Focus on Global Competitiveness

Nicoletta Centofanti is the CEO of the Luxembourg Sustainable Finance Initiative.

She is an environmental engineer and holds an Executive MBA from Bocconi University in Milan. Nicoletta is a sustainability expert committed to support financial players and companies transition towards increased sustainability and impact. She has extensive experience in in-depth Corporate Social Responsibility review and implementation within companies around the globe and she is also an expert on sustainable finance.

Nicoletta is enthusiastic about impact investing, social businesses, and Environmental, Social and Governance drivers. In short, anything that contributes to a better world.

Simon Gorbutt is Deputy CEO at Luxembourg for Finance, the Agency for the Development of the Financial Centre.

A lawyer qualified in England and Wales, and Ireland, Simon has worked in financial services in Luxembourg since 2007. He joined LFF from a leading Luxembourg provider of unit-linked insurance solutions where he was the company’s Legal and Tax Counsel for the UK, Northern Europe, Asia and International and, later, Director and Head of Wealth Planning, leading a team of specialists working on a global basis at the intersection of private banking, asset management, succession planning and insurance.

A qualified Director, Simon is a founding member of STEP Benelux a.s.b.l. and has served as Chairman of the STEP Benelux Board. He is a Board member of the Luxembourg Association of Family Offices and has also served as Chair of the UK and DAC 6 Working Groups at the Luxembourg Association des Compagnies d’Assurances et de Réassurances, Chair of the AmCham Luxembourg Insurance Committee and Deputy Chair of the Tax Committee at the Association of International Life Offices. Simon teaches on the Masters in Wealth Management at the University of Luxembourg, and on the International Management of Family Wealth programme at the International University of Monaco.

He holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Edinburgh and a Masters in Law, and has received the Certified Digital Asset Advisor designation.

Clive Horwood is Managing Editor and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of OMFIF.

Mr Horwood was previously at Euromoney, which he joined in 1993. He edited his first title, International Bond Investor, in 1995. Mr Horwood was subsequently Deputy Editor of Euroweek, the capital markets newspaper (now Global Capital) and Launch Editor of Credit magazine.

Hannes Huhtaniemi works currently as team leader in the area of sustainable finance in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union. Mr Huhtaniemi has previously worked in the areas of resolution of financial institutions, the prudential framework for banks and investment firms, and the regulation of securities markets.

Prior to joining the European Commission, Mr Huhtaniemi worked in the European Parliament.

He has a Master of Arts from the University of Cambridge and a Master in European Affairs from the University of Lund.

Benoît Theunissen is a Policy and Regulatory Affairs Advisor with Luxembourg for Finance. In this role, he specializes in the analysis and monitoring of regulatory developments spanning local, European, and international spheres. Alongside this, he engages in broader strategic analysis, encompassing political and market intelligence and offering guidance on a range of sustainable finance issues.

Before joining Luxembourg for Finance, Benoît Theunissen worked as a business and financial journalist, including roles as an EU-accredited correspondent and Editor-in-Chief. Additionally, he has experience in financial crime compliance and forensic auditing, where he assisted diverse sectors including oil and gas, and pharmaceuticals. His role extended to aiding financial institutions ranging from depositary and custodian banks to international clearinghouses and retail banks. His focus was on developing and implementing compliance frameworks for anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, anti-corruption, as well as enforcing international sanctions and restrictive measures in various jurisdictions.

Anthony Wolf is a Partner in the Financial Services practice of Sia Partners. He leads Banking, Insurance and Actuarial activities to help Sia Partners’ clients and consultants accelerate their projects and drive future-forward, sustainable impact and competitive advantage.

Mr Wolf has cultivated strong expertise in the banking and insurance sector, starting with big back-office migration and post integration projects. He also became a GDPR expert and has developed several digital strategies approaches to support the banking and insurance transition, especially with respect to the integration of new regulations, digitalisation and sustainability topics.

In 2017, Mr Wolf launched the first international Sia Partners Digital Banking Benchmark with the goal of developing his expertise on digital maturity using tool testing, data scraping and data science. This expertise helped several major banks to improve their digital offering including customer journey, open banking, payment services, credits allowance, beyond banking but also fraud detection. Sia Partners became a reference in digital strategy and then Mr Wolf also developed his expertise by improving digital services for investment tools, credit providers & Insurance services.

More recently, Mr Wolf also actively worked on the sustainable transition for several mayor first movers.

Within Sia Partners, Anthony is leading the Consumer Banking Team worldwide.