Sustainable Finance Forum 2023

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.

On January 20, 2021, John F. Kerry was sworn in as our nation’s first Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and the first-ever Principal to sit on the National Security Council entirely dedicated to climate change. President Biden announced Kerry would have a seat at every table around the world as he combats the climate crisis to meet the existential threat that we face. In recent years, Kerry was the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s first ever Visiting Distinguished Statesman, following his four years as the 68th United States Secretary of State. As America’s top diplomat, he guided the Department’s strategy on nuclear nonproliferation, combating radical extremism, and the threat of climate change. His tenure was marked by the successful negotiation of the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris Climate Agreement.

From 1985 to 2013, he served as a U.S. Senator representing Massachusetts, and was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2009 to 2013. Secretary Kerry served in the U.S. Navy, completing two combat tours of duty in Vietnam for which he received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star with Combat V, and three Purple Hearts. He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his law degree from Boston College Law School. Secretary Kerry is the best-selling author of A Call to Service, This Moment on Earth with his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry, and his 2018 memoir, Every Day Is Extra, which The New York Times described as “a bittersweet reminder of what the country once demanded of its leaders.” Secretary Kerry was the Democratic Party’s nominee for President of the United States in 2004.

Judith Bogner is a television presenter, event facilitator and commentator for international finance, business and geopolitics based between the UK and Germany. For more than ten years she was one of the main European anchors of the financial news channel Bloomberg Global Television in London. Since 2012 Judith runs her own business, offering event and business facilitation, client advisory boards and strategic consulting. She is also a UK accredited mediator.

Judith regularly leads public and private events for corporate and institutional clients in the financial sector and beyond. Her list of clients include the Federation of German Industries, the Euro Finance Week (Frankfurt), Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bank of New York Mellon, The Brewers of Europe, Luxembourg for Finance, the Dutch Development Bank FMO, Ergo Insurance, State Street, Scope Ratings, the Institute of Culinary Art, Allianz Global Assistance, Wacom and the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Born in Germany, Judith has lived in Switzerland, China, Ukraine, France and Italy. She is bilingual in English-German and also speaks Italian, French and Mandarin Chinese. Judith holds a degree in International Business Management and Chinese from the University of Applied Sciences in Bremen.

Harriet Agnew is asset management editor at the Financial Times, overseeing a London-based team whose coverage includes investment managers, hedge funds and pension funds. She also writes FT Asset Management, a weekly newsletter on the movers and shakers behind a multitrillion-dollar global industry.

Before her current role, Harriet was a news editor on the companies desk, with responsibility for financial services coverage. She also spent three years as Paris correspondent for the Financial Times, covering the luxury, consumer, retail, telecoms, media and tech industries.
Harriet joined the Financial Times in 2014 as City correspondent, and launched its City Insider column. Before that she covered hedge funds at Financial News and at Euromoney Institutional Investor.

Ugo Bassi is Director of Financial Markets at FISMA, the European Commission’s Directorate‑General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union since 2012.

Lawyer by profession, Ugo Bassi started his career as a ‘référendaire’ at the European Court of Justice before joining the European Commission.

In the last years, he held several management positions and was responsible for various post-crisis measures in the area of financial services and markets, namely Post-trade, Securities, Asset Management, Audit, Accounting, and Credit Rating Agencies. He launched the Capital Markets Union (CMU) project, including the Sustainable Finance component and secured the adoption of many legislative proposals in this context. The most recent ones, currently under negotiations, are the proposal to establish a European Single Access Point (ESAP), the proposal to review the European Long-Term Investment Funds (ELTIFs), the proposal to review the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) and the proposal to review of the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR).

He represents  the European Commission in the Board of Supervisors of ESMA and in many other high-level fora and events worldwide, thus contributing to the international work of the Commission in the area.

Julie Becker has been at the helm of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) since April 2021. She joined LuxSE in 2013 and was appointed to its Executive Committee in 2015, before being named Deputy CEO in 2019, and CEO two years later.

