ARAB PAYMENT WEEK 2025

AbdulRahman Ababneh is the current Assistant Executive Manager, Oversight on National Payment System Department at Central Bank of Jordan. he is responsible for Oversight and Supervision on Payment Services Providers and Operators in Jordan to ensure safety, integrity, and efficiency of payment, clearing, and settlement system. Abdulrahman’s career spans over 19 years during which he has held several senior management roles in System Developments, Internal Auditing, Payment Systems in Central Bank of Jordan.

AbdulRahman holds a Bachelor of Computer Science degree. he has attended several executive development programs including Digital Finance Program at Harvard Law School – USA (2024).

• Ahmed Faragallah is a Senior Financial Sector Specialist at the World Bank, working for the Payment Systems Development Group (PSDG).
• He holds a Certificate in Fintech from Harvard University.
• He has an MBA from Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA.
• He graduated from the faculty of Engineering, ASU, Egypt.  
• Before joining the WB, Ahmed managed the Payment Systems Department in the Central Bank of Egypt for twelve years and worked for IBM for seven years.
• Ahmed co-authored or participated in a number of CBDC reports including the WB “CBDC, A Payments Aspect”, the WB/BIS report “CBDC and financial inclusion”, the G7 “Public Policy Principles for CBDC”, and the G20 reports on “Cross-border CBDC”.   
• Ahmed leads several WB projects in Sudan, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Egypt, Yemen, Morocco, and Tajikistan; and co-chairs the electronic payment acceptance global initiative.  
• He worked with market Infrastructure projects, such as RTGS, CSD, cards switch, fast payment system, and ACH; fintech initiatives such as CBDC, and digital assets and stablecoins regulations; financial inclusion, including regulations of mobile wallets and interoperability.  

Alain Raes is an experienced C-Suite Executive and global strategist acknowledged for leadership, business acumen, and operational transformation in the financial technology sector. As the Chief Commercial Officer of iPiD, Alain spearheads the company’s commercial endeavors, employing his strategic vision to identify and capitalize on emerging opportunities, forge key partnerships, and drive revenue growth. Formerly as the Chief Business Development Officer and member of the Group Executive Committee of SWIFT, with a tenure of 15 years, he helped to frame and deliver the company’s vision. Alain was accountable for the definition and execution of the global SWIFT business development strategy, a P&L of ~1 Billion € annual revenue, and 650 staff located in 27 countries worldwide. He is recognized for capitalizing on the intersection of market intelligence, business trends, and economic cycles to deliver profitable growth.

During his career, Alain managed business units globally, prioritizing a culture of sales enablement while directing multi-disciplinary teams in the execution of commercial strategy. His diplomatic approach leverages relationships with internal/external stakeholders and the Board to move projects forward and deliver measurable results. Alain is respected for leading with authenticity, simplicity and purpose embracing the “together we can” attitude. 

Alain earned an Engineering Degree in Business Management from University of Louvain and received a Bachelor in Economics from University Saint Louis both in Belgium. His native language is French and he is fluent in English.

Ana Rita joined ADCB in 2015 and is currently Head of Product Management, Cash Management in Transaction Banking Group. 

Prior to this she has held different product roles in Barclays, EuroBIC and BPN.

Ana Rita has over 20 years of product experience and a proven record of successfully launching and managing award-winning and innovative digital products and solutions.

Andrew is the Assistant Director of CBDC, within the Central Bank of UAE’s (CBUAE) Emerging Tech Department. Andrew is leading the CBUAE’s ground breaking Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) programme, the Digital Dirham. In his role Andrew has been responsible for the design, development and implementation of the Digital Dirham across legal, policy, business, technical and operational streams.

The CBUAE is leading CBDC developments globally. As part of Phase 1 of CBDC programme, the CBUAE amended Central Bank Law to issue the Digital Dirham as legal tender, approved 28 CBDC-specific policy decisions and completed a retail CBDC pilot. The CBUAE also completed the first issuance of the Digital Dirham and completed the first live cross-border payment on mBridge Minimum Viable Product (MVP) platform.

Before his role at the CBUAE Andrew was responsible for setting up FIS digital currency business. Prior to this Andrew was part of Accenture global blockchain innovation team where he worked on a CBDC and digital asset proof-of-concepts and pilots. Andrew has advised a number of central banks, banks, FinTechs, payment system operators and other industry players on CBDC, digital asset and emerging tech initiatives, including payments.

Andrew holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in International Business, Finance and Economics from the University of Manchester, Manchester Business School.

Ms Azleena Idris is currently Senior Director & Head, Strategy & ESG Office at Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet Malaysia), the nation’s retail payments network.

She joined PayNet Malaysia in August 2019 as Director and Head, Corporate Services Division. With over 2 decades of combined experience both as a regulator and a financial services sector professional, she played instrumental roles in several national and international initiatives including the 2nd Financial Sector Master Plan, Malaysia as an International Financial Centre (MIFC), Islamic Financial Services Act 2013, International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation, founding RHB Islamic Bank Berhad and merger and acquisition exercises involving the RHB Group.

