to build a database of top 1% talents, revolutionizing digital recruitment. He created a global platform for attracting elite digital talent, recognizing its pivotal role in startup success.

Natalie graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2004 and started her career in the finance industry at Citibank, N.A. and Societe Generale Securities. She obtained her MBA from INSEAD in 2008. She served as International Business Section Manager at Rakuten Bank from 2011 to 2014. She joined Payoneer in 2015, where she was Senior Director of Regulatory & Banking Relations, Asia Pacific at Payoneer, as well as Representative Director of Payoneer Japan Limited, leading APAC regulatory strategy and supporting the launch of new entities and services in Japan and across the APAC region. In 2015, she was a founding director of the Fintech Association of Japan and served as Representative Director & Vice Chairperson from 2017 to 2019. She joined Infcurion in 2021 and as Head of the Corporate Design Department she oversees HR and marketing strategy along with other key strategic initiatives.

Global Head of Coin Systems Onyx by J.P. Morgan 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. 

Navin serves as Advisor to the Board of Directors of Elevandi. In addition, he curates and hosts The Founders Peak stage, and The Capital Meets Policy Dialogues, across Singapore, Africa, Japan, and Europe.

Earlier, Ernst & Young named Navin to their prestigious Global Top 30 Accelerating Entrepreneurs list following his B2B start-up developing the world’s first digital twin for banks.

Separately, he is recipient of the Best Business Turnaround Award across APAC at ING, and has helmed a country Top 30 Best Places to Work in India. He architected the distribution strategy for the late retail market entry for BNY Mellon Investment Mgmt across APAC. He started his career at Citi, steering distribution-led growth in India during his early years, and later across APAC. He serves on the Board of Directors at Nomura in Taiwan since 2015, and serves on two expert panels at Wealth Management Institute (founded by GIC and Temasek), Singapore.

Navin most enjoys crafting new playbooks that create and unlock new enterprise value.

Neil is a seasoned capital markets executive with proven leadership experience gained over two decades with major financial services providers in London, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Based now in Singapore, he leads MonetaGo’s ongoing global expansion and strategies.

Nicholas Smith has ranked No.1 for Japan strategy in Asiamoney’s Brokers Poll eight years in a row from 2013 to 2020 then a ninth time in 2022. He writes a popular weekly strategy report called Benthos, whose name means the creatures that live at the bottom of the sea - reflecting a value-oriented and activist slant to the market as well as his passion for deep diving. Nicholas has been in Japan since 1987, covering Japanese equities since 1990. He first came to Japan as British Universities and Royal Navy & Royal Marines judo champion, before joining Jardine Fleming Securities in the tumult of 1990. During his 10 years there, he ranked No.1 in the chemicals & oil sector and was head of the global oil & chemicals team. He then worked for four years in hedge funds, making investments across all sectors. Nicholas joined CLSA in 2011. He has a BSc in Physics from London University and is fluent in Japanese.

Dr. Nicola Jentzsch is the newly appointed Head of Innovation at the Deutsche Bundesbank, where she leads the InnoWerk within the Department of Strategy and Innovation. Before joining the Deutsche Bundesbank, she was the first appointed Chief Data Scientist at the BMBF, Germany's Ministry of Education and Research. Nicola also worked at the Federal Chancellory in particular on Germany's Data Strategy. She is an economist with more than 25 years of work experience and research in digital innovations and digital markets, data analytics and depersonalization. She holds a doctorate in Economics from the Freie Universität Berlin and was a Research Fellow at Yale University and Georgetown University. Dr Jentzsch has also served as adviser to the European Commission, the World Bank, CGAP and GIZ and various Central Banks in Africa and Asia. Just recently she was reappointed to the Board of Trustees of Fraunhofer ISST.

Nikos Andrikogiannopoulos is the Founder & CEO of Metrika, the leading blockchain risk management and compliance platform for digital assets. Prior to Metrika, Nikos served as Principal at Cartesian, the world’s oldest strategy consulting firm in the telecoms and technology sector (TMT). Nikos is an active serving member on CFTC’s technology advisory committee advising the regulator on blockchain technology and digital assets’ risk management. Nikos holds an engineering degree (EECS) with honors from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and two graduate degrees from MIT, an MSc. in EECS and an MBA from MIT Sloan.

Mr. Nobuyasu Sugimoto is a Deputy Division Chief, Financial Supervision and Regulation Division, Monetary & Capital Markets Department of the International Monetary Fund. He joined the Fund from the Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA) in October 2012, where his experience covers banks, insurance and securities. In the IMF, he has been involved in number of Financial Sector Assessment Programs, where his recent contributions include pilot exercises on fintech regulation and supervision in Switzerland, Malta and Hong Kong. He also contributed to recent fintech outputs, including IMF-FSB synthesis paper: Policies for Crypto-Assets. He holds a Master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University (MBA).

Oki started his career at Salmon Brothers in 1987. He moved to Goldman Sachs in 1990 and became a general partner in 1994 at the age of 30. He became responsible for trading, risk management, and capital markets businesses in Asia. In 1997, he launched a Special Situation Group, which later grew into one of the most profitable units in Goldman Sachs worldwide.
 
In 1999 he founded Monex, Inc. with Sony and then established Monex Group, Inc. in 2004. Monex Group is now a major online financial institution that operates retail online brokerages in Japan, US, and China (including Hong Kong), as well as one of the largest digital asset exchanges in Japan, Coincheck. It also operates asset management companies including Japan Catalyst, an engagement investment advisory firm. Monex Group is listed on Prime Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange where he is presently Chairman of the Board & Representative Executive Officer.

Omar is a Global Industry Advisor in the worldwide retail and consumer goods industry team. He works with Microsoft’s strategic partners and customers in Asia to help them to reimagine and transform customer and employee experiences,
Prior to joining Microsoft, Omar drove transformation at large and complex multi-national companies. Most recently, he launched and scaled a digital transformation practice at a major Japanese conglomerate. During his earlier career he was involved in a wide range of IT and business projects spanning the entire value chain.

Ozzeir Khan is the Director of the Office of Digital for Development Operations within Asian Development Bank. He is currently also heading the ADB Digital Learning Labs.

He has worked for United Nations and global financial banking services sector in Asia, Europe, and the USA.

Prior to joining the ADB, he was Chief of Innovation and Business Relationships at United Nations HQ in New York, where he was responsible for developing relationships with departments, member countries, facilitating public-private sector partnerships and leading innovation labs’ development globally.

His broad areas of expertise include Digital Transformation, Innovation, and Emerging Technologies adoption by Public Sector and International Agencies.

CEO and Cofounder of broom.id, a fintech company that helps automotive SME in Indonesia to speed up their inventory turnover. Previously VP at Gojek and early team member at Uber Indonesia.

Parul has extensive experience in conceptualizing and implementing innovative financial literacy models and strategies, as well as technology-led outreach platforms for micro-pension and micro-insurance inclusion. She has worked in India on implementation of micropensions through PDS shop networks as well as through MFIs, Community based organisations, Unions with a focus especially on women. She has worked with the governments and pension regulators in India, Rwanda, Papa New Guinea, Bangladesh, Kenya and Uganda on strategies and effective models for outreach, retirement literacy and voluntary coverage strategies.

Paul is an Australian entrepreneur with over 10 years of Japan startup experience. He leads a multicultural team at Moneytree, a pioneering Japanese provider of fintech infrastructure and SaaS services. Paul's ambition for fintech and startups in Japan is to create a brighter future for all, harnessing new technology, open collaboration, and talent diversity.

President of FinTech Poland. Previously, vice-president of the Cashless Poland Foundation, Director of Payment Systems and Electronic Banking Department at the Polish Bank Association, Member of the Board of the European Payments Council, member of the Payment Systems Committee European Banking Federation, member of the Payment Systems Market Expert Group at European Commission and an independent member of the supervisory boards of leading payment institutions in Poland (First Data Polska SA, PayU SA), Director of the Founder Institute in Warsaw.
He is a graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw and Leadership Academy of Poland.
He is also an assistant professor at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw and head of the Center for Financial Technology Regulation.

