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Consortia 2019 is the first international conference bringing together the major consortiums pioneering blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) for trade and receivables finance to the business and financial community.

In the coming years it is expected that blockchain transactions in trade and receivables finance will become the norm and according to consultants Bain and Company, may increase global trade volumes by $1.1 trillion and increase annual banking revenues by 25% which equates to $2 billion.

Despite Blockchain and trade and receivables finance being one of the most talked about subject in recent months, many individuals who could be affected by it – those in trade finance banks, logistics companies, credit insurers, factoring companies, are still keen to find out more of the precise workings and differences between the many banking consortiums set up to enable blockchain (or distributed ledger technology) financing. Consortiums, such as we.trade, Marco Polo, Voltron and Komgo, all address different aspects of trade and receivables finance and work in different ways. For example, Marco Polo’s aim is to facilitate open account trade by financing both pre- and post-shipment; whereas We.Trade’s focus is to make trade facilitation easier and to finance SMEs; Voltron is involved in in the digitisation of documentary trade; and Komgo’s purpose is in enabling seamless data communication between commodity trade partners. And while both Marco Polo and Voltron use Corda technology, We.Trade uses Hyperledger Fabric and Komgo uses Etherium.

While the consortiums are keen to attract new followers, there are a number of issues and questions to be addressed by prospective bank members as well as other stake holders such as corporates, credit insurers and logistics companies:

  • At what stage in development are each of the consortiums and what are they offering?
  • What are their core differences?
  • What are their future plans?

In addition to these most fundamental questions there are more operational aspects that require airing, such as:

  • How will the consortiums connect, or interoperate with each other?
  • What are the costs involved?
  • What are the details of real-life example transactions so far?
  • What is the state of play with developing standards and governance?

Blockchain and DLT offers revolutionary technologies in the trade and receivables finance sector, perhaps becoming the norm in the near future and making transactions faster, more secure, and cheaper. But understanding exactly what is on offer is key to assessing suitability and strategy in this rapidly developing sector.


Consortia 2019 will provide a forum for the consortiums and their prospective partners and other interested parties which will showcase and evaluate their development and future. Consortia 2019 will provide opportunity for discussion on how blockchain and DLT are impacting trade finance and the business opportunities these new technologies offer to banks, funders, SMEs, government bodies, trade bodies and corporates etc. 

With case studies of live transactions, examples of POCs and insights from the leading consortiums, Consortia 2019 is not an event to be missed.

Speakers
Enrico Camerinelli
Senior Analyst, Aite Group

Enrico Camerinelli is a senior analyst at Aite Group specializing in wholesale banking, cash and trade finance, payments, and Enterprise Blockchains. Based in Milan, he brings a strong European focus to Aite Group’s Wholesale Banking practice. Enrico is also co-founder and former Board Member of the non-profit Supply Chain Finance Community.

Mr. Camerinelli has been widely quoted by publications ranging from American Banker to the Financial Times. He has contributed editorial content to publications such as Supply Chain Europe, and is the author of Measuring the Value of the Supply Chain, a book about linking financial performance to the supply chain. He has spoken at leading trade shows and conferences in Europe, including Sibos and EuroFinance.

Maex Ament
Co-Founder, Centrifuge and Taulia

Serial FinTech entrepreneur, Markus Ament, or Maex as he is known, has led many companies from early-stage startups to global leaders, used and loved by thousands worldwide.

Maex is currently advising several FinTech and Crypto players, including Hypatos, Earnd, Finoa or Novicap, on their journey from early-stage startups to exits and unicorn status.

Besides that, he founded the sustainability startup Pegada, a Green Finance player aiming to provide affordable financing to ESG compliant suppliers.

He is a co-founder and board member of Centrifuge, with the mission to create an operating system for global commerce to fundamentally change how businesses transact and collaborate. Centrifuge built a protocol to tokenize and finance real-world assets on public Ethereum, creating an important milestone for decentralized finance.