Her career in the financial sector in Luxembourg spans over two decades and includes positions at the Central Bank of Luxembourg and Dexia. In 2016, Julie Becker founded the Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX), the world’s leading platform for sustainable securities. A recognised expert in the field of sustainable finance, Julie Becker has represented LuxSE and LGX at numerous, international expert forums and conferences over the past years, including the EU High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance from 2017 to 2019 and the United Nations High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development in 2023.

Julie Becker is a member of the board of directors of several Luxembourg-based financial industry associations and the Chairwoman of LuxCMA, a capital markets industry association established in 2019. She was awarded The inventor” by Global Landscape as part of their campaign “16 Women Restoring the Earth” in 2019 and was named the “Most Influential Economic Decision Maker in Luxembourg” in the 2022 edition of the Paperjam Top 100.

Julie Becker played a crucial role in the founding of the Luxembourg Women in Finance Charter. She is a member of the Luxembourg Gender Finance Task Force, launched in 2023, and the EIB’s Women Climate Leaders Network, launched in 2024. She was appointed as a member of the University of Luxembourg’s Board of Governors in 2023.

Julie Becker specialises in regulatory and legal matters linked to capital markets. She holds a Master’s Degree in European & Comparative Law and a Master’s Degree (DEA) in Private Law from the University of Nancy II, France. She is also an alumna of the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Georges Bock is the Founder & CEO of Investre, the Luxembourg-based technology company behind the easy-to-use DIY investing platform, Moniflo.

Moniflo gives a new generation of retail investors the investment account and tools they need to invest in funds that match their ethics. With the Moniflo app, the critical and conscious can take investment decisions into their own hands.

Georges is Partner at Ilavska Vuillermoz Capital, a Luxembourg-based investment company specialised in fintechs. He is also a Non-Executive Board Director for Investify Tech, Governance.com and Exceet.

Before immersing himself in the fintech and start-up scene, he served as Managing Partner at KPMG Luxembourg from 2012 to 2016. In all, he spent 27 years with KPMG, specializing in asset management, banking, taxation, and capital markets.

He has served as board member for ALFI, ILA, and Fedil. He has also contributed to European professional associations, including EFAMA and the EU Commission Expert Groups.

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.

Neha Coulon is a Managing Director and Head of ESG for EMEA at J.P. Morgan Private Bank based in London. In this role, she leads the ESG efforts in the region, setting the business strategy and helping its clients achieve their sustainability objectives.

Neha spent over a decade at the J.P. Morgan Corporate and Investment bank where she provided investment solutions to some of the largest pension funds and asset managers across Americas and Europe. From 2017 to 2020, she served as the EMEA head of Sustainable Finance in J.P. Morgan’s corporate office where she led corporate sustainability initiatives, including engagement with EU policy makers, industry leaders as well as key clients focused on sustainability. She was instrumental in the Firm’s announcement of a comprehensive sustainability platform including a $200 billion SDG-linked financing commitment and a plan to be 100% reliant on renewables for the firm’s operational footprint by 2020.

In 2020, Neha founded and served as the first global head of the ESG Solutions group at the Corporate and Investment Bank, advising the firm’s clients on strategic decisions and corporate financing linked to the energy transition and evolving sustainable consumer preferences, creating ESG -themed financial products and providing ESG data analytics. She has pioneered a number of innovative ESG products across equities, debt, derivatives, structured notes and supply chain financing.

Neha is a member of the Advisory Board for the Climate Risk certification for the Global Association of Risk Professionals. She was previously a member of the UK Green Finance Initiative and the UK-China Green Belt and Road Investor Alliance.

Neha is a guest lecturer at the MBA program at the University of Sussex and was previously a guest lecturer at the Operational Research and Financial Engineering program at Princeton University.

Neha holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, a Master in Finance from Princeton University and an MBA from Oxford University.

Katherine Foster is the Executive Director of the Green Digital Finance Alliance (GDFA). A former diplomat specializing in climate change and the human security agenda, she has been spearheading multi-stakeholder innovation at the nexus of technology, policy, finance, and sustainable development for 30 years.  Katherine also serves on the Supervisory Board of the EIT Food (European Union’s Food Innovation Program), on the UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub, the European Securities Market Authority Financial Innovation Financial Innovation Standing Committee Consultative Working Group, the Capitals Coalition Valuation Commission, and the UNEP Digital Innovation for the Circular Economy Expert Group.

