Agenda
Asia Risk Congress 2024 | Full Agenda
Asia Risk Congress 2024
Our 2-day, 8-stage agenda will bring together 1,000+ professionals from leading buy and sell-side organisations, across job roles including risk management, trading, compliance, finance, technology and operations.
Main conference agenda (September 25, 2024)
08:00 – 09:00
Registration
09:00 – 09:10
Chairperson's opening remarks
09:10 – 09:20
Introductory remarks
Opening speech
Duncan Wood is the London-based editor-in-chief of Risk.net. He was promoted to the role at the start of 2015, to lead the editorial reorganisation of the website and its print titles. Wood had been editor of Risk magazine since July 2011. He rejoined Risk as European editor in October 2009, having originally worked for Risk and Asia Risk in London and Hong Kong as a writer and researcher between 1998 and 2000.
In the intervening years, Wood was news editor for the Oliver Wyman-founded online start-up ERisk.com. He also worked freelance for six years while living in Germany, with his work featuring in Euromoney, Financial News, IFR, and The Wall Street Journal, as well as Risk magazine and its sister titles. Wood has written about derivatives and risk throughout his 17-year career in journalism. He is a Neal Awards finalist, and has won Incisive Media's journalist and editor of the year awards.
09:20 – 09:40
An expanded enterprise risk management mandate
Keynote presentation
Patrick is currently Chief Communications Officer and Chief Risk Officer with SG Courts (the Singapore Judiciary).
Patrick completed his service with the Singapore Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defence as a Colonel. He worked at the Prime Minister’s Office for seven years and was instrumental in setting up the National Security Coordination Secretariat. He was its first Deputy Director for Strategic Policy Development. He subsequently launched and managed the Government’s Risk Assessment and Horizon Scanning programme.
In the private sector, Patrick was Director for Security and Emergency Planning and Vice President of Corporate Communications at a major public transport operator.
He moved on to Deloitte’s Risk Advisory Service where he was a Senior Advisor in Risk Sensing, Enterprise Risk Management, Crisis Management, Crisis Communications, Business Continuity Management and Critical Infrastructure Protection.
09:40 – 10:10
The narratives shaping regulations and shifts to anticipate in Asia
Panel discussion
- What is the current regulatory environment across APAC?
- What’s next after key regulations and markets changes have come to pass: IBOR transition, Basel 3, Initial margin requirements
- How will market trends impact the regulatory environment in coming years?
- Should financial institutions be anticipating any new regulations?
Duncan Wood is the London-based editor-in-chief of Risk.net. He was promoted to the role at the start of 2015, to lead the editorial reorganisation of the website and its print titles. Wood had been editor of Risk magazine since July 2011. He rejoined Risk as European editor in October 2009, having originally worked for Risk and Asia Risk in London and Hong Kong as a writer and researcher between 1998 and 2000.
In the intervening years, Wood was news editor for the Oliver Wyman-founded online start-up ERisk.com. He also worked freelance for six years while living in Germany, with his work featuring in Euromoney, Financial News, IFR, and The Wall Street Journal, as well as Risk magazine and its sister titles. Wood has written about derivatives and risk throughout his 17-year career in journalism. He is a Neal Awards finalist, and has won Incisive Media's journalist and editor of the year awards.
Aziz Durrani
Team lead and senior technical assistance specialist
ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO)
Aziz has over 22 years of experience in international banking and finance, and in setting, enforcing and advising on regulatory policies and standards to international authorities. At the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research office (AMRO), Aziz leads the Technical Assistance function, and is responsible for the budgeting and provision of technical assistance to the Central Banks and Ministries of Finance of the ASEAN countries plus China, Japan and South Korea. His work includes advising on climate and nature related risks and on green and sustainable finance policies.
Aziz previously worked for 5 years at The SEACEN Centre in Kuala Lumpur, providing technical assistance and delivering training programmes to SEACEN’s 35 Central Banks and Regulatory Authority stakeholders across Asia, on issues related to Supervision, Financial Stability, Risk Management and Financial Market Infrastructure and was also the Lead on Sustainable Finance.
Before joining SEACEN, Aziz spent 7 years as a Senior Technical Specialist at the Bank of England, leading the global wholesale banking book Stress Testing programme for all major UK banks and undertaking asset quality and Non-Performing Loan reviews across international banks.
Aziz began his career in the Strategy, Finance and Economics practice of Andersen Business Consulting in London, and later worked at Standard Chartered Bank, covering the Origination, Structuring and Syndication of loan products across EMEA markets. He also worked at Lloyds Banking Group in Asset and Liability Management and in Leveraged Finance Loan Restructuring.
Aziz is a graduate in Economics and Philosophy from The University of Nottingham, UK, and studied for an M.Sc. in Computing for Industry at Imperial College London.
Benoît Gourisse has worked for ISDA for 13 years. He has served as Senior director, European Public Policy, then Deputy Head, European Public Policy and was appointed Head of Asia Pacific in April 2021.
He headed European ISDA work streams on MiFID 2/ MiFIR framework, Commodities, Non-cleared margin rules, Recovery and resolution framework for CCPs, CCP supervision, Market Abuse and was the ISDA primary contact to the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).
He now heads ISDA public policy workstreams in Asia Pacific, covering the whole region except Japan.
Prior to ISDA, Mr. Gourisse spent five years at the French Banking Federation in Paris, where he was deputy director of Corporate and Investment bank activities. In this role he advised the executive management of French banks in every issue relating to financial markets, corporate services, custodian activities, asset management and distribution of financial instruments to retail investors.
He also worked for the French Savings banks as head of legal department in the Savings Banks of Brittany, and for Société Générale as compliance officer.
Mr. Gourisse has a Masters Degree in Tax and Business Law from Paris XI University.
“Varuni Webb is a seasoned senior executive, with 25 years of experience in the financial services sector. She has extensive experience leading global business, operational, risk and regulatory transformation for Financial Markets, Wealth Management and Asset Management, working in a variety of transformation roles in London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore for financial institutions including Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and Standard Chartered. Drivers for these large-scale transformation programmes have ranged from revenue enhancement, risk mitigation and regulatory compliance, to defining new group-wide target operating models, process simplification and digitisation.
Currently, in her role as the Head of Strategic Regulatory and Risk Initiatives at Standard Chartered Bank, Varuni has co-founded and implemented the group-wide Managing Regulatory Change Initiative, which has introduced an end-to-end framework and target operating model for managing regulatory change within Standard Chartered. Her team leads the implementation of any large-scale or complex regulatory obligations where the impact is felt bankwide.
Varuni has a BSc in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a recent Chief Sustainability Officer accreditation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)”
10:10 – 10:35
From crisis to opportunity: resilient and sustainable risk management in an age of artificial intelligence (AI)
Presentation
Terisa Roberts is the global solution lead for risk modelling and decisioning at SAS, and has two decades of experience in quantitative risk management and advanced analytics. She has helped companies in financial services, telecommunications, government, energy and retail derive business value and make better decisions using risk analytics. Roberts has experience in regulatory compliance, IFRS 9, BCBS 239, model risk management and enterprise stress-testing. She advises banks and regulators on industry best practices in artificial intelligence (AI), automation and digitalisation related to risk modelling and decisioning, and in the responsible use of AI and machine learning. Roberts regularly speaks at international risk conferences on innovation in risk management.
10:35 – 11:05
Networking break
- Ask the expert
“Varuni Webb is a seasoned senior executive, with 25 years of experience in the financial services sector. She has extensive experience leading global business, operational, risk and regulatory transformation for Financial Markets, Wealth Management and Asset Management, working in a variety of transformation roles in London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore for financial institutions including Barclays Capital, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and Standard Chartered. Drivers for these large-scale transformation programmes have ranged from revenue enhancement, risk mitigation and regulatory compliance, to defining new group-wide target operating models, process simplification and digitisation.
Currently, in her role as the Head of Strategic Regulatory and Risk Initiatives at Standard Chartered Bank, Varuni has co-founded and implemented the group-wide Managing Regulatory Change Initiative, which has introduced an end-to-end framework and target operating model for managing regulatory change within Standard Chartered. Her team leads the implementation of any large-scale or complex regulatory obligations where the impact is felt bankwide.
Varuni has a BSc in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a recent Chief Sustainability Officer accreditation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)”
11:05 – 11:45
How will credit risk evolve with the recent market trends and developments?
Panel discussion
- The landscape for credit environment and where there are concerns?
- How has climate change impacted credit analysis and decisioning?
- Are there processes and analysis that can be digitalised within credit?
- Scenarios and stresses to be concerned about heading into the next cycle
Duncan Wood is the London-based editor-in-chief of Risk.net. He was promoted to the role at the start of 2015, to lead the editorial reorganisation of the website and its print titles. Wood had been editor of Risk magazine since July 2011. He rejoined Risk as European editor in October 2009, having originally worked for Risk and Asia Risk in London and Hong Kong as a writer and researcher between 1998 and 2000.
In the intervening years, Wood was news editor for the Oliver Wyman-founded online start-up ERisk.com. He also worked freelance for six years while living in Germany, with his work featuring in Euromoney, Financial News, IFR, and The Wall Street Journal, as well as Risk magazine and its sister titles. Wood has written about derivatives and risk throughout his 17-year career in journalism. He is a Neal Awards finalist, and has won Incisive Media's journalist and editor of the year awards.
Wen Lin Chia
Managing director, regional head of credit portfolio risk assessment and monitoring and country risk
DBS
A seasoned banker, Wen Lin CHIA brings credit risk insights from 1st and 2nd Line perspective, having been in both roles predominantly in Asia and Australia. In her current role in DBS as MD, Regional Head of Credit Portfolio Risk Assessment and Monitoring and Country Risk, Wen Lin is responsible for Credit Portfolio, Country, and Securitisation Risks. Her previous role is CRO DBS Australia.
Abhishek is Head of Risk at GXS Bank (GXS), a Singapore headquartered digital bank with the mission to make banking better for everyday consumers and small businesses across Singapore and Malaysia.
He previously oversaw UniCredit Group’s regional risk management activities as Chief Risk Officer for Asia Pacific. Other senior roles held at UniCredit and the Fiat Group include Head of Industry Underwriting Corporate & Investment Banking, Group Head of Risk Reporting, Head of Product Development Central Eastern Europe and Assistant Treasurer for Europe and NAFTA regions.
Abhishek can converse fluently in English, Italian, German and Hindi underlining a successful international Risk and Business side career spanning prominent financial hubs including the UK, Germany, Italy, the US, Greater China and Singapore
Abhishek holds a Master of Business Administration, Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Economics. He is an Associate Member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers UK (AMCT) as well as Member, Hong Kong Treasury Markets Association.
Ed is a Senior Director in the Credit & Risk Solutions team of S&P Global Market Intelligence, based in Singapore. Since joining in 2012, he has managed and participated in the development, implementation, and validation of Basel II internal ratings systems, including Probability of Default (PD) and Loss Given Default (LGD) for low-default asset classes, for numerous clients across the EMEA and APAC regions. Ed leads the team in APAC, since 2022. Prior to this he was heading ASEAN & Pacific operations, since 2017 and was part of the EMEA team in London, charged with managing our financial institutions (both banking and non-banking) Probability of Default (PD) solutions and delivering PD complex solutions and consultative assignments for Banks. Ed holds an undergraduate degree in Accounting & Finance from Durham University. Ed also holds a postgraduate Masters in Science (MSc) in Investment Analysis from Aston University.
