Events

Achraf Abourida joined ING in 2001. He holds the position of Global Head of Trade responsible for the full trade spectrum from L/C’s and Doctrade products to Working capital solutions (Receivables Finance and Supply Chain Finance). Achraf has a strong innovation mindset that reflects the position ING has in the Trade industry. During his 22 years with ING, Achraf has specialized in the receivables finance business where he has been responsible for setting up different business Units across Europe before moving into his current role.

Mr. Paul Barnes is Managing Director, Head of Short Term Markets (STM) in Santander UK CFO Division. Mr. Barnes is a member of ALCO and is also the senior manager responsible for Santander UK IBOR transition. Mr. Barnes originally joined the company in August 1986 and has over 33 years continuous service with the Santander Group. Mr. Barnes has over 30 years front experience in global markets, including. Government bond market making, Short Term Markets, Money Markets and Securities Finance, Treasury, sales, fixed income asset management, foreign exchange and interest rate derivatives.

Mr. Rob Barnes is co-founder of TRADEIX. Mr. Barnes’ trade finance experience and expertise started in the logistics and financial technology sectors. In 2002, he founded PrimeRevenue Inc and was the CEO of one of the pioneers of supply chain finance (SCF) applications. He developed the largest non-bank SCF application with over $120B in annual processed volume through a combination of technology and services. In 2007, Mr. Barnes founded the consulting company Aradya and advised banks including HSBC, RBS, Morgan Stanley and Westpac on supply chain and trade finance.

Ms. Karen Braithwaite is Managing Director, Global Head – Transaction Banking within Barclays International, based in London. Her responsibilities cover global payments, digital channels, liquidity products, foreign exchange, trade finance and working capital across product management, sales management and client management. She leads teams that serve clients globally, including corporates, financial institutions, non-bank financial institutions and governments. Ms. Braithwaite is a member of the Corporate Banking Executive Forum. Ms. Braithwaite has over 30 years’ banking experience, including 21 years with BNY Mellon, where she was most recently the Global Head of Product Management, Treasury Services. Other roles have included global leadership of client onboarding, servicing and quality programs across custody, markets, and operations.

Tod Burwell is the President and Chief Executive Officer of BAFT. Prior to being promoted to CEO, he served as the Senior Vice President of Trade Products with oversight of all trade-related initiatives including the Global Trade Industry Council, Trade Committees, and other strategic initiatives of the organization. Mr. Burwell has over 25 years of trade, supply chain and cash management experience as a banking practitioner, as well as serving as a consultant to global corporations and suppliers of strategically integrated trade solutions. Prior to joining BAFT, Mr. Burwell was a Managing Director at JPMorgan Chase and held senior global management roles responsible for trade operations, launching the logistics business and managing global product sales for trade finance and logistics management.

André Casterman is an independent consultant advising financial institutions and fintechs on data management, trade finance and capital markets innovations. Mr. Casterman spent 20+ years at SWIFT, leading various innovations in the inter-bank payments, corporate treasury, and trade finance markets, and strengthened cooperation between SWIFT and the ICC to drive further trade digitisation in the primary trade space.

Mr. Luca Corsini , since March 2018, is UniCredit's Head of Global Transaction Banking. Prior to the current role, he was UniCredit's Global Head of Trade Finance. Over the time of his career, he covered various senior positions such as Head of Trade Finance EMEA and Head of Trade Finance Italy in Deutsche Bank, Head of Working Capital Sales Italy in Abn Amro Bank NV and Head of Structured Trade Export Finance Italy in Barclays Capital.

Mr. Vincent Davignon is since July 2018 in charge of the Trade Product Management and Regulatory Affairs reporting to the Global Head of BNPP Trade Finance. He has over 25 years of experience in the Banking industry. Before that he has been in charge European Desk Manager (based in New York), head of Cash management Business Development and head of Corporate Trade Finance. For the last ten years, he was the head of the International Retail Banking Trade Finance having the responsibility to lead 60 sales specialists spread between Poland, Turkey, Ukraine, The USA (Bank of the West), Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, Ivory Coast and Gabon.