Maex is the co-founder of San Francisco-based Taulia and has transformed the company from an idea in 2009 to the market-leading Financial Supply Chain company, connecting businesses to create a more efficient and profitable supply chain. With an enviable list of Fortune 500 clients and over 300 employees, Taulia has quickly become the recognized leader in the financial supply chain and working capital management.

Maex began his FinTech career working for SAP in Germany, developing and deploying payment and banking solutions in the SAP financials market. Maex also acts as an angel investor and mentor for various startups.

Baptiste Audren
Head of Product and Business Development, komgo

Baptiste Audren is Head of Product and Business Development of komgo after co-founding the company in 2018 with the backing of 15 major finance institutions and corporates. His trajectory running up to this position encompasses several senior commodity trade finance roles which amass to more than 10 years of experience spread across two major continents Europe (Paris & Geneva) and Africa (Johannesburg). The relationships he built working for BNP Paribas and Société Générale enabled the coming together of the first majors (Société Générale and ING) to explore blockchain in the Easy Trade Connect project he initiated in 2016. The project realised two blockchain dedicated PoCs and provided for the foundation on which not only komgo® exists but the energy based trading platform VAKT as well. Baptiste is a KEDGE Business School graduate and obtained an Executive MBA from EPFL.

Nils Behling
Co-Founder and COO, Tradeteq

Nils is a founder and COO at Tradeteq, the SaaS-enabled marketplace for private debt and real assets. Before entering the fintech space, Nils was a trade finance investor and a portfolio manager for Trafigura’s Galena Asset Management. As a director in Merrill Lynch’s FICC business, he structured complex funding and capital markets solutions for banks and real money clients. Nils started his career as a restructuring attorney with Weil, Gotshal & Manges, working on cross-border debt advisory, business reorganisations and work-outs.

Adi Ben-Ari
Founder/CEO, Applied Blockchain

Adi has over 20 years of enterprise software experience, working for blue chip companies, and more recently founding Applied Blockchain to advise and deliver production blockchain solutions. Adi is widely recognised as an independent thought leader in the industry, is a noted speaker at major conferences, experienced in educating C-suite on blockchain and zero knowledge proofs, and acts as an advisor for a number of early blockchain startups. His work has also been noted by the UK Government, where he was invited to present at both Parliament and the House of Lords, and at UCL where he recently lectured on the subject. Additionally, Adi has co-invented and designed a number of patents related to blockchain as well as mobile payments. Adi holds a BSc in Computer Science and an MBA

James Buckley
Vice President & Head of Infosys Finacle, Europe

James has a career spanning more than 25 years in major Financial Services transformation initiatives and technologies, focussing on next generation Solutions, Operational Agility and IT change across Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific. He heads up the European region for Infosys’ banking product set, Finacle where rapid changes in banking architectures and technologies are being reflected in Infosys’ offerings. James is also active in the Banking Industry standard group BIAN chairing their Strategic Advisory Board. the sales, programming enablement and delivery of International Banking Operations and IT.

Michelle Chivunga
Chair International/Foreign Affairs Committee/Senior Regional Advisor (Africa), British Blockchain Association (BBA)

Michelle Chivunga N has vast experience in government policy, financing and investment frameworks, previously working for the British Bankers Association(now UK Finance) managing a range of global projects working with many senior stakeholders - mainly with governments, business leaders and financial development institutions in both the private and public sectors. Michelle has had engagement with groups like the OECD, Commonwealth, World Bank, World Trade organization, ICC, European Banking Federation, World Economic Forum, HM Treasury, British Chambers of Commerce, EU Commission & many government leads globally. Michelle is currently Chair of the international/Foreign Affairs committee and Senior Regional Advisor (Africa) at the British Blockchain Association (BBA) exploring emerging technologies such as Blockchain technology particularly in the context of international development, trade, enterprise and sustainable development. Often referred to as a young thought leader in the Blockchain space, Michelle is a recognized leader with global experience working cross border to evaluate impact of emerging technology such as Blockchain for different segments of society and supporting women/business/government and others to educate and leverage digital tools that foster social and economic development. Michelle is extremely passionate about exploring the potential of Blockchain/DLT in the emerging/developing markets and is well recognized for her work in channeling the technology work to explore its impacts. As BBA chair Michelle not only champions the opportunities that Blockchain presents but is keen to work in partnership to support the education around the technology and help shape regulatory and policy frameworks in this area. She believes leveraging the technology for sustainability, inclusivity, connectivity and responsible business digitization can be a catalyst for growth, productivity and sustainable development globally especially in emerging markets. Michelle also took part in the University of Surrey first UK DLT/Blockchain project within Surrey Business School’s Centre for Digital Economy.