Mr. Yang leads IBG’s efforts in delivering a full stack of innovative digital payment, growth and cross-border fund-management solutions. These solutions are aimed at enabling online and offline merchants, including small and medium-sized businesses, to more effectively cater to consumers across international markets.

Prior to joining IBG in early 2023 to lead Alipay+ global business lines, Peng Yang held various key management positions at Alipay. In recent years, he led continued innovation and drove growth for Alipay’s digital life services, promoting digital innovation and building new business operation systems across sectors. Those efforts enabled a better digital life experience for users and created important inclusive social value. Before joining Ant Group, Peng served as Vice President of Dell Technologies, holding various executive roles across Greater China, Asia Pacific, and global emerging markets, accumulating extensive experience in cross-market and cross-cultural management.

Mr. Yang Peng graduated from Lingnan College of Sun Yat-sen University with a major in International Business and Finance. He also holds an MBA from the Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota.

Peter J. Morgan is Senior Consulting Economist and Advisor to the Dean at the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), and has been with ADBI since 2008. He has 23 years experience in the financial sector in Asia, most recently serving in Hong Kong as Chief Asia Economist for HSBC, responsible for macroeconomic analysis and forecasting for Asia. Previously, he served as Chief Japan Economist for HSBC, and earlier held similar positions at Merrill Lynch, Barclays de Zoete Wedd and Jardine Fleming. Prior to entering the financial industry, he was a consultant for Meta Systems Inc in Cambridge, MA, in energy and environmental analysis, and at International Business Information KK in Tokyo, in financial sector consulting. He earned his MA and PhD degrees in economics from Yale University. His research interests are in macroeconomic policy and financial sector regulation, reform, financial development, financial inclusion, fintech, financial literacy and financial education. In 2019 he served as the Lead Co-chair for the Task Force on The Future of Work and Education for the Digital Age for the Think 20 process, an engagement group with the G20.

Peter Walker runs the Insights team at Carta, focused on discovering key narratives across the private market ecosystem. Prior to Carta, he was the Head of Marketing for the media analytics company PublicRelay. He also led the data visualization team at the Covid Tracking Project at The Atlantic during the peak of the pandemic. He and his wife recently welcomed their corgi puppy Penny into the family and are introducing her to every one of San Francisco's many parks.

Pieter Franken is a passionate global Fintech Pioneer and a Deep Tech Innovator with many industry firsts under his belt. Career spanning well over 30+ years in the Financial Industry, specializing in technology leadership, FinTech, Financial Inclusion, GreenTech, AI, Cyber Security, digital innovation and large-scale digital transformations. C-level and executive positions with industry leaders such as Citigroup, Shinsei Bank, Aplus, Monex Group, Union Digital Bank and ModuleQ, and senior advisory/board positions including Elevandi (SFF), RegGenome Ltd., EmeradaCo and SAFECAST.ORG, a global NPO critically acclaimed for citizen sourced, open environmental data. Pieter is a member of Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) International Technology Advisory Panel (ITAP) and a Founding Member of the ASEAN Innovation Network (AFIN, now Synfindo), a nonprofit company founded by MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore), IFC/World Bank and ABA (ASEAN Banking Association) to accelerate digital transformation across Asia and other developing regions to foster Financial Inclusion and bridging the gaps between FinTechs and Financial Institutions and operator of the APIX Platform. In 2023, Pieter co-founded the Japan Fintech Festival in collaboration with Japan Financial Supervisory Agency and Bank of Japan. Pieter holds a MSc in Computer Science from Delft University and currently is a Guest Professor and Senior Researcher at Keio University, an Adjunct Fellow with Griffith University Asia Institute (GAI) and MIT Media Lab alumni. He contributes to research in FinTech in Asia, Financial Inclusion, Citizen Science, IoT and Digital Assets.

Pratyush is the Managing Director of Flip.id - Indonesia's largest P2P payments company. Prior to this role. Pratyush was the Head of Merchant Payments at GoTo Financial where he oversaw GoTo Financial’s suite of merchant payment solutions, primarily their online payment gateway Midtrans and their offline point-of-sale device GoBiz PLUS.

Pratyush was the General Manager of Asia at Poynt, a point-of-sale terminal provider. Based in San Francisco, Singapore and Bangalore, he worked on defining products, point-of-sale applications, terminal management and new partner acquisition across a wide range of markets, covering India, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

Prior to that, Pratyush was the Vice President (Business and Payments) at Paytm, India’s most widely used payments app. As an early entrant in India’s payment ecosystem, he was involved in the formulation of UPI (India’s realtime payment rails).

Earlier in his career, he also worked for a range of other companies, including Xerox PARC and Microsoft.

Pratyush holds a MBA in Finance, Systems and Marketing from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta and a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.

Qin En Looi is a Partner at Saison Capital where he actively leads pre-seed and seed investments in startups across fintech, B2B commerce and web3.


Qin En was previously the Co-Founder and COO at Glints, the leading talent ecosystem in Southeast Asia (Series D). During his tenure, he was recognised by Forbes 30 Under 30 and Entrepreneurs 27 Under 27 for being one of the youngest founders to have raised venture capital in Southeast Asia.

Raagulan Pathy is the Vice President, Asia Pacific for Circle. Based in Singapore, his responsibilities include the go-to-market strategies, operations and representing Circle in the region. He leads the charge in building Circle’s presence across the region.

Raagulan was previously the Head of Enterprise for the Asia Pacific region at Zoom, and he brings decades of business leadership experience within technology and financial services.  Prior to his role at Zoom, he held senior roles at Facebook, Amazon Web Services and as co-founder of a Cloud software company.

Rahul is the Policy Director, APAC at Ripple. Rahul is responsible for leading Ripple’s engagement and advocacy with regulators and policymakers in the Asia Pacific region to support and develop regulation that promotes responsible innovation in digital assets and blockchain technology. 

Prior to joining Ripple, Rahul spent over 12 years in financial services, most recently as the Head of Public Policy, Asia Pacific at the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. Prior to that, Rahul worked with Bloomberg L.P. in their offices in Mumbai, Singapore, and Hong Kong in multiple roles across valuations, business development, and sales for both exchange-traded and OTC derivative products. 

Rahul is the Chair of the Blockchain Association of Singapore Stablecoin and CBDC Subcommittee.

Rahul holds a Master in Public Policy from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore. 

Rahul is a Fixed Income banker with deep expertise in Asian Capital markets. Prior to starting BondbloX, Rahul was the Global Head for International Corporates, Financial Market Sales at Standard Chartered Bank. His team was based across all the major SCB dealing rooms and covered the Fixed Income needs of large corporate clients. Prior to this he was MD and Regional Head of Capital Markets for South Asia. He was also a member of the Bank’s Capital Markets Global Management team. The team was responsible for debt fundraising across both international and domestic markets. For 2014, they won the Business World-PWC Foreign currency Bond Dealmaker of the year among many other awards from IFR, Asset AAA magazine etc. Over the course of his career he has worked at Nomura Securities Singapore, Credit Suisse and Citibank. He graduated from Delhi College of Engineering and did his MBA from the Indian School of Business (Deans List), where he received the HSBC scholarship for leadership. He holds two patents in his name. Rahul lives in Singapore with his wife and two daughters.

Ram Iyer is the Founder & CEO of Vayana, one of India’s largest trade finance networks processing over USD 1 billion in transactions a month. A serial entrepreneur with over 25 years in the Cash Management and Trade Finance space providing solutions to some of the largest Banks in India and across the globe.

Ram has led Vayana with the vision to democratize access to affordable finance for MSMEs. Over the years, the company has deepened its reach across supply chains, reaching the last mile, and has recently started offering open account cross-border trade solutions through Vayana TradeXchange.

