OUR SPEAKERS
Robert Courtneidge
Independent Payment Industry Expert
Robert Courtneidge is valued and respected industry expert in the emerging payments industry. He is working with a number of businesses assisting them on their strategy and products using his 30+ years legal experience to give them practical and innovative solutions. He is co-author and Editor of The PAYTECH Book 2020. He was co-founder of the Prepaid International Forum and has worked with the Emerging Payments Association since it was founded.
He has been regularly featured in the prestigious Payments Power 10 (including being ranked #1 in 2015), a highly competitive ranking of the most influential contributors in payments. As a lawyer in payments he was voted in the top 10 in the world by US publication Paybefore in 2015 being the only European in the list. As a lawyer he has worked closely with The Payments Services Regulator, HM Treasury, UK Finance and Financial Conduct Association, in the UK as well as other compliance and industry bodies globally. Robert has deep expertise in electronic money and payment services and is highly skilled in all aspects of payment services including consumer protection, banking regulation and compliance, and AML/CTF. Robert is highly active on the conference front regularly chairing and moderating events as well as speaking on issues facing the European Payments’ Industry including laws relating to blockchain, digital assets and Central Bank Digital Currencies.
Cedric Ming, MLaw, CAMS
Senior Associate, Compliance, RegTech, & Managed Legal Services at PwC Switzerland
Cedric Ming is an experienced banking professional. Skilled in Legal Project Management, Regulation, IT, Sales, Payments, Financial Markets, Blockchain, Auditing, Risk Management, Compliance, AI and Cloud.
Currently he is a Senior Associate in the Compliance, RegTech and Managed Legal Services team at PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd. (“PwC”) in Zürich, Switzerland. He is an experienced consultant in the financial services and non-financial services sector. His main areas of focus are Financial Crime Compliance, Digital Assets, NFTs, the Metaverse, AI, and Data Privacy. Within PwC, he has also worked as a Regulatory Auditor in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. He is a co-founder and the Vice President of MetaverseTalks Association. He is a Web3 SME for the Times Professional Learning, a division of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd in India.
Prior to working at PwC he helped grow one of the first Swiss FinTech’s in the area of Payments, which today has over 4 million customers in Switzerland. He has also worked in the areas of Real Estate Investment, and as a Start-Up Entrepreneur and Coach.
Cedric holds a Master of Law degree from the University of Zurich in Business and Financial Law, a Bachelor’s degree in Swiss Law, and he did a Bachelors Program in International Management and Economics.
Jessica Ramos
Head of Regulatory and Financial Affairs at EBA Clearing
Jessica Ramos is the Head of Regulatory, Oversight and Financial Affairs at EBA CLEARING.
Prior, she held a number of positions at SWIFT, namely in Oversight Affairs, Legal & Compliance, Finance and as Chief of Staff to the global CEO. She was also responsible for diversity and inclusion initiatives for the business. She started her career in 2006 as an Associate in Consortium Central America, focusing on banking, finance and corporate law. She is a member of the Belgian Company Lawyers Bar, the New York Bar, the Honduran Bar and the In-house Competition Lawyers Association.
In addition to her Law Degree, Jessica holds an MBA in Finance, an LL.M. in Corporate Law from New York University (NYU) and an LL.M. in Competition Law and Economics from the Brussels School of Competition. She has recently been certified in Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC), Cyber Security for Business Leaders and Social Media Marketing and Law, Cognitive Technologies & Artificial Intelligence.
Jessica is an Executive Board Member and Belgium Ambassador of European Women Payments Network (EWPN), Board Advisor to CyberWayFinder and The Nine, and a ConceptionX Expert. She founded Mizbiz in 2016, an organisation aiming to connect, inspire and empower women in Belgium.
Jessica is a frequent speaker at financial industry events on topics ranging from Payments, Technology, RegTech, Compliance, Financial Crime, Cyber Security, Diversity and Inclusion and ESG.
Freddie Frith
Head of Financial Services at Clausematch
Freddie Frith joined Clausematch in 2018, where he has quickly progressed in different commercial roles. He now heads up Clausematch’s commercial proposition for Financial Services, focusing on accelerating the adoption across NeoBanking, FinTech, Insurance and Investment Management. Before working at Clausematch, Freddie worked in commercial roles as Silverfin, Ogilvy and Loreal. Freddie is also a thought leader in Regulatory Technology, regularly hosting podcasts and webinars, contributing to whitepapers and writing blog posts.
Vasileios Papoutsis
Head of Compliance & MLRO at Binance Cyprus
Vasileios Papoutsis is the Head of Compliance and Money Laundering Reporting Officer at Binance Cyprus. He is a holder of the professional certifications of Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and CySEC-issued certification of AML Compliance Officer (AMLCO). He has extensive experience in heavily regulated industries such as Banking and Crypto/Virtual Assets Service Providers ecosystem and he is a specialist in the areas of Regulatory Reporting, AML and Forensic investigations.