Rajiv Desai is SVP at Pelican with primary focus on sales, support & account management. He has in-depth experience in several industries that he acquired over last 30 years. He has held several Sr. positions with increasing responsibilities and successful results with revenue increase, client satisfaction and on time and within budget deliveries. He has worked with several global corporations and banks in N. America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Australia. He has broad experience in both Physical and Financial supply chain with primary focus in payments and compliance area. He is well versed in various payment messaging formats and technology. Additionally, He blends both technology and pragmatic business experience to address key areas of focus for banks and corporate.

Dr. Michael Dietz is Deutsche Bank’s Global Head of Trade Finance Flow business and Regional Head Trade Finance EMEA. Over the time of his career at Deutsche Bank Dr. Dietz covered various senior positions in Corporate Coverage functions across Germany, Switzerland as well as the United States of America. Prior to joining the current role, Dr. Dietz has developed the EMEA Coverage for Commodity Traders as well as Swiss Corporates for Deutsche Bank in Zurich. Dr. Dietz has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Economics at Darmstadt University, Germany. He is a certified Dodd-Frank Securities Trader.

Steve Everett is the Managing Director of Payments, Global Transaction Banking, with end to end responsibility for the Payments business including relationship & sales management, financial performance, product management & development and meeting client needs. He is accountable for the development of LBG’s Payments profile and future business strategy, whilst supporting the Group to ‘Help Britain Prosper’. Mr. Everett’s previous role in LBG was MD of Product & Propositions, GTB for which he was responsible for the product management and development in Cash Management & Payments, Trade & Supply Chain Finance and Asset & Invoice Finance areas. Prior to joining LBG in 2014, he spent c15 years with RBS performing senior leadership roles spanning global transactions services (GTS), f

Stacey Facter has been Senior Vice President for Trade Products at BAFT for the last six years. Ms. Facter is responsible for managing all the Association’s activities related to trade products and serves as the primary subject matter expert for trade issues, overseeing and managing BAFT’s trade councils, committees and working groups and helps members develop guidance tools for the trade industry. Ms. Facter serves as a public spokesperson for the organization to stakeholders, regulators and policy makers on industry matters affecting the international trade finance community and is BAFT’s primary technical resource for trade related education and training.Ms. Facter has more than twenty-five years of experience in international banking, including over twenty years with JP Morgan Chase Bank, covering emerging markets, international trade finance, cash and risk management, and securities collateral management.

Mr. Stefano Favale has 20 years in the banking industry combining experience in transformation projects in core business areas with growing managerial responsibilities at major banking groups (Capitalia, Unicredit, Intesa Sanpaolo) until the position of Head of Global Transaction Banking in Intesa Sanpaolo. He began his career in Accenture in 1998 as project manager in core banking business areas (Credit, CRM, Products, Pricing). He has been working in Unicredit since 2004 in the strategic planning unit contributing to set up from scratch the Commercial Banking Division leading the project to launch SME segment (Former Capitalia). In 2007 he joined the newborn Global Transaction Banking unit covering several responsibilities on business management and achieving the final position of Head of Cash Management Sales.

Mr. Ian Fox has over 30 years Treasury experience and was responsible for Lloyds Banking Group’s funding and liquidity for 10 years from 2009. He is now the Group’s IBOR Transition Director, being responsible for the overall transition programme whilst maintaining a significant external presence across the industry and with regulators to help shape and deliver IBOR transition. He is a member of the Working Group on Sterling Risk-Free Reference Rates and co-chair of the Term Rate Task Force. He has been a member of various senior Bank of England market governance committees since 2003 and has been Deputy Chairman of the London Money Market Association for over 15 years.

Esther Galiana is the Global Head of Financial Institutions at BBVA. She is also involved in BBVA´s agenda regarding transformation and sustainability. Ms. Galiana has extensive corporate & investment banking experience combined with corporate experience in the health care sector. Additionally, she has been active in strategy and business development at BBVA e-commerce and BBVA Wholesale Banking & Asset Management. Prior to BBVA, she worked with Santander New York in Structured Trade Finance. Earlier in her career, Ms. Galiana worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in banking supervision. She has been Vice Chair of BAFT and co-chair of the BAFT Europe Council. Ms. Galiana is also a professor at the Masters in Banking and Financial Regulation of the University of Navarra.