Khushnama Davar
Director, Trade Product Management, HSBC (Voltron)

Khushnama Davar leads the Digital Initiatives [DLT, Third Party Platforms, Fintech Engagements] in the global Product & Propositions Team in Global Trade & Receivables Finance at HSBC. Her last role was as the Managing Director & Head Trade, at Standard Chartered Bank, India. She was responsible for overall Trade business including driving the P&L, strategy, sales and product management across the banks’ network in India. She has a rich experience spanning 25+ years in Transaction Banking spanning across Citibank, Deutsche Bank and SCB/ANZ Grindlays Bank. She is a seasoned transaction Banker who is uniquely placed to offer a perspective based on her experience across different organizations and roles/experiences including country and regional roles covering India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. She holds a Masters in Banking & Finance from the University of Mumbai, is a Graduate of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountant and a Fellow of the Indian Bankers Association. She is passionate about harnessing technology to deliver a fantastic Customer Experience and facilitating provocative conversations with individuals and teams around persistence, adding value, relationships, technology and making it happen!

Frances Dean
COO, VAKT

Frances Dean is the COO of the revolutionary commodities trading blockchain platform, VAKT, an enterprise-level blockchain platform transforming the global commodities trading industry. She is a Business Transformation and Data Management professional with 20 years experience in the Energy Industry for both Oil and Gas majors. Her early energy career began in Corporate Social Responsibility from which she moved onto Business Transformation in support of software implementations and from there to implement Data Management frameworks. Having spent six years as Head of Financial Operations her interest in blockchain technology was piqued by the increasing challenges around cyber security. After project managing a very successful blockchain proof of concept she became involved with VAKT in its infancy – and has never looked back!

Eva Degenhart
Partner MH Corporate Finance GmbH

Eva is a senior Supply Chain Finance (SCF) specialist with over 20 years of banking experience in various management and expert positions at major Austrian financial institutions. As shareholding partner at MH Corporate Finance GmbH, she heads the SCF consulting services. Being among the first to develop and successfully introduce SCF products in an Austrian bank she led multiple rollouts of new SCF solutions in Austria and CEE, including multi-funder structures. In collaboration with IFC/WBG she currently advises commercial and development banks in MENA, West Africa, Europe and Asia, enabling SCF strategy building, business modelling, product program set-up and IT projects. Knowledge is an important ingredient for quality results, for both her clients and herself. She loves to innovate, continuously captures developments in the SCF community and likes to share and discuss the findings as author of publications around the subject matter, such as the Guidebook on Supply Chain Finance by Development Banks and Public Entities recently issued by IFC/WBG. She is a beknown speaker and trainer at international SCF conferences and holds a Master’s degree in business administration from Vienna University of Economics and Business as well as a CEFA diploma.