Michael Diamantoulis
Chief Compliance Officer at epay a Euronet Worldwide Group Company
Holder of supervised and/or c-suite positions (CCO, CRO, MLRO), Michael has worked throughout the banking as well as the payments sector, by starting-up and running control functions, organizing 2nd lines of defence and setting-up strategies and policies, mainly Risk, AML and Compliance related. Michael has supported the obtaining of payment institute and e-money licensing, the receiving of card association principal memberships and the completion of funding (investment) rounds. He represented the e-money sector through-out Greece's latest National Risk Assessment. Michael believes in risk mitigation through a balanced, proactive, and transparent approach and enjoys infusing positivity and trust into workplaces.
David Bundi
Chairman at MetaverseTalks Association
David Bundi is the Metaverse Strategy & Regulatory Leader and Head of Compliance at PwC Switzerland, Legal. Before joining PwC, he held a position as Chief Compliance Officer at an innovative Swiss bank following various senior roles as Legal & Compliance expert at banks in Zurich and New York. David is also the Chairman of the Swiss non-profit association MetaverseTalks which serves as a leading space where Metaverse & NFT thought leaders and interested people connect, foster and promote ideas globally. He has studied Swiss, EU, UK and US law, likes gaming and technology, and is a guest lecturer at universities respectively business schools in Zurich, Lausanne, Miami and Guatemala.
Gregorios Siourounis
Founder at EveryPay
Gregorios Siouounis is the Co-Founder and Chairman of EveryPay. An online payment gateway for Businesses, EveryPay is one of the most advanced paytechs in Europe.
He is a serial entrepreneur, has extensive experience in financial engineering, algorithmic trading and global payments and has served in several C-Level positions and Boards in the last 25 years.
Gregorios is also an Assistant Professor in Economics at the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences. He holds a PhD from London Business School, an MSc from Iowa State University and Universitat Pompeu Fabra and has a BS from Athens University of Economics and Business.
Andrew Doukanaris
Chief Executive Officer at Flotta Consulting Ltd
Andrew has been at the heart of the digital payments transformation for almost three decades, holding senior roles in issuing and acquiring with Chevron/Texaco, Visa Inc., JCB Cards, and a Mastercard advisor in The Middle East - During which time has been based in Singapore, San Francisco, New York and London.
He is a Fintech mentor/board advisor at Level39 in London and the former CEO and Chairman of multinational QR code payments Pomelo Pay. In January 2022, Andrew was appointed CEO of Blukite Network - an Open Banking network with revolutionary patented technology.
Panagiotis Kriaris
Commercial Director - Business Development at Unzer
Panagiotis has spent his career in the borderline between business and technology with a leadership background at an international level. Panagiotis brings senior expertise across Financial Services, Banking, Payments, FinTech and E-Commerce.
Innovation, Digitization, Emerging Technologies, Strategy & Business Development have been at the center of his work and attention over the last years.
Chris Aruliah
Chief Commercial Officer at BCB Group
Chris is an industry veteran, passionate about financial innovation, and was previously at Bitstamp, where he held the role of Head of Business Development and was responsible for helping financial institutions enter the crypto market and focused on identifying opportunities for integrating crypto with traditional finance. Prior to that, he launched the open banking payments platform, Token, and built the pipeline for the business in Europe.
Dr. Charis Savvides
Lawyer & Law Lecturer at Institute For the Future - UNIC
Dr Charis Savvides is a practising lawyer, Partner at Stelios Americanos & Co LLC, one of the largest, full service, law firms in Cyprus. He is also lecturer at the University of Nicosia, where he has been a faculty member of the Law School for a number of years and of the Department of Digital Innovation of the Business School since 2020. He is the leading instructor of all regulatory courses in the Master’s programme of the University in Blockchain and Digital Currency, which is the world’s first Master’s degree in Blockchain and one of the top academic programs in the field. The practice areas of Dr Savvides include, amongst others, the regulatory framework of digital services and digital markets, especially in the areas of corporate, investment and financial law. He is legal advisor to investment funds, investment firms and crypto-asset services providers. Furthermore, he is an expert panel member of the European Union Blockchain Observatory & Forum, a member of the Cyprus Investment Funds Association (CIFA) and a member of the Technology Committee of the Cyprus Bar Association. He is regular speaker at professional seminars, workshops and conferences, including special courses for law enforcement agencies, where he shares his knowledge and experience about the regulatory status and trends in the fields of investment funds and digital currencies.
.jpg)
Stelios Georgakis
Director, Central Bank of Cyprus
Stelios joined the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) in 1992, after qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) in the UK. In January 2013 he became the Head of the Licensing and Regulatory Compliance Section of the Supervision Division. As such, he negotiated the AML action plan with the Troika relating to the banking sector, and oversaw its successful implementation. With the introduction of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) of the European Central Bank, he became responsible for the On-Site Inspections, the AML/CFT supervision and the prudential supervision of credit, payment and e-money institutions that fall outside the scope of the SSM. In March 2017 he became Head of the supervision of significant and less significant credit institutions. He was the CBC member of the EBA Board of Supervisors and alternate member of the Supervisory Board of the SSM. As of 1 November 2020, he is Head of the Financial Market Infrastructures & Payments Department and of the Accounting Services & Controlling Department.
Stelios also holds a B.Sc.(Hons) in Civil Engineering and an MBA.