Jens re-joined Deutsche Bank in 2022 and has regional responsibility for Risk & Portfolio Management for Trade Finance & Lending APAC and for Corporate Bank Lending globally.
He previously spent more than 3 years at Lloyds Banking Corporate Markets as Chief Risk Officer for Asia, overseeing Credit, Conduct, Compliance & Operational Risk.
Jens has nearly 30 years of banking experience primarily in Risk & Portfolio Management roles. After completing his banking apprenticeship at Deutsche Bank in Germany, he has held a variety of positions in Relationship and Risk Management across Austria, Germany, USA and the UK.
Notable senior roles include Regional Head of Portfolio Management Europe responsible for credit portfolio strategy and risk appetite across all asset classes at Deutsche Bank, Senior Credit Underwriter covering Risk Solutions & Structured Derivatives CEEMEA at Royal Bank of Scotland and Head of Risk & Portfolio Management, Transaction Banking Asia Pacific at Deutsche Bank.
Jens is a CFA® charterholder and Certified FRM. He is fluent in German, English and Spanish.
11:45 – 12:35
Holistic overview of derivatives trends and challenges in Asia
Panel discussion
- What is the current landscape of derivatives trading across Asia Pacific?
- How has regulatory drivers affected the derivatives market?
- How to drive margin, capital, and operational efficiencies in the world of derivatives?
- What derivatives products are becoming crucial to risk management in Asia?
- Outlook of derivatives for the next 5 years
Lei Li joined Bank of America in 2022 as the APAC Head of Sales for Futures, Options, OTC Clearing, FX PB and Fixed Income PB from Singapore Exchange (SGX) where she was the Global Head of Members and DCI Sales. In her current role, Lei is responsible for the implementation of effective sales strategies in APAC, as well as oversees the sales and marketing of these products and solutions to institutional clients in APAC and globally. Prior to joining SGX, Lei has always been on the sell-side spending her longest career at Citigroup across Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong where she managed the respective futures and OTC clearing sales teams in APAC. Lei started her career in Lehman Brothers (New York) in 2005.
Lei graduated from University of Miami, as Magna cum Laude, and triple majoring in Finance, Marketing, and Psychology.
Sage Patel
Managing director, head of data, valuations and analytics, Apac
S&P Global Market Intelligence
Sage Patel joined IHS Markit (Markit Asia) in March 2011. Before joining IHS Markit, Sage was responsible for Pricing and Valuations at Fitch Solutions. Sage has extensive product and commercial leadership responsibilities across fixed income, derivatives, and structured credit and at tier-one investment banks, starting at Salomon Brothers, Citigroup Global Markets, Bank of America N.A and RBC Capital Markets across London, New York, and Toronto.
Sage has been driving IHS Markit's (now S&P Global Market Intelligence) continued expansion into Asia-Pacific capital markets which will continue to provide optimized solutions and best practices for market reforms adoptions in an ever-changing regulatory landscape in Asia.
Kate is part of the product development team covering APAC markets with a specific focus on India ( cash equities , futures and options) . She has been with J.P Morgan in Singapore for 10 years. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Kate worked at Euronext in Paris.
She is responsible for overseeing and directing the APAC markets and products agenda, market strucuture and regulatory governance. Kate has a passion for client content and publishes J.P Morgan’s global quarterly client insights reports.
Kate holds a dual Masters in Management from Smurfit Business School, Dublin and HEC Paris, alongside an dual Bachelor of Commerce from Bocconi University and University College Dublin.
She is the Vice President of the European Chamber of Commerce Singapore and sits on the board of the Irish Chamber of Commerce Singapore, previously holding the position of President.
Kate is passionate about D,E and I and represents J.P. Morgan at the Financial Women’s Association of Singapore and is part of J.P. Morgan’s leadership team ( Women on the Move ) , specifically focused on external engagement.
Weilong Tan is a Senior Sales and Relationship Manager at LCH, where he serves as the product and technical lead, driving LCH’s continued expansion in the APAC region. With over 7 years of experience in derivatives, clearing, and prime brokerage, Weilong is a seasoned financial professional.
Before joining LCH, Weilong spent 4 years at Citi as a derivative clearing specialist, working in both London and Singapore. During his tenure, he restructured the global FX prime brokerage business and significantly grew the derivatives clearing franchise.
Weilong holds a Bachelor of Business Management with a major in Finance from Singapore Management University, graduating with top honours.
12:35 – 13:00
Achieving global harmonisation and the role of standardisation in the OTC derivatives markets
Fireside chat
- Overview of current and upcoming derivatives regulations
- How have OTC cleared products evolved and where are the opportunities?
- What can markets do to prepare now for market regulations?
- Outlook on the impacts of regulations on APAC markets
Wei-Shen Wong joined Waters Technology in June 2016. She heads the publication's Asia coverage. She covers both the buy side and sell side, overseeing issues related to advancements in technology, new regulations and how firms are managing their data.
Emma Kalliomaki is Managing Director of the Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB). She is also Managing Director of the Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA). The DSB is an organisation originally founded by ANNA and now working in collaboration with the industry as a fully automated global generator of ISINs, CFIs, and FISNs, for Over the Counter (OTC) derivatives. While Emma has been working as MD, the DSB was designated by the Financial Stability Board as the sole service provider for the future UPI system supporting the DSB focus on industry requirements to deliver an OTC derivatives identification framework. Emma has over a decade of experience in financial data, standards and regulation, previously also working as head of the London Stock Exchange’s SEDOL Masterfile.
12:45 – 14:30
CRO roundtable & lunch | Hosted by Asia Risk and BCG
Sponsored by:
Risk management in 2024 and beyond: Upcoming challenges, opportunities, and best practices
- How to manage and mitigate risks with dynamic economic and geopolitical landscapes?
- What have we learned this past year of managing risks and navigating complex regulatory landscapes?
- What are the new risk types emerging with increased technological innovations?
- The ways that best practices are evolving and what are timeless principles to implement
*Enquire here if you are a CRO and would like to join
13:50 – 15:30
Diversifying risk frameworks: How asset managers are adapting amidst a turbulent market landscape
Invite-only roundtable
Sponsored by:
- The impact of an uncertain rate environment, continued volatility, sticky inflation and recession fears
- The growing significance of incorporating private assets in risk measurement alongside liquid asset classes
- The future of liquidity risk management based on lessons learned from recent events
- Emergence of new risk factors - Integrating climate risk considerations into the Risk Management framework
Luke Armstrong is Head of Buy Side Risk at S&P Global Market Intelligence. He has a decade of experience in buy side risk management working at CQS and Bluebay Asset Management. As product manager, he is responsible for the design and build of S&P Global Market Intelligence's next generation buy side risk management platform. Luke holds a BEng in Aerospace Engineering with first class honours from the University of Southampton.
15:30 – 16:00
Nuances around implementing climate risk into credit decisioning
Panel discussion
- Where are organisations around implementation of climate risk into credit decisioning?
- What are the different risks that should be considered under climate risk for credit purposes?
- Are there alternative data sets that are imperative to efforts for credit decisioning?
- Should climate risk be a considerable factor in credit decisioning?
Zernil Lurthanathan
Senior vice president, head of risk strategy, transformation & enterprise risk analytics
RHB Banking Group
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.
Anupam is the Head of Climate and Environmental Risk in DBS leading the ESG team within Risk Management Group. In his current role, he is responsible for development of ESG risk management process within the organization, review and approval of transactions from ESG perspective and development of appropriate risk management and governance framework for ESG. Prior to DBS, Anupam was Head of Environmental and Climate Risk in HSBC Singapore wherein he also led the Risk Management Working Group developing the Environmental Risk Questionnaire and related guidance issued by Association of Banks (ABS) in collaboration with MAS. His career in HSBC spans over India, Singapore and Hong Kong in Corporate Risk management roles wherein he covered regional credit approvals. He started his career in equity research and consulting.
Anupam is an MBA in Finance and holds CFA & FRM accreditations.
Mr Hironori Shimojima is Executive Officer, Deputy Head of the Asia Pacific Division Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). Based in Singapore, he is responsible for the governance, digitalization and sustainability agenda of the bank across the region.
Prior to this role, Mr Shimojima was Managing Director, General Manager, and Head of the Strategic Planning Department for SMBC Group in the Americas where his responsibilities encompassed strategic planning, corporate development and sustainability. During this time, he also held the role of Chief Financial Officer from April 2020 through September 2022.
Mr Shimojima began his career with the firm in Tokyo in 1994, with the Mita Branch in its Operations, Foreign Exchange, and Business Promotion Department. He joined the Capital Market Planning Department in 1997 and two years later, the Structured Finance Department, where he managed the securitization business.
He was seconded to the Real Estate Department of Goldman Sachs, Limited, in New York from October 2000 to October 2001. He was appointed Vice President and worked in the Structured Finance and Real Estate Finance Department, where he was in charge of originating real estate
finance on a nonrecourse basis until April 2006.
Joining Specialized Industries for SMBC and SMBC Leasing and Finance, Inc. in April 2006, he remained in that role until 2008, when he was promoted to Senior Vice President and assigned to a special task force managing distressed loan portfolios. Mr Shimojima was promoted to Group Head of the Planning Department of the Americas in 2011.
In May 2014, Mr Shimojima returned to Tokyo as Group Head for the Credit and Invest Planning Department (CIPD), where he was responsible for credit risk management and SMBC Group’s new product underwriting business. He was promoted to Joint General Manager for CIPD in April 2016. Beginning January 2017, Mr Shimojima joined the Corporate Risk Management Department in Tokyo, where he managed the enhancement of the risk appetite framework and stress testing. In 2018, he returned to the Investment Banking Unit in Tokyo as Joint General Manager for the Planning Department’s Financial Solutions Unit. Hironori has a Bachelor of Economics from The University of Tokyo.
16:00 – 16:30
The greatest risks for portfolio managers in 2024
Panel discussion
Patrice Conxicoeur was a CEO, HSBC Asset Management (Singapore) Ltd and has been working in the financial industry since 1990. Patrice assumed this position in April 2020. Previously, he was CEO of HSBC Asset Management (Japan) K.K. From 2011-2015, Patrice was Global Head of the Insurance Segment, with overall responsibility for the further business development of HSBC Asset Management with insurance companies globally. Prior to that, Patrice spent three years as Head of Institutional Business for Asia Pacific with HSBC Asset Management in Hong Kong. From 2004 to 2008, he was Chief Executive of Sinopia Asset Management, Asia-Pacific. Patrice joined Sinopia in 1992 as an equity fund manager, later becoming Head of Global Equities and subsequently promoted to Head of Strategy, Equities and Balanced Products. Patrice was posted to Asia in 2000, initially in Japan as Chief Executive Officer of Sinopia T&D Asset Management Co, Ltd., and from 2004 in Hong Kong. Prior to joining Sinopia, Patrice worked in Tokyo with Japan Gamma Asset Management. He graduated from the E.M. Lyon Business School (France).