Katherine has held leadership roles at the EU Climate-KIC (Europe’s flagship climate innovation partnership and accelerator), at GDFA including as as Sherpa to the United Nation’s Secretary General’s Task Force on Digital Financing of the SDGs, and to several award-winning start-ups focused on emerging technology for climate.  She previously served in advisory roles with the World Bank, the United Nations, FIDES Microfinance, the Bank of International Settlement and impact accelerators and has led research on the impact of emerging technology including on Green Fintech, Emerging Tech Ethics, Web 3 and NFTs for the SDGs.

Carlo M. Funk is the lead ESG Investment Strategist at State Street Global Advisors covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa regions (EMEA). Mr. Funk works with clients to identify solutions that align with their ESG objectives, including assessing the impact of integrating ESG into their portfolios. He works in close collaboration with the ESG research and development team across asset classes and investment styles and is also involved with ESG-related regulatory initiatives.

Before joining State Street Global Advisors, Mr. Funk was responsible for the design and distribution of passive ESG investment solutions at BlackRock and acted as its EMEA-wide ESG sales specialist. His prior experience also includes working at J.P. Morgan Private Bank in New York and Frankfurt.

Mr. Funk holds a BSc and MSc in international business and finance from Maastricht University and is part of various industry working groups on sustainable finance including, the sustainable investment commission of DVFA in Germany. Additionally, he is a regular guest lecturer at the European Business School on sustainable finance. In 2020 he was awarded the Financial News “Asset Management Rising Stars Award”.

Erika George is the Samuel D. Thurman Professor of Law in the S.J Quinney College of Law and Director of the Tanner Humanities Center. She teaches constitutional law, international human rights law and seminar courses on equality, sustainability, and corporate responsibility. She earned her B.A. from the University of Chicago and her J.D. from Harvard Law School. She also holds an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Chicago. Before entering the legal academy, she worked with Human Rights Watch and practiced corporate litigation in Chicago and New York City.

Her scholarship has appeared in the California Law Review, the Michigan Journal of International Law, the New York University Journal of International Law and Policy, the Berkeley Journal of Journal of International Law, and the annual proceedings of the American Society of International Law. She serves on the editorial board of the Business and Human Rights Journal.

She is a member of the American Law Institute and is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. She serves on the Board of Trustees of Earthjustice.

Her current research explores efforts to hold corporations accountable for alleged rights violations and her new book Incorporating Rights: Strategies to Advance Corporate Accountability was published by Oxford University Press in 2021.

Laura Gitman is a global expert on corporate sustainability, with two decades of experience in strategy consulting and has advised senior executives at global companies across a range of industry sectors and sustainability issues. BSR™ is a sustainable business network and consultancy focused on creating a world in which all people can thrive on a healthy planet. With offices in Asia, Europe, and North America, BSR™ provides its 300+ member companies with insight, advice, and collaborative initiatives to help them see a changing world more clearly, create long-term value, and scale impact.

Laura has been a leader in BSR’s organisational growth and impact. She launched BSR’s financial services practice and New York office, and she is currently the Chief Operating Officer, leveraging her strengths in strategy, organisational change, and people management.

Laura works with leading global companies to develop and enhance their sustainability strategies to maximise value for business and society. She is sought after to facilitate senior-level strategy workshops and multistakeholder collaborations. She has published reports on environmental, social, and governance trends among investors as well as sustainability integration and leadership. From 2006 to 2010, she facilitated the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition, growing the initiative from 15 to more than 50 companies.

Laura previously worked for Deloitte Consulting, where she acquired extensive strategy experience advising multinational financial services companies. She also worked on several community and economic development projects in Latin America.

Laura holds an M.B.A. from Stanford University and a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. She is an adjunct professor in the Bard M.B.A. in Sustainability program, a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, and a member of the UN Global Compact Expert Network.

