2024 Speakers

His Excellency Essa Kazim is the Governor of Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Chairman of Borse Dubai, Deputy Chairman of Supreme Legislation Committee in Dubai, and a member in Dubai Supreme Fiscal Committee.

H.E. ESSA
KAZIM

Governor

DIFC

Adena Friedman is the Chief Executive Officer of Nasdaq and is Chair of the Board of Directors. She brings more than 20 years of industry leadership and expertise, and is credited with significantly shaping Nasdaq’s transformation into a leading global exchange and technology company serving the financial industry.

ADENA T.
FRIEDMAN

Chair and Chief Executive Officer

Nasdaq, Inc.

Nic has enjoyed a successful tenure spanning two decades at Bank Julius Baer & Co Ltd, where he has held various roles, such as Chief Operating Officer, Head of Intermediaries, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, and member of the Executive Board. As a self proclaimed technocrat and an avid innovation aficionado, Nic’s insights hold great promise for the FinTech community especially on the future of finance and investments.

NIC
DRECKMANN

Chief Executive Officer

Bank Julius Baer & Co Ltd

Switzerland

Former CEO of NYLIM with extensive financial leadership experience. Recognized in Barron’s 100 Most Influential Women (2022), American Banker’s 25 Most Powerful Women (2022), and Forbes' 50 over 50 (2021). Board member of Northwestern University, ICI, Women’s Forum of New York, and National Association of Corporate Directors.

YIE-HSIN
HUNG

President & Chief Executive Officer

State Street Global Advisors

H.E. Fahad M. Alturki, Ph.D. joined on 27 of November 2023 the Arab Monetary Fund “AMF” as Director General Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors. In this capacity, he serves also as the Chief Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Arab Trade Financing Program “ATFP” and Chairman of the Board of the Arab Regional Payments Clearing and Settlement Organization “BUNA”.

H.E. FAHAD
M. ALTURKI, Ph.D.

Director General Chairman of the Board

Arab Monetary Fund

Alfonso is the President and CEO of Banco Santander International, Head of Santander Private Banking International, and Global Head of Private Banking in the Wealth Management Division. Alfonso has more than 20 years of experience in the banking industry. Before joining Santander, Alfonso worked at Credit Suisse, Barclays, and Bankinter, where he was responsible for developing the Private Wealth business model. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Banco Santander International, Banco Santander International SA, and the Spain-United States Chamber of Commerce in Miami.

ALFONSO
CASTILLO

President and CEO

Santander Private Banking

Oh Se-Hoon, the Mayor of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, entered the National Assembly in 2000 and began his political career in earnest. Seoul won the UN Public Service Awards consecutively by introducing creative administrative approaches through initiatives such as the “Seoul Hope Plus Savings Accounts Program” and the “Seoul Women-Friendly City Project.”

OH
SE-HOON

Mayor of Seoul

South Korea

Nik Storonsky launched Revolut in 2015 to transform the way we spend and transfer money abroad. Since then, he has put Revolut on the path to becoming the world’s first truly global bank, changing the way we do all things money. Previously an Emerging Markets Equity Derivatives Trader at Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers, he traded over $2bn across various options, swaps, and FX instruments. Nik holds an M.S. in Applied Physics and Mathematics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and an MA in Economics from the New Economic School, Moscow. He is a keen kite surfer, mountaineer, and championship swimmer.

NIK
STORONSKY

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Revolut

H.E. Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri was appointed Minister of Economy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) under the new government structure approved in July 2020. He is the Chairman of the General Civil Aviation Authority, UAE International Investors Council, and CSR UAE Fund’s Board of Trustees.

H.E. ABDULLAH
BIN TOUQ AL MARRI

Cabinet Member & UAE Minister of Economy

Brad is the CEO of Ripple and a member of the Board of Directors. Prior to Ripple, he served as the CEO of file collaboration service Hightail. From 2009 to 2012 he was the President of Consumer Applications at AOL and prior to that in executive positions at Yahoo.