Rana Bhattacharjee is the Director and Senior Client Advisor at Alpha Quest Pte. Ltd., a licensed fund management company, regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, providing wealth and portfolio management services to its clients.
Rana has an extensive experience of over 20 years in the wealth management industry and worked for Private Banks including Fortis, Standard Chartered Private Bank and CIC Banque Privee before setting up Alpha Quest with his partners. He focuses on allocation across all traditional and alternative asset classes to achieve the portfolio goals for his clients.
He is a CAIA, CFP, CMT and CFTe charterholder and has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta.
Nirman is in-charge of financial portfolio management at Abiman Asset Management, a single family office located in Singapore. His responsibilities include asset allocation, security selection and risk management. He invests into single bonds, equities and commodities in a multi-asset context. His work is influenced by factor based investing and systematic approach to asset allocation and risk management. Prior to Abiman, he worked at Taurus Family office, a multi-family office. At Taurus, he advised and managed portfolios for high net-worth families in a multi-asset context. He also successfully managed an Emerging market credit fund which ranked in top 1% globally in terms of performance, among emerging market credit funds. Prior to Taurus, Nirman worked for Citi wealth management, within the fixed income department, advising clients on their fixed income investments. Nirman has graduated from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (Masters in Business) and University of Mumbai (Computer Sc. Engineering).
Patrick Donze is an Executive Director heading Advisory Portfolio Management Team in Bank of Singapore. He is also a member of the bank’s Investment Committee. He joined the bank in 2013.
He has over 25 years of experience in Financial markets as a global multi-asset Investment Advisor and Portfolio Manager. Having worked in Singapore, Hong Kong and Switzerland, he brings with him a global perspective with an extensive experience in advising clients across asset classes, with a focus on risk management. Prior to Bank of Singapore, he worked at UBS AG and Bank Julius Baer in Switzerland and Hong Kong.
Patrick graduated with a Swiss Professional and Commercial Diploma in Banking. He is a member of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association, a certified Financial Risk Manager, Sustainability and Climate Risk certificate holder and certified ESG analyst.
16:30 – 16:35
Chairperson’s closing remarks
16:35 – 17:30
Drinks reception
Taking place at the end of day one (September 25) and available to all event participants, the drinks reception is a great opportunity to unwind, network and discuss the day's key talking points.
13:50 – 14:00
Chairperson’s opening remarks
14:00 – 14:30
Asia’s derivatives markets: developments and accessibility
Industry updates - fireside chat
- Updates around the open and closed derivatives markets within Asia
- Diversifying product offerings to be customer centric
- Technological support needed for the derivatives markets to open access
- Where would be the next boom market for derivatives?
Over 30 years’ experience trading all asset classes of Listed Derivatives. I started my career on the LIFFE floor, before relocating to Asia 25 years ago to trade on SIMEX, transitioning to broader roles initially for Barclays with stints in both Singapore and Hong Kong. I have spent the last 13 years with Deutsche Singapore, overseeing the Asia Listed Derivatives offering, covering high touch voice trading through to low touch electronic execution.
Suprita Vohra is a Managing Director at Barclays Bank, based in Singapore, heading their Risk Solutions Group for South East Asia & Australia.
She has spent two exciting decades in financial markets, helping global corporates and institutions navigate their FX & Rates hedging needs.
Having spent her early years with HSBC and Citi, she has called Barclays home for 16 years, building and leading several businesses across Markets and Banking.
Being passionate about continuous learning, she completed her PhD in Finance in 2019 while working, and has published two behavioral finance papers co-authored with Dr. Frank J. Fabozzi, in Journal of International Money and Finance, and Journal of Derivatives.
14:30 – 15:00
The ins and outs of the clearing and collateral management markets for all products
Panel discussion
- Navigating risks around counterparty relationships and liquidity
- Evaluating developments in clearing solutions for the long term for various products
- Optimizing collateral within the current market conditions
- New opportunities emerging from the regulatory environment and digitalisation
Cathryn Huang currently leads the team of Collateral Risk Management at Bank of Singapore (BoS), overseeing the management of market risks relating to collateralised lending and margin trading activities.
Prior to BoS, Cathryn has worked for companies including ABN AMRO Clearing Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, DBS and Rio Tinto Commercial Ltd. Her experience and expertise cover many aspects including quantitative methodology, financial risk regulation, data analytics, risk system development and integration etc.
Cathryn holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Nanyang Technological University Singapore. She has also successfully attained CFA and FRM certification.
Shu Yi Goh | Vice President | APAC Head of Margin, Collateral & Valuations Operations | Goldman Sachs
Shu Yi is the APAC Head of Margin, Collateral & Valuations Operations at Goldman Sachs, a position head since 2022. Since joining the firm in 2011, she has gained extensive experience in margin operations and collateral management. Shu Yi has also spent two years (2016-2017) in Hong Kong as part of the Prime Services Risk team, deepening her expertise in risk management within the Prime Brokerage business. In her current role, she leads key initiatives to optimize processes, enhance regulatory compliance and improve client services across the APAC region.
Shu Yi graduated from National University of Singapore with BSc. majoring in Statistics and Financial Mathematics.
Emily Li, Vice President, APAC Collateral Services Product Manager, Securities Services, J.P. Morgan
Emily is based in Hong Kong and is co-Head of the APAC Collateral Management business. She is responsible for executing the business strategy and developing collateral solutions for buyside clients trading OTC derivatives, bilateral repos, and securities financing.
Emily joined J.P. Morgan in 2019 as a Custody Network Manager before her current Product Manager role in Collateral Management. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Emily spent 7 years as a Project Manager at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited where she supported various business initiatives across OTC derivatives, exchange-traded derivatives and securities clearing.
In addition to her current responsibilities, Emily is the founder of Book Club as well as the Chair of Arts & Culture for J.P. Morgan Club Hong Kong.
Emily holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Finance and a Master of Laws in Corporate and Financial Law from the University of Hong Kong.
Amol Padhye has over two decades of experience in Risk Management domain across Indian
Banks, Foreign Banks and Risk Consulting space.
He currently Heads Group Risk & Model Validation at HDFC Bank. The role covers risk oversight across Bank’s diverse set of subsidiaries covering Asset Management Company
(AMC), Life & General Insurance, Non-Bank Finance Company (NBFC), Broking, Venture Capital and Private Equity entities. Further, he is also responsible for building Model Risk Management framework and validating enterprise-wide Models across various teams of the Bank. Prior to this, Amol headed Market Risk function at HDFC Bank covering Trading Risk, Liquidity Risk, ALM risk / IRRBB, Counterparty Credit Risk, Country Risk and Bank Credit Risk. He boasts wide experience of managing various Board/Executive Management level committees.
Before HDFC Bank, he led Treasury and ALM advisory practice at Ernst & Young LLP, India. He worked extensively with banks across India, South East Asia and Middle East region and also led multiple large scale risk technology & transformation projects. Further, he boasts of an enriching and satisfying experience in setting up Small Finance Banks, Payment Banks and universal Commercial Bank in India; right from design to operationalization of Treasury and Risk Management departments of these banks.
Amol started his career with BNP Paribas, India where he headed Market & Liquidity Risk for a decade.
On academic side, Amol Padhye is Chartered Accountant from India (ICAI). He is an active speaker at various conferences across Asia focusing on Risk Management, ALM/FTP and
Treasury. He is associated with Risk Management Association of India (RMAI) as “RMAI – Banking Expert” as well as he is founding member of the “Risk Management Society, USA
(RIMS) – India Chapter”. He has also been appointed on “Risk Advisory Group of RIMS South Asia”. He also served as visiting faculty and regularly conducts workshops at reputed management and engineering institutes across India.
15:00 – 15:30
Networking break
15:30 – 16:00
What’s next for RMB internationalisation and offshore investments into China?
Industry updates - panel discussion
- Recent developments in renminbi internationalisation versus de-dollarisation
- Is there a need for liquidity for RMB currency pairs?
- Requirements for growth in renminbi use across Ficc markets
- Trends and usage of CHY/CNH options and structured products
Arjen Gaasbeek is Managing Director of for Verition Advisors (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., and member of the Arbitrage team. Verition is a US headquartered multi-strategy, multi-manager hedge fund with more than USD 7.5billion under management. Previously Arjen was Managing Director for Flow Traders Asia and has also worked for Celera family office, Ingensoma, ABN Amro and Optiver. Verition focuses on global investment strategies including global credit, global convertible arbitrage, volatility and capital structure arbitrage, event driven investing, equity long/short and capital markets trading as well as quantitative trading
Frances joined OCBC Global Treasury in January 2021, responsible for interest rates research. She has over 20 years of experience as an economist, rates and FX strategist. Prior to OCBC, she was Head of Asia Macro Strategy with Westpac, Head of Rates Strategy Asia ex Japan with Societe Generale , and Head of Asian Rates Strategy with Credit Agricole.
Frances was named as No.1 of Best for Overall Interest Rate Research Analyst in Asiamoney Fixed Income Poll 2012, 2013 and 2014; No.1 as Best Local Currency Analyst in FinanceAsia Fixed Income Research Poll 2012 and 2013; No.3 of Best for Overall FX Research Analyst in Asiamoney FX Poll 2012 and 2014; and No.1 as Best Analyst in FinanceAsia Fixed Income Research Poll 2011.
She received her Master of Philosophy (Economics) and Bachelor of Social Science (Economics) degrees from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is also a CFA charterholder .
Head of the Global Markets business (FICC and Equities) for BNP Paribas in Greater China (mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan). Also Deputy CEO of BNP Paribas China.
16:00 – 16:30
The future of China and its place as a top world economy
Polling insights
- Is the disparity between the Chinese stock markets and holistic economic growth something to be concerned about?
- The realistic view of the tremendous growth and potential of the Chinese economy
- What needs to change within China to attract foreign investors again?
- The role Chinese securities houses and banks play in bolstering the economy
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.
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.
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 Managing Director, Greater China and North Asia at Bank of Singapore.
Prior to his appointment at Bank of Singapore, Keeve was Head of Futures, FX & CFD within the OCBC group.
There he looked after about 40 people over the three business lines and oversaw the growth and development of the cleared Futures, OTC FX and Contract for Differences (CFD) businesses.
Before 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 experiences on both the buy-side and the sell-side give him a wholesome view of the industry and its developments.
In 2022, Keeve established the "Keeve Tan Endowed Study Award" at the Singapore Management University.
He believes in equal opportunity for all, regardless of one's family background. This endowed gift provides a study award each year to an underprivileged SMU student, in perpetuity.
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 graduated with a Master of Science in Wealth Management on the Dean's List from SMU.
16:30 – 16:35
Chairperson’s closing remarks
16:35 – 17:30
Drinks reception
Taking place at the end of day one (September 25) and available to all event participants, the drinks reception is a great opportunity to unwind, network and discuss the day's key talking points.
13:50 – 14:00
Chairperson’s opening remarks
Kevin is Partner & CRO of Pilgrim Partners Asia and approaches nearly 3 decades of experience in Banking & Finance.
