Events

Frank Aldenhoff joined LBBW in January 2025 to further grow the bank’s global trade finance business. Prior to joining LBBW, he was Head of ESG Coverage for MNC clients at Deutsche Bank driving sustainable finance transactions and solutions for about 2 years. Before that, he was more than 10 years Regional Head FI Trade Finance and most recently in parallel Head of Trade Finance Corporate Desk. Frank is a career-long transaction banker with extensive experience in trade finance and cash management. He has covered FI clients in Europe and Central Asia, East & Southern Africa, as well as Latin America. Frank holds a M.Sc. degree in Economics and certification as expert in sustainable finance from FS-UNEP.

Sophia Bantanidis is an Analyst in the Future of Finance team within Citi Global Insights covering digital assets and FinTech and how they will shape the future of financial services. She joined Citi in 2016 as the Head of Regulatory Strategy and Policy for Innovation and has held various positions at 2 financial services regulators in the UK and France (the FCA and La Commission Bancaire in Paris), numerous banks and an asset management firm. In April 2021 she was awarded Greek International Woman of the Year in Finance and is on the Women in FinTech Powerlist for 5 consecutive years. She enjoys mentoring start-ups and is on the advisory board of Nifty World NFT (a non-fungible token business) and P.S. Online Styling (digital fashion) both female led start-ups.

Marieke Blom has been chief economist at ING in the Netherlands since 2014. Her Research team in Amsterdam analyses a broad range of economic issues: from monetary policy and the Dutch housing market to developments in specific sectors, sustainability and technology. Marieke is a member of the board of the Royal Netherlands Economic Association (Koninklijke Vereniging voor de Staatshuishoudkunde, KVS) – the oldest association of economists in the world. She is also a member of the independent advisory committee of the National Growth Fund (Nationaal Groeifonds). She regularly appears in the media. Before joining ING, Marieke worked as a senior manager at ’De Argumentenfabriek’ in Amsterdam. Prior to that, she was a political adviser to the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA). She started her career as a trainee and economist at ABN Amro in 1999.

Gunnar Collin is a seasoned operations and sales professional with extensive experience in the financial and technology sectors, gained through working with diverse organizations across various geographies and cultural environments. The digitalization of trade finance presents unique challenges and opportunities. It requires seamless collaboration across geographies, alignment among a wide range of parties and stakeholders, adherence to universal legal frameworks and rules, and the adoption of practical, effective technical solutions. Enigio’s trace:original solution for electronic documents has made this transformation feasible, offering innovative capabilities to meet these demands. This is where Gunnar Collin’s full professional focus lies—leveraging expertise to support organizations in navigating the complexities of trade finance digitalization and delivering sustainable, forward-looking solutions.

Thomas Egner is Secretary General of the Euro Banking Association (EBA). He has been holding this position since 1st May 2016. Thomas Egner has been engaged in transaction banking for over 20 years, most recently at Commerzbank, where he was responsible for defining and developing clearing and settlement strategies, mainly in the sector of mass payments. He was a member of the bank’s SEPA Program Management Team and closely involved in the implementation of the Payment Services Directive (PSD) within Commerzbank. Representing his institution in the European Payments Council and the German banking community in SWIFT and ISO committees, Thomas Egner has helped to shape the European payments landscape over the last 15 years. Thomas also served as a Board member of EBA CLEARING from 2004 to 2015 and contributed to different national payment committees in Germany.

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.

Dr. Rebecca Harding is CEO of the Centre for Economic Security, a Senior Fellow of the British Foreign Policy Group, an Associate at Earendel Associates, an independent trade economist and strategic adviser to financial services organisations, and a public speaker. She has built three data-based technology businesses, and in 2022 was awarded the Scale Up Group’s “Net Zero Entrepreneur of the Year” Award. She has held senior positions as Head of Corporate Research at Deloitte, Senior Fellow at London Business School, and Chief Economist roles at the Work Foundation and at UK Finance. She acted as Specialist Adviser to the Treasury Select Committee and advised the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Entrepreneurship. She is an associate Partner of the T3i network, and a member of the World Trade Board, and the ICC’s sustainable trade “Eco-terms” working group. She co-chairs the ITFA’s ESG Audit Council. Between 2004 and 2018 she was a Director and Trustee of the German-British Forum.