Emmanuelle Ganne
Senior Analyst, World Trade Organisation (WTO)

Emmanuelle Ganne is Senior Analyst in the Economic Research and Statistics Division of the World Trade Organization (WTO) where she leads WTO work on Blockchain. She is the author of a recently published WTO book entitled "Can Blockchain Revolutionize International Trade?". Ms. Ganne is also WTO's lead on micro, small and medium side enterprises. Prior to this, she held the position of Vice-President and Managing Director for Europe at the Allam Advisory Group (AAG), a team of former C-level executives and senior diplomats that specializes in helping businesses expand their operations globally. Before joining AAG, Ms. Ganne held various positions at the WTO, including in the Information and External Relations Division where she briefed journalists on WTO negotiations, as Counselor to Director-General Pascal Lamy, and in the Accessions Division where she assessed trade policies of governments wishing to join the WTO and advised them on how to improve their business environment. Before joining the WTO in 2002, Ms. Ganne worked for the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, putting in place the Stability Pact Anti-Corruption Initiative, which assisted South Eastern European states curb corruption. Ms. Ganne is a 2009 Yale World Fellow.

Daniele Gnagnarella
Business Development Manager, we.trade

Daniele has over 12 years of international experience in capital markets, evenly split between London and Singapore. He holds a master’s degree in Economics and International Management from LUISS Business School in Rome.

Mariana Gomez de la Villa
Distributed Ledger Technology Program Director, ING

Mariana Gomez de la Villa has joined ING in 2015 and is currently the Distributed Ledger Technology Program Director at ING, with overall responsibility for driving research, development and implementation of Distributed Ledger Technology as well as capitalizing on its potential in order to unlock mass-scale value. Under Mariana’s leadership, the Blockchain program has delivered over 44 proofs of concept and 8live pilots in collaboration with the following business areas: payments, trade finance and working capital solutions, financial markets, post-trade, bank treasury, lending, compliance and identity. Mariana is also responsible for setting up long-term purpose and vision, including the governance of the program within ING globally. Mariana is an active leader in global consortia, outlining the Distributed Ledger Technology strategy and envisioning market landscapes. Mariana’s accountabilities include the definition of products, services and business models, as well as foresight to business, technology, leadership communities and international stakeholders, including regulators.

Bob Gravestijn
Strategic Ideator and Business Booster, The Value Department

Bob Gravestijn is a digital business model enthusiast and specialises in business model innovation, ecosystems, partnerships and platforms. He is recognised for his expertise on supply chains, working capital, business sustainability management, and web3: the blockchain-based web including cryptocurrencies, NFTs, decentralised finance, and more. At present, Bob works both as a strategic ideator and business booster at The Value Department, and as a business developer for ABN AMRO Bank. In addition, he's a subject matter expert for the Global Supply Chain Finance Forum, has been featured in BCR's World Factoring Yearbook 2022 and has spoken at several events, including WTO's Global Trade and Blockchain Forum, and SCCMP EDGE conference. For Bob, helping others and businesses reaching their full potential is the most rewarding part of his work.

Hans Huber
DLT Trade Finance Innovation R&D, Commerzbank

Hans Huber has 25 years of experience in Logistics, Marketing and the Financial Industry. He has worked in Germany, Japan and the UK and is currently working on Trade Finance innovation projects in the DLT Lab of Main Incubator, a subsidiary of Commerzbank AG

Fernando Lardies
Network Banking Lead, we.trade

Fernando is responsible for Network Banking Area in Santander Group, in charge of developing Santander International Business for Corporate & Commercial Banking segment Fernando Lardiés is also Santander’s Board member in the European Payments Council and in the Euro Bank Association, and he is Chairman of the Board of we.trade Trade Finance blockchain Consortium Fernando has held different positions in Santander since joining in 2004. He started in IT Department as Head of Project Office and Control, and in 2005 he moved to the Global Banking & Markets Division where he spent 10 years until 2014. During the first 6 years he headed product areas for Payments, Cash Management and Supply Chain Finance solutions. From 2010 to 2014 he was Senior Banker for Multinationals Segment in Santander Brazil. In 2014 he moved back to Europe, where he was for 2 years Cash and Payments Head for Corporate & Commercial Banking. Before joining Santander, Fernando worked 6 years as strategy consultant for McKinsey&Co in Spain, Latin America and South Korea. Prior to that he worked 3 years as an engineer for National Instruments in the USA and Spain. Fernando holds a BSc in Telecommunications Engineering from Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya, a MSc in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and a MBA from INSEAD

