BOROUGH BENCH MEDIA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Payments Team at Wealthsimple
- Regulatory Research, Developments & Payments Innovation Wealthsimple
As a member of the Payments Team at Wealthsimple, Abdi is responsible for regulatory strategy relating to payments modernization and open banking. He represents Wealthsimple at the open banking consultations that include industry, government regulators, and consumer stakeholders. Abdi is also a board member at Open Finance Canada. He has experience in government, banking and tech sectors. He is passionate about giving back to the community and advancing financial inclusion.
A Man Utd fan from the South of England and former police officer, you'll find it hard to get hold of Adam as he's either on the phone, getting a proposal out or searching for the next best speaker.
Job Titles:
- Director of Financial Services
Job Titles:
- Vice President & Head of Product
Job Titles:
- Executive Director, Flowpath Strategic IT Advisory Services
Job Titles:
- Head of Open Banking at BBVA Spain
- Head of Open Banking BBVA Spain
Ana Climente is Head of Open Banking at BBVA Spain in charge of connecting with new ecosystems to promote partnerships with 3rd parties and developing new ways of distributing financial services through APIs. Before, she was Head of Digital transformation for enterprise clients at BBVA Spain leading the creation of solutions leveraged on data for enterprise clients to help them make better financial decisions.
Previously, Ana was Vice President of payments and collections in the transition to SEPA and was in charge of developing cash management solutions at BBVA. And has also represented BBVA and the Spanish financial sector in different EBA and EPC working groups.
Ana joined BBVA in 2005. Before that, she worked as strategy consultant at Accenture, specialized in B2B solutions for Europe, Middle East and Africa. She also started up Adquira, a leading Spanish procurement company.
Ana graduated in International Business Administration with a double degree in Spain and Germany in 1998.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- President
- President & Chief Executive Officer EQ Bank
Andrew joined Equitable Bank (TSX: EQB) as Chief Executive Officer in 2007. Andrew's focus in recent years has been in positioning Equitable Bank as "Canada's Challenger Bank". Andrew has been establishing EQ Bank as a leading digital banking player, with an easy to use mobile app that offers a unique combination of payments functionality and great savings rates. Equitable Bank is Canada's ninth largest schedule 1 bank with over $30 billion of assets under management. Equitable was a founding shareholder in Borrowell, and participates in the Portage ecosystem through an investment in Portage Funds giving the Bank a view into the Canadian fintech ecosystem.
Andrew is a keen observer of the challenger and neo bank community around the world. He is interested in how banks can lever technology to improve the societies in which they operate. He is a member of the Executive Council of the Canadian Bankers Association and Chairman of the Banks and Trust Companies Association. Andrew is a Director of Sleep Country Canada Inc. (TSX:ZZZ) and a member of the Smith School of Business Advisory Board at Queen's University.
Job Titles:
- Director, Innovation & Technology
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Financial Services & Cultural Markets Research
Job Titles:
- Strategic Advisor, Payments & Fintech
Job Titles:
- Head of Payments Products & Propositions Santander UK
Seasoned executive with deep expertise in financial services, covering Product Management, Sales, Innovation , Transformation, Strategy, Partnerships and Credit at Santander, Lloyds, Citi, HSBC and Rabobank. Incubated and scaled a start-up. A product evangelist and an innovator at heart, with the purpose to deliver sustainable and desirable growth for customers.
Brian is also known as Bridog by his two adult children and Grumps by his Grandson. When he isn't keeping his eye on the bottom line or steering us towards more growth, you can find him at Stamford Bridge watching a Chelsea FC match.
Job Titles:
- Vice President - Digital Transformation Catalysts - North America
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- President
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Founder
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Small Business Banking
Job Titles:
- General Manager, Cash Atlas Solutions
Christian is originally from East London. He now resides and works from his studio in Bushmills Northern Ireland with his fiancée Pam, Cockapoo Sadie and Ragdoll Cat Betsy. Time is spent being creative… and soaking up the amazing food… and the stunning coastline Bushmills offers. Life doesn't get much better.