Mark Garfield’s current role is Head of Global Financial Institutions at Zions Bancorporation responsible for foreign bank relationship development. He joined Zions Bancorporation in 2005. He has over 30 years of banking experience with 25 years in international banking management covering trade finance, trade services, foreign exchange, correspondent banking and product development. Throughout his career he has worked closely with corporate and commercial entities in the Midwest and Western U.S. providing banking support for cross-border trade. Mr. Garfield currently serves as a Director of BAFT and Chair of the Utah District Export Council. He served on the DEC National Advisory Board and Board of the World Trade Center, Utah.

Mr. Patrick K. Gmür is a Managing Director of Credit Suisse (Switzerland) Ltd. He is acting as Deputy Head Financial Institutions and Head Banks Global Markets within Institutional Clients. From October 2013 until August 2015 he was Head of Global Banks. Before that, he was Head of the Financial Institutions Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, and prior to that he was Head Relationship Management for Western Europe. Mr. Gmür joined Financial Institutions in November 2007. Patrick is also a Co-Chair of the Europe Council and a Member of the Board of Directors of BAFT, Bankers' Association for Finance and Trade.

Stephen Grainger serves as Executive Vice President, Business Partnerships, New Payments Platform at Mastercard. He is responsible for expanding the business’s vision to enable domestic and cross-border payments from every funding source, to every destination, for any need. Mr. Grainger also plays a key role in building out Mastercard’s bank account-based payment capabilities as the company intensifies its efforts to identify new opportunities beyond cards. Mr. Grainger is also responsible for determining how the organization utilizes its existing network and capabilities to attract new business.

Mr. Adam Hanke, as the head of the Northern Europe region, has responsibility for the relationships held with NatWest by banks in the Nordics, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Baltics, and the Netherlands, leading coverage of the transaction banking business in these geographies. Mr. Hanke is responsible for deepening existing client relationships as well as identifying and developing new business across the cash management and trade finance product suite. With 10 years experience in commercial and investment banking, and a proven track record in relationship management and sales, Mr. Hanke has worked across a number of geographies and market sectors.

Mr. Peter Haener is the regional Head financial crime prevention for UBS in Switzerland. He has a successful track record for supporting business in the area of transactions. This is not limited to payments services or Trade and export finance but comprised the full set of business executed with professional counterparties such as Banks. Furthermore he takes care of the rules and techniques applied in the area of AML Transaction monitoring for UBS as a group. Mr. Haener represents UBS in several national and international bodies and is invited on a regular bases for presentations or panels.

Jason is Europe Head of Sales for Visa Business Solutions, delivering commercial solutions to Visa clients across Europe in the small, medium and large market space. His primary focus is providing innovative services that deliver customer benefits and advantages, saving business owners time and speeding up payments and reconciliation. Jason has worked in payments for 20 years in a variety of product, sales and consultancy roles for issuers in Europe, the US and Canada.

Dr. Stefan joined Deutsche Bank in Structured Sales in 2003. In 2008 he moved to New York to join Credit Trading and has since taken on various leadership roles within Global Markets in the United States and Germany, including Global Head of Institutional Sales. In October 2018 he became the Head of Global Transaction Banking and the Corporate and Investment Bank in Germany. As of July 2019, he is Head of DB’s Corporate Bank which encompasses all corporate and commercial client activities.

Michael Hogan is the Managing Director of the UK for MonetaGo. Hogan is in charge of leading MonetaGo’s drive to fight fraud in finance through engagement with clients and the trade finance ecosystems across the UK and into Europe. He is passionate about rebuilding Trade’s reputation as a real force for good. Michael has over 30 years experience in international financial services and banking, 20 of which spent working in Asia. Prior to joining MonetaGo, Hogan was GM and MD for MUFG’s Transaction Banking business in EMEA.

Mr. Thomas Iverson is a Vice President at the Financial Integrity Network. He is responsible for issues across the AML/CFT landscape, particularly advancing the effective implementation of global standards and maintaining and improving the interconnectedness of the international financial system. Mr. Iverson was the senior policy advisor for financial transparency, international banking and anticorruption in the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes. He worked closely with colleagues across the U.S. government and international counterparts to promote transparency through policy development, coordination, and implementation.