Cillian Leonowicz
Director, Head of Business Development, Deloitte EMEA Blockchain Lab

Cillian is a Director in Deloitte’s Consulting practice and leads Business Development for the firms EMEA Blockchain Lab. Cillian’s work at Deloitte has included the development of a Track and Trace Blockchain, the Irish Funds Regulatory Reporting Blockchain and a Blockchain for Funds Distribution. Before joining Deloitte, Cillian worked for Fenergo as Heads of Digital and Client Solutions Consulting as well as for DST Systems where he was APAC Sales Lead

Cécile Leruste
MD, European Banking, Accenture

Cécile has 15 years of experience in consulting, both in APAC (Tokyo, Seoul) and Europe, with McKinsey and more recently Capgemini Consulting. Cécile was also a banker for 11 years, where she held positions as Co-head of Strategy for the Groupe, Head of Debt Capital Markets development. She then created the Capital and Liquidity advisory division for banking and insurance clients, and was appointed co-head of SG Equipment Finance.

Genevieve Leveille
Founder, AgriLedger

Genevieve has over 23 years’ experience in Supply Chain Finance and Banking and is an expert in digital identity, market risk, liquidity management, treasury and business and industry transformation. She is a renowned international speaker and has considerable experience in all major international markets. Genevieve was an Advisor to the Government of Estonia on their e-Residency Program; Managing Director of Anoterra; Co-Chair of the Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) Working Group providing strategic direction for all techUK activities related to blockchain and DLT and Senior Advisor to various blockchain solution projects. In 2016 Genevieve founded and led a hackathon team in the creation of the AgriLedger concept, a social enterprise project using distributed ledger technology and mobile apps for agricultural producers. Not only does Genevieve bring significant expertise and corporate experience to Blockchain and Crypto currency industries, she’s a passionate and skilled advocate in utilising technology solutions for social impact, empowerment and the greater good. Genevieve is also a Fellow of the Startup Leadership Programme, a network for the next generation of founders, entrepreneurs. leaders and innovators and has won a number of awards for her work.

Iain MacLenann
Vice President and General Manager, Trade & Supply Chain Finance, Finastra

As Vice President and General Manager for Trade & Supply Chain Finance, Iain is responsible for the strategic roadmap and delivery of these products for Finastra, he has responsibility for both the Product and Engineering groups. He regularly contributes to articles, videos and conferences on Trade Finance in addition the Trade Team at Finastra has been recognised by Datos Insights and IDC as “Best in Class” and “Leader” respectively in their 2023 surveys.

Iain joined Finastra in January 2019, from Lloyds Banking Group where he spent 6 years in several leadership roles in Technology and Group Transformation supporting the Commercial Bank. He was most recently the Engineering Lead within the Commercial Servicing Lab delivering Agile change (Digital, Process and Fulfilment) improving the overall Customer and Colleague Experience across all sectors.

Prior to Lloyds Iain held Change and Technology roles with Barclays, Deutsche Bank, ING Barings and Swiss Bank Corporation, primarily in Global Transaction Banking. He has over 25 years’ experience in delivering technology enabled change within the Financial Services industry. Iain holds a Ph.D. and a B.Eng from the University of Glasgow, plus a MBA from Henley Business School.

Emmanuel Marchal
Managing Director, ConsenSys (Komgo)

Emmanuel Marchal has over 20 years of experience in bringing high technology companies to market and growing them globally. He is Managing Director at ConsenSys, the largest and fastest growing blockchain company focused on building the Ethereum ecosystem where he leads energy, commodity and trade finance initiatives. Previously, he held executive, sales and delivery management roles at big data and artificial intelligence companies which are now part of Apple, bet365 and TimeOut. Before that, he ran the IT security services and cryptography practices at global services organisations Atos and Schlumberger. He is a recognized leader in the database market and is the founder of one of the largest big data communities in Europe with over 4000 members. He is a non-exec board member of a number of artificial intelligence and Oil&Gas companies and regularly mentos startups. Emmanuel started his career in the Oil and Gas industry and holds a M.Sc. in General Engineering and Robotics from the Ecole Centrale Paris, France.