David joined Raidiam, a company specialising in creating the world's smartest data sharing ecosystems, in January 2023 as Ecosystems Development Director.
David has been a passionate advocate of Open Banking since 2016 when he spent four years as the Commercial Director at The Open Data Institute leading their work on Open Banking, helping governments and regulators in Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Canada.
Most recently he was at the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) where, as Ecosystem Development Director, he led the team charged with growing and developing the Open Banking ecosystem. His key objective was to facilitate and encourage end user adoption of products and services powered by Open Banking. This included on-boarding new participants into the Directory, developing effective propositions to increase the adoption of Open Banking in the UK, and all OBIE marketing and events. By the time David left the OBIE, there were 90 banks and 250 fintechs using open banking to regularly share data from 7 million consumers and small business.
His nearly 30 years in data-driven insight and marketing have seen him work with many leading brands in multiple sectors and countries. In addition to working for some of the largest players in the data world such as Experian and Telefonica, David also ran his own boutique data insight business, Thinkdata, for 5 years before it was acquired by Bertelsmann.
David regularly speaks on the benefits and use cases for Open Finance at conferences in the UK and internationally, has co-authored a number of reports on Open Banking, and was interviewed on BBC TV on the day it officially launched in the UK in January 2018. In addition to his role with Raidiam, David is also Strategic Advisor, Open Banking for EML Payments, an Australian payments organisation with businesses in the UK, Ireland and across Europe.
Originally a classically trained musician, David has a Master's from Cambridge University and an MBA in Marketing.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Director Polymath Consulting
I have an in depth knowledge of Payments and Cards. In particular the company and myself are very well known for our work in E-money/prepaid cards and emerging payments covering areas such as mobile money/mobile wallets and Mpos. I have also worked extensively supporting and advising SMEs having been involved in SME payments projects since the early 2000. I have been involved in co-founding two companies involved with open banking; KYP and Konsentus.
I am increasingly active in Fintech and am currently holding a range of positions including Board NED, Board Advisor, Advisory Board, Investor in companies including: Hands In, KYP, Konsentus, Itemize, Edfundo, Swiipr and Unizest.
Job Titles:
- Independent Non - Executive Director
When she's not busy being the ‘face' of Open Banking Expo, Ellie likes to spend her time baking cakes, playing the piano, and being at the beck and call of her tabby cat Gary.
Job Titles:
- General Manager for North America at Ozone API
- General Manager, North America
Eyal Sivan Mr Open Banking Eyal Sivan, also known as Mr. Open Banking, is one of the foremost global experts in the open banking space. In his efforts to drive advancements in open banking worldwide, Eyal created the unique personal brand Mr. Open Banking. Under this persona, he hosts the only podcast dedicated to the open banking community, interviewing the key leaders, innovators and influencers who are driving the emergence of open banking around the globe. Since its launch in 2020, the podcast has grown to over 60 thousand subscribers, with Eyal being recognized by Open Future World as the number one Open Finance Influencer in the world for 2022. Today, Eyal is the General Manager for North America at Ozone API, global pioneers of open banking who's platform powers some of the largest and most advanced data sharing ecosystems on the planet. In his role, he is responsible for expanding the firm's global position as a leading open banking solution provider to the United States, Canada and beyond.
Job Titles:
- Director of Public Policy for Open Banking at BBVA
- Head of Public Policy for Open Banking BBVA Mexico
Gonzalo serves as the Director of Public Policy for Open Banking at BBVA since 2023. Prior to this, he held the position of Director of Public Policy for Latin America at Stripe until 2022.
With extensive experience in public affairs projects, public policy, and corporate relations, Gonzalo has been pivotal in shaping the public policy landscape for the European mobility company FreeNow (under the Beat brand), initially for Mexico and subsequently founding and leading the function and team across Latin America.