He was former Head of Asian Sovereign Wealth in ABN AMRO Asset Management, SVP-Head of Wealth Management Advisory at HSBC, and operated quantitative strategies in a sub-billion-dollar AUM middle eastern family office. A former SIMEX Nikkei 225 Floor trader, he started his trading career in Citibank N.A. Treasury Services.
He has taught portfolio, wealth, AML and treasury management courses in SMU, TABF (Taiwan), Shanghai Jiao Tong, Beijing Tsinghua and Chiangmai University. He has also appeared in MoneyFM 89.3 radio and has been a regular conference speaker on investment strategies, portfolio management and AML/terrorist funding typologies.
He has an MSc in Finance from CUNY (Zicklin) and is a Doctoral candidate in International Political Economy at Rangsit University, Thailand.
14:00 – 14:30
The developments around the insurance industry and future trends
Industry updates - panel discussion
- Regulatory updates and expectations for insurance in Asia
- Challenges surrounding the insurance industry as there are growing concerns for insurance
- Best practices for insurance professionals in handling pricing and operations
- Is digitalisation the catalyst to change the processes for the industry?
Kevin is Partner & CRO of Pilgrim Partners Asia and approaches nearly 3 decades of experience in Banking & Finance.
He was former Head of Asian Sovereign Wealth in ABN AMRO Asset Management, SVP-Head of Wealth Management Advisory at HSBC, and operated quantitative strategies in a sub-billion-dollar AUM middle eastern family office. A former SIMEX Nikkei 225 Floor trader, he started his trading career in Citibank N.A. Treasury Services.
He has taught portfolio, wealth, AML and treasury management courses in SMU, TABF (Taiwan), Shanghai Jiao Tong, Beijing Tsinghua and Chiangmai University. He has also appeared in MoneyFM 89.3 radio and has been a regular conference speaker on investment strategies, portfolio management and AML/terrorist funding typologies.
He has an MSc in Finance from CUNY (Zicklin) and is a Doctoral candidate in International Political Economy at Rangsit University, Thailand.
Frank Devlin
Regional chief risk officer, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (life & health)
Munich Re
I have over 25 years’ experience working in the (re)insurance industry in the United Kingdom, India, Singapore in local, regional and group office roles covering life and health insurance, retirement and investments.
Currently I am the Regional CRO Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (Life & Health) for Munich Re based in Singapore with a focus on risk review of structured solutions..
Prior to joining Munich Re in 2014, I worked for Aviva regional office in Singapore, ICICI Prudential in Mumbai, Standard Life UK (Investments and group operations in Edinburgh and Mumbai).
I am a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and in 2022-2023 I was President of the Singapore Actuarial Society.
I have a Ph D in Theoretical Physics from Cambridge University, UK and an MBA from National University of Singapore.
Mr Persaud is Head of Investment Strategy and Solutions for the AIA Group where he is responsible for Strategic and Tactical Asset Allocation, Derivative Strategies, Private Market Strategy, New Investment Product Development, Portfolio Construction Oversight and Quantitative Investments. Prior to joining AIA, Trevor worked with a number of large insurers, asset managers and other asset owners in the region as an independent consultant. He left Standard Chartered Bank at the end of 2017, where he was responsible for their Commercial and Institutional Banking business (Financial Markets, Transaction Banking and Corporate Finance) for Insurers across Asia. Mr Persaud is a trusted investment advisor to many of the leading Insurers and Asset Owners in the region and has a distinguished 28 year career spanning Banking, Asset Management, Insurance and Consulting globally with the last 14 years in Asia. Prior to Standard Chartered, Mr Persaud held senior investment roles at Stradegi (a specialist investment consultancy), Russell Investments (leading their business in ASEAN, HK and Taiwan, focused on multi asset outcome oriented investments, strategic and tactical asset allocation and investment governance advisory for asset owners and in particular insurance companies), Prudential, Insight and Schroders (where he had been responsible for their Investment Risk and Performance Globally) and MSCI. Mr Persaud is a Chartered Management Accountant, has been conferred the Distinguished Fellow designation by the Institute of Banking and Finance in Singapore and is a past Chair of the Global Investment Performance Standards Executive committee. He is also an advisor to the Investment Management Association of Singapore and Chair of their Risk and Performance committee and is actively involved in industry efforts to promote and further innovation, best practice and transparency in Investment management.
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.
14:30 – 15:00
Best practices for portfolio optimisation for insurers
In-depth panel discussion
- How to navigate the insurance regulatory capital requirements?
- The use of data to give clarity into investment products
- Managing the balance sheet in the current market conditions
- Anticipating industry shifts and preparing for the next wave of challenges with technology driven solutions
Esther Kim is a Senior Product Manager at Swiss Re's Public Sector Solutions (PSS), a global division focused on enhancing societal resilience and financial inclusion. In her current role, she develops innovative solutions in both traditional and non-traditional forms, including parametric insurance and catastrophe bonds, for sovereign and sub-sovereign clients across APAC. Her past experiences involved optimizing risk transfer structures and (re)insurance portfolios for insurance companies. She is a qualified actuary (Associate of the Society of Actuaries), Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter, and Certified Extreme Event Modeler.
Pierre-Emmanuel Brard is Head of Insurance Solutions, Asia Pacific at Fidelity International. Based in Singapore, Pierre-Emmanuel is responsible for driving growth and partnership with insurance clients across the region.
Prior to joining Fidelity, Pierre-Emmanuel held senior positions at AXA, including Chief Investment Officer of AXA Insurance Singapore, where he was responsible for supervising Investment and Asset Liability Management across both P&C and Life businesses as well as developing the Unit Linked value proposition. More recently he worked at AIA as a senior member of the Asset Allocation and Investment Solutions team, advising CIOs and Group senior stakeholders on investment-related issues. Throughout his different roles, Pierre-Emmanuel has developed strong knowledge on the Insurance business and the management of Insurance balance sheet across the Asia markets. He holds an MSc in Corporate Finance and Financial Engineering.
Max Davies, Director, APAC Insurance, Man Group
Max is a member of the newly established Man Global Insurance Solutions (MGIS) team, a team dedicated to creating customised solutions for insurers globally using Man Group’s established capabilities across SAA, liquid and illiquid asset classes. Based in Hong Kong, Max is responsible for partnerships with insurers across the APAC region.
Max joined Man Group from Wellington Management, where he held positions within the Global Insurance Solutions team, supporting European and Asian Insurers and most recently in Hong Kong to help build Wellington’s APAC insurance business. Prior to that, Max worked in market analytics at Commerzbank AG. He graduated first class with a B.Sc. from Newcastle University.
Denis is the Head of Insurance Solutions Sales APAC who is responsible for leading the development of investment solutions for Aviva Investors’ insurer clients across APAC. He has spent the last two decades working within the insurance investment industry and has rich expertise across a wide range of asset classes, sustainable investment strategies, and knowledge of insurance regulations. Prior to joining Aviva Investors, he was most recently the Head of Insurance Strategy Asia Pacific at Robeco, where he was responsible for sourcing and distributing insurance investment solutions in fixed income, equity and alternative assets to life, general and re-insurers in the Asia Pacific region.
15:00 – 15:30
Networking break
15:30 – 16:30
What needs to change and be transformed for the insurance industry?
Merry-go-roundtables
This session will consist of having multiple interactive roundtables happening concurrently within the same rooms around the topic. There will be facilitators to guide the discussions. The discussions will be closed-door conversations and will be ways for the industry to come together to work through pertinent issues and challenges.
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.
Kevin is Partner & CRO of Pilgrim Partners Asia and approaches nearly 3 decades of experience in Banking & Finance.
He was former Head of Asian Sovereign Wealth in ABN AMRO Asset Management, SVP-Head of Wealth Management Advisory at HSBC, and operated quantitative strategies in a sub-billion-dollar AUM middle eastern family office. A former SIMEX Nikkei 225 Floor trader, he started his trading career in Citibank N.A. Treasury Services.
He has taught portfolio, wealth, AML and treasury management courses in SMU, TABF (Taiwan), Shanghai Jiao Tong, Beijing Tsinghua and Chiangmai University. He has also appeared in MoneyFM 89.3 radio and has been a regular conference speaker on investment strategies, portfolio management and AML/terrorist funding typologies.
He has an MSc in Finance from CUNY (Zicklin) and is a Doctoral candidate in International Political Economy at Rangsit University, Thailand.
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.
16:30 – 16:35
Chairperson’s closing remarks
16:35 – 17:30
Drinks reception
Taking place at the end of day one (September 25) and available to all event participants, the drinks reception is a great opportunity to unwind, network and discuss the day's key talking points.
13:50 – 14:00
Chairperson’s opening remarks fintech
14:00 – 14:30
The state of adoption of AI in financial data management: promises and challenges
Keynote presentation
With over 25 years of financial services and technology expertise, Daniel specialises in helping the financial services community overcome broad and complex business challenges through innovative solutions. Currently serving as Gresham's Head of Sales (Asia Pacific) and based in Singapore, Daniel drives Gresham's APAC growth, leveraging his industry knowledge, relationships and partnerships.
14:30 – 15:00
Where are the data holes and gaps within financial institutions?
Polling insights
- In this new data age, where have financial institutions focused efforts?
- What kind of data has been difficult to get or analyse for the industry?
- How can data be utilised and monetised in financial institutions?
- Mindfulness around ethical use of data for different businesses
Wei-Shen Wong joined Waters Technology in June 2016. She heads the publication's Asia coverage. She covers both the buy side and sell side, overseeing issues related to advancements in technology, new regulations and how firms are managing their data.
15:00 – 15:30
Networking break
15:30 – 16:00
Protecting customers, employees, and the institution
Chief information security officer panel
- Where do CISO’s face most challenge in the current digitalised world?
- What kind of infrastructure or strategy is used to build necessary protection?
- How do CISO’s partner together with other technology providers to construct resilient operations?
- What threats lie next on the horizon for financial institutions?
Bharath Vasudevan
Partner and vice president, data science & technology, financial services, Singapore
Boston Consulting Group
Vince has more than 26 years of experiences in the areas of Cybersecurity and IT services. In the course of his career, he has also been involved with or led functions such as IT security, security service portfolio and service delivery, cybersecurity operation function management, security pre-sales and marketing and technical security consulting work for multinationals, financial institutions and government organization in APAC and globally.
Vince previously works for a leading global consumer products company as the Head of CyberDefence, APAC and prior to that he was with Avaloq, a banking software and services organisation as their Head of Security Operations, APAC. Vince was with HP Enterprise leading their Asia security services delivery organization delivering various security services for client across Asia.
His other work engagements included stints in a Big4 audit firm, Banks and a leading IT outsourcing service firm.
Experiences wise, Vince has lead teams in charge of IT risk management engagements, large SOC implementations in APAC, operationalise and manage cyber security defence/operations functions, build cyber security teams, led and conduct various types of cyber consultancy engagements in APAC for employers and clients in public and private sectors.
He also holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Malaya, a MSc of Innovation from SMU, MBA from University of Manchester Business School and a M. Tech in Software Engineering from National University of Singapore. Vince also holds cybersecurity certification from several professional bodies including CISA, CISM, and CRISC from ISACA and CISSP from ISC2.
Frankie is an award-winning Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) in Financial Industry with two decades experience in Cyber security, risk management, digital transformation and pre-sales consulting.