Martin McCann
CEO and Co-Founder, Trade Ledger

Martin McCann is CEO and Co-Founder of Trade Ledger (www.tradeledger.io), the world’s first open digital banking platform that gives banks the ability to assess business lending risk in real time. Martin has over 20 years’ experience as a passionate technologist, business leader, investor, academic researcher, and public speaker specialised in the digitisation of business.

Deepesh Patel
Director of Partnerships and Marketing, Trade Finance Global

Deepesh Patel is the Director of Partnerships and Marketing at Trade Finance Global (TFG). In this role, Deepesh leads efforts in developing TFG’s brand, relationships and strategic direction in key markets, including the UK, US, Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong. This includes TFG’s digital platform and blockchain projects.

David Pepper
Project Lead, Provenance

David is Project Lead at Provenance, a digital platform that empowers brands to take steps towards greater transparency through gathering and presenting stories about products and their supply chains, including verified data to support them. Recently David has been leading a landmark blockchain project, which links verifiable sustainability claims and transparent supply chains to create financial efficiencies to incentivise smallholders, initially in the Malawi tea supply chain. Prior to joining Provenance, David worked as a strategy consultant at KPMG Boxwood and spent eight years in global supply chain management positions at GlaxoSmithKline. David has an MBA from Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.

Neil Ross
Global Head Trade Credit, AIG 

Neil Ross is Global Head of Trade Credit Business Development at AIG and Chairman of AIG Trade Finance Ltd and AIG Receivables Management Ltd. Neil started his career in Credit Insurance over 30 years ago at Trade Indemnity where he was a manager in Export Division. Neil joined Hiscox in 1994 to set up market facility to enable Lloyds of London to re-enter the credit insurance market after an absence of over 70 years. He was the lead underwriter until Trade Credit was approved as an open market line in 1999. In 2000 Neil joined AIG where he has been instrumental in establishing AIG as a lead insurer of XOL Credit Insurance, Trade Finance and Supply Chain Finance.

Juan-Jose Ruiz
Head of Strategy and Business Development, TradeLens, IBM Industry Platforms (Tradelens Maersk)

Juan-Jose Ruiz is a global Strategy and Business Development executive with experience in technology, financial services, and media/information industries. He is currently leading IBM's Blockchain business development efforts with focus on Global Commerce and is responsible for Strategy & Operations at TradeLens, the Maersk/IBM collaboration to digitize the global supply chain.

Hitesh Sachdev
Head – Startup Engagement & Investments, ICICI Bank

Hitesh Sachdev is a veteran banker with ICICI Group, with a highly rich and diverse 19 years of experience across innovation, FinTech, private equity, investment banking & asset financing. Hitesh presently heads the Start-up Engagement and Investments at ICICI Bank. He has played an instrumental role in setting up the Innovation team and executing cutting edge technology led projects for ICICI Bank in collaboration with FinTech start-ups. Hitesh also leads FinTech Investment Fund for investing into emerging FinTech start-ups. As part of his current profile Hitesh also plays a key role in “Blockchain Infrastructure Company” (BIC), India’s first blockchain based banking consortium. BIC was conceptualized by Hitesh in early 2018 and since then he has been the primary evangalist of the BIC consortium in India and overseas. He has played a key instrumental role in bringing together 11 private & PSU banks to participate in BIC as founding members as well as equity holders