She was with Central Bank of Malaysia specializing in Islamic financial infrastructure development strategies for over a decade and RHB Group for close to 10 years where she held a senior legal position and was also joint company secretary of Rashid Hussain Berhad, the listed parent company. She is also a short-term expert with the International Monetary Fund and a short-term consultant with the World Bank.

Trained and qualified as a lawyer in England, she holds a Global Executive MBA from London School of Economics and Political Science, New York University Stern School of Business and HEC Paris, Certificate in Business & Climate Change from University of Cambridge and is also a Fellow of the Chartered Islamic Finance Professional.

Bryan Stirewalt has more than 35 years of experience in financial services across the public and private sectors—including 25 years of international experience in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. He is an independent advisor, focusing primarily in regulatory issues in the financial services industry. Notably, Bryan serves as an independent director of the Astana Financial Services Authority. 

Bryan spent more than 14 years at the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), including several years as its Chief Executive. As Chief Executive, he was responsible for the regulation and supervision of more than 500 authorized firms operating in the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC). He ensured the DFSA implemented leading international standards and meeting expectations for global best practices. Bryan led the DFSA as the organization developed its approach to new and innovative financial sector entrants and new financial products such as digital assets, including cryptocurrencies and directed the DFSA’s efforts in combating money laundering and terrorist finance.

Bryan is an active member of the Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime, working on the regulatory and supervisory subgroup. Bryan also served as the co-chair of the Basel Consultative Group for nearly 10 years, representing non-member countries at the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. As a result of this position, Bryan had the honor of serving on the Basel Committee. Before joining the DFSA, Bryan worked for an international consulting and advisory firm focused on emerging market development programs in Poland, Ukraine, Cyprus, and Kazakhstan. Prior to that, he worked for the U.S. Treasury's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as a national bank examiner specializing in policy development and implementation, problem bank rehabilitation, and banking fraud initiatives.

Camilla is an entrepreneur, connector, and influencer in the global payments industry. She leads critical discussions, speaks at industry events, and represents EPAA members on global platforms. Under her leadership, EPA Asia has cultivated a robust community dedicated to enhancing interoperability and harmonization of regulation. Through her work, she connects vital industry players, encourages collaboration, and amplifies innovation opportunities and business growth for members. Prior to her role at EPAA, she spent 14 years at the LSEG group in various roles.

Charles Lobo is Senior Vice President, Regional Risk Officer for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) at Visa. He currently specializes in Credit Settlement Risk, Enterprise Risk Management and Payment System Risk, which includes Data Security, Brand Protection and Cyber Investigations.

Charles brings over 20 years of global payments industry experience spanning the areas of portfolio & project management, operations, customer service and fraud management for both the issuing and acquiring business. Prior to joining Visa in January 2020, Charles was on the leadership team at Emirates NBD Retail Bank – helping the bank build strong first line of defense in Risk and Compliance. He has also served as Group Chief Operating Officer for Network International – a leading payments service provider in the middle east and Africa.

Charles received his M.S. from the University of Maryland, College Park. He has an MBA from the International Management Institute and a B.A. in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.

Assistant manager in payment operation and financial inclusion department

• Working at central bank since 18 years

• Team member at Central bank of Jordan AI Committee.

• Leading currently three projects for develop and Automate Government Payment in Jordan.

• Leading the team that applying the financial inclusion strategy in Jordan.

• Worked with GIZ & UNHCR in Jordan as team member when automate the financial

transaction for refugee.

• The leader of memorandum signed between central bank of Jordan and telecommunication

regulatory commission for protecting the infrastructure of payment service providers.

• Work with the World Bank on Reforming the Payment Systems and the Oversight Functions in Central Bank of Jordan.
• Work with the world bank on assessing the RTGS according the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructure (PFMIs)
• Putting with an IT/Legal/Business Team the RTGS/ACH/BILL payment and Mobile Payment Rules and Regulation.

Damien is a seasoned payment expert, having spent over 18 years in the domain working as a consultant, program manager and payments expert in several international banks and SWIFT. 

Currently Damien is the Head of Payments Industry Engagement for the Cash Management arm of BNP Paribas. Next to accompanying the Bank’s Product and IT divisions as a senior strategist, he is representing the BELUX community at the PMG and BNP Paribas in various working groups across the industry, pursuing his passion to achieve instant and frictionless international payments.

Damien holds an MSc in Economics and is a regular speaker at corporate and industry conferences.

Danny Goh (SVP - Digital Payment Solutions) is based in Singapore. He champions the value articulation and market support of embedding our Digital Payment solutions. Danny has extensive expertise in helping clients integrate with banks’ API services, offering embedded banking solutions, and digitizing the end user journey to improve client experience. Additionally, Danny was a speaker at Apidays Singapore 2024, where he discussed digitizing the client value chain.

Prior to BNY, Danny was a Product Head for Digital Channels solutions in CIMB. Danny held a similar role previously with UOB and has a Business Development and Relationship Management background from roles at Wells Fargo and Citi Treasury and Trade Services across the Treasury Services product solutions.

Deepa Sinha, the SVP for Payments and Financial Crime at BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance and Trade), based out of Washington, D.C., leads the association’s payments, cash management and financial crime-focused policy initiatives, as well as supports its related councils and committees.