Elina Mattila
Executive Director at Mobey Forum
Elina has been part of the Mobey Forum team since 2012, managing relationships with key decision-makers at major banks, solution, providers and Mobey Forum's partner organisation, and is always looking for new ways to bring more value to Mobey Forum's members. Before joining Mobey Elina worked as a journalist in London, at Informa, Telecoms and Media, and Mobile Magazine, covering the digital disruption in the media and mobile content industry. She holds an MSc in Political Economy of Development from SOAS University of London.
.jpg)
Vishal Shah
Director - Applications System Development Digital Modernization Engineering, Global Payments at Tsys
Vishalanand holds 22+ years of experience in the payments and transactions industry. He has niche knowledge in the banking industry, payment schemes, digital innovations, and the data modeling arena. He holds deep experience in the management of large-scale IT projects, service managements methodologies, and people management skills. Banks and customers across Europe, LATAM, ISEA, MEA, and CIS have received his expert services. Vishalanand is a vegetarian foodie and loves tracking, gardening.
Nikolett Palinkas
Head of Operations at payabl.
Nikolett is the Head of Operations at payabl. With valuable experience in the payments and financial services industries, she is passionate about leveraging innovative technologies to optimise operations for online merchants.
In her previous roles, Nikolett gained significant skills in both a client relations and sales capacity, equipping her with a well-rounded view of the challenges and opportunities that clients may encounter.
Currently, her responsibilities include designing efficient policies, overseeing merchant onboarding processes, leading account management and customer service, and implementing alternative payment solutions.
Georgios Galanis
Director Compliance/MLRO at EVO Payments Greece
Georgios shares his 20+ yrs of experience among Control Functions of Compliance, Risk, Audit and Privacy within Banking, Issuing and Acquiring services.
Currently he holds a Management position as a Director Governance, Risk and Compliance/MLRO and Data Privacy Officer in the PI of one of the biggest Issuing and Acquiring Group of Companies in Europe, facing a multi-challenged regulatory framework which has to accommodate local and international banking and payments regulatory framework and regulations, International Standards, Quality Assurance Standards (ISOs) and Payment Card Industry Standards
Georgios holds a MSc in Banking and a BSc in Economics and is certified as CCO, DPO, BCI (Business Continuity Expert) and ISO9001 Lead Auditor.
Giorgos Konstantinou
Member of the Advisory Board at Indentomat
Giorgos Konstantinou has over 14 years of cumulative experience at senior management roles in the Financial Services sector, covering in particular risk advisory, financial crime (AML, CFT, fraud, sanctions, antibribery and corruption), regulatory compliance, internal audit and AML risk assessments.
He is currently the Group AML Director at an advisory firm, covering financial institutions and corporates. He also serves as a member of the Advisory Board for a well know digital KYC software system.
Prior to his current role, he was a Senior Manager in the Regulatory Risk Advisory team at Deloitte Cyprus, specializing in Regulatory Compliance and AML related matters, whilst he has also served as the Money Laundering Compliance Officer (MLCO) for Deloitte Investment Services (DIS). As an advisor, he has worked with various financial institutions internationally to provide tailor-made solutions for responding to financial crime incidents remediating past deficiencies from regulatory inspections, enhancing and automating client onboarding models and optimizing transaction monitoring systems. Prior to Deloitte, Giorgos has spent three years at PwC Cyprus, where he was leading the Central Compliance Services team. Before PWC, Giorgos spent more than six years with Barclays Bank as a Relationship Manager.
Sotiris Syrmakezis
Co-Founder & CEO at Throo
Sotiris Syrmakezis is one of the most well-known executives in the Greek market in the areas of fintech and digital transformation. He has co-founded and is the CEO of Throo Payments Europe, a fintech to be licensed in Lithuania with the technology being developed in Greece. Throo is a technology platform for digital payments, loyalty and marketing for individuals and businesses.
Sotiris is also a board member of Finclude, an Irish fintech providing open banking-based credit appraisals. Very recently he advised large enterprises on digital transformation strategy and implementation.
Until the end of 2018 Sotiris was the Chief Retail, Digital & Technology Officer of Praxia Bank, later acquired by Viva Wallet. From mid-2015 until early 2018 he worked for Eurobank, as General Manager, Member of the Executive Committee and Group Chief Digital & Technology Officer. From early 2000 and for more than 15 years, he served in Piraeus Bank Group, the last three of which he was General Manager and Head of Retail Banking and e-Business. He is known as the person behind the success of the digital banking platform ‘winbank.’ He started his career late 1990 in Egnatia Bank where he was the Chief Information Officer from 1996 until 2000 and where he launched the first internet banking service in Greece.
Sotiris has served as a board member in numerous listed and private companies in the areas of banking, insurance, investments and retail in Greece and abroad.
He holds a Master’s degree in Technology & Innovation Management from Technical University of Crete (Chania) and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from University of Crete (Heraklion).
Andreas Vlachos
Head of Community and Growth (Marketing) at Binance
Andreas Vlachos has been a professional in the field of Blockchain since 2014. He is the Binance Growth Manager in Greece and Cyprus. Previously he has worked for 4 years at the University of Nicosia, focusing on construction of academic material and collaborations with various bodies within the crypto ecosystem. Since 2019 he has worked as a Business Development Director at crypto startups such as ODEM.io and TrustSwap.
