Focus on International Payments

Teana is Vice President of Policy and Regulatory Strategy, UK/EU for Circle, a global financial technology company at the center of open financial infrastructure and the principal developer of USD Coin (USDC), which has become the fastest growing dollar digital currency in the world. Teana leads Circle’s government affairs and regulatory strategy in Europe and the U.K., working directly with policymakers on the development of regulatory policy and frameworks for digital currencies.

Prior to joining Circle, Teana was the Chief Policy Officer for the Chamber of Digital Commerce, the world’s largest trade association representing the digital asset and blockchain industry, where she worked directly with Capitol Hill policymakers and financial market regulators. Previously, she held leadership roles at Crypto.com and Binance, where she was responsible for U.K. and European operations and go-to-market strategies as well as government relations and regulatory affairs. Teana was also previously the Executive Director of Global Digital Finance, leading advocacy initiatives with policymakers and industry participants to build a shared understanding of the risks and opportunities presented by digital assets. Teana has held senior roles in strategy and communications at Coinfloor, HSBC, Citi, Fiserv and Royal Bank of Scotland and Hilton Hotels.

Teana is a Non-Executive Director of CryptoUK and a board member of Crypto Connect.

Sean has been the CEO of PayPal Europe since June 2020. In his role, he leads on ensuring that the company meets all its regulatory requirements. As a partner to and enabler of PayPal’s business, Sean is contributing to PayPal serving its customers and partners across Europe.

Previously, Sean served as the chief operating officer for PayPal Europe. He was responsible for credit, governance, change management, outsourcing and technology. During his 17 years at PayPal, Sean had various roles in the areas of compliance, controllership as well as financial and strategic planning and has worked in Luxembourg, Dublin and Shanghai.

Prior to PayPal, Sean was Head of Operational Risk for Daiwa Securities, and Finance & Risk Manager at NatWest. Sean is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland, and a graduate of the University of Limerick and University College Dublin.

An enthusiastic business leader of the world’s most influential trade association in payments, a lively public speaker and avid networker, Tony is passionate about payments and the difference it can make to lives everywhere.

Tony champions payments technologies globally. He shares his deep payments knowledge, borne from 15 years in payments and evangelical zeal for innovation, when speaking and chairing conferences, publishing books and white papers, or enrolling payments leaders to join the EPA’s collaboration network.

A serial entrepreneur, Tony invests in many early stage payments and PayTech companies – enabling them to succeed in a highly competitive payments ecosystem.

Tony conceived and launched the Payments Association (EPA) in 2012, where he is Director General. The EPA promotes the UK as global hub for payments innovation and the interests of the EPA’s 150+ members, which include banks, card schemes, PSPs, issuers, processors, acquirers, who all come together to drive collective industry change.

Tony also leads the communities of EPA Asia, EPA EU, EPA US and EPA Africa. His vision is that this global network of interconnected capabilities, people and knowledge will prove to be truly transformational in how the world works, for the benefit of everyone.

In 2019, Tony set up the Inclusion Foundation, a not-for-profit platform company promoting products that help address financial exclusion.

Thibault de Barsy is the Vice-Chairman and General Manager of The Payments Association EU.

Thibault has launched the Payments Association EU (PA EU)  in February 2020. The Payments Association EU is a business club of decision makers in the payments industry. Its members are the enterprises forming all the components of the payments value chain in the 27 countries of the European Union.  PA EU builds on the international network of its London-based sister organisation, the Payments Association (PA).

Thibault was formerly CEO of Keytrade Bank Luxembourg for 5 years and has over 20 years of experience in the financial and ICT sector. Thibault is also a guest lecturer at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management. Since October 2019, he has participated as a recurrent guest speaker on the Belgian news TV channel LN24 as an Economics columnist.

Before settling in Luxembourg, he held different marketing & sales positions across banks, insurance, telco and credit card companies.

Thibault holds a Master of Science in Management from the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management and a CEFA certificate from the Belgian Association of Financial Analysts.