Peter Hazou is Director of Business Development at Microsoft in the Financial Services Industry team and is responsible for client Corporate Banking and Trade Finance solutions and modernization worldwide. Prior to Microsoft, Peter was a Transaction Banking industry banker for 30+ years in the EMEA region. He was the Regional Head for GTB at HSBC for EMEA as well as the Regional Head for GTS at Citigroup for CEEMEA. He also headed Market Management for Treasury Services at BNY Mellon in London and was Head of Strategy for GTB at UniCredit in Milan. His background is in Product Management for Payments at Chase Manhattan Bank. He began his career in New York as a credit officer in correspondent banking at Manufacturers Hanover Trust.

Stephan Hufnagl is the CTO at Traydstream, spearheading the company's technological advancements and driving innovation in trade finance solutions. Traydstream is a pioneer in trade finance technology, revolutionizing the processing of trade finance documents with its AI-driven platform and leveraging advanced analytics to extract valuable insights from vast amounts of trade data. Stephan brings a wealth of experience from his tenure at Microsoft, Google, and other engineering companies. At Microsoft, he led Data, Analytics, and AI teams, driving transformative projects with cloud services. Additionally, he developed tailored industry solutions in his own business, which he successfully sold.

Paul Jamael is a Managing Director and Head, Global Banks Coverage and Correspondent Banking at CIBC based in Toronto, Ontario. Previously, Paul was a Head Executive Director, Correspondent Banking & Portfolio Risk Management at CIBC and also held positions at BMO.

Jukka Kuusala is an experienced banking professional currently serving as SVP - Global Head of Trade Finance and Head of Trade Finance Finland at Danske Bank since July 2022. Prior to this role, Jukka worked at Handelsbanken from February 2010 to July 2022, where responsibilities included heading Trade & Export Finance & Cash Management Sales and Corporate Banking. Jukka's career also includes a position as Assistant Vice President of Trade Finance at Nordea Bank Finland Plc from October 2007 to February 2010 and a Senior Specialist in Documentary Credits at Stora Enso from April 2003 to October 2007. Jukka has a strong background in export and import trade finance, focusing on documentary credits, guarantees, collections, and export finance, as well as managing bank and country risks in financing. Jukka holds a degree from the University of Northampton.

Andrew McDougall is Head of Geopolitical Risk for Barclays and advises Barclays Board and executive leadership on global affairs. He joined Barclays from the UK Foreign Office, where he gained extensive experience working on some of the most important global issues over the past two decades. His particular expertise is Europe, Russia, and China, but also worked closely on Iran and South Asia (India/Pakistan/Afghanistan) earlier in his career. Andrew’s final posting was in Brussels (Political Counsellor in the UK Mission to the EU and NATO) but also served in Switzerland, India, and the Middle East. As a British Army officer he served in Northern Ireland, the Balkans, and Iraq, before joining the Foreign Office. He read Law and International Relations at university.

Jeremy is a Director in the EY UK Payments team, specialising in cross border payments and ISO 20022. He has significant experience in Financial Services having worked with the leading global banks and networks. He has helped clients with large and complex payments programs including Structural Reform, Brexit and the Swift ISO 20022 Cross Border Payments and Reporting (CBPR+). Jeremy is passionate about building diverse teams and creating an inclusive environment in the ever-changing payments industry.

Erik Fossing Nielsen is Group Chief Economist and Global Head of CIB Research at Unicredit. In these roles, Erik is responsible for forming and communicating the independent research views on macroeconomic and policy issues, markets and asset allocation, under the UniCredit banner. Prior to joining UniCredit in September 2011, Erik worked for fifteen years as an economist at Goldman Sachs in New York and London, where his most recent role was Chief European Economist overseeing the European and CEE economics teams. Before joining Goldman he spent ten years in Washington DC working as an economist for the IMF and World Bank in various capacities, including as country economist for Russia and Turkey, and as a debt expert working on sovereign debt workouts around the world. Erik is one of the most frequently quoted economists in the financial media, and appears regularly as guest host and commentator on Bloomberg TV, CNBC, CNN and other channels.