Previously, he was the co- founder and CEO of CashTech Solutions, a leading Cash Management service provider in Asia which was acquired by Nasdaq-listed Fundtech (now a part of the Finastra Group).

He started his career with Accenture in their management consulting arm.
A management graduate from IIM Ahmedabad and an Engineer from Mumbai University, Ram carries an exceptional understanding of B2B Trade, Payment Ecosystems, Technology, and how to bring them all together to serve the last mile better via B2B lending.

Mr Ravi Menon served for 36 years in the Singapore Public Service.

Mr Menon was the longest serving Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Under his leadership, MAS implemented effective monetary and macroprudential policies, reformed the financial regulatory framework, strengthened skills development in the financial sector, and developed Singapore into a vibrant centre for green finance and a leading global FinTech hub. MAS was named Central Bank of the Year in 2019 by the UK-based publication Central Banking, which lauded MAS as a “pioneer in creating a framework to facilitate next-generation technological and financial innovation” and noted its coherent supervision as a financial regulator and enviable track record for monetary and financial stability.

As Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade & Industry, Mr Menon played a pivotal role in supporting the economy during the global financial crisis and enhancing Singapore’s access to external markets. As Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, he helped to formulate fiscal policies and a framework for spending the income from government reserves.

Mr Menon is currently Chairman of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) APAC Network Advisory Board and a member of the GFANZ Principals Group. He is also a Trustee of the Singapore Indian Development Association, a community self-help group.

As the Head of Strategy at Elevandi, a non-profit organisation established by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Rebecca plays a pivotal role in fostering an open dialogue between the public and private sectors, to bridge the gap between these sectors and to advance FinTech and the digital economy. Rebecca curates the Singapore FinTech Festival programme as its Head of Programming, bringing to the festival the brightest minds in the industry such as Bill Gates, Sundar Pichai (Alphabet), Satya Nadella (Microsoft), former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (NZ), Marc Benioff (Salesforce), Ben Horowitz (a16z), and Balaji Srinivasan. Rebecca also leads the programming for other Elevandi initiatives such as the Point Zero Forum and Inclusive FinTech Fourm.

In addition to her role at Elevandi and the Singapore FinTech Festival, Rebecca is also a Charter Member at TiE, and has previously served as a Strategic Advisory Council Member at ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN) and as Senior Executive Officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Rebecca also previously held roles at organisations such as Money20/20, Pioneers.io, and Founders Forum.

Rei Murakami is an investor in Venture Capital and Public Equity. She is also the President of the Murakami Family Foundation.

Reuben is Chief Executive Officer at Singapore FinTech Association (SFA). He leads the secretariat and works with the executive committee to spearhead initiatives that strengthen the FinTech ecosystem in Singapore.

With over 18 years of experience in business development and management, Reuben has empowered both large enterprises, SMEs and government agencies in uncovering valuable revenue and growth opportunities through active business partnering and strong leadership. He has led teams across the industries of aviation, real estate investment, marine, intellectual property, amongst others.

Reuben graduated from the Singapore Management University in Business Management (SMU), with a Magna Cum Laude. He also holds a Graduate Diploma in IP Management and Innovations Management from Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS).

Robert Nicholls (Rob) is the General Manager of Programmes and Projects with the Musim Mas Group – a global palm oil corporation with operations spanning the entire palm oil value chain.

Rob oversees the implementation and scaling-up of smallholder projects that link to the supply chain of the group operations, as well as that of third-party suppliers.

His portfolio includes the Indonesia Palm Oil Development for Smallholders programme, aimed at enhancing independent smallholder access to global markets through addressing key challenges. This programme is implemented in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, and is currently the largest smallholder project being run in Indonesia.

Rob also spearheaded the development and ground implementation of the Extension Services Programme (ESP) that links to third-party supply chains across identified priority provinces in Indonesia. Together, these parallel smallholder projects form a critical component of the Group’s wider strategy on supply chain engagement.

Rob is now leading the implementation and establishment of Musim Mas’ Smallholder Hubs in our priority landscapes. He is key in developing different strategies to scale up smallholder programs to increase their magnitude and reach through our Smallholder Hubs.

Prior to joining Musim Mas, Rob has been working in the palm oil industry for 18 years and is well versed with the plantations business in Indonesia. He has worked in several different locations in Kalimantan and Papua in estate operations and new development, and his last posting was to Papua New Guinea as Regional General Manager.

Rob also has a background in agricultural trainings and has been involved in setting up training programmes for different companies in the industry.

Bob is a member of the Finance faculty of the Cambridge Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge (CJBS) with expertise in regulatory innovation and the digitisation of the financial system. In 2021, he was awarded the CJBS Excellence in Teaching Prize for his teaching in the Master of Finance programme and in 2022 received the CJBS Sandra Dawson Research Impact Award. In 2015, Bob co-founded the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, which during his tenure as its Founding Director has established itself as a global leader in researching channels and instruments of finance emerging in the digitisation of the financial system. Bob’s current research focus is computational policy and regulation, which uses AI technology to enable regulatory information to be consumed in a machine-readable and machine-consumable form. Bob regularly advises national governmental and multi-lateral organisations on regulatory innovation and is currently a member of the Governor’s Advisory Committee of the Bank of Mauritius and was a member of the International Technology Advisory Panel of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. He holds an MBA from Chicago Booth, and an MSc from the London School of Economics and a PhD from the University of Cambridge.

Ronit runs Citi’s Future of Finance team, a think tank focused on the future of tech, money and finance and it’s interactions. Ronit’s reports on FinTech and Web3 are among the most read reports Citi has ever published.

Ronit is an Advisory Board member at several tech and VC firms, and one leading University

Ryosuke leads initiatives related to digital innovation in financial sector as Chief FinTech Officer of the JFSA. He also serves as the Co-chair of Virtual Asset Task Force, FATF. Prior to his current position, he has conducted a research on regulatory framework and governance mechanism in decentralized financial system as the Senior Fellow of Cyber SMART research center at Georgetown University from July 2019 to June 2021. He holds a Masters in Finance from London Business School.

Ryota Hayashi founded Finatext (now Finatext Holdings Ltd.) in December 2013.
Today, the company has several subsidiaries, including Finatext, which develops and provides fintech solutions; Nowcast, an alternative data analytics company; Smartplus, a securities platform; and Smartplus SSI, a next-generation digital insurance company.
With its mission of "Reinventing Finance as a Service," the company group works with its partners to promote digital transformation in finance and realize embedded finance.
Hayashi started his career in Deutsche Bank London, Global Technology department, later internally transferred to global markets, where he engages with institutional investors in Europe. He graduated from the University of Tokyo with a degree in Economics and studied Computer Science at the University of Bristol.

Sam Pemberton Ahmed Biography

Leading e-commerce and fintech innovation at scale for blue-chip companies Smartpay, Starbucks, Mastercard, Standard Chartered Bank, and Facebook. He has been leading digital business in the Asia-Pacific region for over 20 years. Has led global and APAC digital and e-commerce for four USD $20B+ companies.

Graduated from Harvard Business School.

Industry recognition:

· Top 10 Alumni Leaders from Harvard Business School 2023 CEO review 2023
· Most Innovative Digital Financing Solution- Japan 2023 Pan Finance
· Top 50 Digital Leaders Asia Pacific APAC “Digerati Awards” Drum Magazine (Voted by Industry) 2018
· Asia Pacific CMO of the Year: Marketing Professional of the Year 2016
· Global Top 33 Leaders: The Internationalist 2015


Experience :

Founded Smartpay in 2021 - Japan's first digital embedded finance company introduced several first-to-market features in Japan. For consumers, Smartpay is the first in Japan to offer no interest, no late fees, and free of charge services. It provides the only checkout process with credit card or direct from bank account that takes less than 10 seconds and with a hassle-free fully automated installment experience. Smartpay is the only payment company in Japan that has signed and integrated with the 20 largest banks in Japan and over 200 credit unions thus accessible to 90% of Japan's population with bank accounts. Smartpay Bank Direct was developed with the Japan Electronic Payments Promotion Organization (JEPPO)

At Facebook was head payments and fintech for APAC and Japan (WhatsApp, Instagram Shopping,Mobile Commerce and Facebook Marketplace.)