Deepa works to advance the goals of the payments, cash management, and financial crimes mitigation industry through standardization, defining best practices, and developing usable industry data. She is also responsible for formulating policy recommendations and educating industry stakeholders, including practitioners, regulators, policymakers, and the broader business community.

Deepa has written articles for Trade Finance Global, contributed to the 2023 AFP Payments Guide to What’s New in Trade Finance, and has also served as a panelist and moderator at SIBOS, EBAday, and at several BAFT conferences. She was also listed in TFG’s Women in Trade, Treasury and Payments list for 2023 and 2024. She has authored white papers on ISO 20022 Migration: Lessons Learned and Best Practices & Guidance, Uneven Regulations in the Payments Industry, and Digital Currencies & Financial Crimes Concerns. She has authored comment letters on the FRB’s proposal to extend operational hours, FSB’s consultation report on uneven regulations in cross-border payments, and joint comment letters on the proposed ISO 20022 Harmonization Requirements for Enhancing Cross-Border Payments. She has released an updated version of the Respondent’s Playbook, for banks seeking correspondent banking services. In addition, she has launched and leads the BAFT Women in Transaction Banking initiative, a networking and mentoring program for women in the industry.

Prior to joining BAFT, Deepa accumulated more than 25 years of treasury and cash management experience at both corporations and banks. She formerly served as Treasurer at Caliburn International, now Acuity International, where she oversaw cash forecasting, working capital and debt management, and implemented policies and banking technology to support all core treasury functions. As the Associate Vice President of Treasury - Banking Operations and Relationships at The Carlyle Group, she developed the cash management, FX, and banking platforms, and built and managed the infrastructure for multicurrency cash management across 5,000+ bank accounts at more than 100 global banks. She also served on the Treasury Advisory Councils for JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Citibank. Deepa is a graduate of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where she received a bachelor’s degree in government and global systems management.

Devendra Kumar is a seasoned banking professional with 24+ years of proven experience and leadership in defining digital solutions for Corporate Banking product and services encompassing Payments, Collections and Trade Finance. He specializes in turning around digital platforms and front-end customer channels (Web, Mobile, APIs, SWIFT and Host to Host) into market-leading propositions with significant commercial success. Devendra has delivered award winning, world-class digital platform solutions internationally while managing, developing, and executing mission-driven transformations for clients and stakeholders.

Devendra is domain expert in API & Open Banking propositions and a digital leader with a strong focus on developing best-in-class digital solutions, crafting and executing strategies, delivering superior customer experience. He specializes in design & development of modern landing pages, enhancing user interface and user experience (UI/UX), Product marketing & commercialization, Customer research, Competitive analysis, Strategy formulation, Solution implementation, Pre-sales & Services, Digital transformation & Change management, Operations, Six Sigma, and Project management.

In his current role, Devendra is Head of Digital Channels for Transaction Banking at Mashreq, based in Dubai, the UAE, and prior to this, he had done multiple roles with HSBC over 15 years across UK/Europe and Asia markets.

Divyanshu Pathak is Deputy General Manager in the Department of Payment and Settlement Systems at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He has an experience of 17 years in Central Banking functions and his present responsibilities include internationalisation of India’s payment systems and enhancing cross-border payment arrangements. Prior to taking up his current responsibilities, he was involved in fostering International relations of RBI by facilitating the formulation of RBI’s stance on deliberations in international institutions and was involved in taking forward India’s priority actions in financial sector issues during India’s G20 Presidency. He has contributed to the supervisory functions of RBI by overseeing various operations undertaken by banks in India and has also looked after the management of Information Technology in RBI.

Joined KNET in 2022 as the Chief Executive Officer and brings with over 32 years of Experience in Information Technology & Financial Services Industry. Prior to joining KNET, held several leadership roles as the CEO of International Turnkey Systems, IT Strategic Department Manager at the Central Bank of Kuwait, and Executive positions in business operations and business development in the multinational organizations. Also serving as an independent board of director in the Industrial Bank of Kuwait.

Hold a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from University of the Pacific and a Harvard Business School degree in General Management Program.

Mr. Faisal Alhijawi is the Chief of Strategy and Development Officer of Buna since October 2020. His responsibilities at Buna include leading the strategy & planning, business and products development, communications and marketing.

Prior to joining Buna, Mr. Alhijawi held several roles at Western Union Financial Services in Dubai, UAE, including the Director of Account Payout Network, and earlier to that he was the Director of Global Payments.

During his 8 years tenure at Western Union, Mr. Alhijawi has led several initiatives to build end-to-end cross-border payment services by creating strategic partnerships with diverse classes of organizations including banking, fintech, and government institutions.

Prior to that, Mr. Alhijawi held various techno-business positions for 12 years in the private sector focusing on online and mobile payment solutions.

Fernando Pacheco has over 25+ years’ experience in Financial Services, and during that time has worked in Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East, across a diverse range of sectors: from Payments to Digital Assets, Foreign Exchange to Equity Markets.

Passionate about developing and scaling businesses, not only has he done this at fast growing fintechs, but also established new markets for some of the largest global banks. He currently heads up Cash Management Product for Mashreq.

