Agenda

Gene Ma is the Head of China Research and Chief Representative for APAC at IIF (Institute of International Finance). Prior to IIF, Gene was the China economist and strategist at Tudor Investment; Managing Director and China economist at ISI Group (Now Evercore ISI); chief macro analyst at Citic Securities; and a junior staff at China’s Ministry of Finance.  Gene graduated from Peking Univ. and Cornell Univ. Gene is currently based in Singapore. 

Selena is the Chief Economist for OCBC Bank. As Head of Treasury Research & Strategy, she leads a research team that is responsible for Treasury market research, forecasts and trading recommendations for the bank, covering fixed income, interest rates, corporate credit, foreign exchange and macroeconomic commentary.

She is a member of the OCBC Wealth Panel for Singapore and Malaysia, as well as a council member for the Economic Society of Singapore. She was conferred the IBF Fellow Award in Financial Markets in 2017. The IBF Fellow award recognises industry veterans who have demonstrated mastery of a profession and exemplify thought leadership and commitment to industry development. Her research writings has been extensively quoted and published by prominent media across print, television and radio.

Under her leadership, OCBC’s research capabilities have been greatly valued by customers and highly ranked in surveys for interest rate research, FX research, market coverage and Asian macroeconomic research in various forums including the AsiaMoney Fixed Income and FX polls, Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters polls, amongst others.

Prior to joining OCBC in August 2000, Selena was with the Fiscal Policy Unit under the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the Economics Department in the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI). She received her Bachelors of Science (Economics) from the London School of Economics and also her Masters in Applied Economics from the National University of Singapore.

Keeve has been with OCBC since 2018 and is currently the Managing Director, Greater China and North Asia at Bank of Singapore.

Prior to his appointment at Bank of Singapore - the Private Banking arm of OCBC group, Keeve was Head of Futures, FX & CFD for OCBC Securities. There he looked after about 40 people over the three business lines, where he oversaw the growth and development of the cleared Futures, OTC FX and Contract for Differences (CFD) businesses.

Prior to joining OCBC, he was the Director of Sales at UOB Global Markets, looking after the global Business Development of listed derivatives and OTC clearing for UOB. Keeve was before that, a trader in proprietary trading firms, heading market-making desks and algorithmic trading desks. His buy-side experience coupled with his current role in the sell-side gives him a wholesome view of the industry and its developments.

Keeve is married and has a daughter. He holds a BSc with honors from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and graduated with an MBA on the Dean's List from the Singapore Management University (SMU). He has completed his Executive Education at INSEAD and most recently obtained a MSc of Wealth Management (Dean’s List) from the Singapore Management University (SMU).

Mr. Burin Adulwattana holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mathematics and economics from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. He has prior experiences in the financial sector with Credit Agricole Hong Kong, Bank of Thailand, and Bangkok Bank. He joined KASIKORNBANK in 2022 as Managing Director and Private Banking Business Head before being appointed Managing Director and Chief Economist at KResearch.

Yan is a fully qualified Fellow actuary, with over 17 years’ experience in financial services across life insurance, retirement and investments. Yan joined Resolution Life Asia in 2022, structuring bespoke risk transfer and capital motivated (reinsurance) solutions for clients and partners across mature Asia.
 

Prior to joining Resolution Life Asia, her most recent role was with AXA France, where she was Head of APAC (excluding India) for Life and Health reinsurance in the region, as well as the CEO of AXA Life Re Australia. Before this, she structured optimal risk transfer solutions at Aon Benfield as the APAC Director and Life Actuary.
 

Over the years, she’s worked in a number of consulting and valuation roles with Deloitte Actuaries, Watson Wyatt and AMP Life.

Non-life actuary with over fifteen years of experience in both Asia and London Market non-life insurance industry with a wide range of experience including reserving, capital modelling and stress testing, reinsurance optimisation, reinsurance pricing, preparation of financial condition report and profitability analysis.

Yan is a fully qualified Fellow actuary, with over 17 years’ experience in financial services across life insurance, retirement and investments. Yan joined Resolution Life Asia in 2022, structuring bespoke risk transfer and capital motivated (reinsurance) solutions for clients and partners across mature Asia.
 

Prior to joining Resolution Life Asia, her most recent role was with AXA France, where she was Head of APAC (excluding India) for Life and Health reinsurance in the region, as well as the CEO of AXA Life Re Australia. Before this, she structured optimal risk transfer solutions at Aon Benfield as the APAC Director and Life Actuary.
 