Based in Singapore, currently he is APAC Regional Information Security Officer in one of global largest Asset Managers in Financial Industry. He was head of cyber & technology Risk (Singapore, Australia and New Zealand) in UBS bank.
He is a frequent keynote speaker about Cybersecurity & Technology in industry forums and perspective on Cybersecurity & Technology has been featured by international media. He is also a digital transformation and innovation catalyst with patent about next generation wireless networking filed as USA patent office as sole inventor.
He is a winner of industry leadership awards including Global Top 100 leaders in Infosec, World CIO 200 Master, CSO30 ASEAN, CIO 100 ASEAN, Asia 200 Digital Leader and ETCIO Transformative CIO.
16:00 – 16:30
How have payments changed in a digitalised world?
Industry updates – fireside chat
- The new developments within payments
- Customer-centric approach for financial institutions when it comes to payments
- Streamlining and creating ecosystems around payments for customers
- New technologies to consider within payments
Fatema Bookwala
Managing director and chief operating officer, markets and securities services, Asean
HSBC Singapore
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.
16:30 – 16:35
Chairperson’s closing remarks
16:35 – 17:30
Drinks reception
Taking place at the end of day one (September 25) and available to all event participants, the drinks reception is a great opportunity to unwind, network and discuss the day's key talking points.
Main conference agenda (September 26, 2024)
07:30 – 08:00
ARC running club
Join us for a 5km jog before the conference to kick off the day! Sign up here.
08:00 – 09:00
Registration
09:00 – 09:10
Chairperson’s opening remarks
09:10 – 09:30
The future of financial underwriting with AI
Keynote presentation
Gaurav Puri is a FinTech expert with a strong focus on leveraging AI and machine learning to drive innovation in fraud detection, consumer and small business credit lending, and the use of first-party data for advanced financial solutions. Gaurav has held key roles at leading companies like Meta, Netflix, Intuit, and PayPal. At Meta, he applied his expertise to enhance security and mitigate risks through AI-driven solutions. At Intuit, he played a pivotal role in building innovative products like QuickBooks Capital, where he leveraged accounting data to develop a credit lending product that transformed the small business lending landscape. His work has been instrumental in advancing product innovation in financial services.
He holds an M.S. in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology, an M.S. in Operations Research from Columbia University, and a B.E. (Hons.) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani. As a Senior Member of IEEE and a judge for prominent technology awards, Gaurav is recognized for his outstanding contributions to advancing FinTech through AI and ML.
09:30 – 10:10
The missing pieces for financial institutions and where to focus for climate risk & ESG
Chief sustainability officer exclusive panel
- In a world of evolving regulations how can sustainability professionals stay ahead?
- Where should the real efforts be spent for climate risk & ESG?
- Navigating conversations with board members around initiatives
- Creating a united front as organisations against climate change
John Lau
Executive director, head of regional wealth management treasury, sustainability lead
United Overseas Bank
A wealth management practitioner and financial market professional, John has more than 20 years of experience spanning across multiple asset classes as well as client segments.
As a builder of successful businesses be it in Singapore, Malaysia and the region; John has an in depth understanding of how potentially complex financial markets product can be made simple and accessible to suitable retail, affluent and SME clients.
Leading multiple teams of wealth management experts, John is currently managing the Wealth Management Treasury business for UOB’s Personal Financial Services Division. His portfolio includes product management, solution advisory, sales specialists and treasury dealing which is critical to the value chain of UOB’s treasury business.
From Foreign Exchange, Equity, Interest Rate, Commodity, Fixed Income to Structured Products; it is John’s passion to connect client’s wealth planning needs with the intricacies of financial markets by partnering with best in class providers, investing in highly experienced wealth specialists and making the complex simple for our clients to understand and access as investment solutions.
John is also highly involved in Singapore’s sustainability industry developments especially when it comes to sustainable investing; to which he has help launched UOB’s award winning Sustainable Investing program for its wealth management clients. He has also contributed to Singapore’s first Green Finance Handbook as part of MAS’s Green Finance Industry Taskforce initiative.
On top of his Wealth Management capacity, John is also the Sustainability Lead for Group Personal Financial Services; supporting the bank’s aspiration to be the leading bank in ASEAN promoting sustainable living, payments and investments for our consumer bank clients.
Amanah is the Chief Sustainability Officer of the AmBank Group. She leads the development and integration of group-wide sustainability strategy for the bank, enabling sustainable finance and responsible banking. She is a senior banker with extensive multi-geography and cross function experience, having covered businesses in Malaysia, Singapore, and major markets of the Asia Pacific.
She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and holds the ‘Advanced Certificate in Integrating Sustainability for a Future Ready Business’ from the Singapore Management University (SMU). She has worked with KPMG and Citigroup previously.
Melissa Moi is the Head of Sustainable Business in the Corporate Sustainability Office at UOB. In her role, she supports the delivery of a sustainable business strategy across UOB’s footprint including the management and mitigation of ESG risk and driving the bank’s leadership in sustainability and sustainable finance.
Prior to joining UOB, Melissa spent a decade at Bank of America where she led the firm’s ESG efforts in Asia Pacific. Her role included client facing advisory on sustainability, supporting a sustainable finance strategy in the region as well as the implementation of corporate ESG initiatives across risk, social investment and environmental footprint.
Luanne is the Group Chief Sustainability Officer at CIMB, one of ASEAN’s leading banking groups, where she is responsible for transforming CIMB into a shaper of sustainable finance and responsible banking practices in Asia. She is also the Working Group Chair of the CEO Action Network Malaysia and a member of the Expert Advisory Group of the Voluntary Carbon Markets Initiative.
Luanne has extensive experience in sustainability, strategy and transformation, as well as change management. She has been involved in a number of fields, including financial services and consulting. She was also a founding member of a startup company.
Luanne holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master’s Degree in Manufacturing Engineering, as well as a Master of Arts from the University of Cambridge, and she has recently completed a Master of Liberal Arts in Sustainability at the University of Harvard Extension School.
10:10 – 10:40
Trends in operational resilience and how to mitigate specific risk types
Polling insights
- What are the top operational risks that Asia is facing?
- Consequences of digitalisation and how to properly factor in risks created from digitalisation
- With limited budget, which operational risks should be most invested into?
Anke is a Partner in McKinsey’s Sydney Office (previously London, New York and Frankfurt Offices). She is leading McKinsey’s Australia & New Zealand Risk Practice and is a core leader of the global practice as well as service lines such as market risk and non-financial risk
Her work is focused on risk management and compliance at financial institutions and spans across engagements in Europe, North America and Australia/New Zealand. She has worked extensively on enterprise risk, credit risk, market risk, non-financial risk, risk organisation, risk transformation, capital management, risk and capital models, regulation and compliance.
Frankie Phua is the Managing Director and Head of Group Risk Management at UOB. In this role, he oversees all risk management matters for UOB Group including credit risk, market risk, balance sheet risk, operational risk, technology risk, ESG/climate risk, etc. Prior to joining UOB Risk Management, Frankie spent more than 10 years in the frontline in Corporate/Commercial banking.
Frankie, a seasoned risk practitioner, is an active contributor to the risk management community where he shares his views regularly and actively participates and/or leads industry initiatives. Currently he is the Chairman and a Director of the Board of the Risk Management Practitioners Association (“RMPA”) in Singapore. He is appointed by Risk Management Institute (“RMI”), National University of Singapore ("NUS") as a lecturer for the Specialist Diploma course in Credit Risk Management – Corporate Banking. He is also regularly engaged by NUS RMI to teach customized risk management courses specially tailored to clients' needs.
Frankie was conferred the IBF Distinguished Fellow Award in Risk Management. The "IBF Distinguished Fellow" is a prestigious title conferred upon industry leaders who are the epitome of professional stature, integrity, and achievement. The Distinguished Fellows serve as a beacon of excellence for the banking industry in Singapore.
10:40 – 11:10
Networking break
11:10 – 11:35
CFO perspective: how has treasury management evolved post-COVID in Asia?
Industry updates – panel discussion
- What operational and day-to-day challenges due finance functions face?
- How can treasury management systems support CFOs more proficiently?
- Key takeaways
Asim Hasan is a seasoned finance professional with diverse experience in various treasury/asset liability management (ALM) roles in Asian markets. Most recently, Asim was the North Asia/ANZ cluster treasurer for Citi, based in Singapore. Leading senior corporate treasury teams in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Korea, Australia and New Zealand, Asim had responsibility for ALM, funds transfer pricing, liquidity and interest rate risk management and capital planning.
In a banking career spanning over 25 years across 5 top-tier financial institutions, Asim has also held senior roles in market risk management, custody operations and asset servicing (conventional and digital).
Rahul is the head of macro strategy, treasury at Agrocorp and brings over 18 years of experience in financial markets across geographies and asset classes. In his previous roles, he led the FX & rates business at SGX, managed a global macro portfolio at Millennium Capital, and has worked in senior roles across Bank of America (London), Morgan Stanley (Hong Kong) and Deutsche Bank (Mumbai). Rahul holds a B.Tech - M.Tech (Dual Degree) in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and an MBA degree from Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.
Alexander Seelmann is a financial professional with over 15 years of experience mostly gained in the corporate treasury sector. After several years as a FP&A professional in the manufacturing industry, Alexander moved to Nestle’s treasury department in 2013 starting as a treasury advisor. With Nestle he has so far held different roles in Latin America, Europe and Asia, mostly responsible for foreign currency and risk management. Since early 2020, Alexander has been the regional deputy treasurer for Asia Pacific, covering a broader scope of treasury activities for the region. Alexander is originally from Germany and holds a BA in Business Administration, a M.Sc. in Finance and a CTP designation from the Association for Financial Professionals.
11:35 – 12:10
Analysing the risks within portfolios to increase confidence for investors
Industry updates - panel discussion
- What are the top emerging risks for investment portfolios?
- How to put different risk weights on certain risks to move forward in confidence?
- Are there technologies that help to categorise and analyse risks for investments?
- Which themes should be continually watched headed into the next year?
Krishan is the Regional Head of Investment Risk and Analytical Services (IRAS) in Asia, a role he moved into in 2020. He joined the Northern Trust London IRAS team in 2014 as a Performance Analyst working with many distinguished and strategic clients. He subsequently moved into management and has overseen various teams within the division focusing on both the Asset Manager and Asset Owner client base. Krishan is currently based in Singapore.
Krishan and his team are currently responsible for all the clients based in Asia that subscribe to the IRAS services which includes Performance, Risk, Compliance Monitoring and ESG Analytics. Krishan is also responsible for evolving the service so that our clients are able to take full advantage of all the analytics capabilities on offer.
Prior to working at Northern Trust, Krishan worked at StatPro, where he specialised in Performance and Risk analytics.
Krishan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics from King’s College London.
Sylvain is Chief Investment Officer at Namara Wealth Advisors a Singapore based independent asset manager focusing on innovative investments solutions for Wealth-Manager and Hedge-Funds. Over the past 3 years he has focused his research and investment around alternative risk premia in financials and digital assets.
Sylvain spent 6 years at BNP Paribas Asset Management, as equity portfolio manager. He subsequently joined a billion dollar Multi-family Office in Switzerland focusing on equity and convertible bonds.