BRAD
GARLINGHOUSE

Chief Executive Officer

Ripple

His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri is the Director General of Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism. He is a member of the Executive Council of Dubai and the Director General of the Dubai World Trade Centre Authority (DWTCA).

H.E. HELAL SAEED
AL MARRI

Director General

Department of Economy and Tourism, Dubai

He is Hungary's central bank Governor since 2013, is a seasoned economist and former Minister of National Economy. Renowned for shaping sustainable economics discussions, his impactful leadership extends to key roles in economic development and global forums.

H.E. DR. GYÖRGY
H MATOLCSY

Governor

Magyar Nemzeti Bank, The Central Bank of Hungary

Hungary

In addition to his role as CEO of QDB, Mr. Al Sowaidi is COB at Elan Qatar and QBIC, he also serves on the boards of the National Food Security Committee, QTech, Injaz Qatar, and Manateq.

ABDULRAHMAN
AL SOWAIDI

Chief Executive Officer

Qatar Development Bank

Arif Amiri is the Chief Executive Officer of DIFC Authority where he is responsible for setting the strategy and growth direction of the Authority. Under his leadership, DIFC has emerged as a powerful catalyst for the financial services sector, as well as the leading global financial centre in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region.

ARIF
AMIRI

Chief Executive Officer

DIFC Authority

Michael Gronager, CEO of Chainalysis Inc. and co-founder of Kraken, a major Bitcoin exchange, has extensive experience in digital assets. Prior to his crypto ventures, he led international research projects and served on boards such as the Swedish National Supercomputer Center and the Blockchain Working Group for the 5th European Anti Money Laundering Directive.

MICHAEL
GRONAGER

Chief Executive Officer

Chainalysis

Michael is the CEO and co-founder of Fireblocks, a secure digital asset infrastructure company. Prior to Fireblocks, he co-founded Lacoon Mobile Security, which was acquired by Check Point.

MICHAEL
SHAULOV

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Fireblocks

Vanessa Colella is Visa’s Global Head of Innovation and Digital Partnerships. In her role, Vanessa leads the development and commercialization of Visa products and solutions for Big Tech, Fintech, and Platform Partners. Colella also leads Visa’s global network of Innovation Centers. She joined Visa in 2022. Before joining Visa, she served as the Chief Innovation Officer at Citi and as the lead for Citi Ventures and Citi Productivity. Prior to this role, she ran marketing for Citi’s North America Consumer Bank. Previously, Vanessa held roles with U.S. Venture Partners (USVP), Yahoo, McKinsey & Company, and was teacher and charter corps member of Teach For America.

VANESSA
COLELLA

Global Head of Innovation and Digital Partnerships

Visa

Adrian is the founder and Group CEO of FNZ and has overseen the development of the company since it started in 2003. He is currently based in the company’s Munich office.

ADRIAN
DURHAM

Founder and Group CEO

Germany

Antony Jenkins CBE is the Founder, Chair and CEO of 10x Banking, a fintech company that aims to redefine how banks operate and engage with customers. His ambition is to be the global bank operating system of choice by applying cloud native technology to everything from checking accounts to savings to loans.

ANTONY
JENKINS CBE

Founder, Chair & Chief Executive Officer

10x Banking

Jim O’Neil is Head of Corporate & Investment Banking (GCIB) for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at BofA Securities. He is responsible for managing the day to day operations of the firm's Corporate & Investment Banking business across EMEA. He is a Board Member of Merrill Lynch International. Jim began his career at BofA Securities in 1993 in New York and relocated to London in 1999. He re-joined the firm in 2013, after spending three years at the UK Financial Investments (UKFI), most recently as Chief Executive, managing the UK Government’s investments in banks subscribing to recapitalization funds. In this role, he was responsible for managing the UK Government’s shareholdings in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) as well as managing the Government’s 100 percent investments in UK Asset Resolution (UKAR) and its subsidiaries. He was also a Board Member of UKFI, UKAR, Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock Asset Management.