Over the years, she’s worked in a number of consulting and valuation roles with Deloitte Actuaries, Watson Wyatt and AMP Life.

Fatema Bookwala is the Markets and Securities Services COO at HSBC Singapore with regional responsibilities in ASEAN (TH, MNL, VN). Fatema is a seasoned Front Office COO with 17+ years of Cross-Asset experience in Financial Services industry. Her areas of expertise include Strategy Development and Execution, Transformation, Regulatory Change, Risk Management and Governance as a strong business partner with all business infrastructure areas.
Fatema is a Rank holder Chartered Accountant from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and completed Level 3 CFA from CFA Institute Charlottesville.
Fatema is passionate about diversity & inclusion and sustainability initiatives, and is an active member of the Sustainability and Balance Employee Resource Groups at HSBC.

David has unique experience spanning the full trade lifecycle, execution to ledger. An experienced C-suite executive, David has significant exposure reporting to and working alongside CEOs and other C-suite focusing on strategic direction and operation of firms.

His geographic experience spans London, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Moscow and Johannesburg having held senior executive positions in ask these locations. His experience spans established and emerging markets.

Currently based in Singapore he is looking at opportunities to work with businesses focused on growth and geographical expansion where his strategy and build experience can be leveraged.

Prof. Roy Ling is a Professional Board Director. Concurrently, he is also the Industrial Chair in Finance at VinUniversity, an Academic Program Director at SMU Academy and the CEO & Founder of FollowTrade.

Prof. Ling is a seasoned veteran with more than 20 years in investment banking with JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and Salomon Smith Barney. His expertise is in digital finance, sustainable investing and Asia real estate, and he had completed some of the highest-profile advisory and capital market transactions in the region. Prof. Ling is also a distinguished board director with more than 16 years of corporate governance experience across Asia. He was honored as the Real Estate Executive of the Year 2016 by Singapore Business Review, and as one of 20 Rising Stars in Real Estate 2008 by Institutional Investor.

Prof. Ling graduated from INSEAD with a Global EMBA and from the National University of Singapore with a BBA (Hons).

Marla drives the execution of the BDO Sustainability Framework and Strategies with oversight on policy formulations and programs implementation across the BDO Group. She produces the annual BDO Sustainability Report and works closely with business groups and subsidiaries as subject matter expert and advisor, to ensure the Bank’s alignment of its policies and practices with global standards, regulations, and guidelines on sustainability reporting. She collaborates with external partners on strategic projects that advance positive environmental and social impact in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. She is also responsible for communicating sustainability initiatives to internal and external stakeholders, and represents BDO in external speaking engagements and forums.

Before joining BDO, Marla was the Global Diversity & Inclusion Lead for news and information services provider Thomson Reuters, where she spent 11 years leading the execution of global strategies in diversity and inclusion, social impact, corporate responsibility, and corporate communications first in Asia, then globally. Previously, she held senior corporate communication roles at tech firm Intel Corporation for its Asia operations for 8 years; food and beverage group San Miguel Corporation for 4 years; and architecture, engineering and construction company Environments Global. She started her career at public relations firm Orendain & Associates where she designed communication campaigns for multinational banks, pharmaceutical companies, and non-government organizations for 6 years.

Marla is an experienced international speaker on gender, diversity, and inclusion, and a certified facilitator of the Google #IamRemarkable workshop for women. She is a founding member of the Women Inter-industry Network (WIN) and former Board member of the International Association of Business Communicators or IABC Philippines. She took up BA Communication with a major in Journalism at the University of the Philippines in Diliman.

Kamran Khan is Deutsche Bank’s Head of ESG for Asia Pacific. In this newly established client-facing role, he is responsible for defining and executing the bank’s ESG strategy across all business divisions in Asia. He is a member of the Global Sustainability Council of Deutsche Bank.

Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Mr. Khan established Infra-Tech Capital, an impact fund investing in companies utilizing technology to provide infrastructure services and achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals. He was also appointed by the Obama White House to serve as the head of global investments and operations at the US Millennium Challenge Corporation, where he managed a USD 10bn portfolio and led a USD 1.5-2bn annual investment program globally.

Previously, Mr. Khan held senior executive roles at the World Bank and helped establish the World Bank Group regional hub in Singapore, comprising the World Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Multilateral Insurance & Guarantee Agency (MIGA). Prior to his time at the World Bank, Mr. Khan worked on M&A transactions and advisory mandates at JP Morgan and LEK. He also served as a US Foreign Service Officer with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), where he led operations for the project finance and guarantees facility.