Sylvain relocated in Singapore in 2010, to set-up a MFO where he was Partner and Chief Investment Officer until the merger of the company in 2020. During his 10 years as CIO he launched several thematic investment programs, some of which are still running today, Uranium Renaissance, Asian Credit.
Sylvain holds a CFA Certification, received a Finance Master’s Degree from Concordia University in Canada, and an MBA in International Finance from IAE France with honor.
Jean Chia is Bank of Singapore’s Global CIO, responsible for the house view across Macroeconomics, Investment Strategy, FX, Equity & Fixed Income Research, as well as Discretionary Portfolio Management (DPM), Advisory Portfolio Management (APM) and Funds Selection teams at Bank of Singapore. She chairs the board of directors for BOS International Funds, Luxembourg and the OCBC Wealth Panel.
Jean has over 20 years of experience in Private Banking and Asset Management. Prior to her current role, she was Head, Equities Advisory & Sales, responsible for the equities and derivatives business at Bank of Singapore, and Head of Client Advisory Services for Equities, Investment Products & Services at UBS Wealth Management, Singapore.
Prior to UBS, she was Vice President, Head of Grassroots Research at Allianz Dresdner Asset Management (now known as Allianz Global Investors).
Jean graduated with an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from University of Oxford, UK. She is currently on the Development Advisory Board of St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford.
Jean holds a Sustainable Finance certification from Cambridge Institute of Sustainable Leadership (CISL). She is a Financial Women’s Association of Singapore (FWA) Female Champion and an Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF) Fellow for Private Banking and Wealth Management.
Pierre-Julien (PJ) Jandrain is Head of Portfolio Risk Management, responsible for overseeing portfolio risk across all investment strategies.
PJ joined Eastspring in October 2022 to enhance the portfolio construction process by providing portfolio risk insights and guidance to the investment teams under the CIO umbrella.
PJ has 19 years of experience in the investment industry including 7 years at Pimco where he oversaw portfolio risk for the Asia Pacific region from 2015 to 2021. Prior to 2015, PJ held several investment risk and performance analytics roles at Invesco, Lombard Odier and Amundi based in London, Geneva and Paris.
PJ holds an MSc from ENIB Engineering School and an MBA from IAE Paris Sorbonne Business School. PJ is a CFA charterholder.
Jeffrey Yap
Managing director, head of investments and wealth solutions, Southeast Asia
HSBC Global Private Banking and Wealth
Jeffrey heads the Investments and Wealth Solutions (IWS) teams for Southeast Asia at HSBC Global Private Banking and Wealth. In this role, he is responsible for the delivery of investments, products, platforms, wealth advisory and solutions for the whole wealth continuum of Global Private Banking and Wealth in Southeast Asia.
Jeffrey is a well-recognised investment professional in Asia with over 27 years of experience in global financial markets across multiple products and asset classes. He has built and managed investments, research, trading, product and advisory teams for global financial institutions including hedge funds, global markets, private banks and wealth management.
Jeffrey has a deep understanding of the trading, investments, products, technology platform and risk management of various asset classes. He is unique among financial professionals in Asia with his breadth of experience ranging from equities, fixed income, FX, commodities, credit, derivatives to alternatives investments. Furthermore, his strong business acumen, mentoring and leadership experiences have enabled him to build strong businesses and manage successful teams regionally.
Prior to joining HSBC, Jeffrey worked as Managing Director in PAG, one of Asia’s largest alternative investment firms and was responsible for the firm’s public fixed income investments. Prior to that, he was Chief Investment Officer of Ark One as well as Managing Director and Head of Fixed Income Trading - Asia for Mizuho Securities.
12:10 – 12:40
Creating a customised experience for customers powered by AI
Chief innovation officer exclusive panel
- Development new AI powered tools to meet clients needs
- Are there other tools besides chatbots that can help financial institutions to create a seamless personal experience for customers?
- What are customers asking for and how can AI meet those requests?
Shaune Joined Assured Asset Management Singapore as CEO in 2021. Prior to joining Assured, he was the Director, Fixed Income Group, Mizuho Securities Asia Limited in Hong Kong. Previously, he worked at leading institutions including Credit Suisse, HSBC, and Daiwa Securities Singapore.
Shaune is a seasoned financial expert with over 20 years of experience in the banking industry and in finance. He is a proven outperformer awarded 1st in the Asset’s Best Individuals in Asian Local Currency Bonds in 2018.
Shaune holds an Executive MBA from Kellogg-HKUST. Shaune is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP ® Charterholder) and International M&A Expert.
12:40 – 13:50
Networking lunch
13:50 – 14:00
Chairperson’s opening remarks
14:00 – 14:30
What is the current regulatory environment around climate risk and ESG in Asia?
Panel discussion
- Have regulators backed off the environmental narrative and shifted to other priorities?
- New reporting standards and staying on top of the changes
- Following Europe’s lead around stress testing and scenario analysis
- The importance of financial institutions setting up strong governance structures to focus on ESG initiatives
Rodney Gollo specialises in risk management, with expertise in emerging and frontier markets. He has international experience enhancing enterprise risk management frameworks, and currently leads the risk management function for a multinational insurance company.
He has a strong interest on the role sustainability and ESG factors have on businesses, societies and the global economy, and is a contributor to industry publications such Investment & Pensions Europe, AsianInvestor and Investor Relations Magazine. He has served as a judge for the Asia Risk Technology Awards, recognizing innovation and excellence in the financial services industry.
He is a certified European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies (EFFAS) ESG Analyst (CESGA), a CFA ESG, holds a Masters in Management and Regulation of Risk from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), a Certificate in Risk Management in Financial Services from the Institute of Risk Management (IRM) and a First Class Bachelors in Economics and Politics from The University of Sheffield.
Rosalind Bazany is a prominent figure in the venture capital sector, renowned for her leadership in integrating Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and impact principles. As a Partner and the Head of ESG at Antler, Ros has been instrumental in embedding sustainability into the firm’s operations and guiding investments toward outcomes that are both sustainable and impactful. Holding an MSc in Chemistry, her journey in finance commenced at BlueCrest, a hedge fund, and evolved during a decade-long tenure at Schroders, a global asset management firm. At Schroders, she managed a diverse portfolio of client relationships and refined her expertise in sustainable investment strategies, placing a strong emphasis on creating long-term value.
At Antler, Rosalind has not only enhanced the firm's reputation in the venture capital industry but also spearheaded the development of proprietary tools and initiatives that set new benchmarks for sustainability integration. Among these initiatives is the launch of an open-source education platform for founders, designed to equip them with the tools necessary to establish sustainable businesses from the outset. Rosalind has also played a key role in forging new global partnerships to enhance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) both within Antler and across the wider entrepreneurial ecosystem. Additionally, she has also led the development of a monitoring tool for early-stage companies, facilitating their ability to effectively assess and track sustainability progress.
Ros's commitment and forward-thinking work have earned her recognition as one of the Venture Capital Journal's 40 Rising Stars under 40 in 2023. Additionally, she is an active member of the VentureESG Steering Committee, where she collaborates with industry peers to advance ESG best practices and highlight the critical role of venture capital in securing positive environmental and societal outcomes, alongside financial returns.
Edris Boey is Assistant Director of Enterprise Risk Management (ESG) at Eastspring Investments' head office based in Singapore, and is responsible for overseeing ESG risks, including the interpretation and implementation of ESG-related regulations, across the organisation which has presence in more than 10 jurisdictions. She works closely with the firm’s Sustainability Team, ESG Specialists in Investment Team as well as the various local risk and compliance teams to provide subject-matter expertise in the management of ESG risks. Edris’ career in sustainability spans across investment, consulting and in-house corporate capacities. Before joining Eastspring, Edris developed and maintained the Responsible Investment Approach at Maitri Asset Management, which won various accolades and her leadership in the ESG investing space was recognised. Prior to that, she managed sustainability strategy, reporting, and compliance at a listed industrial conglomerate in Singapore.
Wei-Ling LOW is Group Head Sustainability & CEO of Vanda Global Capital (“Vanda”) a Singapore Financial Institution comprising internationally prominent industry leaders. Vanda focusses on high-potential companies in Green Finance, FinTech-Tech-Sustainability-Impact ESG Infrastructure, officially partnered with a systemically important ecosystem of government, regulatory, state-sponsored private enterprises to facilitate efficient access to capital Singapore & Globally. An inter-industry all-rounder and award winner, with media recognition as one of Singapore’s most influential and well-connected visionaries in the banking and finance industry, serving on the Boards across international academic, legal philanthropic, financial services; Offered State scholarship & tenacious decades leadership in Tier1 investment banking, asset wealth management & private banking.
Creating millionaires, billionaires & unicorns businesses.
Mark Shi is the Chief Risk Officer at Income Insurance Co Ltd. Mark’s extensive experience in the insurance industry spans across multiple areas including actuary, risk management, capital management, asset liability management (ALM), investments, financial reporting and product marketing.
Preceding his appointment as CRO in February 2023, Mark was Income’s Chief Investment Officer. In this role, Mark successfully managed Income’s investment strategy and asset allocation framework. He also led ALM initiatives and investment programmes to support Income’s product offerings. As a veteran staff of Income, Mark is also accomplished in leading new teams along with building internal capabilities to improve operational efficiency.
Prior to coming to Singapore and joining Income in October 2007, Mark has previously worked with large multinational insurers in China. He is a qualified actuary with the American Society of Actuaries as well as a certified Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst (CERA). He graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University with a Bachelor in Mathematics.
14:30 – 14:50
Climate risk disclosure
Keynote presentation
Case study from a big 4 Australasia bank
Leveraging cutting-edge automation to streamline and enhance climate risk disclosure processes
Practical steps to ensure compliance with evolving regulations, maintain transparency in reporting, and meet the TCFD requirements
Andy Moy, Vice President of Objective Keystone, with two decades of experience in technology-driven Enterprise Communications Management, specialising in regulated document management and stakeholder engagement.
14:50 – 15:10
Managing risks associated with ESG disclosure & reporting
Industry updates - fireside chat
- What are the latest updates around disclosure & reporting for ESG?
- How pertinent is it for firms to understand specific requirements?
- The unknown risks that are associated with disclosure & reporting
- What firms need to do now ahead of impending deadlines for requirements?
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
Managing director, head of ESG for Asia-pacific, Middle East and Africa
Deutsche Bank Group
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.
15:10 – 15:30
Networking break
15:30 – 16:00
Navigating climate risk scenario analysis and stress testing
Case study session
- How have regulations changed the approach of scenario analysis and stress testing for climate risk?
- How have firms navigated through and used scenario analysis to impact decisions?
- Are climate risk stress testing helping firms make accurate decisions?
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.
As an APAC lead, Anjali covers ESG Credit products in the region and helps Banks/ FIs implement solutions in the climate scenario analysis space. Anjali is an experienced credit risk professional with key roles in credit portfolio management, credit risk underwriting, and project management both in corporate as well as private banking with leading global banks.
16:00 – 16:30
What’s next for Asia in climate risk and ESG?
Polling insights
How will technology help Asia to combat against climate risks?