Ulrich Heimhard is Head of Investment & Wealth Management Solutions at Bank Julius Baer Europe S.A. (BJBE) and joined Julius Baer Group in 2016 with the acquisition of Commerzbank International S.A..

In this role Ulrich is responsible for BJBE’s product & service offering as well as the advisory business in Luxembourg, Spain and Ireland. He is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of BJBE’s SICAV-FIS.

Before joining Julius Baer, he held various senior positions at Commerzbank and Dresdner Bank in the areas of Internal Audit, Business & Sales Management and Business Development in Frankfurt am Main and since 2010 in Luxembourg.

Due to his broad background Ulrich is member of various working groups, strategic projects and committees at BJBE and JB Group.

Ulrich accompanies the local implementation of the SuFi requirements and is also committed to ensuring that the topic of ESG is not limited to mere compliance with regulatory requirements, but actually guides/advises clients on the path to sustainable investing in line with JB’s guiding principle “Creating Value beyond Wealth”.

Ulrich studied Business Administration at the University of Hagen  and successfully attended the IMD Senior.

Nameer Khan is a leading fintech leader in the MENA region. He was awarded as MENA’s Future Fintech Leader by Central Bank of UAE & Abu Dhabi Global Market.

Nameer is a serial fintech founder & investor and serves as an executive advisor to leading fintechs, financial institutions and regulatory authorities in the MENA region. As the founding member and chairman of the MENA Fintech Association (MFTA), he has today created pivotal body comprising of leading Fintech stakeholders from across the region and together partnered with the regional regulators and central banks to establish a robust fintech framework.

With his focus on sustainability for 2022 onwards. Nameer is a part of exciting fintech ventures focused on enabling sustainable impact, and through MFTA he’s also helping fintechs adopt sustainable practices, with the ambition of making MENA a leading sustainable fintech region.

Dr. Daniel Klier joined ESG Book as Chief Executive in June 2021. ESG Book is a leading ESG data and technology company with offices in Boston, London, Frankfurt, Delhi, Singapore and Tokyo.

Prior to this, Daniel was Global Head of Sustainable Finance for HSBC, where he developed the global climate strategy for the bank and led the sustainable finance business across the bank. Daniel chaired the Bank of England Climate Risk Working Group and the Sustainable Finance Working Group at the Institute of International Finance. He is a member of the Board of Sustainable Energy for All.

Daniel joined HSBC in 2013 as Group Head of Strategy in London, following a successful career at McKinsey & Company where he was a Partner. In 2016, Daniel was selected as Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum.

Nicolas Mackel is CEO of Luxembourg for Finance, the Agency for the Development of the Financial Centre, since July 2013.

Nicolas is a career diplomat. He has graduated with a law degree from the University of Aix-en-Provence, and holds two post-graduate diplomas in European law from the Sorbonne University, respectively the College of Europe in Bruges where he then also served as a teaching assistant in the Law Department. He worked as a legal clerk at the European Court of Justice before joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1999. His assignments focused on the successive EU Treaty negotiations (Amsterdam, Nice, Constitution, Lisbon).

Nicolas was consecutively posted at Luxembourg’s Permanent Representation to the EU (2002-07), as Deputy Chief of Mission at Luxembourg’s Embassy in Washington DC (2007-11) and as Consul General in Shanghai (2011-13) where he was in charge of promoting Luxembourg’s economic interests throughout China as the Executive Director of the Luxembourg Trade and Investment Office.

Benjamin Michel is Policy Analyst at the OECD Centre for Responsible Business Conduct (RBC), where he works with policymakers, financial institutions in promoting the implementation of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the OECD Due Diligence Guidance in the financial sector, including in the context of development finance and climate finance. In this capacity, Benjamin has been representing the OECD at the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance, and in a number of working groups for the UN PRI. Benjamin also leads OECD Centre for Responsible Business Conduct engagement in Myanmar, where he works with stakeholders in promoting responsible business conduct in high-risk contexts.