Mr. Khan served as an Advisor on Infrastructure Finance to APEC, ASEAN, and the G-20. He is a member of the Senior Advisory Board at Fudan University Fintech Centre in Shanghai with a mandate to advise on Belt and Road Initiative projects. He has also served on the Board of Advisors at a variety of market-leading companies using technology to achieve ESG goals. He is a frequent speaker at events such as World Economic Forum, ASEAN Summit, APEC Summit, and in major international media.

Mr. Khan holds an MBA from the Booth School of Business at University of Chicago, and an MS in Applied Economics and Master of Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania. He received his BS in Economics from George Mason University.

Prof. Roy Ling is a Professional Board Director. Concurrently, he is also the Industrial Chair in Finance at VinUniversity, an Academic Program Director at SMU Academy and the CEO & Founder of FollowTrade.

Prof. Ling is a seasoned veteran with more than 20 years in investment banking with JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and Salomon Smith Barney. His expertise is in digital finance, sustainable investing and Asia real estate, and he had completed some of the highest-profile advisory and capital market transactions in the region. Prof. Ling is also a distinguished board director with more than 16 years of corporate governance experience across Asia. He was honored as the Real Estate Executive of the Year 2016 by Singapore Business Review, and as one of 20 Rising Stars in Real Estate 2008 by Institutional Investor.

Prof. Ling graduated from INSEAD with a Global EMBA and from the National University of Singapore with a BBA (Hons).

Piyayut Chitchumnong is a principal quantitative risk strategist at Krungsri, specialising in risk management within retail portfolios with a primary focus on IFRS9 models and stress-testing methodologies. With a keen interest in climate risk management, Piyayut is currently leading the development of a climate stress test framework tailored for financial institutions.

Prior to joining Krungsri, Piyayut served as a senior economist at the Department of Agricultural Economics, a prestigious research agency operating under the Ministry of Agricultural and Cooperatives. In this role, he conducted extensive economic research, developed econometric models, and provided valuable insights into agricultural sector dynamics.

Piyayut holds dual master’s degrees; one in Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics from Michigan State University, and another in International Economics and Finance from Chulalongkorn University. Additionally, he earned his undergraduate degree in Economics from Thammasat University.

Dr Martin is the APAC head of Technology Business Controls for State Street Bank, responsible for 1st line technology operational risk management across APAC. He has over 25 years of experience in diverse strategic and hands on leadership roles in the industry. Prior to State Street was the Head of Asia Risk at Morgan Stanley IM and earlier with ING as Chief Administrative Officer for ING Investment Management's India business and Asia Pacific Head of Non Financial Risk. In these roles he has held responsibility for Enterprise Risk Management, Operational Risk, IT Risk Management and Infosec. 

He holds a DBA, MBA, is a certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM), CISSP.

Petsy is the Head of Risk Management & Compliance of Sun Venture Pte. Ltd., a multi-asset investment firm, where she plays an instrumental role in the development of the firm’s risk management and compliance framework that reflects the nature, scale, and complexity of Sun Venture’s business. Concurrently, she is also the Head of Operations, overseeing the Operations team to develop a robust and scalable infrastructure to ensure smooth operations of the firm.

Petsy has more than 25 years of working experience in the financial services industry. She started her career with Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX) where she oversaw the operations of the derivatives trading unit. She subsequently moved to the Risk Management where she was responsible for performing risk evaluations for new financial derivative products.

Prior to joining Sun Venture, Petsy was leading the Operational Risk and Compliance team for CIMB Bank’s Treasury and Markets function. Her primary responsibilities included overseeing the operational risk management for the bank and performing risk assessment on new business initiatives, product development, system enhancements and outsourcing arrangements. Before CIMB, she was a Consultant at Mercer Investments Solutions (Singapore) and Vice President at Maybank Singapore.

Petsy holds a Master of Business Administration from State University of New York and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Business and Management Studies from University of Bradford. She also holds a Diploma in Compliance awarded by International Compliance Association. She successfully attained a PRMIA Operational Risk Manager Designation in February 2024. 

With nearly 25 years of experience in Financial Services, Tom joined BNY Mellon as the Head of Financial Crimes Compliance – APAC in August 2021, from Morgan Stanley.   He brings deep experience in all aspects of financial crimes compliance.

Tom also spent nearly 17 years at JPMorgan Chase (JPMC), including 8+ years in Hong Kong after  8+ years in New York.  During this period he became the Head of Regulatory and Risk Technology and was Technology Information Risk Officer for JPMC Private Bank in Asia.