At Standard Chartered, was Global Head of Digital, Insights and Marketing and Retail Wealth.

At Mastercard , he was Senior Vice President Marketing Officer (Digital, Consumer, Sponsorship and Insights) for Asia Pacific. Developed Digital & eCommerce Engine. (HBS case study on the “Engine” and awarded 12 international awards)

At Starbucks - led Asia Pacific’s largest Digital, In App payment and loyalty card program increasing store comps over 20%. First in Asia Pacific /China / Japan instore in-app loyalty and in-app payment capability at scale.

Wrote and published Ecommerce White paper: The 10 Industry Wide Transformations Impacting Ecommerce in Asia Pacific and Implications for your Growth Plans. Worked with regulators on payment and Ecommerce regulations: Presented and met with the key regulators and Ministry of Trade of Singapore, Japan, India, Hong Kong, China (Beijing) and Australia to review regulatory environment in the payment and Ecommerce industry regarding data safety, Ecommerce growth, KYC and Block chain.

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 across 5 continents, as an investor, entrepreneur and executive.

She led the Singlife team through its exit in 2021, before launching Habitto, her new business in Japan.

Consistently recognised as top cohort of women in fintech, Sam is a passionate steward of diversity and inclusion

Samar leads the Talos business in APAC, delivering institutional-grade digital asset trading systems to customers on the buy-side and sell-side. Over his 20-year career, Sen has worked in a variety of product, strategy, and technology leadership roles at capital markets firms across the industry. Prior to joining Talos, he served as the Global Head of Digital Products for Securities Services at Deutsche Bank, where he co-led the bank’s digital asset strategy and product delivery. In addition, he has held senior Asia-based roles at BNP Paribas, Barclays, and TradeHero after starting his career at Goldman Sachs in New York. Sen holds a degree in Computer Science from Northwestern University and an MBA from INSEAD.

Sandeep Jhingran is a career banker and has spent over 30 years in BFSI space in India. Over last 5 years years he has been in public advocacy for startups, especially for Fintech. He is currently Director at Fintech Convergence Council (FCC) & connected very closely to startup ecosystem in India.
He has been one of the founder members of Global Fintech Fest held annually in Mumbai, which brings together the global fintech ecosystem to India.
Part of State supported Incubator programs in various Indian states
A members of Karnataka State Startup Evaluation Committee for flagship Elevate and Unnati Startup Programs. He has been leading public advocacy for Digital Payments, Lending, Wealth Management, Digital Banking, Regtech, AgriTech and Insurance in India.

Sandra is a proponent for ‘human-centric tech’. From investment banking and currency markets to blockchain technology, she is an early angel investor and advocate of cryptocurrencies and digital assets.

She currently serves as the CEO of Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC), the world’s largest leading Swiss-based non-for-profit association with more than 500 institutional members, 231 ambassadors, across 109 jurisdictions and disciplines.

In 2023, she was appointed onto the CFTC Commissioner Caroline Pham’s Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC), Digital Asset Market Subcommittee (DAMS) and cochairs the Taxonomy and Tokenization Infrastructure workstreams within the subcommittee. She was previously appointed as the Senate representative of the New York State Digital Currency Task Force, and serves on the AIFC Fintech Council (Kazakhstan), World Economic Forum’s Digital Currencies Governance Consortium, International Securities Services Association’s DLT & ISO Standards, GI Trust FATF Travel Rule Standards Task Force (South Korea), GBBC’s Global Standards Mapping Initiative, Blockchain for Climate (BxC) Board, Salesforce’s AI Advisory Board, Filecoin Foundation Advisory Board, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Innovation Accelerator Advisory Council, and several government Convergence AI working groups and councils as well as Board director of several fintech start-ups.

Whilst at CME Group, she headed FX & Metals Research & Product Development and founded a new business unit, Digitization. Sandra and her team created the CME CF Bitcoin pricing index and reference rate, CME Bitcoin Futures, and post trade, clearing and settlement solutions. Previously, she was a London-based derivatives banker at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank in the foreign exchange and interest rate markets.
Sandra holds a M.B.A. in Finance and Accounting from London Business School, studied Computer Science at Columbia University, School of Continuing Studies and earned a double B.A. degree from Yale University in History (Military) and Studies in the Environment. 

Saori is a Deputy Director in the International Affairs Office at the Financial Services Agency (FSA), Government of Japan, where she is responsible for participating various international policy discussions on Sustainable Finance. Namely, she has been a member of the working groups on data issues at the Network for Greening the Financial System and Financial Stability Board. Before joining FSA, she was a manager at the Japan Research Institute, a major Japanese think tank, where she led various government funded research projects and consulting projects on Environmental Finance. Co-translated “Principles of Sustainable Finance” into Japanese. Earned B.A. in Political Science from Keio University and M.A. in Sociology from American University. In the graduate school, the focus of her study was gender and peacebuilding.

After involvement in various functions in SMBC, including SME corporate banking, large cap clients coverage in Shanghai and Osaka, and global HR strategy, he was appointed to Digital Strategy Department in 2022. Currently involved in strategy formulation and organizational management related to new business development and investment in startup and venture capital both in Japan and overseas. He is a founding member of SMBC Asia Rising Fund, supporting collaboration between portfolio companies and SMBC Group. Earned an MBA from London Business School.

Serey Chea is the Governor of National Bank of Cambodia. She is passionate about financial inclusion and women economic empowerment. Achievements under her leadership include the establishment of Credit Bureau Cambodia in 2012 that propelled Cambodia’s Ease of Access to Finance to number 7 worldwide in 2017 by the World Bank, the introduction of Bakong, a national backbone payment system using DLT allowing interoperability amongst all financial service providers making financial services more accessible and affordable, and the introduction of financial literacy into the general education program. Serey holds a PhD in economics and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) and a member of the Alumni Community of the Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Serkan Yüksel completed his undergraduate degrees in both İstanbul Bilgi University, High Honors Programme in Management-Economics and also London Schools of Economics, Bsc in Economics. He started his graduate studies in Bilkent Univesity in Economics Department. After completing his Master of Arts in Economics he has received his degree “Master of Science in Financial Econometrics” from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2019. During his PhD studies, he has lectured in various universities and completed academic studies in economics, finance and capital markets.
After his short experience in a private bank as economist, he has worked at Independent Businessman Association in various departments. He has worked in Borsa İstanbul A.Ş. (İstanbul Stock Exchange) where he has worked in Research and Development Department, Strategic and Business Development Department and Chief of Staff Departments. Dr. Serkan Yüksel was appointed in Finance Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye as “The Director of İstanbul Financial Center Department in 2018. He is also holding Head of International Relations Department (Acting) in Finance Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye.

Seth is based in Tokyo and has over 15 years of experience advising both established and emerging companies on a wide range of transactional matters involving technology and intellectual property, including licensing arrangements, technology transfers, and development and services agreements, as well as on IP registration and enforcement matters. Seth has particular experience in the IT, semiconductor, pharmaceutical and telecommunication industries and in advising on issues relating to open source software, AI applications and hosted service offerings. Seth was named as an "Asia Super 50 TMT Lawyer" by Asian Legal Business in 2023, and he is admitted to practice in New York and California and as a Gaikokuho-Jimu-Bengoshi in Japan. Seth is originally from New York and attended Stanford Law School.

Shadab is the President of the Singapore FinTech Association (SFA), the national industry association and a cross-industry initiative designed to facilitate collaboration between all market participants and stakeholders in the FinTech ecosystem. SFA brings together a strong community to foster collaboration, innovation and partnerships among members and the industry at-large, with the goal of strengthening Singapore’s position as a global FinTech hub. As the elected President since 2021, Shadab leads the SFA Executive Committee, which sets the strategic direction for its activities related to representation and advocacy, fostering business growth, facilitating access to capital and opportunities as well as growing the FinTech talent pool.