Anastasis Rossides
Head of Risk Modelling at Bank of Cyprus
Anastasis is the Head of Risk Modelling at Bank of Cyprus. Before joining BoC, he worked as post-doctoral researcher for European project BRIDGES, developing path-planning optimization software for autonomous underwater gliders. Passionate about solving business problems through data-driven approaches, ranging from descriptive analytics to practical application of ML/AI models.
Yiannos Ashiotis
Partner - Regulatory Compliance & Fund Services at Grant Thornton
Yiannos is leading the regulatory compliance and fund services department at Grant Thornton (Cyprus) Ltd and he is the managing director of its subsidiary company Grant Thornton Fund Services (Cyprus) Ltd. He has extensive knowledge of regulatory requirements for financial and credit institutions and substantial sectoral experience both in the Middle East and the EU.
He has advised clients on governance, risk, and compliance regulatory framework and requirements and assisted regulators, financial groups and large corporates in various aspects of GRC program implementation. Additionally, he is actively involved in authorization, compliance and risk management engagements for investment firms, banks, payment institutions, investment funds, and crypto asset service providers.
Yiannos is a Certified Public Accountant (AICPA) and holds an MBA in International Finance and a BSc in Business Administration (Accounting and Finance). He is a Board Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI) Cyprus National Advisory Council and holds the follow professional qualifications:
-
Certified Financial Services Auditor (Institute of Internal Auditors – IIA)
-
Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists – ACAMS)
-
Certificate in Global Financial Compliance (Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment – CISI)
-
Advanced Certificate in Financial Services (Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission – CySEC
-(1).jpg)
Panos Kyriakides
Senior Commercial Manager at eBOS
Panos Kyriakides is a business professional with more than twenty years of experience in the Financial and Banking sector. Throughout the course of his career, he has gained valuable insights in communicating with people at all levels, by building and maintaining sound business relationship with customers and stakeholders. His extensive experience in compliance and due diligence of clients, enables him to analyse and understand clients’ needs and promote business products and services to potential clients while strictly streamlining processes in line with regulations and thus ensuring compliance to enforced practices and policies. Panos is currently the Commercial Manager of eBOS.
.jpg)
Niresh Rajah
Managing Director, Head of Data, RegTech & Digital Advisory Practice, Financial Services Group at Grant Thornton UK LLP
Niresh is an executive leader in Financial Services and Consulting with 20 years of experience focused on Data, Digital, Regulation, Automation, Innovation and Transformation. Niresh is Managing Director at Grant Thornton and leads the Data, RegTech & Digital Assurance practice at Grant Thornton.
He is also a Board Advisor and Non-Executive Director for FinTech’s and Reg-Techs.
Previous to joining Grant Thornton, Niresh spent 10 years at Barclays and Lloyds Bank. He has led a number of capabilities as Deputy Chief Data Officer covering Regulatory Change Developments, Regulatory Change Execution, Chief Data Office (Data Management & Governance), Data Driven Solutions (data analytics, and data science), Automation of Controls and the Reg-Tech capability (Innovation Hub).
He has led major complex regulatory and data programmes at Board level including Brexit changes and GDPR. He also has extensive experience working with regulators across Europe on complex topics such as Data Management, Data Privacy & Data protection, Conduct and Prudential regulation and compliance with Brexit and GDPR.
Niresh has an MBA from the University of Oxford. He is an advisory board member of a number of FinTech & Reg-Tech judging panels evaluating scale-up and start-up companies.
Niresh works with exciting fintech and regtech start-up and scale-ups. He is a resident expert for data and regulation at Oxford Foundry (Oxford University’s Accelerator), a mentor at Seedcamp (one of Europe’s largest seed funds) and a mentor for data, digital and automation at FinTech Alliance (a digital platform for fintechs).
He is also a co-chair of the UK chief data officer governing body for Evanta, a Gartner company, and an advisory board member at the A-Team group for both regtech and data.
His past experience spans Oil & Gas, Mining, FMCG, Central Government working at Deloitte and Ernst & Young with client projects including BP, Shell, De Beers, Allied Irish Bank, London Olympics , Saudi Aramaco, Unilever and Marks & Spencer’s. He has extensive experience working across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Michael Clark
Vice President, Global Product and Technology Lead for Platforms, Ventures and Partnerships at Mastercard
Michael is an execution-focused data strategist and futurist specializing in converging current and future technologies into cutting-edge propositions, and experiences. Data and payments have been at the heart of his career, from data strategies to full automation, AI-driven experiences, and the future of payments. Michael has helped globally established firms and well-known fintechs realize their future digital visions. In his current role at Mastercard, he is helping clients, reimagine how data and future payment trends will evolve their businesses. Using platforms of the future and strategies to inform and design possible futures, spanning, data monetization, future value Exchanges across augmented worlds, new forms of payment, and Bank as a Service to the Metaverse and beyond. Michael is also a member of GAIA-X and the Berlin Group, where he helps shape the future of data and Open Banking API’s for Europe.