Financial institutions positioning to help Asia in the long run
Are there transition risks to consider both in the short and long term?
What’s next after setting goals in carbon neutrality?
Priya Gopalan is the Head of ESG at the Northstar Group, a Singapore-headquartered private equity and venture capital firm with a Southeast Asia focus. She is responsible for leading the management and execution of the firm’s ESG strategy. Prior to this, Priya was with UBS, where she led Environmental and Social Risk and Reputational Risk for the Asia Pacific region. She began her career as an environment specialist at ERM and other global consultancies in London and Hong Kong. Priya holds a Master of Science in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London. She actively contributes to sustainability efforts in the region by representing the financial sector on the Complaints Panel of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
Aditi Joshi is a sustainability professional with a wealth of experience working across various global and regional financial institutions. Currently serving as Director of Group Sustainability at Deustche Bank in Singapore, she is responsible for managing E&S Risk Policies, Reporting and NGO Engagement. Her role also encompasses E&S Risk Due Diligence and Sustainable Finance Classifications for Asia Pacific. Prior to this, Aditi was with OCBC, where she led ESG and Climate Risk Policy and reporting for the Bank. She began her career as an environment specialist in the Sustainable Development Department at Mizuho Bank in Tokyo. Aditi holds M.A in International Development from International University of Japan and has a M.Com (Master of Commerce) from Mumbai University.
Experienced Chief Sustainability / Chief Energy Officer with 20+ years of global experience and leadership in Sustainability (ESG) and Energy -- covering strategy, policies, risk management, compliance, audits and certifications, solutions, technologies, new market development, marketing, publicity, business development, project development, project investment/financing, client and stakeholder partnerships, Sustainability Reports etc at various MNCs (commercial, real estate, manufacturing, industrial) in multiple S. E. Asian countries, Hong Kong and China.
Senior leadership and management of regional multi-geographical and multi-cultural sustainability teams, focusing on Sustainability (ESG), energy efficiency, renewable energy, Carbon Neutrality / Net Zero strategy, risk management, targets and implementation of sustainability / decarbonisation solutions and technologies as well as RE100, Science Based Targets (SBT), Virtual PPA, PPA, Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) and Carbon Offsets etc.
16:30 – 16:30
Chairperson’s closing remarks
13:50 – 14:00
Chairperson's opening remarks
An internationally recognized financial services expert, Soon Kit offers deep and wide experience accumulated over 15 years in the financial services sector. Bringing a global perspective enriched with grounded experience, he is currently Enterprise Resilience Officer at BNY Mellon assuring the firm broad business and operational resilience across multiple lines of business.
Prior to this, he was Risk Vice President of Fullerton Fund Management and Wolters Kluwer’s Asia-Pacific Risk Practice Director guiding regional risk and financial practices for its software clients. At OCBC Bank Group, Soon Kit was managing the risk of Global Treasury, Investment Banking, OCBC Securities, and Bank of Singapore. He complements his expertise with international advisory experience garnered at financial software firm Misys / Finastra where he led the risk management teams to solve broader subjects of banking risk with financial firms, banks, regulators in Europe and Asia. Prior to this, Soon Kit provided consulting at Moody’s Analytics.
Recognized for his practical expertise by regional banking conferences and professional media, Soon Kit has contributed many live and case interviews to breaking news developments and industry best practice conferences.
Graduating with honors in Quantitative Finance from the National University of Singapore, he is also a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and an Energy Risk Professional.
14:00 – 14:30
Building a resilient operation from front-to-back
Debate
- Where are the challenges faced when it comes to cohesive operations from front to middle to back office?
- Is operational resilience possible with operations on both cloud and on-premises servers?
- Comprehensive ways to revamp operations for resiliency
- Best practices to consider when approaching strategies for operations
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.
Kaushik Kadayam
Chief operating officer, transformation, wealth & retail banking operations
Standard Chartered Bank
14:30 – 15:00
Managing third party risk with the increased need to implement new technologies
Panel discussion
- The timeline of growth of usage of different third parties and how they have brought new risks into institutions
- How do institutions navigate through the need for managing new technologies and third parties?
- Need for a one stop management application to assess and implement proper due diligence for third parties
- Is it better to use a single provider for systems or to continue to diversify to manage risks?
An internationally recognized financial services expert, Soon Kit offers deep and wide experience accumulated over 15 years in the financial services sector. Bringing a global perspective enriched with grounded experience, he is currently Enterprise Resilience Officer at BNY Mellon assuring the firm broad business and operational resilience across multiple lines of business.
Prior to this, he was Risk Vice President of Fullerton Fund Management and Wolters Kluwer’s Asia-Pacific Risk Practice Director guiding regional risk and financial practices for its software clients. At OCBC Bank Group, Soon Kit was managing the risk of Global Treasury, Investment Banking, OCBC Securities, and Bank of Singapore. He complements his expertise with international advisory experience garnered at financial software firm Misys / Finastra where he led the risk management teams to solve broader subjects of banking risk with financial firms, banks, regulators in Europe and Asia. Prior to this, Soon Kit provided consulting at Moody’s Analytics.
Recognized for his practical expertise by regional banking conferences and professional media, Soon Kit has contributed many live and case interviews to breaking news developments and industry best practice conferences.
Graduating with honors in Quantitative Finance from the National University of Singapore, he is also a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and an Energy Risk Professional.
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.
15:00 – 15:30
Networking break
15:30 – 16:00
Fighting financial crime with the evolution of new technologies
Panel discussion
- The sophistication of financial crime as technology has evolved
- Recent scams around deep fakes and voice altering AI technology
- How can financial institutions properly equip themselves to fight financial crime?
- Is it possible for financial institutions to stay ahead on the fight of financial crime?
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/
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.
16:00 – 16:30
What’s next in operational risk and resilience for Asia?
Polling insights
New trends within operational risk and resilience
How will the evolving technologies impact operational risks in the years to come?
What should all operational risk managers be concerned about looking ahead?
Jed Khoo has over 25 years of experience in financial services across 1LOD, 2LOD, 3LOD and external audit. These diverse roles were in OCBC, UBS, BNP Paribas Wealth Management and PwC. Just prior to OCBC, Jed ran his own risk consulting practice. He has also spoken at Singapore Management University and adjunct-lectured at the Singapore Institute of Technology on risk and internal audit.
Jed studied at Yale School of Management, Singapore Management University (MSc. in Wealth Management) and Nanyang Technological University (Ba. Accountancy) and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.
Lorena offers over 20 years of International experience across 5 continents in shaping and leading Risk and Technology based transformations. Continuous learner, adaptable and able to forge strong relationships with key decision-makers; becoming a trusted advisor.
16:30 – 16:30
Chairperson's closing remarks
13:50 – 14:00
Chairperson’s opening remarks
14:00 – 14:40
Utilisation of technology to adapt to the ever-evolving regulatory environment
Panel discussion
- What are the barriers that have been created by regulators for use of technologies?
- The potential risks faced with implementing technologies too quickly
- Are there discussions that need to be facilitated between regulators and practitioners to enhance usage in financial institutions?
- Use cases that need to be explored for AI in financial institutions
Simon leads a multi-disciplinary risk analytics team that oversees enterprise-wide risk management models at United Overseas Bank. The team validates a wide range of risks and measurement models. Those models can be used to assess and manage credit, market and balance sheet risks across the bank’s global business.
Prior to joining the bank, Simon held senior corporate positions in technology and finance related companies in areas such as strategic planning, private equity investments and mergers and acquisitions. He has also worked with promising enterprises to assess the potential of their technologies for product commercialization and strategic investment.
Simon holds a PhD in the field of decision control systems from the University of Newcastle- upon-Tyne (UK). He received an IChemE Jubilee prize for his research applying Statistical and Artificial Intelligence Methodologies for on-line fault detection and diagnosis in 1997.
Simon was part of the banks’ Innovation Workgroup member to bring The Finlab to launch and he had been a mentor in The FinLab. He was part of the judging panel in the Global Fintech Hackcelerator. Simon serves as a member in the Product Program Committee and the Alt-Chair person in the Valuation Adjustments working group in the bank.
Jatin Badiani
Director, head of regulatory change and governance, treasury and trade solutions, Asia
Citibank
With over 25 years of experience in the Banking industry, Jatin Badiani is currently with Citibank Singapore as their Head of Regulatory Change and Governance for Treasury and Trade Solutions Asia. In this role, he works closely with the regional senior management team, along with stakeholders across Asia and is responsible for overseeing and directing regional governance. Before joining Citibank, he held key positions at Deutsche Bank, Standard CharteredBank, and JP Morgan across Singapore and India.
Jatin has worked in numerous businesses lines including Technology, Payments, and Compliance, all with a focus on regulatory strategy and governance. Jatin is a SME on cloud, tokenization, and artificial intelligence, and actively contributes to regulatory developments in these topics. He has co-authored numerous white papers providing advocacy and thought leadership. Notable publications include Institute of International Finance's series on cloud adoption; and ASIFMA's whitepaper series on tokenized securities.
Jatin holds a Master's in Management Studies (Finance) and a Bachelor of Commerce from Mumbai University.
Boon is Head of Securities Market and Technology Advocacy, based in Singapore.
He joined Deutsche Bank (DB) in 1998 as a Management Trainee. In his banking career, he has gained valuable cross-transaction banking and international experience in specialist and leadership roles in areas including working capital management, structured finance, risks, and funds and custody.
In his current role, Boon represents DB as a securities market and technology advocate on regulatory, market and digital changes. He has participated in APEC and the World Economic Forum Digital ASEAN forums, in digital assets/DLT, cryptocurrency and darkweb discussions; and served in industry associations like the Association of Global Custodians, ASIFMA, ASEAN+3 Bond Market Forum and the APAC CSD Group.
He pursues related interests in cryptocurrency/digital assets and cybersecurity governance; and as a community volunteer, he also supports Aging society inclusiveness and financial literacy. Boon holds a chartered accountancy qualification, MSc in Computation (AI), and a GIAC cybersecurity proficiency certificate.
Apoorva Singh is the Vice President of Product Management at Numerix, where she leads the development of the flagship enterprise solution, Oneview. Beginning her career as a civil engineer with internships at Hindustan Aeronautics and construction giant Larsen & Toubro, Apoorva transitioned to financial engineering, earning a Master’s degree from NTU Singapore and Carnegie Mellon University.
Her diverse professional background includes roles at Genpact-owned Headstrong Capital Markets and Barclays in risk management, as well as a product manager position at QuantInsti, where she managed an algorithmic trading learning platform. Throughout her career, Apoorva has honed her expertise in trading, valuation, and risk management SaaS solutions.
Her significant contributions to the industry were recognized with the Rising Star award at the Women in Data & Technology Awards 2022.
Kenneth Zhu is a seasoned data science leader in the domain of AI/ML. Currently, he owns Operations and Financial Crime AI use cases in Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp.(OCBC). In his spare time, he also works as an industry mentor with the National University of Singapore (NUS).
14:40 – 15:10
How should AI be governed within financial institutions?
Debate
- Fundamental understanding of AI and how it operates
- Is there a right way to govern AI?
- What are the nuances of AI that need to be considered for governance?
- Is it too early to let institutions freely use AI?