Shadab has over 18 years of experience working in the financial services industry with over 14 years at FinTech companies. He has a strong track record of growing businesses in the fintech space and is a thought-leader across multiple diverse fintech segments such as wealthtech, insurtech, payments, digital financing as well as web3.0 applications in financial services.

Shadab also sits on the MAS Payments Council as an Observer. The Payments Council convenes key providers and users of e-payments in Singapore, to collaborate on strategies to drive the adoption of e-payments, promote interoperability among e-payments solutions, and advise MAS on payments-related policies.

Shameek leads the financial services business at California startup TruEra, where he is helping build a new business around testing and monitoring predictive and generative AI. Until 2020, he was Group Chief Data Officer at Standard Chartered Bank, where he helped the bank explore and adopt AI in multiple areas (e.g., credit, financial crime compliance, customer analytics, surveillance). Outside his day job, Shameek is closely involved in regulatory initiatives around AI governance. He is a member of the Singapore Government's Advisory Council on AI and Data Ethics, co-chairs the data governance working group at the Global Partnership on AI and was one of the authors of the MAS' FEAT guidelines on Responsible AI

Sharanjit has brought you the news from Asia on BBC World News, Bloomberg Television and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for a quarter of a century. She spent eighteen years with BBC World News, covering business and politics, anchoring from its Asia bureau and from London's Broadcasting House.

She regularly anchored live on location on breaking stories from the Asia Pacific region, while contributing to BBC World Service radio and the BBC news website. A Singaporean native, she's produced and presented documentaries on TV and radio about her city on the BBC.

Educated in North America with undergraduate degrees in Journalism and a Masters in English, Sharanjit has lived and worked in Tokyo, Washington DC, London, Vancouver and Singapore, bringing a truly global perspective to her work.
She now regularly moderates high-level debates for the United Nations, the ADB and other multilateral and financial institutions while balancing a board career, advising companies and educational institutions on media strategy, D&I and ESG. She divides her time between Singapore and Bath, UK.

Shawn Hunter is an Industry Fellow (APEC) and Director of Inclusive Growth Programs at the Griffith Asia Institute. He is an accomplished international development practitioner and researcher with over 15 years’ experience designing and implementing economic development programs across the Asia-Pacific region. His primary expertise is on financial inclusion and the digital economy. Much of his career has centred on researching inclusive economic development issues and facilitating capacity-building initiatives to support policymakers and regulators achieve positive development outcomes. This includes over a decade of experience collaborating with government agencies and industry experts to progress initiatives within the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) that promote regional cooperation and economic integration.

Sherie’s career spans three decades of transformative leadership, where she has been at the forefront of driving high-performance organizations within various high-tech B2B and B2C industries. Her expertise lies in fostering growth and innovation across the Banking, Finance, Insurance, Telecommunications, BPO, Power, and Utilities sectors. As a strategic visionary, Sherie has a distinguished track record in cultivating partnerships, leading corporate strategies, spearheading digital transformations, and nurturing team growth.

A pioneer in merging digital technology with finance for sustainability, Sherie founded the Point Carbon Zero Forum in collaboration with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Her innovative efforts at Microsoft led to the establishment of the ASEAN Government Cyber Security Executive Council, enhancing the cyber resilience of nation-states. At NICE, she was pivotal in the co-creation of voice biometric authentication technology, revolutionizing banking globally. Sherie's entrepreneurial spirit shone at Singtel, where she played a key role in introducing the world's first Formula One night race to Singapore, and as a co-founder of SingLife Philippines, she disrupted the insurance sector with a fully digital model, improving financial protection access in the Philippines.

Sherie holds influential board positions at The Binary Holdings, Twin Matrix, and Di-Firm, and offers her expertise to cutting-edge tech firms like Qeplon and OTIS AI. She also contributes to the Nanyang Technological University Alumni Board and the Singapore Computer Society Executive Council.
Her academic achievements include a Bachelor of Business Administration from Nanyang Technological University, a specialization in Digital Transformation from MIT, participation in the Global CEO Executive Program at INSEAD, and the VC Unlocked program at Stanford University.

Sherie's notable career highlights feature her tenure as Managing Director of Google Cloud Singapore/Malaysia, where she led AI and sustainability initiatives, and as General Manager at Microsoft APAC in the Public Sector, driving empowerment programs and tackling the challenges posed by COVID-19, APAC leadership roles NICE, Invensys, Lucent Tech, Converse & SingTel.
Renowned for her results-oriented approach, customer advocacy, and leadership prowess, Sherie is celebrated for her ability to forge close relationships and develop high-performing teams, driving hyper-growth through digital transformation.

Shiho has worked at Morgan Stanley (IBD), Google, Mercari US, ELSA Speak, and various startups. With experience working in Japan, South East Asia, Europe, Africa, Silicon Valley, and DC, she brings a unique perspective. Shiho holds degrees from ICU and Stanford University. She has been advising Shibuya City since 2021 and has been in her current role since February 2023.

Ph.D., Chemistry and Biochemistry Department, University of Delaware. Serial entrepreneur in the technology field.
After managing several companies, he launched Seven Dreamers Laboratories Inc. in 2011, raised over USD$100, and focused on developing the world first fully automated laundry folding robot, called Laundroid. He serves as co-CEO of GFIT Inc, an forex tech company, since 2021.

Founder & CEO of Kyash, a Japanese Fintech startup. The company, funded by 4 major Japanese mega bank groups along with overseas venture capitals, offers one-touch payment services to Japanese customers.

Prior to founding Kyash, he worked at a global consulting firm after working at SMBC, a Japanese mega bank.
B.A. at Waseda University. Ex-board member of Fintech Association Japan.

Shinichi Tsunoda, based in Tokyo, is responsible for promotion of sustainable related business.
He has 25 years of experience in corporate finance and advisory in Japan, EMEA and ASEAN regions. Previously he spearheaded Asia Office of Industry Research Department in Singapore focusing in corporate advisory for local corporates in ASEAN region covering topics such as cross border alliance, decarbonization or sustainable supply chain. In 2020, he was appointed as General Manager of Sustainable Business Promotion Department to facilitate sustainable related business in both financial and consulting areas.
He holds an M.S. management degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and BEc from the Hitotsubashi University.

Shue Heng is Head of Asia Digital Strategy at MUFG Bank bringing over a decade of diverse experience spanning the private and public sectors. His expertise lies in strategic venture capital investments and driving new business creation.

Shun Nagao is Venture Partner at White Star Capital (WSC), a global multi-stage VC. He concurrently serves as associate professor at Shizenkan University, and advisor at BowerGroupAsia. Previously he was Executive Director of the Silicon Valley Japan Platform, and has held positions at the World Economic Forum, a Paris-based startup, at Goldman Sachs and at Morgan Stanley.
Shun has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Keio University and a MBA from INSEAD. Born and raised in Geneva, Switzerland and educated in Japan and France, Shun is fluent in Japanese, English and French.

Sigal Mandelker joined Ribbit Capital in April 2020. Ribbit is an investment firm focused on financial services and technology. Prior to Ribbit, she served as Under Secretary of Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence and as Acting Deputy Secretary. As Under Secretary, Sigal supervised four main components of Treasury (OFAC, FinCEN, the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, and the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes). Before serving at Treasury, Sigal was a partner at Proskauer in New York. Sigal also previously served in a number of senior positions in the U.S. government, including as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Division of the Justice Department, an AUSA in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Counselor to Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, and Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General. Sigal is also an Advisor to Chainalysis, is on the Boards of the Crypto Council for Innovation and the Financial Technology Association, is Co-Chair of the Center for a New American Security’s (CNAS) task force on FinTech, Crypto, and National Security, is a Member of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum Council, and Chair of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum's Collections & Acquisitions Committee.

Simon is a Senior Manager at PwC Singapore with more than 10 years of financial services industry experience. He is part of PwC Singapore’s Sustainability and Climate Change practice.