He has also been a consultant, the director of government relations practice, and the deputy country manager for the global consultancy firm Speyside Group, operating across Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Additionally, Gonzalo was the Director of Domestic Political Relations at the British Embassy in Mexico.
An esteemed university professor and political commentator across various media outlets, Gonzalo holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA) and has earned multiple advanced degrees: a Master's in International Public Management from Sciences Po Paris, a Master's in International Relations from the London School of Economics (LSE), and a Master's in Public Policy from the University of Bath.
Job Titles:
- Head of Integration & Information Services Barclays
Harcus Copper is Head of Integration and Information Services globally, responsible for SWIFT and Host-to-Host connectivity propositions, APIs and Open Banking for corporate clients and Non-Bank Financial Institutions. Harcus has over 26 years' experience in Cash Management developed over a number of roles covering multiple disciplines during his 31 years with Barclays.
Job Titles:
- Senior Director, Innovation
Job Titles:
- Channel Manager for Open Banking & Digital API
Job Titles:
- Director for Open Banking
- Director, Open Banking HSBC
Hetal is Director for Open Banking services provided globally across HSBC. He is accountable for delivering and operating the open banking solutions being required in markets across HSBC's global footprint. He also closely supports the businesses as they seek to develop propositions that use open banking to benefit customers.
Prior to this role he led front office commercial/corporate banking teams at Barclays, as well as heading strategy functions at both Lloyds and Barclays. He is a keen adopter of new technologies and all things digital.
Job Titles:
- Vice President International Open Banking Payments American Express
Holly is responsible for continuing to grow the UK business and creating the future vision and roadmap for Open Banking Payments globally. Holly is an accomplished, well-respected leader who is strategic and commercially focused in her approach. She has an entrepreneurial and partner centric outlook and is highly adept at working in the emerging fintech Open Banking space.
Jag Bhogal VP of Enterprise Architecture & Technology Innovation Coast Capital Savings As Chief Architect, I have led the Enterprise Architecture program at Coast Capital Savings on a transformational journey, building the architectural foundations required to innovate, grow and making game-changing contributions. Provided over 200 million dollars of architecture leadership. Led the advancement of the Enterprise Architecture team to work closer with the business to support strategy execution and provide architecture governance across the enterprise. Supported this advancement through trendspotting of emerging technologies to help advance business' strategy and governing and guiding technology and architecture across the organization. Helped drive innovative, cutting-edge investments in technology (Mobile, RPA, AI/ML, Data lake, API) to meet the changing needs of members and the changing landscape of financial services. Played a key role in the overhaul of all base technology including steering Digital transformation. Identified the critical need for roadmap planning, blueprint guidelines, marketplace trends analysis.
Job Titles:
- Chief Transformation Officer
Job Titles:
- Canadian Director Financial Data Exchange
- Canadian Technology Executive
Jason Chomik, a seasoned Canadian technology executive who has been active in the payments and digital transformation space for over 25 years. Jason is the Director of the FDX Canada working group to cultivate a culture of collaboration, communication, and technical inclusiveness within FDX between different market segments of the Canadian financial services ecosystem. Jason also serves as the primary FDX resource to FDX Canada members to make the FDX workflow more digestible, and to ensure that all FDX Canada members, regardless of firm size or resources, have the ability to meaningfully participate in FDX technical standards development.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Co - Founder
Job Titles:
- Project Manager
- Co - Founder, Deutsche Bank API Program Deutsche Bank
Joris Hensen is responsible for the client facing business of the Deutsche Bank API Program, which he co-founded in 2015. With more than 50 partnerships and a company-wide coverage of data-based products, Deutsche Bank is now one of the world's leading open banking players. The Developer Portal of Deutsche Bank gives partners quick and easy access to more than 40 API products, enabling them to connect personalized apps and services and thus open up new areas of value creation.
Joris' work includes brand and partnership development in the area of open banking as well as the expansion of internal processes and structures to accelerate the bank's digital transformation.