Justine Scerri Herrera
Partner at MK Fintech Partners Ltd
Dr.Justine Scerri Herrera is a Managing Partner at MK Fintech Partners which Maltese entity forms part of the Top Tier International ‘Michael Kyprianou’ group. Incidentally, MK is Top ranked in The Legal 500 and according to Gold Magazine is the 3rd Largest in size in Cyprus. Her areas of expertise include Fintech, Blockchain, Crypto and investments sectors. Justine mainly deals in advising and licencing for issuers and service providers falling under the Maltese Virtual Financial Assets Regulations (crypto & blockchain), Investment Services Act (Capital Market players, Capital Raising etc) and Financial Institutions Act (EMI, PI). Justine’s love for fintech and decentralisation sprouted 7 years ago while conducting her Doctoral and Masters Thesis’s focusing on jurisdiction in cyberspace and the rise of technology. Justine’s past work experience includes working for a Top Tier Investments Firm (Exante), an International Bank and a leading criminal law firm. Other academic accomplishes include a certification with the Malta Stock Exchange in ‘Securities and Trading’ and certification in ‘Virtual Financial Assets’. Notably, Justine formed part of Malta’s Digital Think Thank (Taskforce set up by the Maltese Government) and was recently nominated to be on the VFA Executive Committee which is part of the Malta Chamber of Commerce. Justine is also a true academic at heart and in her spare times often publishes research and speaks at events worldwide. Her favourite quote is ‘knowledge is power’.
George Apostolides
Head of Compliance and Anti Money Laundering Compliance Officer at Eurobank Cyprus Ltd
George Apostolides is the Head of Compliance and Anti Money Laundering Compliance Officer
at Eurobank Cyprus. George has extensive experience in the area of Banking for Anti Money Laundering and combating Terrorism Financing, Implementation of Financial Sanction Programs and Regulatory Compliance. George is approved to head the Compliance Department of the Bank by the European Central Bank. Prior to his career as a Compliance Officer, George was involved in the area of auditing holding a senior position in the Internal Audit Department of Eurobank Cyprus and as
a External Auditor for a Big4 firm. He holds the professional qualification of a Charter Accountant (ICAEW) and the Russian Sanctions Risk Management Specialist certification (K2-Integrity).
Demetris Taxitaris
CEO at MAP S.Platis
Demetris Taxitaris is the Chief Executive Officer of MAP S.Platis, a leading consulting Group in the provision of solutions in licensing, regulatory compliance, internal audit, risk management, human resources, regulatory technology, information technology, business resilience, information security including cybersecurity, governance, executive training and innovation to regulated and other firms. In the past, he worked at Bank of Cyprus as Head of Asset Management with local and international clients, individuals and institutionals, across all industries. Prior to that, Demetris worked at Deloitte in London where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant, becoming a member of the ICAEW. Demetris is a member of the Boards of Directors of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus (‘ICPAC’), the Cyprus Investment Funds Association (‘CIFA’) and the Association of Cyprus International Financial Firms (‘ACIFF’).
Peter Theunis
Head of Payments EMEA at Endava
Peter is an inspiring leader and strategist with over 20 years of experience in payments, fintech, and digital banking. A facilitator and builder of world-class technology management and product development teams, he specialises in both start-up and scaled growth stages and is a trusted partner for clients in Europe, APAC, the Middle East and the US. Before joining Endava, Peter held senior leadership roles in internationally recognised fintech organisations and was co-founder and co-CEO of a leading white-label payment processing provider.
Diederik Bruggink
Head of Department-Innovation & Payments at WSBI-ESBG
Diederik Bruggink works at the European Savings and Retail Banking Group (ESBG) and at the World Savings and Retail Banking Institute where he is responsible for all payments topics worldwide. In that role, he analyses the multiple dimensions of the payments market, proposing and assisting in agreeing member positions with respect to their payments’ and related businesses. He is also advocates the associations’ positions on payments with policymakers, regulators, standardisation bodies, industry associations, and enabling a constant member dialogue on developments, with a particular focus on innovation. He is a Member of the Board of the European Payments Council and he is a member of the Commission’s Payments Systems Market Expert Group and the European Central Bank’s Market Advisory Group on the Digital Euro, to name a few.
Christina Orfanidou
Director, Risk Advisory at Deloitte
Christina is a Director within Deloitte’s Risk Advisory team working on Data & AI-related services across sectors. She is an Artificial Intelligence professional with expertise in consulting organisations towards embedding advanced analytics, automation and AI into their operations. In the past five years, she has acted as a key expert in multiple European Commission projects on the adoption of AI within the public and private sector, consulting in particular on issues around AI adoption, governance and AI ethics. Christina also sits on Advisory boards for R&D projects on AI and was a member of the Parallel Parliament in Research, Innovation and Digital Policy (2019-2021). She is the co-founder of the Cyprus chapter of the global organisation Women in Machine Learning and Data Science (WiMLDS). Christina holds a DPhil in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Oxford, UK.
.jpg)
Yiannis Ioannides
Director, Cyber Risk at Deloitte
Yiannis is a Deloitte Cyprus Cyber Risk Services leader having over 12 years of experience. Yiannis is leading the team responsible for providing an array of services to the largest financial institutions in Cyprus and the Middle East including Offensive Security Services like Red Teaming, Purple Teaming and Penetration Testing as well as Cyber Strategy related services including Cyber Risk Management & Compliance and Cyber Training & Awareness.