JIM
O'NEIL

Head of EMEA Corporate & Investment Banking

Bank of America Securities

Arik Shtilman: Global Fintech innovator and CEO transforming business through Fintech-as-a-Service at Rapyd.

ARIK
SHTILMAN

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Rapyd

Henry Ward is the CEO and Co-founder of Carta. The company is trusted by more than 40,000 companies, over 7,000 funds and SPVs, and over two million equity holders to manage cap tables, compensation, valuations, liquidity, and more. Carta’s liquidity solutions have returned $15B to shareholders in secondary transactions.

HENRY
WARD

Chief Executive Officer

Carta

Jack Zhang is an entrepreneur and one of the most sought-after technology and thought leaders in financial services. As CEO and Co-founder of Airwallex, he has built a successful company with a vision to become the global economic infrastructure to empower modern businesses of all sizes to grow beyond borders.

JACK
ZHANG

Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder

Airwallex

Sergio Furio is the Founder & CEO of Creditas, the leading Fintech platform operating in Latam across 3 ecosystems: Home, Auto and Employee Benefits. With $400mn in revenues and 2,000 employees, Creditas is one of the top tech companies in Latam and a reference in innovation and talent management.

SERGIO
FURIO

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Creditas

Brazil

Florian Tursky is State Secretary for Digitalization at the Ministry of Finance and currently coordinates issues relating to digitalization, information technology and telecommunications in Austria, as well as at the level of the European Union and internationally.

H.E. FLORIAN
TURSKY

Former State Secretary for Digitalization

Ministry of Finance

Austria

With over 15 years of experience, Al Marri has been responsible for ensuring the success of various programmes within the UAE National Space Programme including Mars 2117, Emirates Mars Mission, UAE Astronaut Programme, and the UAE Satellite Programme. He has also overseen the expansion of MBRSC into new scientific and technical fields alongside ensuring continuous developments in the space sector.

H.E. SALEM HUMAID
AL MARRI

Director General

Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre

Kfir L Godrich, Managing Director, is Chief Innovation Officer for BlackRock. He is responsible for driving firm’s innovation agenda, the connection with the broad financial and technology ecosystems, including partnerships and ventures that accelerate growth.

KFIR
GODRICH

Chief Innovation Officer

BlackRock

Eva Landrichtinger is the Secretary General in the Federal Ministry of Labour and Economy, Austria and now fully devotes herself to this role. She is responsible for handling all resort related matters, especially tasks concerning the strategic planning and controlling of the Federal Ministry.

H.E. EVA
LANDRICHTINGER

Secretary-General

Federal Ministry of Labour and Economy

Austria

Mr Chan has many years of senior executive experience in the banking industry. He was a Managing Director in the Global Markets Division of Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank, and was a Managing Director in Financial Markets of Standard Chartered Bank. Prior to joining the Government, Mr Chan held multiple roles in a number of public and professional bodies, including Vice President of the Hong Kong Society of Financial Analysts, Director of Hong Kong Securities & Investment Institute, Advisor of the Chinese Gold & Silver Exchange Society, as well as a General Committee member of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce. Mr Chan was also a member of the Central & Western District Council.

JOSEPH
CHAN

Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Hong Kong

Fadi Ghandour is the Executive Chairman of Wamda Group, a platform that invests, nurtures and builds entrepreneurship eco-systems across the Middle East and North Africa. Fadi was also the co-founder of Aramex, one of the leading global logistics companies based in Dubai. Fadi spent the first 30 years of his work life as CEO of Aramex, building the company, to become one of the leading emerging market logistics companies, and making it the first company from the Arab world to be listed on Nasdaq.

FADI
GHANDOUR

Executive Chairman

Wamda