In his more than ten years at Deutsche Bank, Joris Hensen has worked as a project manager on various international projects. He became enthusiastic about innovations and trends early on and set up a corporate foresight program in which he developed future scenarios and innovation strategies for Deutsche Bank. He now regularly writes and publishes on the topics of foresight, innovation, and APIs.
In his spare time, Joris is committed to supporting entrepreneurial school and financial education as well as social entrepreneurship for more than 400,000 young students in India (www.karmaheld.de).
Job Titles:
- Head of Treasury Services
Judy Bei - Managing Director
Job Titles:
- Vice President Digital Payments & Open Banking
Job Titles:
- Chief Business Development Officer
- Chief Business Development Officer Pay.UK
Kate has worked in financial services for over 20 years. Through a number of diverse roles in marketing, product development, technology and payments, the common thread for Kate is the delivery of great customer journeys and solutions. Kate has a very strong focus on innovation, driven by consumer demand and global market movements. Kate actively works with Fintech companies and this has given her further insight into the types of problems that customers experience and how to go about providing relevant and meaningful solutions. Kate now leads the Strategy and Standards team at Pay.UK with the purpose of driving innovation in the payments ecosystem and enabling a vibrant UK economy.
Job Titles:
- Senior Technology Officer
Kelly goes to work for a break from her three lively children and is never happier than with a spreadsheet planning the next event launch, marketing campaign or holiday schedule.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Chief Executive Officer Boss Insights
Job Titles:
- Vice President Canada Payment Operations
Job Titles:
- Chairman, INED & Advisor / Chair, INED and Senior Advisor
, with wealth of global experience in finance & banking, data & tech, as well as governance, Lana helps businesses to scale and sustain growth. She works with digital businesses, driving an evolutionary shift with positive impact to economies and society. Currently Chair of the Board @Serene, iNED @Fyorin, Board Member @TFPA.
Scientist by education, strategist by experience and visionary by heart, Lana brings a distinctive mix of industry knowledge and technical expertise from decades of exec and non-exec experience, working with some of the world's most influential institutions across established and fast-growing economies.
An independent speaker and author, who occasionally speaks to the professional forums about technology evolution, how it is transforming industry sectors, changing consumer behaviour, influencing society and humanity. In her thought-provoking publications, she analysed current and historical trends, their impact on future market developments, as well as their systemic implications.
A professionally trained musical theatre artiste, Lillie keeps all the event operations and marketing plates spinning across the portfolio of Open Banking Expo events with a wide smile and an abundance of organised to do lists.
Mark Sam - Founder, Managing Director
Job Titles:
- SVP - Banking & Capital Markets Canada
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- President
- CEO and Founder of Finavator
- Chief Executive Officer & President Finavator & Open Finance Network Canada
Michelle Beyo is the CEO and Founder of Finavator an award winning payments and future of finance consultancy. Michelle brings 20+ years of expertise from across multiple industries including Payments, Loyalty, Telco, Digital Identity and Open Data. She is recognized as a global thought leader as was as TedX speaker and has spoken on stages worldwide,
Michelle is a Money20/20 RiseUp alumni & mentor, Advisory Board Member to Tillo Rewards and Executive advisor to Wellesley Hills Financial LLC a Boston Investment Bank. She is a Board Member and the President at Open Banking Network Canada OFNC, championing for data rights, transparency, and security in the financial landscape. She is also the creator and instructor for Finavator's Future of Finance Master Class https://www.finavatorfuturefinancemasterclass.com/
Michelle has been recognized for many awards including "Fintech Female Entrepreneur 2024 -North America" by Wealth & Finance International
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Chief Executive Officer Accelera Ecosystem
