Speakers

Olof Mankert is the Group Chief Risk Officer for NOBA Bank Group, encompassing Nordax Bank, Bank Norwegian, and Svensk Hypotekspension, with 17+ years of experience in the banking sector. He has been the Group CRO of NOBA since 2016 and has previously served as Chief Compliance Officer, Legal Counsel and Treasury Analyst. Olof has experience in risk management, compliance, and treasury functions, including handling IPOs, M&A transactions, and developing risk frameworks. He has led risk management functions through significant transformations, emphasizing a people-centric approach and practical risk management strategies. 

Alexander Schulz is Deputy Director General Banking and Financial Supervision at the Bundesbank. Before, he was Head of Division "Regulation and Standards" and worked on the Basel III package and other regulatory dossiers. As Head of Division "Risk Analysis" he led work in the areas stresstesting, ex ante impact studies and ex post evaluation as well as risk monitoring and assessment. Prior to that Alexander contributed the development of macroprudential policies in Germany and Europe and worked on capital market issues from a monetary policy perspective. Alexander has represented the Bundesbank in numerous international fora. He has a focus on translating research insights into supervisory practice and a strong interest in leadership culture.


 

Experienced principal supervisor with a demonstrated history of working in various banking industry positions. Strong professional, focusing on technology and cyber risks, cloud services, digital and crypto assets (incl. stablecoins and CBDC), fintech implications in the banking sector, as well as EU policy developments on digital finance, artificial intelligence and data management. Technology-oriented studies linked with an MBA and vast experience on risk-based supervision/audit, policy analysis & making, innovation, fintech, regtech, suptech, payments, regulatory compliance, combining the best of both worlds. Thomas is a passionate advocate for cyber risk awareness and resilience, and he is excited to share his knowledge and insights.

Susi Sweys rejoined UBS in June 2023 as Treasury Chief Risk Officer, after a short tenure at Credit Suisse during the height of the crisis where she was the Treasurer for CS AG and Global Head of Liquidity and Funding. Prior to that, Susi spent 16 years at UBS across the Investment Bank and Finance covering a variety of trading, asset and liability management, and treasury roles in Switzerland and APAC. 

Klaus Duellmann is Head of SSM Risk Analysis Division within Directorate General Micro-Prudential Supervision IV of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. Until May 2014 he was Head of Supervisory Coordination and Risk Analysis Division and Head of Banking Supervision Research in the central office of the Deutsche Bundesbank in Frankfurt. Currently his main areas of work are related to horizontal risk assessments of SSM banks, in particular supervisory stress tests. He has a PhD in Finance from the University of Mannheim.

Matthias Fahrenwaldt works in the Quantitative Risk Modelling department of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) in Bonn. Besides supervising market risk models at significant institutions he runs projects for developing AI/ML regulation jointly with other supervisors/regulators. Holding mathematics degrees from Cambridge University and a history degree from the University of Oxford, Matthias also completed two PhDs in theoretical mathematics and history. He is a qualified actuary and held managerial positions at KPMG and McKinsey before working in academia for ten years. His last position prior to joining the regulator was Associate Professor of Actuarial Science at Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh. Matthias has almost twenty years of experience in the financial sector serving banking and insurance groups as a consultant and academic. For his research contributions he was awarded several national and international prizes, and he is Affiliated Professor of Actuarial Science at the University of Copenhagen.

Stefano Chiarlone manages 250 finance professionals, including the chief financial officers and finance areas of five subsidiaries: asset and liability management of the Italian book (liquidity, pricing and strategy), active credit portfolio and capital management (securitisation, origination discipline, data/product steering, regulatory interpretation), strategic planning and budgeting (costs, revenues and capital), accounting, and statistical reporting. He leads strategic projects across UniCredit Italia. 

After graduating from University of Pavia in 1997 with a degree in business and economics, Stefano Biondi started to work as a junior risk manager for JP Morgan, first in Milan and then in London. Soon afterward he joined ABN AMRO Bank and subsequently moved to Amsterdam as senior credit risk manager in charge of trading counterparty credit risk management. 