With over two decades of experience in the digital and payment industry, Fernando is an accomplished industry expert with a proven track record of driving growth in high-growth, fast-paced businesses.  Throughout his career, Fernando has navigated the digital and payment industry at all levels, from startups to large corporations. He has held senior leadership roles at reputable organizations such as Lloyds Banking Group, Vodafone Group, Emirates Group, Al Rajhi Bank, and Arab National Bank.

In his role as Chief Digital Officer at ADIB, Fernando is leading the digital strategy & execution across the Group on retail banking, Corporate and Business banking, subsidiaries and international presence.

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.

Hardik Dixit has been a seasoned professional in the field of Risk management for 24+ years with specialization in BFSI segment over the last 17 years. In BFSI segment, his core area of operations has been in fraud management, engaging with Banks and Law enforcement agencies, interacting with regulators, liaising with Government agencies, and contributing in various forums towards mitigation of frauds. He has worked with prominent Private Banks in India like ICICI Bank and Yes Bank in the past and am currently associated with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for the last 8+ years. Throughout my career, he has managed frauds across Products like Payment cards, Merchant acquiring, Internet/Mobile banking, Aadhaar enables payments (AePS), IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) and the well renowned UPI (Unified Payments Interface). As a Risk professional, Hardik take great satisfaction in designing strategies that protect users of Payments Products and outsmart fraudsters.

Helena is an experienced executive in the digital transformation and product management space within the payments industry, known for her strategic vision and innovative approach. Her career highlights include significant roles at global institutions like J.P. Morgan Chase and Deutsche Bank AG. As J.P. Morgan's Global Head of Solution Design for payments, she has driven customer-focused digital initiatives, notably in e-commerce and marketplace expansion. Her tenure at Deutsche Bank was marked by the launch of critical digital platforms and regional expansion, reflecting her deep expertise in managing complex technology and business transformations and driving significant business growth.

Helena holds degrees in International Business Management from universities in Germany and the Netherlands, and has obtained various certifications in the payments industry, and completed the Executive Women Global Leaders program at the London School of Economics. Her approach incorporates client-centric design into product strategy and successful delivery of innovative solutions at scale and boosting client satisfaction and fostering loyalty in a competitive field.

Ian Hooper leads the Payments consulting line of business for PwC in the Middle East, which combines strategy, operations, digital & technology, M&A, and risk and regulation practices.  Ian is a Senior Partner in PwC Saudi Arabia, based in Riyadh, since 2021.

Clients in the Middle East include central banks and ministries, national and regional operators, processors and networks, as well as commercial banks, fintechs and retailers. His portfolio includes national strategy, business strategy, licensing and compliance, traditional and digital product launch, market entry, and post-merger integration, as well as virtual assets and CBDC.

Across his 25 year career Ian has also been a Partner with three leading global consultancies, in the UK and ASEAN, Australia, Hong Kong and the United States. His career started at HSBC as digital technology revolutionized Banking.

Jan has over 15 years of experience in the payments industry, with a consistent record of delivering impactful national initiatives and transformations. Currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer of Al Etihad Payments, he leads the team transforming and modernizing the payments ecosystem in the UAE, including the recent launch of a new instant payments platform called Aani.

Before his role at Al Etihad Payments, Jan was the Chief Executive Officer at BankservAfrica, Africa’s largest clearing house, where he successfully implemented a number of transformative initiatives, including PayShap, a cloud-based domestic instant payments scheme in South Africa. Jan was also at the genesis of Canada’s payments modernization journey, having worked at Payments Canada as the Executive Director & Chief Information Office.

Before joining the world of digital payments, Jan held executive positions at various central banks, including Bank of Canada, Bank for International Settlement and the Czech National Bank, leading mission critical initiatives in the areas of Currency and Information Technology.

With this track record, Jan continues to make significant contributions to the global payments industry, leveraging his deep understanding of technology and driving cross-sector collaboration, innovationand broad-scale transformation. He is passionate about financial technology and financial inclusion.

Jawad is a Senior Partner and has been with the  McKinsey & Company since 2007. His expertise focus on productivity  focused transformation that includes cost  optimization both external vendor spend,  organization re-structuring and frontline  transformation.

Jawad’s work experience includes:

Led end to end cost optimization program in the 3rd largest bank in KSA

• Drove opportunity assessment across USD 300m of non personnel cost spend across categories  ranging from Rent, Card processing, ATM, Cash optimization, Facilities management to other  procurement items resulting in 10% reduction in existing cost
• Benchmarked the full organization to assess productivity to identify right sizing opportunity, through  people capacity adjustment and spans and layers reduction

Led a three way integration of banks in UAE with a focus on driving cost synergies

• Developed an integrated organization structure and people capacity based on zero based design
• Led the optimization across cost line items given new, larger volumes, which included, rent  renegotiations, real estate consolidation, ATM optimization, Card contract renegotiation, Card  partners renegotiation

Leading organization re-design and FTE right sizing of one of top 5 banks in Pakistan

• Conducted a rapid diagnostic and assessment of FTE productivity and spans and layers to identify  15% reduction in costs, based on zero based design
• Developed and leads an Advanced Analytics based platform to drive cash and CIT cost  optimization, allowing banks to centrally manage those costs