Deepesh Patel is Editor-in-Chief at Trade Finance Global (TFG). In this role, Deepesh leads efforts in developing TFG’s editorial and research strategy in key markets, including the UK, US, Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong. Deepesh regularly chairs and speaks at industry events covering trade, treasury and payments, including The Economist, Reuters, UN, WEF and WTO, as well as industry associations including BAFT, FCI, ICC, ICISA and ITFA. Deepesh hosts the popular ‘Trade Finance Talks’ podcast and TV station, with a combined 300+ episodes and 50k+ followers. He is co-author of ‘Blockchain for Trade: A Reality Check’ and ‘Accelerating Trade Digitalization to Support MSME Financing’ with the ICC and the WTO, alongside other industry research. Deepesh is an advocate for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within the industry, founding the Women in Trade, Treasury and Payments initiative in 2019. In addition to his work at TFG, Deepesh is a Strategic Advisor for WOA, and is a Member of the ITFA ESG Committee. He also sits on the Fintech Working Group of the Standardised Trust. Prior to TFG, Deepesh worked at Travelex where he was responsible for the cards business and the Travelex Money app in Brazil, Europe, US and UK. Deepesh is Chair of Governors and co-opted LA Governor of the Wyvern Federation, which has responsibility for 5 primary schools in South London.

Simon is based in London and travels extensively for the Company. As Managing Director Simon oversees Board-level activity and all matters ‘Corporate’. Simon has been with the Company since inception in August 2004. His role is predominantly taking our product suite to market, supporting Sales and Marketing and all-round Business Development, as well as working closely with the CEO as we continue to grow the Company.

Sibel Sirmagul is the UK Head of Sales for HSBC’s Global Trade Solutions, supporting clients with working capital and structured trade solutions, and helping to transition their supply chains. Sibel works closely with businesses as strategic partner to help them grow globally and navigate an ever-changing landscape through innovative solutions. She started her career with ABN AMRO Bank in 2000, holding senior structured lending positions across various regions; Europe, Middle East and North America. In 2010, following the acquisition by RBS, she joined the Trade Advisory team where she successfully led the structured trade solutions including supply chain, receivables finance throughout Europe and the Middle East.Sibel holds an MBA from London Business School and is a CFA® charterholder.’’

John Taylor specializes in international law, finance, trade and corporate governance. He is a director of the Centre for Applied Sustainable Transition Law (CASTL) and an Honorary Professor at Queen Mary University of London. He advises banks and other clients on cross-border sustainablility, financial regulation and international business opportunities. He has held legal and banking positions in the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and EBRD, where he was General Counsel. His other experience has been in law firms in Australia, the US and the UK and in an international investment bank, a private equity firm and a large fund management group. He is an Honorary Member of BAFT and has been a member of BAFT’s Europe Council since 2010.

Mr. MATTHIAS VERBEKE is a RegTech leader and CEO of Complidata, an emerging regtech start-up which focuses on A.I.-driven Process Automation Solutions for Compliance. Its key solutions include: Trade Finance Risk Monitoring, AML Optimisation and Corporate KYC Automation. Known for its fully configurable, regulatory compliant and explainable A.I.-driven solutions, Complidata was recently awarded with “Best A.I. Start-up of the Year” at Disummit, Belgium.

Dominik Vogel is Executive Director in the COO division of Personal & Corporate Clients of UBS Switzerland AG. In his role as Lead Product Owner, he drives the global Instant Payments Transformation & Payments Modernization initiative. He is also overseeing the UBS internal ISO 20022 adoption program covering multiple ISO migration initiatives such as MX/CBPR+, MEPS+/SCRIPS, CHATS, FED & CHIPS. Dominik joined UBS in 2002 and has been involved in several projects, such as the implementation of Swift GPI, adoption of ISO 20022 in Switzerland, data analytics projects and global payments infrastructure programs. He is a board member of the Swiss Association for Swift and Financial Standards (SASFS), the Payments Committee Switzerland (PaCoS) and represents the Swiss Community in the Payments Market Practice Group (PMPG).