Sophia Lopez is Founder and President of Kaleido, an award-winning blockchain, digital assets and tokenization platform that provides scalable and secure infrastructure to enterprises globally. Its clients include the world’s largest private transaction banks, over a dozen central banks (CBDCs), top healthcare and insurance networks, 80% of the world’s supply chain leaders, top retail companies, organizations such as Swift, World Bank, IMF, along with 100s of global enterprise networks. 

Sophia helped launch the IBM Blockchain Platform, the industry’s first blockchain-managed service. She held executive P&L responsibility for IBM's blockchain product portfolio. Previously, Sophia held multi-billion dollar P&L executive roles at IBM for its enterprise software and hardware lines of business. 
 
Sophia currently serves on the Hyperledger Foundation Governing Board. She is an advisor to blockchain and digital assets startups, has delivered digital assets sessions at Davos, spoken about blockchain at forums such as the Milken Institute, and provided mentorship in Web3 programs such as the ConsenSys Tachyon accelerator. Sophia has an engineering degree from Harvard University and an MBA from UNC Chapel Hill.

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.

Spyro began his career as a programmer at Salomon Brothers Asia in 1995 and made substantial contributions to the front office, launching the global program trading desk for equities. In 2007, he partnered with Mizuho Securities as a consultant overseeing the firm’s success in algorithmic trading and high frequency trading. In 2010 he officially joined Mizuho and was appointed Co-Head of Equities and Deputy Global Head of Pan Asian Equities. In 2016, he became director of the investment department expanding into the FinTech ecosystem, running due diligence and valuations of venture capital firms and startups globally and connecting them to various institutional investors, mainly in Japan. In 2017, he founded HiJoJo Partners.
Spyro graduated Columbia University with a degree in Engineering & Management Systems

Sreeni has spent over 30 years in Asia Pacific & Japan in various executive and leadership roles with Global IT & Software firms and with an extensive understanding of Local & Global business practices. Has successfully established several cutting-edge technology businesses and expanded into the APAC markets over the last two decades.

As the Chief Operating Officer for Partior, the trusted global network for value exchange, Stella Lim manages its global partnerships and operations, and is responsible for driving the company’s organisational capabilities. She oversees its business development, customer onboarding, government affairs, communications and marketing, compliance and risk, and finance operations functions.

Focused on driving strategy and delivering value creation, Stella’s experience has seen her delivering exceptional client service to financial institutions, securities participants and corporates.

Prior to joining Partior, Stella led the regional management and strategy planning for SWIFT in Asia Pacific as its Managing Director. In addition to the 14 years she served at SWIFT, Stella has held senior positions across the fields of information technology, banking and corporates, in organisations that include SmartStream Technologies, Internet Security Systems, Netik.com and Deloitte.

Stella is a keen supporter of the education and advancement of women in the workforce, and has spoken at industry conferences on trends impacting today’s payments landscape, and also on CSR and diversity.

Sunil Kulkarni is a founder of Fidel group of companies offering LangTech consulting services with offices in Japan & India. Sunil is an engineer by profession, proficient in Japanese language & has been working in Japan since 25+ years. Fidel specializes in FIX connectivity, cloud infrastructure & security, enterprise software, bilingual consulting & staffing, language localization & engineering services and is one of the few SMEs working between Japan-India that went public on the Indian exchange in 2022. Sunil is active in the community and supports various initiatives.
Fidel Technologies KK – www.fideltech.com
Fidel Consulting KK – www.fidelconsulting.com
Fidel Softech Ltd – www.fidelsoftech.com

Taejun Shin is the founder, CEO, and Chair of the Board of Gojo & Company, Inc., a pioneering startup that extends tech-driven microfinance services across five developing nations, touching the lives of 2 million people. With an ambitious goal to create the World Bank in the private sector, Gojo has rapidly become the quickest-expanding entity in the global microfinance landscape. Prior to founding Gojo, Taejun used to work for Morgan Stanley and Unison Capital, focusing on private equity investments across Asia.

Parallel to his professional career, in 2007, he established Living in Peace (LIP), a highly successful Japanese NGO that initiated the country's first microfinance investment fund in 2009 and has been instrumental in supporting children in alternative care systems. Furthermore, Taejun co-founded Japan Office for Standards on Children's Services to enhance child support services at the local government level in Japan.

An author of nine books, Taejun's interests are diverse, including completing a 1,648 km ultra-marfathon, holding a black belt in Karate, and achieving 6 Dan in Go. Despite being born stateless, he has turned his challenges into entrepreneurial drive, earning recognition as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2018 among others.

Takayuki is responsible for new business development and global sales at Asuene, a leading Sustainability Tech startup in Asia. Takayuki is the Division Director of the Supply Chain ESG Rating SaaS "Asuene ESG", while also working for Asuene's global expansion and partnerships.
Takayuki was involved in the launch of the carbon credit market exchange "Carbon EX" as well as the establishment of Asuene's US entity.

Takeshi is a serial Fintech entrepreneur, and Co-founder & CEO of Elevandi Japan, actively leading ecosystem building and international partnerships.

Additionally, he serves on the committee for the Government of Japan's Regulatory Sandbox and is a member of the experts group at the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry for cross-border data transfers.

Before starting his own startup, Takeshi worked as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch, gaining expertise in capital markets. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, he worked at Boston Consulting Group.

He also held the position of Vice-chair at Fintech Association of Japan, where he played a pivotal role in navigating international collaborations for 6 years.

Since joining CDP in July 2020 as a Reporter Services staff member, he has been helping Japanese companies accelerate and improve their environmental action and disclosure via CDP questionnaire covering climate change, forestry, and water security themes. In 2023, he also supported Japanese companies to help their suppliers to improve their environmental action and disclosure through CDP Supply Chain program. He has completed a master’s degree in Sustainability Management.

Born and raised in Japan, with multi cultural background. Managing Banking & Fintech industry recruitment and human capital management consulting in the Japan/APAC markets.

Tanya Hotchkiss is the Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Cantilan Bank, leading the institution's digital transformation across 13 provinces in Mindanao and the Visayas. In this pivotal role, she drives sustainable growth and fosters inclusive finance for the unbanked and underserved markets. Her leadership has positioned Cantilan Bank as a Northstar institution, recently recognized with the 2021 Northstar Impact Award from the ASEAN Financial Innovation Network.

In addition to her role at Cantilan Bank, Tanya served as the rural banking industry's representative to the Open Finance Oversight Committee Transition Group (OFOC TG) from 2022 to 2024, actively shaping policies and standards for pilot implementations under the open finance regulatory sandbox. The OFOC TG spanned diverse financial sectors, including banks, electronic money issuers, operators of payment systems, and fintech firms, underscoring Tanya's significant impact in shaping the broader financial landscape.

KONO Taro, 61, a ninth-term member of the House of Representatives, has been appointed Minister for Digital Transformation, Minister for Administrative Affairs and Minister of State for Regulatory Reform.
Among positions he has held in the past are Foreign Minister; Defense Minister; Minister in charge of COVID-19 Vaccine Roll-out; Minister in charge of Administrative Reform; and Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission.

Tatsuya Saito
Progmat, Inc. Founder and CEO
Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation Adviser
Japan Security Token Association Director

Joined Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation in 2010. After working in corporate sales, business planning, and IT planning, he established the Center of FinTech Office in 2016 and planned and promoted Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking's digital strategy as the first full-time staff member.
As a "serial entrepreneur", he has been involved in the development and implementation of several digital platforms including "Dprime", "Progmat", "Progmat Coin", and "Progmat UT". Launch of the "Digital Asset Co-Creation Consortium" and other initiatives, in which many organizations are members.
In 2022, he announced the formation of an independent company for the digital asset infrastructure business with investments from several financial institutions, exchanges, and software companies, and he has been CEO since the company's founding in October 2023. He has 8 patents registered.