.jpg)
Matthew Osborne
Payments Policy Lead at Bank of England
Matthew works at the Bank of England where he leads the payments policy team. The team is adapting the Bank’s payments regulatory framework to reflect innovation, including the emergence of stablecoins as a means of payment. Matthew is a specialist in capital and liquidity management for financial institutions, and recently spent two years on secondment in NatWest Group’s treasury. He also mentors with the Social Mobility Foundation. Matthew studied at Oxford University, London School of Economics and Bayes Business School.
Kamran Hedjri
Group CEO at PXP Financial
The end-to-end payment platform: PXP Financial provides a single unified payments platform to accept payments online, on mobile and at the point of sale. Powered by inhouse acquiring, 200+ alternative payment methods & financial services, PXP processes over EUR 21.5 billion annually through our unified gateway. Whatever your business needs today or tomorrow, PXP Financials’ innovative payment platform will support your business growth with all the payment services you will ever need from one source, wherever your business takes you.
Christos Ttiniozou
Managing Director at iSPIRAL
With over 20 years of experience on custom software development we deliver the most reliable custom software solutions that match the unique requirements of our customers. We are a recognized leader providing high-impact RegTech Solutions for Banks, Financial Institutions, FOREX, Card Issuers, Payment Providers, Hospitals/Clinics, Law, Fiduciary and Accounting firms.
Specialties: Enterprise Risk & Compliance Management, Anti Money Laundering - Know Your Client (risk based approach), Transaction Monitoring/Screening for AML, Fund Administration, Fund Management, Corporate Secretarial, Time & Billing for Accounting/Auditing offices, Hospital Solution, Property Management Software.
Branka van der Linden
AML, Compliance & Innovation Director at iSPIRAL
Branka van der Linden, has joined i-SPIRAL as the AML Compliance & Innovation Director. She holds Bachelor in Business Administration and LLM Master of Laws in International Business. She is the Secretary of the Board of the Cyprus Integrity Forum (CIF) and Board Member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) Cyprus, certified AML Officer by CySEC. She is active compliance, anti-corruption and anti-fraud professional, with over 15 years experience in Anti-money Laundering, Corporate Governance and Risks. She has received multiple awards for her work and initiatives, including Exceptional Woman of Excellence and Women Leaders to look up to in 2021. Branka believes the success of the business lies in high ethics and integrity. Branka is native Serbian and speaks English, Greek, German, Russian and Spanish.
Evgenios Kitsios
Head of Crypto Compliance at NAGA
Evgenios works as Head of Compliance at NAGAX the crypto business of NAGA. He has multiple years of Legal and Regulatory experience within the financial market as a Legal, Regulatory and Compliance practitioner with special focus in financial, investment and anti-money laundering Law as well as participation and management of multiple investment firm acquisitions. Evgenios has demonstrated a special interest both professionally and personally in Regtech and investment innovations including but not limited to Blockchain and Web3 developments. He is a holder of a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Southampton, a Master of Laws from the Queen Mary University of London as well as an Advanced Certificate in Financial Services by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.
Socrates Maanian
Head of Compliance at Worldline
Socrates Maanian is the Head of Compliance at Worldline Greece S.A. (previously Cardlink One S.A) where he has worked for the past 4 years. Prior to this role, Socrates worked for Western Union in Southern Europe as Chief Digital Officer and Head of Payments and e-Business, and Chief Technology Officer.
Socrates has a Master of Arts in International Relations and Political Science from Landegg Academy in Affiliation with University of Maryland, a Master of Science in Computer Systems Design from the University of Dublin, a Master of Philosophy in Electronic Automation from National and Capodistrian University of Athens and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from National and Capodistrian University of Athens.
Thomas Barkias
Senior Supervisor at the European Central Bank
Thomas Barkias is a Senior Supervisor at the European Central Bank. Thomas has more than 18 years’ experience in supervision and central banking, as well having held positions in several commercial banks. Currently delving into crypto, cyber, cloud, and fin- reg- suptech developments, as well as agile ways of working together. He has vast experience in IT regulation, supervision and onsite inspections, as well as in credit and operational risk, including internal models. Thomas is also involved in international policy work at EU level; in the past on Payment Services Directive (PSD) and the PSD2 and in working groups of ECB, EBA, BCBS, G7 and FSB. His work at the ECB focuses on the implications of fintech and digital transformation on SSM banks, in the context of crypto, DeFi and cloud developments. Special focus is given to the business models of new and incumbent banks, their internal governance arrangements, as well as their risk management processes in a highly competitive international environment, demanding enhanced operational/cyber resilience. Thomas holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics, an M.Sc. in Computer Science and an MBA; his thesis assessed the possible implications of DLT on the economy and society. He just concluded an INSEAD program on digital transformation and innovation and is a certified information systems auditor (CISA) and certified in risk and information systems control (CRISC).