Mr. Marcus Jacobsson is Analyst at Swedbank in Sweden. Specialized in emerging markets, he currently covers financial institutions, sovereigns and supranationals in the MENA region and South Asia, but the portfolio also include global re-insurance companies. While his primary responsibility is evaluating credit risk, Mr. Jacobsson also collaborates with several product organizations such as Trade Finance, Treasury and FX, and participates in the KYC-process. Mr. Jacobsson started his professional career at Swedbank in 2010 and has held various positions within in the bank until he joined the Bank Coverage department in 2016.

Mr. Chris Jameson is head of Financial Institutions (FI) Sales for GTS EMEA. In this role, he leads the team responsible for selling the full breadth of our GTS products to FI, Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFI) and Public Sector clients across the region, including cash management, working capital management and treasury services. Mr. Jameson joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch in January 2011 and prior to his current role, he was most recently head of GTS Corporate Sales for Western Europe. He has also held a number of other roles in the sales team, including head of GTS Sales, CEEMEA ex-Russia.

Dr. Beata Javorcik is Chief Economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London. She is on leave from the University of Oxford, where she holds a Statutory Professorship in Economics. She is a member of the Royal Economic Society’s Executive Committee and a Director of the International Trade Programme at the Centre for Economic Policy Research in London. Before taking up her position at Oxford University, she worked at the World Bank in Washington DC. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Yale and a B.A. in Economics (Summa cum Laude) from the University of Rochester.

Ms. Annina N. Keller is Vice President at Credit Suisse (Switzerland) Ltd. She is acting as Senior Relationship Manager for Financial Institutions. Before that, she held various positions in the Global Transaction Banking, as well as the Anti Money Laundering area. Ms. Keller joined Credit Suisse in April 2010. Previously she was at KBC Bank in Paris and covered the Corporate Banking area. Prior to that, she held various roles at Graubündner Kantonalbank in the divisions Portfolio Management, Marketing and Product Management.

Mr. Duncan Kennett joined Visa in May 2018 as part of the global Business Solutions team, that provide payment products for business, focussing on new solutions across card network and account to account transactions. Mr. Kennett has worked in payments for over 20 years in a variety of product management roles in Australia and Europe, both as a commercial card issuer, in real time payments providers, in cash management services, and in payments data analytics. His time in Europe has included working for Vocalink, JP Morgan, Bank of America and the RBS Group.

René Klose is the Vice President of Growth at Conpend. Previously he was the Chief Product Owner for Trade Finance at Commerzbank AG. In this role he was responsible for all digitization activities and defined the strategic direction of products, processes and services. Mr. Klose is SAFe certified. Before joining Trade Finance, Mr. Klose had several management positions including Audit, Finance and in the Business Process Outsourcing area. He was part of the BAFT Future Leaders Class 2019 of BAFT and was a mentor for the BAFT Future Leaders Class of 2020.

Mr. Ed Langendam joined MUFG in 2016, and now holds the position of Head of Global Corporate Banking Division for MUFG Bank (Europe). Joining from NIBC Bank, where he worked for eight years, Mr. Langendam held a number of positions, most recently as CEO for NIBC Bank in Germany. He also held the position of Managing Director for NIBC Bank in The Hague. Prior to this, Mr. Langendam spent 22 years at ABN Amro Bank, working across the Netherlands and Germany. His roles included Head of Automotive in EMEA, Head of Global Relationship Management and serving on ABN Amro Germany’s management board.

Mr. Yih-teen Lee is Full Professor in the Department of Managing People in Organizations at IESE Business School. He specializes in leadership, fit, and cultural bridging in his roles as educator, researcher, and consultant. His research work appears in leading scientific journals and books such as The Handbook of Chinese Organizational Behavior and Leadership Development in a Global World. At IESE, Mr. Lee teaches in the MBA and executive education programs and works closely with companies and executives on leadership and cultural topics. He speaks Chinese, English, French, and Spanish, and identifies himself as a rooted global citizen.