Qamar Saleem
Advisory Manager, Asia & Pacific & Global SCF lead, IFC

Qamar Saleem is Global Lead SME Banking Practice at IFC, World Bank Group. In this role, Qamar heads SME Banking Advisory Services business supporting IFC’s financial institutions globally in building and scaling up their SME Banking and Supply Chain Finance businesses. Prior to joining IFC, Qamar was associated with reputed international organizations like HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank as well as large regional banks while serving in several emerging markets. Qamar has 25 years of diverse commercial banking and business transformation consulting experience. He is a recognized SME Banking and Supply Chain Finance expert and has played leadership roles in driving up SME businesses for various banks in Latin America, Middle East, North Africa, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia. Qamar is also steering global innovations in the areas of domestic supply chain finance, very small enterprise finance, non-financial services, banking on women, and Islamic SME banking. He has also been a featured speaker, thought leader and trainer at numerous SME knowledge sharing forums across the world and has steered partnerships with various private and public-sector entities in helping augment support mechanism for increasing financial inclusion of the small and medium enterprises. Qamar holds a Master degree in Business Administration and carries several certifications in the areas of Strategy, Corporate Leadership, Supply Chain Finance, Credit, Risk, Trade, Treasury, Sales, Transaction Banking and Product Management.

Parm Sangha
Partner, Enterprise Strategy, IBM Consulting

Parm’s focus is to create strategy and execution plans to unlock the value of innovative technology including Blockchain, Generative AI, IoT and Metaverse. The aim is to prepare organisations to anticipate the opportunity and risks of web3 and the token economy. With a focus on financial services and public sector markets around the globe, including Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Europe and the UK, Parm regularly interacts with governments, regulators, industry associations, academia and technology start-ups to review the value new technology can bring to economies as well as the methods by which to overcome adoption challenges. Out of office hours, Parm is involved in coaching several start-ups in the education, financial and charity software markets as well as mentoring several Duke of Edinburgh Award students. He follows Arsenal Football Club, Formula 1, squash and has an awful golf handicap.

Mirka Skrzypczak
Head of Working Capital & Trade Products, RBS

Mirka is an experienced Product Head with 14 years’ experience in the banking industry; currently leading Open Account product suite for RBS covering Supply Chain Finance, Invoice Finance and Overdrafts. Her team manages all stages of the product lifecycle including new product development, product strategies, pricing, distribution and servicing of existing products. She joined RBS in 2010 having previously worked for GMAC and GlaxoSmithKline. Mirka has Masters Degree in Economics from University of Economics, Poznan, Poland.

Andrew Speers
Director, Product and Innovation, Natwest (Voltron)

Andrew enjoys understanding and using new and emerging technology. He has held various positions with leading global organizations in roles ranging from Product Development, Innovation and Sales. He started up his own company in Australia that tokenised financial assets and is now working for the RBS Group’s NatWest business as the Director of Product and Innovation. Andrew leads the innovation agenda for Working Capital and Trade, focusing on new technologies including blockchain and digitalisation. Designing new products and solutions based on emerging technologies to meet customer needs and responding to competitive threats or new entrants. Andrew acts as an industry innovator in new technologies; representing and negotiating NatWest’s position at a senior level in industry groups, consortiums and with FinTechs.

Dave Sutter
Head of Platform Strategy, TradeIX

Dave is an experienced Fintech entrepreneur and expert in the area of DLT, global trade, supply chains, finance, and transaction banking. He is a veteran of the blockchain industry who helped pioneer the technology’s application in trade finance. Before joining TradeIX, Dave served as COO and co-founder of Fluent. Over the past several years, Dave has worked and consulted with many of the world’s leading financial institutions, technology providers, corporations, and governmental agencies. He has deep connections in banking, and the blockchain industry, being one of the first people in the blockchain space to abstract away the core technology behind cryptocurrencies and begin applying the technology to mainstream services.