Vasilis Charalambous
Head of GZG Tech at George Z. Georgiou & Associates LLC
Vasilis Charalambous is a Senior Lawyer at George Z. Georgiou & Associates LLC and the Head of GZG Tech, advising public and private sector clients on emerging technologies including Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies, Distributed ledger technology and personal data issues. He is the Vice-President of the Technology Committee of the Cyprus Bar Association and a member of the International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications (INATBA), the European Association of Data Protection Professionals and the Tech London Advocates Blockchain Legal and Regulatory Group. He is a regular speaker at conferences and seminars and writes for various publications on topics related to innovation and technology.
Yiannis Pettemerides
Forensic, Anti-Money Laundering, Regulatory Compliance, Registered Auditor and Insolvency Practitioner at eBOS Resident Consultant & Associate
Yiannis is a Consultant, in the fields of Forensic, Anti-Money Laundering, Regulatory Compliance, Registered Auditor and Insolvency Practitioner, with more than 20 years of experience.
He was engaged, for more than 2 years, as an External Technical Expert, and leading the Onsite Inspection Teams, of the AML/Supervision Department of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). He was also the Chairman and a Member, for more than 5 years, of the Economic Crime and Forensic Accounting Committee of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus (ICPAC) and also the Vice-Chairman, for more than 4 years, of the Promotion of the Profession and Academic Relations Committee of the Cyprus Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA).
Yiannis is engaged as an External Technical Expert, in the fields of Forensic Investigations, Anti-money Laundering Investigations and Audit Investigations, by the Cyprus Police Economic Crime Unit, the Attorney General Office, the Audit General Office and the Private Sector.
Furthermore, Yiannis is a Member of the AML and Compliance Committee of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus (ICPAC), a Member of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) and a Founding Member of the Cyprus #209 Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE).
He holds a Bachelor and a Master’s degrees in Accounitng, Economics and Finance (BA, MA), a Fellowship and Practicing Audit Certificates from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and from the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus (ICPAC). He is also a Member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) and of the International Compliance Association (ICA).
Shweta Gupta
Vice President at Deutsche Bank
Shweta Gupta is an accomplished executive & thought leader, Shweta has almost 20 years’ experience leading people, processes & technology transformations across global organisations & most recently with Citibank & Deutsche Bank. Often titled "The Idea Person" she has earned her Executive MBA from London Business School, UK & is a strong proponent of Diversity & Inclusion.
Christiana Aristidou
Founder of The Hybrid LawTech Firm at Christiana Aristidou LLC
Christiana Aristidou is an industry expert and thought leader who stands above subject-matter expertise and is an authority in her field. She is a passionate educator educating and training regulators, public authorities, incumbents, private organizations of all sizes, investors and entrepreneurs in Cyprus, the EU and internationally. A pioneer in the field of training course design, development and delivery, Christiana creates comprehensive training courses with innovative subject combinations and unique content falling mainly in the intersection of Regulation, Business Law and Technology. She has indicatively offered trainings in banking and finance, fintech, payment innovation, and emerging technologies. Christiana is a Business Technology Lawyer, CEO of “The Hybrid LawTech Firm”, empowered by Christiana Aristidou LLC, regulated by the Cyprus Bar Association. She has been practicing business and technology law for more than 24 years and has been involved in multijurisdictional and complex business and technology legal projects involving advanced and emerging technologies. Christiana has been advising major local and international players on digital transformation as well as startup and new business models, focusing on fintech and payment innovation, innovative project financing, regulation, compliance and risk management, and has trained a great number of individuals, corporations, authorities, and regulators. She is the founder of SmartCity Business, a company that aims to create smart laws and business models that can be used by smart cities to assess what value they offer citizens by integrating ICT and emerging technologies into their infrastructure and services, enabling the acceleration of change from smart cities to smart societies. She is also a non-executive Director of Rhea Legal Tech, a company that offers AI, machine learning, and automation solutions to the legal, regulatory, and supervisory industries. Christiana is the President of the CBA’s Technology Committee, a National Delegate to the ISO TC/307 Blockchain Committee actively contributing to Working Group 3 drafting standards on Smart Contracts and to Working Group 6 on Blockchain use cases. She is a member of ITU and has served in ITU-FG-DLTs. She is also a Certified International Legal Project Practitioner (IILPM), a member of the PMI Cyprus Chapter, an approved HRD Trainer, the Ambassador of European Legal Technology Association (ELTA) in Cyprus, and a Digital Transformation Specialist. Christiana is a co-founder, and, until recently, the Vice-Chair of the Cyprus Blockchain Association (CBA) which has recently merged with the Cyprus Blockchain Technologies (CBTs). She is currently a board member of CBTs and holds advisory and directorship positions in technology companies. Christiana is a regular speaker at local and international Law and Technology conferences. Christiana holds a Bachelor’s in Law from the Kapodistrian University of Athens, three (3) LL.M degrees: 1. in Common Law, 2. International Commercial and Business Law (UEA-UK) and 3. Computers and Telecommunications Law (Queen Mary-UoL). She also holds a Certificate in International Commercial Arbitration (Cologne-Germany), a certificate in Digital Currencies and a certificate in Decentralized Finance (DeFi), both from the University of Nicosia.