Tom earned his BS/MBA from Clemson University and is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (ACAMS).

Mr Ng Kok Keong is the Head of FCC Intelligence & Innovation at Bank of Singapore. He is responsible for managing the end-to-end Anti-Financial Crime Data Analytics Risk Surveillance control for the bank that covers the data analytics innovation strategy, researching, designing, and prototyping of innovation concepts, driving the implementation of key data analytics projects, surveillance and escalation of red-flags, intelligence investigations, control gap analysis and continuous enhancements of controls. He leads a mission-critical team to successfully pivot the FCC department towards proactive detection of financial crime risks to the bank and dynamic monitoring of clients that is anchored on intelligence and data analytics capabilities to fulfil the “Future of Financial Crime Compliance” vision and transform key FCC controls for the bank. Prior to joining BOS, Kok Keong held the positions of Senior Vice President in UOB, Deputy Director in the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Senior Data Scientist in GIC. Kok Keong holds a Master of Science in Financial Engineering from Nanyang Technological University, a Master of Technology in Software Engineering and a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Engineering from National University of Singapore.

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.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soramaki/

Robert-Alexandre is an accomplished leader with 18 years of delivering high-value high-impact solutions using latest technology across Asia in the financial sector.

He has created data management policies and implemented data governance across APAC, while tackling regulations requests from Europe, Hong Kong, Korea, China and India.

With a strong passion for technology, he is updated with the latest and have utilized Cloud Analytics, Machine Learning and Generative AI for various aspects of business under his care.

His career began in France then Hong Kong, and through his earlier years, he delivered high stakes projects across APAC and Global, contributing to the development of key capabilities for clients, in a business line consistently generating over 100 M€ per year.

He relocated to Singapore in 2022 to take on a Chief Data Officer role, leading a team of 13 to build a data strategy for APAC and deliver data management policies.

Vaman oversees risk management activities of GXS Bank (GXS), a digital bank whose mission is to make banking better for everyday consumers and small businesses.

An industry veteran, Vaman has more than 45 years of experience in risk management, regulatory compliance, banking operations, operational and fraud risk, credit process and policies across various financial businesses including corporate, consumer and commercial banking across the region.

Prior to his current role, he was the group chief risk officer for retail banking at a major global bank. He served on various boards in the past including Standard Chartered Bank Vietnam Limited), Standard Chartered (India) Modeling and Analytics Centre, Standard Chartered Bank Trust (Singapore), and The Risk Management Association (Singapore Chapter).

In his personal capacity, Vaman is passionate about mentoring the next generation of leaders, where he is able to share his vast experience having witnessed various economic cycles across the globe. 

Malay Kumer Paul is a seasoned executive management professional with over 29 years of experience in the financial services industry across APAC and the Middle East region, working with global, local and investment banks. He has a proven track record of direct operational engagement in retail, SME, and microfinance sectors, as well as in the mobile money space, where he has been a catalyst for change.
Currently serving as the deputy chief executive officer of Cambodia Post Bank plc., Malay initially joined as the chief risk officer and successfully implemented an integrated risk management framework that aligns with international best practices in risk management.
Throughout his career, Malay has held senior risk management positions, including vice president of integrated risk management at FFH in Singapore, deputy chief executive officer and chief risk officer at Mekong Development Bank (MDB) in Vietnam, head of credit and collection for retail & SME at City Bank Ltd. and BRAC Bank Ltd. in Bangladesh, and cluster head of collections at Standard Chartered Bank covering Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, and Lebanon. He commenced his banking journey with ANZ Grindlays Bank in Bangladesh. His roles have not been limited to risk management but have also encompassed business development, operations, customer service, sales, distribution and analytics.
Known for his passion for sustainability, Malay has spearheaded the implementation of an environmental and social management system within the bank. He is an active member of the Global Association of Risk Professionals and serves as a Climate Champion, advocating for green financing initiatives.
Malay holds a first-class Master of Science degree in Soil, Water & Environment Science from the University of Dhaka, along with an MBA in Finance and Banking from Brac University, Bangladesh. His diverse expertise and commitment to sustainability make him a valuable asset in the financial services industry.

Add is a financial risk manager with a decade-long experience in the financial services industry in the US before moving back to Thailand in 2020.  Add is currently the head of consumer credit risk model development and technology at Krungsri. 