Previously, Benjamin has been working in sustainable finance as a human rights expert, advising financial institutions – ranging from development banks, commercial banks or PE funds – in assessing and addressing ESG impacts and opportunities in a wide variety of financial transactions. Benjamin studied international law and business law at Sciences Po Paris.

Attracta Mooney was recently appointed the FT’s climate correspondent.

Prior to that, she was the FT’s investment correspondent, focusing especially on shareholders’ interactions with the companies they invest in, as well as the rise of environmental, social and governance investing. She initially joined the FT as a reporter covering the asset management industry.

Attracta spent the early part of her career interviewing billionaires for two wealth publications.

Marie Niemczyk-Dot heads Candriam’s ESG Client Portfolio Management Team. Her role is to deliver Candriam’s unique blend of ESG expertise, sustainable investment solutions and market insight to investors.

Marie Niemczyk joined Candriam as Head of Insurance Relations in 2018, analyzing the factors impacting the asset management of insurers, such as markets, regulation, accounting and ESG and building custom solutions to meet their investment objectives and constraints. She worked particularly closely with insurers on the integration of sustainable investing.

Previously, Marie was Strategy & Development Director at AXA Investment Managers in Paris. She has also held several positions with Fidelity in London, Frankfurt and Paris. Before that, she was an Economist with EY in London, and a Research Associate with The Advisory Board Company in Washington D.C..

Marie has an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, a B.A. from Swarthmore College, and holds IMC and CISI qualifications.

Cornelia Nissen is a sustainable finance expert within the Life/Health Investment Management Team of Allianz Investment Management SE.

With a background in political science and economics, her career expands over several industries with a strong focus on sustainability data and implementation of sustainable finance regulatory requirements.

Will Oulton was appointed as the Chair of Eurosif in December 2015.

With a career spanning over 20 years in sustainable finance, he is currently the Responsible Investment Advisor to leading global asset manager First Sentier Investors (FSI) based in the UK and is responsible for advising the business on its  responsible investment and stewardship strategy and execution globally. 

He was responsible for developing FSI’s thought leadership programs including the creation of the First Sentier MUFG Sustainable Investment Institute, which he founded in May 2021 while holding the post of Global Head of Responsible Investment.

He is also a:  Non-Executive Director and Champion for Ocean Recovery at the UK’s Marine Conservation Society, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Honorary Professor at Nottingham University Business School’s International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility, Co-Chair of King Charles III’s Accounting for Sustainability Expert Panel and sits on a number of investment industry advisory boards and committees.

 Will’s career experience also includes holding positions as a Pension Scheme Trustee (Commonwealth Bank of Australia UK Staff benefits Scheme), an Investment Consultant (Mercer), and in ESG benchmark design, development and management (FTSE Russell – FTSE4Good Indices).

Fabrizio Planta is Head of Data Intelligence and Technology Department at ESMA, with responsibility over the entire data lifecycle of all datasets under ESMA responsibility. This comprises the definition of the standards for reporting or disclosing information, the design of the relevant systems, the implementation of the reporting requirements and maintenance of the relevant systems and the use of data to serve all ESMA’s stakeholders.

He was previously Head of Markets and Data Reporting Department where he has been in charge of Secondary Markets, Post-Trading, Market Integrity, Market Data and supervision over Trade Repository and Data Reporting Service Providers. Before as Head of the Post-Trading Unit, he was in charge of the development of technical standards under EMIR and CSDR and on a number of CCP related manners, such as CCP colleges, stress tests, peer reviews, validation of risk models and recognition of third country CCPs.

Before joining ESMA, Fabrizio worked at the EU Commission on the EMIR proposal and before at CONSOB and at IW Bank S.p.A. He holds an MSc in Economics from Warwick University (UK) and a degree in Economics from the University of Cagliari (Italy).

Antonia Sariyska is a Sustainable and Impact Investing Strategist in the Chief Investment Office of UBS Global Wealth Management. Her team defines and develops sustainable investing strategies and portfolio allocations for private investors and family offices across the globe.

Previously, Antonia worked for the European Commission on development cooperation and finance, drove deal sourcing for family-driven venture capital investments, led fundraising efforts for an entrepreneurship education foundation, and co-founded a clean tech startup in energy efficiency.