Education and prior McKinsey experience

• Prior to joining McKinsey, Jawad has worked at several venture capital and tech firms, such as  Innovation Works and Acumen Fund conducting due-diligences and concept tests
• Jawad received an Masters in Economics and Policy from Carnegie Mellon University in the U.S.  and a B.Sc. in Computer Sciences from Lahore University of Management Sciences

Mr Jean Clement is an Adviser at the ECB in the Market Infrastructure and Payments Department. In this capacity, he is responsible for projects, onboarding and evolution of Eurosystem services, including the RTGS T2 and the instant payments platform TIPS.  Mr Clement is the co-chair of the Eurosystem TARGET Contact Group (T2-CG) and the Eurosystem TARGET Services Working Group (T2-WG) reporting to the Eurosystem Market Infrastructure Board (MIB). Mr Clement is bringing with him more than 25 years of experience in Information Technology and Payments, in private and international organisations, in Europe and abroad.

Jean-Pierre de Haeck is the Chief of Payment System Supervision at the Central Bank of the UAE, in charge of the oversight of Payment Market Infrastructures and the supervision of UAE’s non-bank payment service providers, including Fintechs.

His responsibilities extend to ensuring compliance and fostering innovation within the financial payment ecosystem including Stable Coin, CBDC and Open Finance at a domestic and cross border level.

Prior to joining the Central Bank of the UAE, Jean-Pierre was leading in the European Central Bank the teams in charge of the Eurosystem Acceptance of the Target Services evolutions and chairing the Eurosystem Central Banks working groups in charge of the readiness and the migration to Target services including T2S, TIPS, T2 and ECMS.

Prior to joining ECB, Jean-Pierre began his career at Euroclear, where during his tenure of 20+years he led as Senior Director the developments of strategic core post trade products and the transformational Delivery Excellence initiatives.

Jean-Pierre holds a Master’s in Electrical Engineering, a Master of Laws, and a Master of Business Administration.

Jens has been in the industry for nearly 35 years with senior management roles in sales and marketing, operations, customer service, business development, and general management.

He has a background in payments and cash, and led both global business units as well as a number of major change programs on a global scale throughout his career.

Jens joined CR in 2018 as Vice President, Business Development and Consulting. In November 2020, he was appointed as CEO & President.

Jessica Renier is Managing Director of Digital Finance at the IIF. She previously served as Program 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.

Joanne Kubba is Senior Vice President of Government Engagement for Central Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa (CEMEA). She oversees Visa’s engagement with key government leaders and political stakeholders including think tanks, academia, and other third parties to promote the growth of electronic payments and foster financial inclusion. Joanne is responsible to advance public policy issues across CEMEA on a range of issues including emerging technologies including artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies, privacy and tax.

Prior to joining Visa, Joanne was Vice President of Government Affairs & Policy for APAC and MEA at Binance where she oversaw the function engaging with government leaders to navigate the emerging Web3 ecosystem.

Joanne spent 8 years at Uber covering Public Policy. She was the Senior Director of Public Policy covering Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Her core focus at Uber was to work with key governments and regulators to help define the right parameters for Uber to operate while showing the impact that the company can make in delivering innovation, economic opportunities and investment into the cities it operated in.

In her career, Joanne has focused on startups, entrepreneurship, and strategic partnerships across government and business especially during her time as Head of Strategy & Partnerships at Eureeca, a global crowd-investing platform, with a core focus on helping startups be able to grow, scale, and succeed while empowering the crowd to participate in the growth process. Joanne started her career at Google as Head of Public Affairs for the Middle East and North Africa, where she focused on supporting the mission to grow Arabic content online through public policy, communications, and strategic partnerships.

Joanne completed her Master of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School in 2007.

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 (FSB’s) Taskforce on the Legal, Regulatory and Supervisory Frameworks, GFMA Artificial Intelligence (AI) Steering Group, 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 plays an active role in implementing changes within SCB to conform to applicable OTC regulatory reforms impacting FM business. He has been involved in fostering closer working relationship and rapport with industry groups and regulators on key global and regional regulatory reform changes, including Interbank Offered Rate (IBOR) reforms, MIFID II/MIFIR, Dodd Frank, EMIR, CRDIV, FATCA, CCPs and Margin Reforms for Uncleared Derivatives.

In addition, 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 Artificial Intelligence, 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 co-authored a publication issued by the World Economic Forum (WEF) called The Digital Currency Governance Consortium Whitepaper in 2021 and is on the WEF CBDC Principles working group.

Prior to joining SCB, Mr. Ho was the Managing Director Principal in the legal department of Bear Stearns (Japan), Ltd (“Bear Stearns”) where he supported the Asia franchise (including Tokyo, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Korea, India and South-east Asia) covering various structured products and derivatives including equity derivatives, credit derivatives, fixed income and commodities.

Prior to joining Bear Stearns, Mr. Ho worked as Asia equity counsel for Lehman Brothers in Tokyo with experience dealing in convertibles, options, warrants, delta one products and other types of equity derivatives transactions, equity finance and equity capital markets.

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

As a seasoned executive with over 20 years of experience in the banking and financial services industry, Jorgen specializes in driving innovation and managing digital assets. Currently, he leads transformative initiatives as the Group Head of Innovation and Digital Assets at Euroclear, positioning his organization at the forefront of the industry.