Chris Hollifield is head of business development at Luxembourg for Finance, where his work involves advising FinTech and financial companies looking to develop cross-border activity through Luxembourg-based platforms. He also advises on the development of the ecosystem in Luxembourg and on synergy creation with other key financial centres, with a focus on East Asia.

Prior to working at Luxembourg for Finance, Chris worked in the strategy department of Clearstream Banking SA, an International Central Securities Depository that facilitates the settlement of interbank transactions in over 50 markets worldwide. Here, his work focused particularly on strategic projects concerning distributed ledger technology and other FinTech topics.

Joshua (Josh) Kaplan is a corporate partner in the London office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where his practice focuses on U.S. expansion and serving companies at all stages of their life cycle, with an emphasis on clients in the financial technology and financial services sectors.

Prior to joining the firm, Josh was chief operating officer and general counsel at a leading global payment solutions provider. He began his career in the legal division of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C., working closely with various divisions within the Federal Reserve, including the divisions of Monetary Affairs and Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems. He also worked at American and European multinational banks.

Josh’s technical advisory expertise is derived from his work within the Federal Reserve and on behalf of regulated entities; product structuring and operational roles within financial institutions; and the expansion of a financial technology company across five continents in a senior leadership role. His representative subject matter areas have included licensing and change-in-control applications; structuring and approval of novel financial products; anti-money laundering and economic sanctions compliance; interagency information security guidelines; regulatory capital and liquidity; ACH, electronic funds transfers, and digitization of check processing; interchange caps; and resolution of regulatory enforcement actions.

Prior to attending law school, Josh worked for the International Rescue Committee in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and in Indonesia (Aceh, West Timor, and East Timor).

Anders la Cour is a hands-on leader of the multi-award-winning provider of mission-critical financial services infrastructure, Banking Circle. Previously a technology and financial M&A lawyer, Anders la Cour identified a flaw in how the FinTech sector is serviced by the banks.

Launching Banking Circle, Anders brought to market a solution that has genuinely disrupted the previously accepted status quo of cross border payments. The unique suite of solutions offered by Banking Circle is helping businesses transact across borders in a way that was not previously possible.

Anders was appointed as inaugural Chair of the non-profit business association, Emerging Payments Association EU in February 2020, having been on the EPA Advisory board since 2016. He is regularly invited to speak and present at global industry events, including Money20/20 Las Vegas, Oracle OpenWorld, BankInno, Innovate Finance and Money20/20 Europe, has won multiple awards and had thought leadership articles published in a range of industry publications.

Nadia Manzari is a Partner at Schiltz & Schiltz.

Before joining the firm in 2018, Nadia was the Head of the Innovation, Payments, Markets Infrastructures and Governance Department at the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), where she started her career in 2001.

She is a regular speaker at national and international conferences covering payment services, financial technologies, remuneration policies and corporate governance.

She graduated in law from the University Robert Schuman in Strasbourg and holds a master degree in private law (maîtrise en droit privé, mention “droit des affaires”) as well as a postgraduate DJCE diploma (Diplôme de Juriste Conseil d’Entreprise) degree with a focus on German-French business law. She holds the Certificate in Corporate Governance of INSEAD and is an ILA certified director.

Jacques Pütz has, for more than two decades, been at the forefront of tech innovation in Luxembourg – firstly, as the founder of the country’s first social media platform, then as an award-winning ICT professional within the banking sector and, more recently, as the CEO of leading fintech LUXHUB. In 2012, Jacques received the Young ICT Talent of the Year Award and then five years later, in 2017, his team won the ICT “Team of the Year” Award.

Jacques has been an Executive Board Member of the ABBL since 2019 and, in January 2021, became the Chairman of their Fintech and Innovation Forum.

Under his leadership, and in just 4 years, LUXHUB has grown to be one of Europe’s leading Open Banking hubs, was recognized as a Regtech100 company in 2020 and 2022, and obtained the AIS and PIS licenses from Luxembourgish regulator CSSF, enabling all companies to benefit from the limitless Open Finance opportunities.