Dr. Breeden has been designing and deploying risk management systems for loan portfolios since 1996. He founded Deep Future Analytics in 2011, which focuses on portfolio and loan-level forecasting solutions for pricing, account management, stress-testing, and CECL; serving banks, credit unions, and finance companies. He is also the owner of auctionforecast.com, which predicts the values of fine wines using a proprietary database with over 2.5 million auction prices.
He is member of the board of directors of Upgrade, a San Francisco-based FinTech; an Associate Editor for the Journal of Credit Risk, the Journal of Risk Model Validation, and the Journal of Risk and Financial Management; and President of the Model Risk Managers’ International Association.
Dr. Breeden invented vintage analytics for lending in 1997 and created credit risk models through the 1995 Mexican Peso Crisis, the 1997 Asian Economic Crisis, the 2001 Global Recession, the 2003 Hong Kong SARS Recession, the 2007-2009 US Mortgage Crisis and Global Financial Crisis, and the COVID-19 Pandemic. These crises have provided Dr. Breeden with a rare perspective on crisis management and the analytics needs of executives for strategic decision-making. In 2018 Dr. Breeden invented Multihorizon Survival modelling, combining vintage analytics with behaviour scoring using logistic regression or machine learning.
Dr. Breeden earned a Ph.D. in physics, and has published over 90 academic articles, 8 patents, and 5 books.
Michael is the Founder and President of SureStep – a global systems integrator specializing in GRC automation and reporting solutions.
Since 2007, SureStep has successfully completed projects across finance, manufacturing, transportation, natural resource and other industries. Those clients have ranged from 2-person risk and compliance teams to those having over 65,000 participants in their GRC programs. As the practice lead at SureStep, Mike guides clients to best practices and ensures they optimize their GRC technology investments for the long term.
SureStep provides solutions from ServiceNow, Workiva and IBM as well as GRC managed services. Mike’s team works from offices in Hong Kong and Singapore in addition to their New York and Toronto locations.
Khurram Siddique
Managing director, global head of policy and governance, WRB risk
Standard Chartered Bank
As the Managing Director and Global Head of Policy and Governance for Consumer, Private and Business Banking Risk at Standard Chartered Bank, Khurram leads the Enterprise Risk Management for Consumer Credit Risk across 26 markets. With over 23 years of experience in the field, Khurram holds the GARP SCR credential, which demonstrates his expertise and commitment to the field of sustainable and climate risk.
Khurram's role involves setting and implementing the risk strategy, governance, policy, assurance, data, performance, IFRS9, model risk, and non-financial risk frameworks for the Consumer Banking business. Khurram leverages his analytical skills and innovative mindset to deliver data and technology solutions that enhance risk management capabilities and efficiency. Khurram also fosters a culture of learning and excellence by contributing to the people training and development agenda and programs. His mission is to enable the bank to achieve its business objectives while managing the risks effectively and responsibly.
Khurram has the capability to connect the dots and discover solutions that may not be immediately apparent. Drawing on his experience, he approaches challenges in a holistic manner, bringing people together on common agenda and helping to converge to an agreeable path.
15:10 – 15:30
Networking break
15:30 – 16:00
Leveraging technology for operational ALM
Case study session
- Overview of parts of operational ALM and usage of technology
- Are asset liability management processes outdated?
- Where can processes be automated and where are the risks too great?
- How have financial institutions implemented technology and the benefits?
Brian is a risk management veteran for almost 30 years with experience spanning across roles as actuary, quantitative analyst, market risk manager and ALM risk manager in multinational financial institutions (AIA, Citi, BNP Paribas, DBS Bank). His scope of work extended to model valuation, model development, regulatory reforms advocacy on Basle market risk, counterparty risk, liquidity risk and interest rate risk in banking book and implementation of infrastructures handling these new requirements. His vast experience covers new products approval, scenario stress test design and implementation for regulatory and internal needs, including ICAAP, ILAAP, Recovery and Resolution simulations. Since Jul 2023 Brian ran his advisory services to provide training in workshops or conferences to financial institutions, and assisted academia and industry joint ventures in areas of assessing real world digital token use cases in Hong Kong. Lately he joint the Octonion Group as senior adviser to provide creative solutions and risk assessments in traditional and digital assets.
Roland Ho is OCBC's Global Head of ALM (Global Markets), responsible for the group's liquidity management, interest rates and securities portfolio management.
He has close to 20 years of experience in Markets business, spanning ALM, Sales and Trading. Prior to his current role, he was appointed Head of Treasury of OCBC HK, and Executive Officer and Section 72B Manager. He was also Head of Treasury of OCBC London, responsible for full spectrum of ALM, Sales and Trading activities. In between his stints in HK and London, he headed Portfolio Investment Unit/ALM in Singapore, responsible for the bank's reserve and credit portfolios. He had also spearheaded OCBC's successful effort to be one of the first foreign banks participating in the China Interbank Bond Market (CIBM).
Roland began his career with the Corporate Planning Department in Central Provident Fund Board responsible for promoting an innovative and strategic corporate culture.
Roland graduated with a Bachelor of Business (First Class) from Nanyang Business School, and is a CFA charter holder. He is also a member of the Institute of Banking & Finance Singapore (IBF) Capital & Financial Markets Industry Workgroup and the ASIFMA Secured Funding Markets Committee.
Amol Padhye has over two decades of experience in Risk Management domain across Indian
Banks, Foreign Banks and Risk Consulting space.
He currently Heads Group Risk & Model Validation at HDFC Bank. The role covers risk oversight across Bank’s diverse set of subsidiaries covering Asset Management Company
(AMC), Life & General Insurance, Non-Bank Finance Company (NBFC), Broking, Venture Capital and Private Equity entities. Further, he is also responsible for building Model Risk Management framework and validating enterprise-wide Models across various teams of the Bank. Prior to this, Amol headed Market Risk function at HDFC Bank covering Trading Risk, Liquidity Risk, ALM risk / IRRBB, Counterparty Credit Risk, Country Risk and Bank Credit Risk. He boasts wide experience of managing various Board/Executive Management level committees.
Before HDFC Bank, he led Treasury and ALM advisory practice at Ernst & Young LLP, India. He worked extensively with banks across India, South East Asia and Middle East region and also led multiple large scale risk technology & transformation projects. Further, he boasts of an enriching and satisfying experience in setting up Small Finance Banks, Payment Banks and universal Commercial Bank in India; right from design to operationalization of Treasury and Risk Management departments of these banks.
Amol started his career with BNP Paribas, India where he headed Market & Liquidity Risk for a decade.
On academic side, Amol Padhye is Chartered Accountant from India (ICAI). He is an active speaker at various conferences across Asia focusing on Risk Management, ALM/FTP and
Treasury. He is associated with Risk Management Association of India (RMAI) as “RMAI – Banking Expert” as well as he is founding member of the “Risk Management Society, USA
(RIMS) – India Chapter”. He has also been appointed on “Risk Advisory Group of RIMS South Asia”. He also served as visiting faculty and regularly conducts workshops at reputed management and engineering institutes across India.
16:00 – 16:30
General trends and predictions for the use of AI within Asia
Polling insights
GenAI and other iterations of the technology will be dominant across financial institutions
There will be a greater transparency and understanding of the use of AI
Is AI going to be used across financial institutions or will it be limited to certain businesses?
Where should AI be explored more within financial institutions?
Urvi Guglani is an Investment Researcher at Silverdale Capital, Singapore, where she works on the quant-fundamental research strategy and leads the AI-based ESG initiative.
Prior to joining Silverdale, she worked at PIMCO New York, in their Portfolio Management division for the Total Return, Municipal, and Dynamic Bond Fund strategies. Earlier, she worked at BlackRock San Francisco, in Quantitative Research for their Systematic Fixed Income hedge fund.
Urvi is a Computer Science and Quantitative Economics (Honors) graduate from the University of California, Berkeley.
Robert-Alexandre is an accomplished Data and Technology Executive with over 18 years of international experience.
Starting his career in France and Hong Kong, he delivered high-stakes projects across APAC and globally, developing key capabilities for clients. Transitioning to strategic and management roles, he embraced servant leadership, driving large-scale value and organizational change through digital transformation. In 2022, he relocated to Singapore to become Chief Data Officer, leading a team of 13 to build a data strategy for APAC.
Currently, as a fractional Chief Data Officer and freelance Data Strategist, Robert-Alexandre leverages his extensive expertise to help organizations realize tangible value from their data investments. Passionate about mentoring, he takes pride in fostering impactful relationships and giving back to the community.
16:30 – 16:30
Chairperson’s closing remarks
13:50 – 14:00
Chairperson’s opening remarks
14:00 – 14:30
Navigating ASEAN trends within risk management
Industry updates – panel discussion
- Embracing regulatory developments and innovative risk management practices in an era of disruption
- What are the new technology opportunities on the risk space
- The fragmentation of ASEAN’s markets and being able to bring more collaboration
- What are the agreed priorities to strike a balance between risk and the digitalisation opportunities
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.
Add's journey in financial risk management is a blend of global expertise and local innovation. Now leading Consumer Credit Risk Model Development and Technology at Krungsri, he's infusing Thailand's banking sector with insights gained from a decade in the US financial industry.
His career has spanned from hedge fund analytics at SS&C GlobeOp to fintech innovation at Mnementh Analytics, where he developed CECL software and advised major financial institutions. Add's experience across community, regional, and global banks gives him a unique, multi-faceted perspective on risk management.
Complementing his professional role, Add is a co-cultivator of the Credit Risk Model Community in Thailand. This passion project allows him to foster knowledge-sharing and innovation in the local risk modeling landscape, creating a vibrant network of professionals and thought leaders.
Add's academic foundation - dual master's degrees from Georgia Tech's ISyE program and an economics degree from Thammasat University - underpins his practical expertise. Today, he's dedicated to driving innovation in Thai banking and nurturing the next generation of risk modelers, always embracing new challenges in the dynamic world of finance.
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.
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.
14:30 – 15:00
Collating data across ASEAN for risk management purposes
Data focus panel discussion
- Where are the major data holes for ASEAN financial institutions?
- Supporting one another to help mitigate and manage risks across ASEAN
- Would collaborating for data create opportunities for risk managers?
- Outlook on ASEAN if data is or isn’t shared for risk management
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.
Zernil Lurthanathan
Senior vice president, head of risk strategy, transformation & enterprise risk analytics
RHB Banking Group
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
15:00 – 15:30
Networking break
15:30 – 16:30
What needs to be done to see the collective growth of ASEAN markets?
Merry-go-roundtables
This session will consist of having multiple interactive roundtables happening concurrently within the same rooms around the topic. There will be facilitators to guide the discussions. The discussions will be closed-door conversations and will be ways for the industry to come together to work through pertinent issues and challenges.
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.
Etelka is a familiar face in Bangkok’s banking circles. Over the past decade, she has made Thailand her second home, immersing herself in its rich culture and dynamic business landscape.
As head of retail risk management at TTB Bank, she is at the forefront of banking innovation particularly in digital formula lending. Her expertise lies in risk modelling, scorecards, AI, analytics, provisioning and a slew of other risk management essentials with a passion in nurturing a positive and productive team environment.
16:30 – 16:30