Teppei Terada is a Managing Director at the Corporate Planning Division in MUFG Bank, Product Manager for Digital Asset / web3 business development based in Tokyo, Japan. He has been involved in the bank’s technology area including IT development, Fintech and Digitalization, working abroad in Singapore. When blockchain gained attention, he led PoC experiment aiming to automate delivery and payment using blockchain. He holds a Master Degree in Robotics Engineering from Doshisha University, Kyoto.

Thomas Jeng is General Manager, Singapore at Aspire, a fast-growing FinTech company providing finance solutions to startups, SMBs, investment firms, and the web3 community throughout the Asia-Pacific.

Prior to joining Aspire, he held a variety of roles in the startup and venture capital space, including at a SaaS startup and international investment firm 500 Global.

In addition, Thomas is active as a mentor and advisor to startups throughout the world.

Thomas began his career in strategy consulting at firms such as Boston Consulting Group and Gartner. Thomas holds degrees from Georgetown University and the Yale School of Management.

Tianwei is CEO and Co-founder of StraitsX, and also Deputy-CEO of Fazz, the parent company of StraitsX.

Alongside the management team, Tianwei keeps StraitsX focused on its vision to build South-East Asia’s most trusted digital financial ecosystem, engaging closely with regulatory bodies and industry partners to accelerate access to digital assets and blockchain-enabled financial solutions.

Tim Romero is a Partner at JERA Ventures and host of the Disrupting Japan podcast. Tim is deeply involved in Japan's startup community as an investor, founder, author and educator, and he has founded several startups in Japan over the past 25 years. Tim has also taught entrepreneurship and corporate innovation at New York University's Tokyo campus, was the Head of Google for Startups Japan, and has worked with TEPCO and other Japanese enterprises on startup engagement and innovation strategy. 

Ting-Ting is the International Partnership Manager at FinTechSpace with over 7 years of expertise in FinTech, cybersecurity, and privacy consultancy. She leads initiatives aimed at fostering cross-border collaborations to bolster Taiwan's FinTech ecosystem. Her efforts are focused on forging strategic partnerships to facilitate the expansion of Taiwan's FinTech network while nurturing robust connections with international stakeholders. Before join FinTechSpace, Ting-Ting was a assistant manager in Deloitte & Touche's Risk Advisory Department. During this time, she played a pivotal role in spearheading cybersecurity consultancy projects for esteemed clients such as the Bank Bureau, FISAC Taiwan, and Bank of Taiwan. Her hands-on experience equipped her with the insights necessary to guide FinTech enterprises in navigating cybersecurity requirements, ensuring their readiness to enter and thrive within the Taiwanese market.

Tiziana is Deputy Representative of the Bank of Italy’s Representative Office in Japan. Before coming to Japan in 2018, she was Head of the Economic Research and Analysis Division at the Bank’s branch of Trieste. She has worked on issues related to financial intermediation and firms’ innovation. Tiziana holds a B.A. and a M.A. in Economics, both from the University of Torino and has been visiting scholar at the London School of Economics.

For more details you can visit my Linkedin profile at www.linkedin.com/in/TizianaSodano

Tomo Ishikawa is responsible for orchestrating group wide advocacy strategy on financial regulatory policies, including prudential regulations, conduct related rules, and climate/sustainability agenda. As part of MUFG's sustainability engagement, Ishikawa represents MUFG at global initiatives such as GFANZ and NZBA. He serves as a member of the Steering Group of NZBA, as well as the chair of a working group tasked to develop the global framework for transition finance. He has 15 years of career as an investment banker prior to becoming a regulatory policy expert. While at Japan FSA, where he spent 2 and half years, Ishikawa led the derivatives reform implementation project in Japan.

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Toshiyuki (Toshi) currently heads the Japan FSA’s international affairs group and represents the FSA at working-level meetings of the G20 and G7. He also participates in discussions at the Financial Stability Board and International Organisation of Securities Commissions. In these capacities he made substantial contribution to building international consensus on regulating and supervising crypto-asset activities and markets. In previous positions at the FSA, Toshi worked on supervision of Japan's major banks and insurers, cross-sectoral supervisory policies and external communications. He also has working experience at Japan's Ministry of Finance on government debt management and the IMF on international monetary system.

Tram Anh Nguyen, a finance and technology leader, co-founded CFTE in 2017. Passionate about lifelong learning, she collaborates with governments, policymakers, and experts to advance financial education in the digital era. A dedicated advocate for diversity and inclusion, Tram Anh aims to empower individuals, especially women, in the evolving finance landscape. Co-author of the Fintech Job Report, she serves as a Non-Executive Director and sits on advisory boards, including Elevandi in Japan. An ambassador for the Singapore Fintech Festival, Tram Anh is also an Entrepreneurship Expert at Saïd Business School, Oxford, leveraging her corporate experience from major financial institutions. Born in France of Vietnamese descent, she brings a global perspective shaped by living in Paris, New York, and London.

Currently Ms Vaida Česnulevičiūtė – Markevičienė holds the position of the Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania. In this position Vice-Minister V. Česnulevičiūtė – Markevičienė is responsible for the areas of the European Union investments; international financial assistance; financial market policy; National Fund; Municipal Financial Affairs Group.

In 2019-2020 she was the advisor to the President of the Republic of Lithuania for economics and innovations. From 2014 to 2019 Ms V. Česnulevičiūtė – Markevičienė worked for the Bank of Lithuania in various leading positions. In October 2018 – May 2019 she underwent a traineeship at the European Central Bank. From 2009 to 2016 she worked for the law firm Eversheds Saladžius and the Financial Mechanism Office of the European Free Trade Association.

Ms V. Česnulevičiūtė – Markevičienė holds the Master’s Degree in Commercial Law obtained at Vilnius University. She also studied international banking and finance law at University College London.

Varlam Ebanoidze brings an impressive 18-year track record of professional experience, specializing in risk management and digitalization within the banking sector.

Prior to his role at the National Bank of Georgia (NBG), where Varlam focuses on implementing a countrywide FinTech Open Finance strategy and regulatory framework, he held senior positions as a risk manager and auditor at esteemed banks in Georgia and Ukraine. Additionally, he served on the management board of Liberty, a leading retail bank in Georgia.

Varlam's passion lies in the strategic transformation of risk management to align with the evolving paradigm of 'Open Finance'. Supported by a Master's degree from LBS, specializing in Strategy and Leadership, and complemented by his extensive domain expertise, he possesses a unique perspective that enables him to envision and propose secure digitization strategies through the lens of industry development.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma is a prominent tech innovator and entrepreneur, recognized for his pioneering contributions to the transformation of India's financial services and mobile payments sector. As the Founder and CEO of One97 Communications and its well-known consumer brand Paytm, Sharma has played a crucial role in advancing financial inclusion and digital innovation across the nation. A passionate proponent of the power of emerging technologies, Sharma has significantly popularized QR code-based transactions and soundboxes among numerous small businesses, democratizing access to digital payments. His strategic vision extends to offering the distribution of a range of financial services including lending, wealth management, and insurance, solidifying his role as a key architect in India's progression towards a fully digital economy.

VIVEK PATHAK
IFC Regional Chief Risk Officer, Asia-Pacific
 
Vivek has been passionate about climate for most of his career. He is currently the Regional Chief Risk Officer, Asia Pacific. Until recently he was the Director and Global Head of Climate Business
He takes inspiration from his strongest beliefs – the world needs urgent action to combat climate change, addressing climate change will generate huge business opportunities for the private sector and capital markets, and climate risk is as important as other risks and needs to be urgently mainstreamed.

Vivek believes in looking for these opportunities to mobilize capital needed to move them forward. He played a leading role in business development, guiding standard-setting and new product design, and connecting the dots across the IFC to mainstream the climate lens into all IFC’s business. He believes that the private sector will be key to greening major sectors of national economies – from energy and transport to agriculture and manufacturing – and is committed to helping clients who are working to move the needle on the low-carbon transition in their countries and communities.