Prior to Krungsri, Add was the director of quantitative risk management at Mnementh Analytics, a fintech startup, building a CECL software solution and provided model development advisory services to one of the largest monoline credit card providers in the US among others.  Add also has working experience from community banks, regional banks, and a global bank.  Preceding a banking career, Add was in market risk analytics at SS&C GlobeOp, a Long-Term Capital Management legacy, supporting chief risk officers from large hedge funds clients. 

Add holds two master’s degrees in operations research and statistics from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (“ISyE”) at Georgia Institute of Technology and an undergraduate degree in economics from Thammasat University.

Lynette is the chief economist at SME Bank where she leads a team of economists responsible for conducting independent macroeconomic research and industry analysis. She advises board members and senior management on macroeconomic related issues, identifying emerging risks and opportunities that can affect the operating environment of various industries. Lynette’s views, opinions and reports are frequently quoted by the press, and she actively participates in forums, events, roadshows and knowledge sharing sessions.
Lynette and her team is also enthusiastic in engaging the SME community and through this, has pioneered the SME Sentiment Index in 2022. Earmarked to be a national leading economic indicator, the Index serves to gauge SMEs’ sentiment on the economy and business environment, providing a glimpse into the reality of SMEs on the ground.
Prior to SME Bank, she was with RAM Ratings, a credit rating agency where she specialised in sovereign ratings and has vast experience in economics and financial institution ratings. Lynette graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science and has interest in development and behavourial economics. She loves hiking and traveling and has volunteered in Nepal and Ghana under poverty alleviation and microfinance programmes.

Dr. Nongnuch Tantisantiwong has 20-year experience in economic and risk modelling through various roles in public, private and academic sectors. Currently, she is head of enterprise risk and infrastructure at CIMB Thai Bank and also a visiting academic for School of Electronics and Computer Science at University of Southampton (UK). She started her career as an economist at Ministry of Finance (Thailand) holding a position as head of macroeconomic forecasting and later as head of financial system development and planning. She then moved to the UK, joining University of York as a postdoctoral fellow in economics. Living in the UK for 12 years, she worked for many UK universities (e.g. University of Dundee, University of Southampton, University of London) and finally at Nottingham Trent University she attained an associate professorship in finance. In 2020, she returned to Thailand to join Krungthai Bank as SVP corporate strategy and later became head of credit risk modelling and analytic. Since 2007, she has won several national and international research grants and published more than 20 research articles in banking, investment, sustainability, risk modelling and machine learning.

Trevor is a Global Banking Executive with a successful track record for driving strategic & innovative risk and business strategies based on entrepreneurial and commercial decision making.

Has over 20 year’s experience, working at Top Tier Financial institutions such as HSBC, Standard Chartered, ANZ and Citibank. He has served as the Chief Risk Officer in Europe and Asia, Global Head Strategic Financial & Risk Management, Regional Head of Acquisition Risk Asia, Regional Executive Director Asia, and Head of Operational Risk Management Asia.

Trevor has also completed an EMBA at Kellogg-HKUST in Hong Kong / Chicago and various other Leadership programs across Asia including Leadership Program Ivey Business School at Western University. Graduate Diploma Applied Finance and Investment Securities Institute Australia, CPA Programme CPA Australian and Bachelor of Commerce. 

Interests include Travelling, environment and fitness. 

Zernil Lurthanathan is a highly experienced and accomplished professional with over 19 years of experience in the Malaysian financial industry both as a regulator and regulatee. She currently heads the risk strategy, transformation & enterprise risk analytics for RHB Banking Group.

Zernil’s career started in 2005 as a management trainee for Great Eastern Life Assurance before moving on to the Central Bank of Malaysia in 2007 to be part of the risk management and policy development team. With sound regulatory and policy background, she transitioned into the capital market industry, helming the position of head regulatory strategy & data analytics at Malaysian Stock Exchange in 2012.

She then diversified further to the banking industry joining CIMB Bank in 2018, where she was a director within group risk leading successful risk strategy & regional risk-based machine learning projects. She then moved to RHB Bank in 2021 to set-up and build the risk strategy, transformation & enterprise risk analytics. She is also the project director of the bank’s Group Climate Action Programme.

Zernil has a unique combination of strategy, analytics and risk background, enabling her to drive complex and technical risk discipline with the application of decision science principles. She has delivered agile analytics sprints to improve effectiveness and efficiencies across risk functions. She has a keen eye for change management and thrives in complex problem solving.