Shona Tatchell
CEO and Founder, Halotrade

Shona is the CEO and Founder of Halotrade, a blockchain enabled Fintech start up focussed on the delivery of sustainable supply chain financing. Formerly Head of Innovation for Trade & Working Capital in Barclays working in partnership with Fintech companies which will shape the future of the global Trade business. Shona was a Director with Barclays for 6 years, and was previously Global Head of FIG Trade, delivering trade finance, trade services and risk mitigation solutions to bank and non-bank clients globally. She joined from HSBC where she was a senior manager in the European Structured Trade and Advisory team within Global Trade and Supply Chain. She began her career with The Chase Manhattan Bank graduating from the European Credit Training Programme and joined Chase’s Trade Finance team, where she spent 13 years working in London, the Middle East and Singapore where she headed Chase’s Trade Finance business. Shona owned her own successful hotel business in Scotland for several years after leaving Asia, before returning to banking in 2008. Shona holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts in Modern Languages (French and German) from Oxford University.

Kris Van Broekhoven
CFO, Komgo

Before joining Komgo as CFO in 2020, Kris has been a banker for more than 26 years, and was previously the Global Head of TTS Commodity Trade Finance at Citi and a member of the bank’s Global Trade Exco. He joined Citi in 2012 to set up the business, offering trade solutions to commodity traders, processors and producers worldwide. Prior to joining Citi, Kris spent 10 years at Deutsche Bank where he helped build a Structured Commodity Trade Finance business, most recently as EMEA head. He started his career at KBC Bank in various roles involving commercial banking and trade finance in Belgium and London.

Valerie von Lucke
Group Development & Strategy, Commerzbank AG (Marco Polo)

In 2017 Valerie has joined Commerzbank’s DLT Lab in London; before that she worked in the Group Strategy team of Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt and 10 years at Arkwright Consulting AG in Hamburg, Oslo and Zürich with focus on innovation projects for energy clients (e.g. smart grid, renewable energies) and media companies (online/ print-disruption).

Duncan Wong
CEO, CryptoBLK (Voltron)

Dr Duncan Wong is the Founder and CEO of CryptoBLK, a technology company focusing on building and operating Blockchain enterprise solutions for the global financial market. CryptoBLK is specializing in developing trade finance, and asset management platforms. CryptoBLK also has a Blockchain platform called DLTapp-as-a-Service (DaaS) which supports hybrid deployment on both cloud and on-premises.

Before founding CryptoBLK, Dr Wong was in charge of the Financial Technologies (FinTech) Initiative of the largest R&D Center in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI). Dr Wong has also been a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, then the City University of Hong Kong for 12 years. Dr Wong has authored over 200 publications in Cryptography and Information Security.

Anthony Woolley
Head of UK innovation UK, Societe Generale

Anthony Woolley was appointed Head of Innovation for the UK, Societe Generale in September 2017. He previously served for 4 years as the UK Chief Information Officer for the bank and has over 20 years of management experience delivering technology solutions to the Corporate and Investment Banking Industry. Anthony joined Societe Generale in July 2010 as the Head of IT for the UK Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities business. Prior to this, he worked for HSBC where he was Global Head of FX pricing and e-commerce technology. He held the same position at Citigroup where he worked for nine years and was employed by Salomon Smith Barney and Schroders in various capital markets technology roles. He graduated from Warwick University with an Honours degree in Computer Systems Engineering

Yair Zehavi
Co-Founder & CTO, INVIOU

Yair is an experienced tech entrepreneur with vast background both as corporate and as startup executive. He is the co-founder and is leading the technology areas at INVIOU, an innovative fintech registry platform for financial records. Prior to founding INVIOU, Yair was a key figure in building the revolutionary Israeli National Savings Exchange, where he served as Deputy CEO. Formerly he held executive and managerial positions at both startups and leading tech companies such as NICE Systems and Amdocs.

Venue

Hilton London Metropole

225 Edgware Road
w2 1ju London
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0) 207 616 7335

The Hilton London Metropole combines a fantastic Central London location — great for visiting many of the capital’s favorite attractions — with comfortable guest rooms and first-class conference facilities.

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