Gloria is the General Manager of Confirm (Global Account Validation) and Route Logic (FX Routing Intelligence) applications for Kinexys Liink network. Kinexys Liink is a scalable, permission based, peer-to-peer blockchain network that uses privacy-preserving technology for secure, information and capability exchange. As a General Manager, Gloria oversees product development, client success, and commercial growth for the Confirm and Route Logic applications. She has worked closely with Financial Institutions, Fintechs, and Corporates to reduce the risk of payment returns and fraud through data exchange. Prior to joining Kinexys by J.P. Morgan, Gloria worked as a product manager in Securities Services driving product strategy, innovative solutions and business expansion for the Global Custody business. She had experience covering a range of buyside institution investors, including asset manager, insurance, pensions, and hedge funds. While working in Global Custody, she also participated in internal and industry working groups to analyse the market trends and product design for digital assets custody.

Geoffrey Wynne is Head of Sullivan & Worcester’s London office and its Trade and Export Finance Group. A leading trade finance lawyer, he specialises in trade, structured trade and commodity finance, advising major banks, non-bank financial institutions and multilaterals on transactions in emerging markets. His expertise includes warehouse financing, collateral management, ownership structures and receivables financing. Geoff works with industry bodies including BAFT, ITFA, and the ICC, ICC advising them on documentation and rules promulgated by them in trade finance. He co-chaired the ICC Drafting Committee for the Uniform Rules for Digital Trade Transactions (URDTT) and was involved in the Electronic Trade Documents Act (2023). Recognised with a Lifetime Achievement Award by RFIx in 2024, he is top ranked by Chambers UK, the UK Legal 500 and IFLR1000. The team he leads has won multiple awards, including recently ‘Legal Innovation in Trade’ (TFG, 2023) and Best Export Finance Law Firm (GTR, 2023). He is the editor of The Practitioner’s Guide to Trade and Commodity Finance and General Editor of A Guide to Receivables Finance.

Bana Akkad Azhari is Head of Treasury Services – Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) for BNY Mellon. She is responsible for the overall coverage and delivery of BNY Mellon’s products and services to existing and potential clients as well as market development and strategic growth opportunities in Payments, Trade and liquidity solutions. Based in London where she relocated in 2021 after leading Treasury Services Relationship Management and Business Development in the Middle East, Africa and Commonwealth of Independent States (MEA – CIS) region, Bana joined BNY Mellon in 2006 as Chief Representative with overall responsibility for the Bank's business in Lebanon. Prior to joining BNY Mellon, Bana worked for over nine years with Citigroup in Beirut where she held the position of Resident Vice President and was a member of the credit committee. She moved across various roles in the organization, the last of which was the position of relationship manager for financial institutions, branches of multinational corporations, and NGOs. Prior to that, she held various positions in Credit Administration and Treasury.

Marianne Demarchi has more than 25 years’ experience in financial and banking services across fintechs and major international corporations. She has had increasing responsibilities in business development, digital transformation, and company management. In 2022, she joined Swift as Head of European Strategic Accounts, and was subsequently appointed Chief Executive Europe in December 2022, covering Business Development across the region. In January 2024, she expanded her role to cover the Middle East and Africa. From 2017 to 2021, Marianne was COO and member of the Board of Monext, a payments fintech and subsidiary of Credit Mutuel Arkea Bank. She previously worked at BNP Paribas Asset Management as Global Head of Sales and Strategic Partnerships, having also worked as Deputy Head of Marketing. From 2008 to 2021 she served on the Distribution Executive Committee. Prior to this she spent 15 years at Euronext in various roles, supporting the transformation of the Paris stock exchange into a pan-European stock exchange.