Zernil holds MSc in Decision Sciences from London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Hons in Decision Sciences from Universiti Utara Malaysia. She is the recipient of multiple awards including the recipient of the 2004/2005 Malaysian Royal Education Award.

Puteri Syurga Binti A. Malek is currently working as a chief risk officer in Boost Bank Berhad (one of the 5 digital bank licensees granted by BNM). She is part of the pioneering team who sets up the bank from the ground up, focusing on risk management. Her role includes crafting out and implementing enterprise risk management framework and risk appetite across the organisation to ensure robust risk management within the bank. As part of supporting the bank’s business, she is also responsible to implement model risk management framework that caters to different types of models including artificial intelligence in a broader context. Prior to her role in Boost Bank, Puteri was a director in financial services risk management at Ernst & Young Consulting Sdn Bhd. She has extensive experience in various projects such as risk modelling, model validation and model risk management, refining customer journey and credit process re-engineering for financial institutions in Malaysia, digital banking application submission, climate risk, resilience projects, wealth management projects, anti-money laundering analytics validation, IFRS9 model validation projects, collection optimisation projects, and more. Puteri holds a Bachelor of Actuarial Studies from The Australian National University and possesses skills in statistical modelling, risk assessment, problem-solving, and strategic solutions. 

Michele Yap brings with her a broad range of experience, capabilities and skills spanning risk management, data and analytics, retail financial services and credit trading in both regional and global roles.
Michele is currently the chief risk officer, Singapore and Cluster CRO, ASEAN. Prior to this, she was the global head of enterprise risk data and reporting for Standard Chartered, with responsibility for developing the data capabilities of the risk function and delivering risk reports and insights to support risk management and drive better decisions.
Michele was previously the head of analytics monetisation and business planning for the retail bank in ASEAN and South Asia. She has also held roles in treasury, where she worked with the financial markets business on strategic initiatives relating to regulatory reform, and was the head of group stress-testing, during which time she developed the group’s first reverse stress test.
She first joined Standard Chartered in 2010 from Barclays Capital, where she was the head of portfolio management in Asia-Pacific. Under her stewardship, the Asia-Pacific region consistently posted the highest risk-adjusted returns globally. Michele began her career in New York, where she worked in investment banking and debt capital markets, before helping to set up the active portfolio management desk trading in credit derivatives, corporate bonds and loans.
Michele is a CFA charterholder and was recognized as a Future Leader by the Institute of International Finance in 2014.
Academic and professional development
• M.S. in Computational Finance, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
• B.A. in Economics with distinction, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

Mr. Burin Adulwattana holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mathematics and economics from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. He has prior experiences in the financial sector with Credit Agricole Hong Kong, Bank of Thailand, and Bangkok Bank. He joined KASIKORNBANK in 2022 as Managing Director and Private Banking Business Head before being appointed Managing Director and Chief Economist at KResearch.

Firdaos has been appointed as the chief economist of AmBank Group starting from 12th January 2024. He has previously worked as the chief economist at Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad and MARC Ratings Berhad from 2020 to 2023.

Before joining MARC Ratings, he served at the Institute of Strategic & International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia for almost a decade in different positions, including senior analyst (economics) to director of economics, trade and regional integration. While at ISIS Malaysia, he also worked as a short-term external consultant to the World Bank. He was a former EXCO member of the Malaysia-Japan Economic Association.

Between 2005 and 2010, Firdaos worked as an administrative and diplomatic officer for the Malaysian government under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), where he was responsible for developing policies concerning bilateral and regional trade relations, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and industrial development. He also served as the senior private secretary to MITI's deputy minister in the Minister's Office from 2008 to 2010.

Firdaos earned his Master of Public Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) as a 2019/2020 Chevening scholar. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting and Finance from Lancaster University, a Diploma in Public Administration from the National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN), Malaysia, and a Business Foundation Programme from St. Andrew's College in Cambridge, UK.

Dr. Mon Sreyleak holds doctoral degree in the international development from the Nagoya University under the Transnational Doctoral Program. It is a distance learning program for middle to senior officials. She also has double master’s degree in economics from the International University of Japan (2013) and the University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia (2017). She has participated in various training courses such as Intermediate Modelling and Forecasting Techniques, International Reserves Management, Investment Strategies, Macroeconomic Management in Resource Rich Countries (MRC), Macroeconomic Diagnostic, Macroeconomic Forecasting, Financial Programming and Policies, and so forth. Dr. Mon is currently a senior economist at the National Bank of Cambodia in charge of economic research. She is also an adjunct professor at the ACLEDA University of Business as well.