Kaise Zakkar is a senior proposition specialist for customer and Third-party risk solutions at London Stock Exchange Group , with more than 16 years of experience enabling Financial institutions to fulfil their anti-financial crime requirements across the Middle East and Africa.

Kaise is a subject matter expert specialised in KYC & AML domains, working closely with regulatory authorities across the region to strengthen the awareness of their AML & CFT programs, and creating a culture of compliance across all sectors of the economy.

In his recent engagements, Kaise spearheaded the Compliance education campaigns dedicated for the Startup communities across the region, specifically in the Fintech & Regtech sectors, helping to embed an intelligent ecosystem of data, content, and technology to identify and mitigate anti-financial crime and fraud risks, while achieving business growth & acceleration.

Kaise is an active member of ACAMS, He holds a master’s degree in software engineering from the University of Liverpool, and a Bachelor of Informatics Engineering.

Kimmo Soramäki is the Founder and CEO of FNA and the co-author of the book ‘Network Theory and Financial Risk’.

Kimmo started his career as an economist at the Bank of Finland where in 1997, he developed the first simulator for optimizing intraday liquidity in 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 for making systemic risks visible and financial market infrastructures and institutions more resilient and efficient.

Kimmo holds a Doctor of Science in Operations Research and a Master of Science in Accounting (Finance), both from Aalto University in Helsinki.

Magda Bianco is Head of the Bank of Italy Consumer Protection and Financial Education Department, which deals with conduct supervision, individual consumer protection and financial education.

At the Central Bank, she previously worked in the Research Department, in the Law and Economics Unit and from 2014 to 2022 she was Head of the Customer Protection and Anti-Money Laundering Directorate.

Since 2021 she is Co-Chair of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) and since 2022 Chair of the OECD/International Network for Financial Education. She is member of the Governing Council of FinCoNet and until July 2023 was member of the National Committee for Financial Education. She served as economic advisor to the Italian Minister of Justice in 2012-2013 and is economic and financial consultant to the President of the Republic since 2015.

She has published articles on corporate governance, corporate finance, bankruptcy, economics of civil justice, consumer protection and financial education.

Maha is Centre Head, BIS Innovation Hub Singapore.  The centre develops public goods in the technology space to support central banks in how they discharge their roles in a digital economy and improve the financial system using novel ideas and emerging technologies.

Prior to this, Maha was Head of Department for Early and High Growth Oversight leading the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) response to the Kalifa review of Fintech.  A Senior Leadership Team member, she is setting up this new department from the ground up as part of the FCA’s strategy.  She joined the FCA in 2017 to set up the first Payments Department and was responsible for crafting and implementing the FCA supervisory strategy for the UK Payments Sector. 

Maha served as Chief Payments Officer at Pay.UK on secondment from the FCA, responsible for running the payments operations of BACS, Faster Payments, Image Clearing Services and related managed services.

Maha has a keen interest in observing and participating in the many exciting changes that are unfolding in the financial services, innovation and fintech environment.  She is particularly interested in safe and responsible innovation and is the author of the book ‘Fintech Regulation in Practice’.  A book that helps the fintech ecosystem navigate the complexities and opportunities of regulation.

She has a Degree in Commerce from Macquarie University and a Masters in Public Administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

In January 2020, Mr. Mehdi Manaa was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Buna. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Manaa served as the Deputy Director-General of the Market Infrastructure and Payments Directorate General at the European Central Bank (ECB). 

During his 12-year tenure at the ECB, Mr. Manaa held several other roles, including heading the Market Infrastructure Development Division as well as the T2S Programme, a program in which he was involved since its inception.

Prior to his career at the ECB, Mr. Manaa held various managerial and advisory positions in the private sector focusing on payment solutions and financial market infrastructures.

.Mike is responsible for Swift's Industry Engagement across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He joined Swift in February 2023, bringing over 25 years of experience in delivering banking technology solutions across Europe and Asia. Before joining Swift, Mike spent 22 years at Japanese megabank MUFG, culminating in his role as Managing Director of the Systems Office for Asia, based in Singapore.

His career in financial services began in the UK. His early work in global markets involved market data management, the digitization and automation of FX pricing, and post-trade straight-through processing. He later transitioned to systems and software development, where he gained expertise in financial messaging, risk and compliance, core banking, regulatory reporting, back-office operations, reconciliation, and payments.

A pivotal moment in his career came with the opportunity to deliver a regional SEPA payments platform in Europe, igniting his passion for payments. This was followed by his involvement in several innovative payments projects in Asia, including Project Ubin with the Monetary Authority of Singapore, which explored the use of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).

Upon returning to the UK, Mike became a Partner at RedCompass Labs, a specialist payments consultancy. There, he focused on emerging next-generation payments technology and championed financial inclusion initiatives.

Mohamed Daoud is a distinguished Director and Industry Practice Lead for Moody's Financial Crime Compliance across the Middle East and India, bringing over 30 years of comprehensive international experience in banking, finance, and corporate sectors. With a proven track record across the United States, Europe, and the Middle East, Daoud has established himself as a strategic leader and Subject Matter Expert in Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Combatting Financing of Terrorism (CFT), and Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption (ABC) programs.
Throughout his distinguished career, Daoud has held executive positions in prominent financial institutions and global technology providers, focusing on financial crime prevention and intelligence gathering. As a respected thought leader, he is a sought-after speaker who actively contributes to industry knowledge through workshops, forums, conferences, and webinars on ethics, corporate governance, and financial crime compliance.