Mr. Thomas Lehmpuhl joined BayernLB in 1999 in the financial institutions area responsible for analysis and loan structuring in Central Europe. From 2005, Mr. Lehmpuhl was Senior Relationship Manager for banks in several Eastern European countries. From 2008, Mr. Lehmpuhl headed BayernLB`s restructuring office in Ukraine responsible for the wind-down of a corporate, bank and sovereign portfolio. Mr. Lehmpuhl joined MKB Bank, in late 2010 and held several management positions in banking subsidiaries in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. Up until the sale of MKB Bank in 2014, Mr. Lehmpuhl was Executive Director and Head of the Problem Loan Division in Budapest. In October 2014, Thomas took over as Senior Relationship Manager in BayernLB`s Corporates Division responsible, inter alia, for their Global Aviation Portfolio. In January 2017, Mr. Lehmpuhl was nominated as Senior Director and Head of Financial Institutions and Investors Developed Markets. As of October 2017, Mr. Lehmpuhl was promoted to Executive Director and Head of Global FIG, responsible for our overall relationship management with financial institutions and institutional investors globally.

Mr. Per Christian Lindgård is currently heading the Cash Management team in the treasury department of Norsk Hydro with responsibility for the global cash and payment infrastructure and the in-house bank operations. He has a broad international experience from various management roles within commercial, risk management and finance areas since he joined the Aluminium trading business of Hydro in 1995. Prior to joining Hydro, he worked in the power production industry. Mr. Lindgård is a Norwegian national with a BS degree in finance from Agder University, Norway and an MBA in International Finance and Management from Middlebury Institute, Monterey, California.

Mr. Eric B. Lorber is a Vice President at the Financial Integrity Network, where he advises global financial institutions on issues related to sanctions and anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance. He is also the senior director of the Center of Economic and Financial Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Prior to re-joining FIN, Eric was a senior advisor to the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) at the United States Department of the Treasury, where he provided strategic guidance on U.S. sanctions and AML/CFT policies.

Graduated from the ESCEM Tours and the University of Ottawa, Jean-François joined Société Générale in 1993. He held various managerial positions in the French retail network, essentially on the SME and large corporate segments. In 2011, he was appointed Senior Banker on a portfolio of key agribusiness corporate clients, most of them belonging to the cooperative sector. In November 2015, he joined GTB division as co-Head of Cash Clearing Services, before being appointed Head of the same business line one year later.

Mr. Yves Mersch was appointed to the Executive Board of the ECB in 2012 when serving his third term as Governor of the Banque centrale du Luxembourg, a position he had held since 1998. Before setting up his country’s central bank, he represented his country in the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, European Investment Bank and other multilateral organisations, as well as in private companies where he has been globally active in both financial and industrial areas. Mr. Mersch holds postgraduate degrees in political science from Paris Sorbonne, and law from Paris Panthéon University. He is the longest-serving member on the ECB’s Governing Council.

Francesco Miccoli is a managing director at Standard Chartered Bank currently serving in the dual role of Head Correspondent Banking Europe and Americas and Head UK Fintech, based in London. Francesco joined Standard Chartered Bank in 2009 leading the banks business in various roles while focusing on commercial strategy and sales activities related to all cash clearing and trade finance services since 2016. Appointed in 2019 as Head of Fintech UK he is responsible to implement business strategy within alternative cash payments and trade finance service providers as well as leading correspondent banking business transformation and digitalization. Francesco holds Economics and Financial Markets Degree and a Master Diploma in Merchant Banking from Bocconi University.

Mr. Abid Mumtaz is the Head of Bank Partnerships at TransferWise, a global technology company that’s building the best way to move money around the world. Prior to starting TransferWise, Mr. Mumtaz was Head of Product at Issufy, focusing on building a digital platform to enhance Primary Capital Markets distribution. He has also worked on the Credit Trading desks at HSBC and Credit Suisse, in London. At TransferWise, he helps shape product and growth strategy to encapsulate TransferWise services in Banks, using a unique API-driven solution.