Patrick Green is currently the Global Head of AML and UK MLRO at Banking Circle, overseeing the Client Due Diligence, Transaction Monitoring, Intelligence & Investigations and Sanctions teams to ensure effective, client-focused onboarding and monitoring globally. Patrick joined Banking Circle as Head of Client Onboarding in 2020 and brings more than 15 years’ experience within the FI and NBFI sectors and is leading an initiative to digitize and enhance the onboarding, and ongoing monitoring, approach to Banking Circle’s clients globally. Banking Circle are a credit institution, regulated by the CSSF, UK FCA and BaFin, focused on enhancing the correspondent banking payment infrastructure both in fiat and, most recently, through the launch of the first Bank-issued MICA regulated Stablecoin (Euro) in 2024. Prior to joining Banking Circle, Patrick spent 14 years at Barclays in London including roles across the FI, Global Corporate and Non-Bank FI verticals within 1LOD AML, Relationship Management and Cash Management.

Elena Hergass is the global Co-Head of Corporate Bank Operations and Site Lead of the Deutsche Bank’s Delivery Hub in Berlin. She has been with DB for 25 years and has been successfully delivering in multiple global roles within Trade Finance & Lending Product Management, Client Advisory and Service and recently as Head of Cash, Surveillance and Messaging Operations. She is member of the Corporate Bank ExCo and the Corporate and Investment Bank Operations and Controls Leadership Team.

Elvira is a banking executive with over 20 years of experience across multiple sectors, products, and geographies. In her current role with ING she leads an organisation of Transaction Services professionals across a global network of 27 countries. Elvira is a member of ING’s Wholesale Banking Management Team. She holds a non-executive position on the SWIFT board of directors. Elvira has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Denver University and a Master of International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.

After graduating from Toulouse Capitole University and IAE Aix-Marseille with a master’s degree in Management, and in Internal Audit, Sandrine Lac started her career as an auditor at S.G.F.G.A.S. (Société de Gestion du Fonds de Garantie de l’Accession) in 1997. In 1999, she joined HSBC France where she successively held the positions of Audit Manager, Compliance Officer and Business Risk and Control Manager. In 2015, she joined Societe Generale Group as Sanctions Compliance Officer. In 2020, she was appointed Wholesale Banking Head of Sanctions for Societe Generale Group. In 2024, she was appointed Head of Business Management Office for Correspondent Banking activities.

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.

Eva Rubio is Managing Director and Head of Global Transaction Banking at BBVA. She has been working in different positions within CIB. She was leading the Equity Research Analysts team covering European Banks and Insurance companies for 10 years. From 2006 to 2012 she was leading the Global Markets Strategy and Business development team. From 2011 to 2019 she was leading CIB Finance, Global Planning and Talent and Culture department.

Nick Senechal is a Strategic Advisor to Visa Direct. In this role he is working on a number of growth initiatives to build the money movement business, with special focus on cross border collaboration, fincrime prevention, connectivity to domestic payment networks and innovative settlement approaches. Nick also represents Visa on multiple industry bodies and working groups within the CPMI, UK Finance, EPSG and EPC. At Visa, Nick also led strategy work in open banking and real-time payments. Prior to Visa, Nick had over 30 years' experience payments with Vocalink and its predecessors. Notable achievements include leading the business architecture for the re-platforming of the UK retail infrastructure, which in turn led to developing the concept for “Faser Payments” and real time payments globally, as well as a range of value-added services.

Dean Sposito is Head of Institutional Cash and Trade, Western Europe, based in Frankfurt. Dean carries management responsibility for teams in eight locations throughout Europe. In this region, Deutsche Bank has active Cash Management and Trade Finance relationships with Financial Institutions in over 30 countries and maintains leading positions in EUR, USD, and other major currencies. Deutsche Bank is a premier provider of Cash Management and Trade Finance services to Financial Institutions globally. Deutsche Bank is a recognized leader among its peers, helping clients to efficiently manage their payments and trade needs across multiple time zones, borders and currencies.

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.