Mrs. Nermine Kamal holds the position of Assistant Sub-Governor in the Offsite Supervision Sector at the Central Bank of Egypt since 2021, where she is responsible for the Offsite supervision of regulated entities in the field of combating money laundering and terrorism financing. Within her role she oversees the departments responsible for AML/CFT risk management, AML/CFT governance risks, AML/CFT risk assessment, AML/CFT remediation oversight, technical risks in the AML/CFT field, products and services AML/CFT risks and other regulated entities AML/CFT risks.

Mrs. Nermine Kamal previously held the position of Consultant to the Central Bank of Egypt during the period from 2020 to 2021, during the mutual evaluation of Egypt by the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) and until the issuance and approval of the Egypt report in May 2021. She also engaged with international consultants to establish the CBE AML/CFT Offsite Supervision Department.

Mrs. Nermine Kamal has a banking experience that extends for more than 20 years, most of which are in managing the risks of financial crime and in combating money laundering and the risks of terrorism financing.

Before joining the Central Bank of Egypt, Mrs. Nermine held senior positions in the Compliance field in several banks, including Banque Du Caire and HSBC Bank Egypt. She also held leadership positions in the field of financial analysis, corporate business, and retail banking at Citibank and the Arab African International Bank.

During her professional career, Mrs. Nermine obtained many training programs and certificates in the banking field including combating money laundering and terrorism financing and countering the proliferation of weapons. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Accounting from the American University in Cairo.

    Onur holds a B.Sc. degree in Industrial engineering from the Bosphorus University of Turkey as well as a joint M.Sc. degree      in Finance & Economics from London School of Economics and Political Sciences. 

Pariwat Kanithasen is the Deputy Director of the Payments & Fintech Department at the Bank of Thailand, where he oversees policies related to Thailand's cross-border payment connectivity. He has spearheaded multiple projects linking Thailand’s payment infrastructure with other systems in the region, including with Singapore (PromptPay-PayNow), Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam, and Hong Kong.

Currently, he is working on additional bilateral linkages and the multilateral "Project Nexus"—in  collaboration with the Bank for International Settlements and other partner central banks. Pariwat has also served as Co-Chair of the ASEAN Working Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems and as Vice Chair of the EMEAP Working Group on Payment and Market Infrastructures.

Earlier in his career, Pariwat was part of the Bank of Thailand's International Department, where he focused on regional financial integration and trade negotiations. He also gained international experience during a two-year secondment to the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C.

Paul is the Chief Fintech Officer at the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE), where he is spearheading several key financial market transformation programs. Paul has pioneered several nationwide and large scale forward-thinking programs to foster innovation, strengthen regulatory frameworks, and promote collaboration between financial institutions, global and local fintechs, and tech firms.

Rachel is the APAC & MEA Regional Head of Corporate Cash Management where she is responsible for the Cash Business across 18 diverse and highly regulated countries. Rachel is also the Global Head of Payments & Transactional FX Product Management for Corporate Cash Management at Deutsche Bank leading the strategic vision for the Payment & FX product offerings and strategic landscape development, working closely with clients and partners to build the next generation of product capabilities to support the future of cash management. She is very interested in new technologies and how these can be integrated together to support our clients to grow their businesses in a secure and scalable way. Rachel has 26 years industry experience and has been with Deutsche Bank in Singapore for 17 years and in London for 4 years, covering several roles including business strategy, business development, programme management and product management, working across both Corporate Bank in Cash Management and Investment Bank in FX, MM, Derivatives and Commodities businesses.

Rachel is a qualified Associate Member of CIMA, qualifying out of Athlone institute of Technology, Ireland. She is passionate about building & leading strong, diverse & dynamic teams and is a diversity and inclusion advocate and pillar lead at Deutsche Bank.

Rajaei Ajjour is the Chief Payments and Acquiring Officer for Capital Bank Group, he poses a wealth of experience across various areas in banking, digital and payments with leading financial institutions across Middle East & North Africa.

Prior to his current post leading Capital Bank’s Payments and Acquiring Business, Mr. Ajjour held various leadership roles at International and Regional organizations including Mashreq Bank, HSBC Bank Middle East, Arab Bank PLC and Visa International in the fields of Contact Centers, Channels Management, Digital Banking, Products & Programs Development, Service Excellence and digital payments.

Regis Bouther is currently working as Policy Manager in the Payments division at the Bank of England. After obtaining his PhD in economics, Regis developed a robust experience within UK and European regulatory agencies in developing and implementing prudential regulations and subsequently on shaping policies related to payment systems and financial market infrastructure.

Over the past four years, Regis has worked as a subject matter expert on the design of some of the features of the new UK RTGS system. He is now actively involved in the future roadmap for RTGS and leading the project to extend the UK RTGS and CHAPS settlement hours.

