Stockholm 2022

After graduating with an International Baccalaureate from the Canadian Academy International School in Kobe in 1989, Yuriko Backes obtained a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1992. She then attended the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, where she successfully completed a master’s degree in Japanese studies in 1993. Yuriko Backes obtained a second master’s degree in European political and administrative studies from the College of Europe in Bruges in 1994.

On 5 January 2022, following the resignation of Pierre Gramegna, Yuriko Backes joined the coalition government between the Democratic Party (DP), the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) and the Green Party (déi gréng) as Minister of Finance.

Yuriko Backes began her professional career in 1994 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has held various positions, including at the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the United Nations in New York, the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the Western European Union in Brussels, and the Luxembourg Embassy in Japan.

As attaché at the Directorate of European Affairs and International Economic Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Luxembourg, she was sworn in as a civil servant in 2001.

The career diplomat was then assigned to the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the European Union in Brussels from 2001 to 2006.

She continued her diplomatic career as deputy head of mission at the Luxembourg Embassy in Japan from 2006 to 2008 and as deputy head of the Directorate for International Economic Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Luxembourg from 2008 to 2010.

From 2010 to 2016, Yuriko Backes was the diplomatic adviser and sherpa to Luxembourg Prime Ministers Jean-Claude Juncker and Xavier Bettel.

She was the representative of the European Commission in Luxembourg from 2016 to 2020.

From June 2020 until her appointment to the government, she served as marshal of the Grand-Ducal Court.

Kristin Magnusson Bernard is the Chief Executive Officer of Första AP-fonden (AP1). The fund manages part of the capital in Sweden’s national income pension system with Euro 45bn in AUM.

Prior to joining AP1 in 2020, Kristin worked at Nordea in several leading positions within the Markets and Investment Banking divisions.

Before Nordea, she has held senior positions at the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt as well as at the European Commission in Brussel and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington D.C.

Kristin holds a PhD in Macroeconomics from the Stockholm School of Economics

Philipp von Restorff currently is Deputy CEO at Luxembourg for Finance (LFF), the agency for the development of the Luxembourg financial centre.

Prior to his appointment at LFF, he was serving as Head of Communication of The Luxembourg Bankers’ Association (ABBL), where he also held the position of Secretary of the Board of Directors.  Philipp has been Chairman of the European Banking Federation’s Communication and CSR Steering Committee from 2014-2018. Before joining the ABBL he worked for the Luxembourg Information and Press Services of the Luxembourg Ministry of State. 

He is elected member of the Board of Directors of LuxFLAG, the Luxembourg Finance Labelling Agency, as well as of the Luxembourg Sustainable Finance Initiative. Philipp is lecturer at the Luxembourg House of Training and financial education volunteer at “Jonk Entrepreneuren Luxembourg”, a branch of the Junior Achievement Network (JA).