He was previously IFC’s Regional Director for East Asia and Pacific, where he led investment and advisory operations across 18 countries and was one of the first at IFC to integrate climate into all aspects of the business. Before that, he was IFC’s Director and Global Head of Credit and Investment Risk. He had also held multiple leadership roles managing portfolio, credit risk, and business development in frontier markets at IFC, Bank of America and ABN AMRO Bank. He started his career in advertising, where he learned the importance of knowing your audience, and the power of words to change the World.

Willie Chang is the Chief Operating Officer of Alta and heads Alta’s exchange
business. He has twenty years of experience spanning fintech, investment banking
and management consulting.
Willie is also currently a member of the Digital Financing Subcommittee at the
Singapore Fintech Association and contributes actively to educating and promoting best practices in digital financing in the market.
Previously, Willie was the Head of Strategic Planning and Business Development at
Mizuho Securities in Singapore and also held management positions at Lehman
Brothers and Deloitte Consulting.
He has an MBA with Honours from the Kellogg School of Management at
Northwestern University.

With a strong background in economics, Winston Hsiao is a serial entrepreneur and active crypto trader. Winston founded Taiwan’s first Bitcoin exchange BTCEx-TW in 2013 and has invested in seed equity rounds of many crypto startups. Winston is also the Founder and CEO of Verico International, a consumer electronics brand. Born in Taiwan but grew up in India, Winston majored in economics at Savitribai Phule Pune University, where he graduated with FirstClass.

In 2018, Winston co-founded XREX Inc. and he currently serves as the Group's Chief Revenue Officer. XREX is a blockchain-enabled financial institution working with banks, regulators, and users to redefine banking together.

Winston divides his time between Taipei and India. In 2022, Winston co-founded and is a sitting Board Member at Unitas Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports the development of Unitas Protocol, which operates exogenously over-reserved stablecoins pegged to emerging market currencies. These stablecoins unleash emerging market potentials by facilitating foreign investment, cross-border payment, global market access, DeFi participation, efficient USD liquidity, and more.

Yam Ki Chan is a seasoned international finance, technology, and public policy executive. He is currently a Vice President, Strategy and Policy for Circle. His executive leadership drives the market expansion and public policy engagements for Circle.

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

Yash Sekioka is a Partner of Oliver Wyman, based in Tokyo. He has extensive knowledge in the Japanese financial services industry, particularly on serving insurance, asset management, and insurtech space. Prior to joining Oliver Wyman, he served in various senior roles at Tokio Marine Holdings, including corporate planning, investment, and international life and general insurance businesses, in both Tokyo and Singapore.

Yasin Erol completed his education at Sakarya University in Turkiye, Department of International Relations, with his thesis on "Continental Shelves in International Waters".

In 2003, he went to United Kingdom for research, development and entrepreneurship purposes, respectively, in various sectors; He served as branch manager, import-export manager, finance manager and general manager.In addition to his work experiences, also in the United Kingdom; He conducted research and studies within the scope of the technology transfer office and university-industry collaborations.

In Turkey between 2013 and 2014; He served as Deputy General Manager of Istanbul Technical University Arı Science Park, and simultaneously as General Coordinator of Istanbul Technical University İTÜNOVA Technology Transfer Office.

He served as the General Manager of Istanbul University and Istanbul University Cerrahpaşa Science Park between 2015 and 2022.

In 2022, he became the General Manager and CEO of the Istanbul Finance and Technology Base (Fintech Zone) Science Park, which was established under the auspices of the Finance Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkiye, and he still maintains this position.

Prior to his current position at Atlas Technologies, Yasuhiro worked for an international payment brand and a virtual currency exchange. As a Head of Debit Card Product, he was involved in new program launches in the Japanese market, domestic infrastructure development, marketing, market research, and processing as well as leading strategy development and execution. After moving to another international brand, he has launched the first Debit card program for that company in the Japanese market and served as Vice President of Product Management and Vice President of Sales

Before Standard Chartered Bank, Yosh Tahara was engaged in various senior roles at MUFG and HSBC in New York, London and Japan, as senior manager of Structured finance, Corporate finance, Trade Finance and Client Coverage.

He joined Standard Chartered Bank in 2011, including regional assignment at GCNA (Greater China & North Asia) role based in Hong Kong as well as country management roles in Japan.

Taking the lead on business development for the clients
1. Strategic business planning and execution
2. Trusted advisor for clients, relationship building, origination, and execution, in establishing various new projects and initiatives:
a) New global network origination model
b) New corporate treasury solutions
c) "Banking the Ecosystem" support to new industry - EV, 5/6G, Commodities
d) Fintech/digital banking services - Digital Trade and Cash
e) CBDC to be aligned with HKMA, MAS, BOJ and others

Mr. Yuichi Murao has been the Chief Investment Officer for Active Japanese Equity strategies since April 2021. He has over 30 years of industry experience playing key roles especially in the portfolio management of Japanese equities for international investors.

Yuki Soga, CFA, brings two decades of experience in investing in the Japanese market. After serving as a partner at a New York hedge fund, she established her own consulting firm, Penrose Japan Ltd., in 2020. Yuki advises global investment funds on their Japan investments and assists Japanese firms aiming for global growth. Alongside this, she has served as a non-executive director with a London-listed Japan market investment trust and shared her insights in her recently published book, "世界トップ投資家の共通言語".

Yuko Seimei started her career at the Sanwa Bank, Ltd. (currently MUFG Bank, Ltd.) in April 2001. She moved to MKS Partners Ltd in December 2006. She joined Monex Hambrecht, Inc. in February 2009 (merged with Monex, Inc. in 2017) and became Representative Director of Monex Hambrecht, Inc. in June 2011. She became Executive Director of Monex Group, Inc. in March 2013, Executive Officer of Monex Group, Inc. in June 2016, and the Representative Director and President of Monex, Inc.in April 2019. She was appointed Representative Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Monex Group, Inc. in January 2020 and Representative Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Monex Group, Inc. in January 2021. In June 2021, she was appointed to Member of the Board of Monex Group, Inc. and in April 2022, she was appointed to a Member of the Board, Representative Executive Officer, Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Monex Group, Inc. Since June 2023, she has served as a Member of the Board, Representative Executive Officer, Chief Executive Officer of Monex Group, Inc. As a result of Monex Group, Inc. and Monex, Inc. forming a capital alliance with NTT DOCOMO, Inc. in January 2024, she is also currently President, Member of the Board, Executive Director of Monex, Inc.

Financial Market Entry Office

Yumiko is the former head of the OECD Tokyo Centre. Prior to the OECD, she worked for 20 years in the global financial industry, mostly as a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs in New York, London and Tokyo. She is a leading authority on a wide range of economic policy issues such as corporate governance, tax guidelines, diversity, education, trade and innovation. She sits on several Government advisory panels, including Prime Minister Kishida’s panel on “the New Form of Capitalism”. Yumiko has an MBA from Harvard Business School, MA from Stanford University and BA from Sophia University.

Zennon is the Managing Director of Kapronasia, an Atlas Technologies Group Company. Kapronasia is one of Asia’s leading providers of consulting services focusing on the fintech industry. Zennon has been involved in financial technology for over 20 years and covers all topics fintech and blockchain. Before Kapronasia, Zennon was the Global Banking Industry Manager for Intel based out of Shanghai, China and, prior to Intel, was the CIO for Citigroup Portugal. Zennon has testified in front of the U.S. Congress on issues of China fintech and is the author of ‘Chomping at the Bitcoin: The History and Future of Bitcoin in China’ published by Penguin. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Syracuse University and an MBA from INSEAD.

Zhaoqi is responsible for shaping the business strategies and forging collaborative partnerships at Gprnt, a digital platform that harnesses technology to simplify how the financial sector and real economy collect, access and act upon ESG data to support their sustainability initiatives. Gprnt's vision is to be the world’s key destination for granular, comparable and verified ESG data, delivered via an open data platform at scale with an embedded value-added services marketplace.