Mr. Ulf-Peter Noetzel is Managing Director and Chairman of Trade Finance - Financial Institutions. He is based in Frankfurt, Germany, and has held several senior management positions in the Financial Institutions business, globally as well as regionally. Presently, he is responsible for implementing new sales and product initiatives next to optimizing the bank’s global correspondent banking network for the Trade Finance business with financial institutions. Prior to this role, he spent several years in Singapore as Regional Sales Head in charge of promoting cash and trade products to banks across Asia. During this period, which included the introduction of Euro, his main focus was to promote Deutsche Bank’s leading position in cash clearing services.

Mr. Pani Oritis joined Santander UK in 2017 as Vice President Financial Institutions Sales where he is responsible for origination across cash management and trade finance. Prior to joining Santander, Mr. Oritis worked at Barclays for 6 years, starting in operations before joining their corporate FI division. In 2017, Mr. Oritis was nominated by Santander to participate in the BAFT Future Leaders Programme, graduating in May 2018 and continues to play an active role for BAFT today.

Marc is responsible for the strategic development and positioning of cash clearing products for Deutsche Bank globally. The Clearing Product function is an integral component of the bank’s franchise in terms of strategic direction, product & service development, positioning, thought leadership as well as identifying and executing growth opportunities. Marc has been engaged in the financial services industry since 1998, re-joining Deutsche Bank in 2014 after having worked for JPMorgan and ING in various positions in both product management and operations. He is Deutsche Bank’s representative in various industry forums/working groups and holds a bachelor in foreign trade from the Liege Management School.

Dr. Jan Rosam is a Partner at Ernst & Young and is leading the Financial Services Capital Markets Advisory practice in Germany. Jan is responsible for the IBOR Transition campaign in Germany and is part of the global & European IBOR transition expert team at EY. Dr. Rosam is supporting multiple banks & buy-side clients in this matter and is representing EY at ECB WG - SG7. Jan has more than 15 years’ experience within Capital Markets / Investment banking sector and holds a PhD in mathematics.

Mr. Dirk Schrade is Deputy Director General of the Payments & Settlement Systems Directorate at the Central Office of the Deutsche Bundesbank in Frankfurt. He worked for many years in the branch and Main Office of the former Land Central Bank in North-Rhine Westphalia. In 2000 he joined the Payment Systems Policy Division at the Central Office of the Bundesbank in Frankfurt, focusing first on individual payment systems/RTGSplus and then on the project TARGET2. Since then, he is dealing, inter alia, with policy issues on domestic, European and international payments as well as securities settlement.

Ms. Liquiong Shen is responsible for developing the sustainable business strategy for Greater China clients, mainly towards EMEA. In her role, Ms. Shen works with different internal teams to capture high value deal opportunities in cash and treasury solutions area for Greater China corporates with international footprint. With the aim of following the banking strategy of innovation, Ms. Shen has led the Alipay and Wechat Pay collaboration to allow the Chinese tourists continuing their ecosystem client journey in France and in other European countries and this brings digital insight for European clients and incorporate the Asian experience into their digitalization strategy.

Edward Thurman is the Chief Commercial Officer at GSS – Global Screening Services and has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry as a regulator, consultant and in senior management roles within financial institutions. He recently served as Managing Director, Global Transaction Banking and Managing Director, Financial Institutions at Lloyds Banking Group, and prior to that in senior strategy roles at ABN AMRO, McKinsey and Bank of England. Edward is also a Global Board Member for Mind Forward Alliance a global not-for-profit membership organisation.

Mr. Bart Timmermans currently Head of Global Transactional Banking Santander UK. Previously, he was Head of GTB in Continental Europe where within 3 years he created a fully equipped GTB team with a wide Trade and Cash management product offering for the at the time newly created region—Continental Europe. In 2009, he joined Santander as the Head of Trade, Export and Supply Chain Finance for Europe, hired to build a European trade organization including ECA Finance, Supply Chain Finance, Commodity Finance and “Flow” Trade products which he successfully realized within 4 years.

Kris Van Broekhoven is Chief Financial Officer of Komgo, the multi-bank digital platform that is streamlining trade finance and introducing blockchain based tools to mitigate fraud. Until recently, Kris was Global Head of Commodity Trade Finance at Citibank, where he spearheaded the digital transformation of trade finance and led Citi’s involvement as a founding member of Komgo. Prior to Citi he was EMEA head of structured commodity trade finance at Deutsche Bank. Kris has 26 years of international banking experience and is determined to bring an inefficient and paper based industry into the digital age.