Michelle has prowess as a strategist, advisor, and systematic problem solver with nuanced experiences navigating the complexities of business growth in the 21st century. As an innovative entrepreneur, visionary, thinking partner, and advisor, Michelle Winsor has been relentlessly pursuing her dream of breaking down barriers to employment, growth in business and the access to affordable technology. She is passionate about inclusivity and fair competition. After consulting for some of the largest financial companies in North America, she founded Accelera; a company that aims to revolutionize the financial world. Accelera is Michelle's embodied passion to make technology flexible and accessible to businesses of all sizes. She believes in the power of creating an inclusive ecosystem of people, communities, and businesses through the collective will of organizations that have a desire to grow and build together for the future. Her powerful analytical mind, empathic leadership skills and resourcefulness drives Michelle to create extraordinary results.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Government Experience, Americas
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Client Innovation Solutions
Job Titles:
- Managing Director, Open Banking & Payments
Job Titles:
- Director, Digital Product & Strategy Open Banking & APIs
Job Titles:
- SVP Enterprise Risk and Chief Risk Officer at Vancity
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Enterprise Risk & Chief Risk Officer Vancity
Nez Aquino is the SVP Enterprise Risk and Chief Risk Officer at Vancity. Her team oversees the credit, legal services and enterprise risk management functions while supporting the organization to make timely, strategic decisions that help to deliver a differentiated member experience.
Nez has held progressive roles at Vancity over the last 15 years leading Finance, Payment Solutions, and Retail Banking prior to her role as the CRO. She is a Chartered Professional Accountant with over two decades of experience in banking. Prior to joining Vancity, Nez worked at the Bank of America's credit card division supporting the business performance of that organization. Nez is a Board Director at Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
Job Titles:
- Head
- Head of Product - Payments Allica Bank
Nida Sattar is currently Head of Product - Payments at Allica Bank, based in London. In this role, she is responsible for the development and roll-out of a new Current Account product for SME clients.
Prior to this, Nida led the International Payments Product team at ClearBank, where she was accountable for ClearBank's international expansion plans and product deliveries across payments and FX. She started her career at J.P. Morgan on the graduate scheme and made Vice President, with successes including launching J.P. Morgan's SEPA Instant offering. Nida is a frequent speaker at various industry forums, including EBADay, Innovate Finance, Women in Payments, Fintech Connect, etc, and was in the Women in Fintech Powerlist 2021 as well as the Money20/20 RiseUp Europe Cohort for 2022.
Nida has a Master of Arts in Land Economy from the University of Cambridge.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Chairman of the Open Finance Association
- Founder of Payments Solved a Consultancy
Nilixa is the chair of the Open Finance Association, an industry body representing the demand side of open banking and open finance.
Nilixa is also the founder of Payments Solved a consultancy advising on the regulatory framework open banking and open finance. Digital assets, CBDC and payment services both in the UK and globally. Nilixa is an experienced regulatory expert and lawyer with a Masters in European Competition Law and over 20 years of banking and payments experience gained from her time at Barclays, the FCA, the European Banking Authority and as Head of Regulatory at the Open Banking Implementation Entity. Nilixa has worked extensively with the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the World Bank and regulators across the globe. Nilixa has represented the UK and FCA on various EU and UK level committees including the ECB SecurePay Forum, the EU API Evaluation Group, the UK Payment Strategy Forum, the ECB Market Advisory Group for a Digital Euro and currently sits on the EU Payments Systems Experts Group and Data Expert Group. Nilixa is a well know public speaker and works with industry, regulators and legislators to drive changes in the financial services ecosystem for services that are secure, transparent and inclusive.
Job Titles:
- Director for Digital Technology & Innovation UK Finance
Phillip is currently employed as Principal Adviser to UK Finance, the trade body for the financial services industry, with a portfolio including payments policy and open banking.
Before that, Phillip worked at the Local Government Association leading on local government finance and public service reform. And at HM Treasury in a variety of policy roles, including leading policy reviews (the Independent Commission on Local Government Finance and Russell Commission on Youth Volunteering) and as the Budget Project Manager.