Antonia holds an MBA from INSEAD in Singapore and France. She also has a dual Bachelors degree in Financial Services from the American University of Moscow (Russia) and the University of Westminster (UK), and a Masters in Communications from Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium).

Anne Schoemaker, Director ESG Products, oversees a number of compliance and regulatory-driven ESG research products in Morningstar Sustainalytics.

Over the past years, she has been spearheading the product strategy and development of EU Sustainable Finance Action Plan related solutions for Sustainalytics’ investor clients. Anne is a member of the ESMA Consultative Working Group on Sustainable Finance, providing technical advice on ESMA sustainable finance work streams and expertise on ESG topics. She was also a member of the EUROSIF Advisory Group, creating policy recommendations for SFDR.

Prior to working for Sustainalytics, Anne worked in ESG in development finance, after having started her career in the asset management industry.

She holds a master’s degree in Business Mathematics & Informatics.

Alexander L. C. Stevens is the founder and CEO of Greenomy, a Brussels-based RegTech that provides sustainability reporting software and codifies green finance taxonomies being adopted worldwide.

A New York Bar attorney, he previously worked at Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP, and within the Digital and Sustainable Finance unit of DG FISMA, European Commission.

Alexander is a General Partner of Amal Ventures, a venture capital fund supporting Greentech innovations, and a board member of Fondation Vocatio, a charity awarding scholarships to young talented Belgian scholars.

Alexander graduated in law and finance from the University of Brussels, Oxford University, and Harvard Law School.

William Wright is the Founder and Managing Director of New Financial, a capital markets think tank and forum.

William launched New Financial in 2014 to make the positive case for the vital role that capital markets play in driving prosperity. New Financial believes Europe needs bigger and better capital markets – and that this represents a huge opportunity for the industry and its customers to embrace change and rethink how capital markets work.

William is a writer and commentator on investment banking and financial markets. He was a member of the launch team at Financial News in March 1996 and was Editor of the publication between 2004 and 2011.

In this time Financial News established itself as one of the most widely-read and respected publications for the asset management and investment banking industries. He played a central role in the sale of the business to The Wall Street Journal in 2007 and in its subsequent integration into Dow Jones.

He is a regular speaker and moderator at conferences and private events, and commentator on TV and radio news programmes, including the Today programme and BBC News.

He studied at Oxford and London universities and INSEAD. Born in the UK, he has also lived and worked in France, Germany and Hungary.

Elin Wrzoncki is the Department Director for Human Rights and Business at the Danish Institute for Human Rights.

She joined the Institute in 2014 as a senior adviser on Business and Human rights. Elin has extensive experience with the intersection between business and human rights and in working directly with various actors including companies, NHRIs and civil society. She has been active in the Working Group of the European Network of NHRIs (ENNHRI) on Business and Human Rights. Before joining DIHR, she was the Head of the Globalization and Human Rights Desk at the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), where she was in particular supporting national human rights NGOs to document business impacts on human rights and advocating for corporate accountability.

She holds a Master’s Degree in Political Sciences from Sciences-Po in Paris (1999) and from Uppsala University in Sweden (2000).

Nasir Zubairi is CEO of The LHoFT – The Luxembourg House of Financial Technology, a public/private sector initiative to drive fintech innovation in Luxembourg.

He sits on the IMF’s High Level Advisory Group on Finance and Technology and the OECD’s Blockchain Expert Policy Advisory Board. He has been a Non-Executive Board director at a “traditional” bank, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) S.A. Nasir has worked in Financial Services for 22 years. He spent 13 years working within Capital Markets at RBS, ICAP, HSBC and EBS.  He has been immersed in the Fintech and startup sector since 2011.

As an entrepreneur, Nasir has built multiple Fintech businesses across verticals. He has advised the boards of leading financial institutions, central banks and governments. Nasir is included in the “Top 40 innovators shaping the future of financial services -2014” by The Wall Street Journal/Financial News.

Nasir has a BSc from the London School of Economics and is a Sloan Fellow from London Business School.