As Joint Director of Digital Innovation & Settlements Department of SBP, Rehman Pervez is currently working in the critical areas of DFS (i) Cross Border Integrations to interlink Payment Infrastructures like Raast, etc. to better manage risks, enhance efficiency and strengthen competitiveness in the digital financial services ecosystem, (ii) Policy formulation for Fintechs, work on policies and organization objectives for creating development strategies and regulatory policies around technology innovation in digital financial services, (iii) Working on the formation of Innovation Hub/Centre in SBP, etc.

During his more than 11 years at SBP, Rehman Pervez has worked in the areas of Large Value Payments, Payments Oversight, Retail Payments, Policy & Regulations, Fintech Facilitation and Cross border integrations. Some of the major projects and initiates worked on are Operationalization of Presence less digital account opening for expats “Roshan Digital Account”, Regulation formulation & Licensing of Non-Bank Fintechs (Electronic Money Institutions), National Payment System Strategy, Standardization of payments instruments, etc.

Rehman Pervez holds a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) in Finance & Investment from NUST Business School, Islamabad, and Executive Development Program on Fintech & Regulatory Innovation from Cambridge Judge Business School.

Sabine Mensah has over 27 years of leadership experience in financial inclusion, digital payment systems and mobile money across multilaterals and the private sector in Africa, US, and Canada. Since July 2021, as the Deputy CEO, Sabine oversees AfricaNenda’s policy, advocacy, and capacity development efforts through strategic partnerships, convenings and thought leaderships. Prior to AfricaNenda, Sabine served 6 years as Regional Digital Hub Manager for the United Nations Capital Development Fund UNCDF in West and Central Africa, working on inclusive digital economy programs. She successfully drove UNCDF’s global digital infrastructure workstream during her tenure. Sabine also consulted for the mobile money industry in Africa building on her 15 years expertise in the remittance industry in Africa, US, and Canada. As the Regional Director responsible for domestic and international remittances at Western Union Canada, she specialised in agent network management and remittance product design. Sabine is a Certified Digital Finance Practitioner by DFI, an alumna of the Institut Franco-Américain de Management in France and Central Michigan University in the US. She is bilingual English-French.

Sara Al-Binali is the Group Head of Corporate and Commercial Banking. Sara has over 24 years of experience in financial services, investment, and banking. In her role at FAB, she is responsible for leading and growing the Corporate and Commercial division and for ensuring that it is aligned with the Group’s overall vision, strategy, and direction. Prior to this role, she served as the Head of Business Banking – responsible for driving the SME business for FAB. She also headed Strategic Planning for FAB and at First Gulf Bank (FGB) as it was known then, before FAB was created as a merged entity of FGB and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD). Before this she was Deputy Head of FGB’s International Business Group. Sara started her career at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) working across several key investment management roles that were specifically focused on Far East Equities. She sits on number of boards including First Abu Dhabi Bank Securities, and Reem Finance. Sara graduated from Northwestern University in the United States with a degree in economics – and holds an Excellence and Awareness certification that she obtained at INSEAD’s Singapore campus.

Dr. Tarek Ayass, R3 MENA General Manager and Globa Head of Partnerships based in the UAE, is renowned for his expertise in e-commerce trust models with a Doctorate in Business Administration. With 30 years of leadership experience across MEA regional sales and partnerships in global IT blue-chip companies, various respective industries’ specialty. He's a certified expert in cybersecurity and the impact of AI on business strategies.

Tarek Raouf is a seasoned senior executive who has led prominent international and domestic enterprises for more than 35 years. A veteran with multifaceted experience within electronic payments, domestic payment schemes, information technology and risk management. A transformational leader who steered digitization and business reforms of enterprises within payments, oil and gas and manufacturing industries.

Leading Egyptian Banks Co. for Technological Advancements –EBC, the technological arm of the Central Bank of Egypt and the operator of electronic payments infrastructure in Egypt, with a portfolio spanning the National Interbank Switch, Automated Clearing House, domestic card scheme and digital payments.

Tarek Raouf served a non-executive Board member in multiple enterprises including The Egyptian Credit Bureau “I-Score” and Efinance, the digitization arm of the Egyptian state. Currently, he is a non-executive Board member at E-serve Company in addition to Board member at DFI company – Digital Finance Identity.

Tariq holds a Bachelor Degree of Science in Engineering from Cairo University, and Executive Management Program from Harvard Business School, USA.

Thomas Lammer is Deputy Head of Secretariat of the Bank for International Settlements’ Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI). Before joining the CPMI Secretariat in 2019, he worked for more than eight years at the European Central Bank, most recently as Principal Market Infrastructure Expert/Team Lead. For three years he was a Senior Financial Sector Specialist at the World Bank. He started his career at Austria’s central bank in 2001, where he managed payment infrastructure implementation projects.

Thomas Ramadan is the global Payment Strategy Lead with the Oracle Financial Services Global Industry Unit. In his role he shapes the evolution of Oracle’s Banking Payment Module, helping financial institutions to excel in the rapidly changing payments landscape.

Thomas brings with him 30 years of rich experience in the payments industry. Before he joined Oracle, he was heading the EMEA payments market infrastructure and markets team for SWIFT. Thomas has worked in various capacities including Sales, marketing, product management and has engaged with payment leaders across the world.