John Abraham
Chief Executive Officer at AEON Payment Technologies
John Abraham is a veteran in payments with over 30 years’ experience and has worked across multiple regions. He now manages one of the largest cards portfolios in the Middle East. CEO, of Aeon Payment Technologies Ltd.
Stella Ioannidou
Financial Market Infrastructures Policy and Oversight - Financial Market Infrastructures and Payments Department at Central Bank of Cyprus
Stella is a Fellow Chartered Accountant by background, with expertise in engagements covering financial audit, corporate finance and equity analysis.
Her extensive professional career at the Central Bank of Cyprus and at the European Central Bank is in the area of payments and markets. Stella participates in various EU fora, while chairing and coordinating national stakeholder groups. She has acquired a holistic view with respect to: (1) financial market integration in the euro area, with focus on retail payments and securities policy, as well as collateral management harmonisation initiatives, (2) oversight of different types of financial market infrastructures, payment instruments, schemes and arrangements, and (3) Eurosystem work-in-progress for the potential issuance of a digital euro.
.jpg)
Nicole Phinopoulou
Lawyer, Banking & Financial Services, Regulatory Corporate Sustainability Governance Specialist
Ms Phinopoulou, a qualified and licensed lawyer, with over 20 year professional expertise and qualifications in Company Corporate, Banking and Financial Services Laws. Nicole embraces enhanced practical knowledge and specialisation in Corporate Social Corporate Responsibility and Regulatory Sustainability Compliance and on implementation of Sustainable Development Goals
(17 SDGs).
Ms Phinopoulou is an Affiliate Member of Chartered Institute of Securities & Investment (CISI), Graduate of the Cambridge University Judge Business School (Circular Economy) and as from 2020 she is a Member of the Institute for Sustainability Leadership (University of Cambridge) focusing on matter of Sustainable Finance & Sustainability Strategies. On September 2022 was accredited by Human Resource Development Authority (Cyprus HRDA) as Vocational and Professional Training Trainer (SEP/CYQF/EQF5 (HRDA -EU project).
She served as independent Non -Executive Independent Director Member Board) at the Council of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) and at the Council of University of Cyprus. Since 2003 she is a registered member of the Cyprus Bar Association actively participating at the Companies, Tax Planning and Capital Markets Committee and for period 2015-2020 acted as nominated representative of the Cyprus Bar Association as the House of Parliament. Founding member of the Cyprus Corporate Social Responsibility Association (CSR Cyprus) (2015) (www.csrcyprus.org.cy) and Secretary (BOD) of the Non-Governmental Foundation Special Integrated Home Adults Mental Incapacity (Ε.Ο.Μ) (1993) (www.eomfoundation.org).
Antonia Michail
Deputy AMLCO at Nuvei
As the Deputy AMLCO of Nuvei (Nasdaq: NVEI) (TSX: NVEI), Antonia participates in the execution of the AML strategy of the Group and provides guidance and specialized training to management and global staff on AML and regulatory compliance matters. She has over 14 years of experience in the Financial services sector, including AML and Regulatory Compliance consulting, VASPs European Regulatory Framework, Data Protection, M&As, and Business Development. She has served as a Chapter leader and Board member in Decentralized Nicosia, a Blockchain related community that serves as an educational point about digital currencies, and Blockchain, and she has collaborated with various bodies within the crypto ecosystem. Antonia holds a BSc in Politics, an MBA, and an LLM in International Business, CySEC’s AML certification, as well as additional qualifications relating to Cryptocurrency and VASP's compliance.
George Karatzias
Vice Chairman at Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (Cysec)
George Karatzias is the Vice Chairman of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission. He led Alter Domus fund services in Cyprus until 31 December 2020, having joined in 2011. He also served as a board member and the vice-chairman of the Fund Administrators Committee of the Cyprus Investment Funds Association (CIFA). He was also a member of the Funds Committee of ICPAC (Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus). He is a Fellow member of ACCA and holds a Masters degree in Marketing and Financial Services from the University of Exeter. He has accumulated significant experience in international fund structuring, management as well as provision of ancillary, middle and back-office services including fund administration.
Evangelia Pefkou
GM of Risk and General Counsel at Novatti Group
Evangelia Pefkou is the General Counsel, Head of Risk and GM of Compliance for the publicly listed, leading payments provider Novatti Group Ltd. She joined the Novatti Group in 2016.
A Solicitor and a certified Risk and AML/CFT Specialist, Evangelia has the overall responsibility for designing, building, and maintaining the Group's Ethics, Risk, Legal and Compliance program and all its components. She is responsible for overseeing the company’s governance and strategy for global risk management and compliance, including relationships with key regulators and supervisory institutions worldwide. Evangelia is a member of the company’s executive management team.
Evangelia's team provides independent oversight and guidance for managing risk and ensuring compliance, including the development and implementation of risk management measures across the company. Her team leads efforts to build and sustain a strong culture in which all employees understand the importance of managing risk to deliver responsible growth and serve Novatti's customers, clients, and communities.
Evangelia holds a Bachelor of Laws and Postgraduate diplomas in International and e-Commerce Law. She is a member of the SRA (Society for Risk Analysis), CAMS, ICA, the International Bar Association and Law Society.
Ready To Hear Views From The Most Influential Payments & Regtech Experts?
#npf