On secondment from the Treasury, he was CEO of the Giving Campaign, a national partnership between government and the voluntary sector to encourage charitable giving.
Phillip has a degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and a Master's degree from Loughborough University.
Job Titles:
- Principal Banker for North America
Job Titles:
- Business Development Executive
Former international badminton player and published academic, Ross now spends his time turning contacts into contracts. When he's not working you can find him at any type of sporting event or listening to his favourite playlist on Spotify "Country Top 50".
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Executive
- Senior Advisor
- Senior Advisor Accuracy
Roy Kao is a recognized executive, advisor, and dot connector in Canadian financial services transformation and fintech innovation development with over 25 years of leadership, advisory, and entrepreneurial experience.
He is currently a Senior Advisor at Accuracy, a global boutique advisory firm, and serves as an Advisory Board Member for Open Banking Expo as well as a Board Member at both Fintech Cadence and Open Finance Network Canada (OFNC).
Previously, Roy held leadership roles in consulting, innovation and policy advisory, and at a fintech startup driven by the common mission to elevate financial inclusion and literacy and enhance the delivery of financial services.
Job Titles:
- Vice President & Senior Counsel, Innovation Policy
Job Titles:
- SVP Chief Strategy, Product & Innovation Officer
Samantha Tom - Chief Legal Officer, VP
Job Titles:
- General Counsel
- Vice President
Job Titles:
- Director Strategy, Emerging Businesses
Shekher Puri Vice President Digital Components & Platforms RBC As a leader with Canada's largest Financial Institution, Shekher began his career at RBC in 2002, where he joined the branch network and held several leadership roles, including Regional Vice President, Integrated Markets, in GTR. He also brings experience from working in leadership roles at the Advice Centre, RBC Insurance and Mutual Funds Distribution. In 2019, Shekher took on leadership of the Digital Identity, Security, Access, APIs and Open Banking team, which has launched several industry-leading solutions that are being used across RBC Channels and Businesses, for example, North America's first Digital Identity Verification solution in 2020. In his current role, Shekher is responsible for identifying, building, and deploying critical re-usable digital patterns, assets, and components to drive digital engagement, bionic sales, and strategic reuse. Shekher is accountable for scaling the manufacturing of re-usable components and rethinking how RBC manages digital capabilities. Shekher continues to also lead the Digital Identity, Access & Security, and Open Banking/APIs strategy for RBC.
Job Titles:
- Director, Open Banking Strategy
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Enterprise Data Protection & Third Party Management
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Executive Director FDATA North America
- President and Founder of Allon Advocacy, LLC
Steve Boms, President and founder of Allon Advocacy, LLC, has two decades of experience working inside government, public and private companies, trade organizations, and the technology industry, and assists organizations as they engage with policymakers in Washington, across the country, and around the world. Steve has spent his career focused on complex financial services public policy issues, having worked in the United States Congress on the committee with jurisdiction over banking issues. He has led advocacy efforts and public policy teams globally for equity options exchanges, large U.S.-based financial institutions, and leading fintech firms. A recognized expert in the partnership between financial technology and public policy, Steve has testified before the United States Senate, the Senate of Canada, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development regarding financial services and technology.
In addition to working directly with Allon Advocacy's clients, he is a frequent conference panelist and his perspective is frequently solicited by reporters on the technology, financial services, and regulatory beats.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Enterprise Payments Strategy Leader
Job Titles:
- Head of Innovation & Digital
Job Titles:
- Associate Vice President, Payments, Client Experience & Technology ATB Financial
- Managing Director in ATB 's Payments
Victoria is a Managing Director in ATB's Payments and Banking Products team, supplying solutions for ATB's 815,000 clients. In addition to setting the direction and leading the team accountable for ATB's card solutions, and co-elevating ATB's payments strategy, Victoria is leading the working committee to enable ATB's open banking strategy.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Head of Digital Strategy & Planning for Canadain Personal Banking