Mr. Niels van Duinen joined INTL FCStone’s Global Payments team in 2015 and is responsible for the team’s sales activities in the Netherlands. This includes a large portfolio of clients ranging from International banks and large corporates to local charities. Mr. Van Duinen focuses on both identifying growth opportunities and deepening existing client relationships, with an emphasis on helping clients understand the opportunities (and pitfalls!) inherent in transacting in 140 currencies in emerging economies. He is also part of this year’s BAFT Future Leaders Class.

Mr. Frank Versmessen is Head of Controls, Attestation and Assurance at SWIFT. Part of the Global Security division, Mr. Versmessen and his team are responsible for SWIFT’s Customer Security Program’s security controls and the customer attestation and assurance processes. Between 2014 and March 2019 Mr. Versmessen was Head of Regulatory Affairs at SWIFT. In this role Mr. Versmessen and his team were responsible for monitoring the global regulatory landscape, for liaising with regulators, and for identifying regulatory-related issues and opportunities. Previously, Mr. Versmessen was the Global Head of Post-Trade at SWIFT focusing on equities and fixed income. In this role, Mr. Versmessen was based in Singapore, and was responsible for developing SWIFT’s global strategy in post-trade services.

Gregory Vincent started working in the cross-border payments space in early 2001 before his team was acquired by StoneX in 2004. Previously, Vincent had been working for a global banking institution. Initially working on and then running the Trading desk, Vincent is now responsible for the FX Payments business in the EMEA region and is primarily responsible for the team’s relationships with many of the world's leading banks, who rely on StoneX for FX payments in up to 140 currencies. This exposure has given Mr. Vincent a rare perspective on the requirements of both the banking sector and many of the world's largest tech companies, with regards to their cross-border payments needs.

Karin Walchshöfer is Managing Director and Head, EMEA for the Global Financial Institutions Group at BMO Capital Markets, and is primarily responsible for overseeing the growth and management of the bank’s relationships with financial institutions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She is based in the UK and manages teams in London and Toronto. Ms. Walchshöfer joined BMO in 2000. Prior to this, she worked at National Westminster Bank in London where she held various positions in their Correspondent Banking and Card Services units. Ms. Walchshöfer has been a member of the BAFT Europe Council since 2008 and was elected as BAFT EC Co-Chair in March 2022. She is also on the BAFT Board of Directors.

Mr. Thomas A. Woelk joined Friedhelm Loh Stiftung in May 2017. The Friedhelm Loh Group’s companies are leaders in in their respective industries as inventors and competent producers, with a total revenue of about EUR 2.3bn. Before this he was Head of Corporate Treasury at Wacker Neuson SE, a quoted company in Munich, for seven years. He started his career in 1994 at Commerzbank AG and held various positions in Germany and abroad. In 2005 he joined BlackRock International Ltd. and was responsible for the sale and registration of money market funds and short-term fixed income bonds in continental Europe.

Mr. Patrick Zhu is Head of HSBC’s Global Liquidity and Cash Management business in China. In this role, Mr. Zhu builds HSBC’s cash management capabilities in the country and leads HSBC’s delivery of integrated cash management solutions to a multitude of clients across the region including multinational corporations, mid-market enterprises and small businesses. Prior to this role, Mr. Zhu was the Head of Pearl River Delta, Global Liquidity and Cash Management, where he led the execution of HSBC’s fast expansion in this priority region. Mr. Zhu joined HSBC China in 1999 as a Management Trainee and thereafter became an International Manager in 2003.

Ms. Esther Zwygart is a Senior First Officer of Lufthansa Airlines. Ms. Zwygart was born in Switzerland and started her professional career with a banking apprenticeship. Already during her education she was passionate about flying and even before having her driver’s license, she got the private pilot license. She did her commercial and instrument pilot rating in Arizona (USA) and Switzerland. She was working as an airline pilot for Crossair and Swissair and after a short break dedicating time for her family, she continued her career at Austrian Airlines and Lufthansa where she flies on long-haul aircraft Airbus 330 and 340.