During his 5 years stint at ABN AMRO Bank, Biondi also worked on the implementation of a bank-wide credit risk portfolio modelling system as well as a risk reporting tool. Following that experience at ABN AMRO he came back to London to accept a role as head of credit risk analytics and portfolio reporting at Standard Bank of South Africa in charge, among other things, of implementing the internal model for the Basel 2 FIRB project. In January 2007 Biondi returned to Italy where he joined Banca Mediolanum as head of risk control with group-wide risk management responsibilities. In 2011 he undertook an executive master in business and banking administration at Bocconi University. In 2014 Biondi took, within risk management of Banca Mediolanum, the responsibility for quantitative modelling, reporting and group wide coordination. In April 2018 became head of risk management for Banca Mediolanum reporting to the group chief risk officer. In March 2020, Biondi became group chief risk officer for Banca Mediolanum. 

Read our interview with Michaela here

Corinna Schempp is developing and implementing FIA Europe's political and regulatory engagement strategy with elected officials, regulatory agencies and other key policymakers, in each case in the UK, the European Economic Area and Switzerland, in close coordination with the FIA policy staff and the head of Europe. Leading the Brussels office, she is also involved in evaluating pending legislation; surveys legislations’ impact on the organization; develops the organization’s response to legislation.

Schempp joined the organisation in September 2014 from LCH.Clearnet Limited where she was a senior regulatory advisor in the compliance and regulation team. Previously, her responsibilities covered regulatory compliance in relation to LCH.Clearnet’s SwapClear business, including liaison with the Bank of England, CFTC, Ontario Securities Commission, AMF Quebec, BaFin and other international regulators. During Schempp's time at the clearing house, she also worked closely with the legal team to provide support on European and US regulatory issues, including the implementation of Dodd-Frank and associated CFTC regulations across LCH.Clearnet impacted business units. Prior to joining LCH.Clearnet in May 2011, Schempp, a dual qualified lawyer, was legal and regulation manager at London Stock Exchange’s equity derivatives business, formerly known as EDX London. She holds a post-graduate diploma in European Union law from Kings College, London, as well as law degrees from Germany.

Eric Schaanning is Nordea’s Group Head of Market and Valuation Risk, covering both Trading and Banking Books. Before joining Nordea, Eric held the position of Head of Group Banking Book Risk at UBS & Credit Suisse. Prior to joining UBS / Credit Suisse, Eric held various positions at the European Central Bank and Norges Bank, covering Stress Testing, Macroprudential Policy, Cyber Risk and Central Clearing among others. Eric holds a PhD in Mathematics from Imperial College London and an MSc in Mathematics from ETH Zürich.

 Luke Thomas is head of risk for European private credit at BlackRock, with a focus on direct lending, venture and growth finance, and credit opportunities including SRTs. Luke and his team work to ensure investment risks are fully explored and consistent with product strategy and client appetite, utilising a range of tools to evaluate everything from specific transaction risks to broad platform-level stress testing. Luke joined Blackrock from a specialist credit fund investing in CLO equity and credit opportunities, having previously held a range of different roles across the private markets.

Since August 2023, Thilo Schweizer has served as Commerzbank’s Head of Public Affairs, based in Berlin. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing the bank’s entire public affairs operations, which include the departments of “Issue Management & Liaison Offices” and “Reputational Risk Management.” His team is strategically located in Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, and Washington, D.C.

Thilo's expertise in public affairs builds on his prior experience as Commerzbank's Head of European Affairs. From 2018 to 2023, while based in Brussels, he managed relations with European Union institutions, the offices of EU member states, trade associations, and other financial institutions. Before his Brussels tenure, Thilo was seconded to the Institute of International Finance (IIF) in Washington, D.C., where he served as a Policy Advisor in the Regulatory Affairs Department from 2012 to 2018. During his six years at the IIF, he primarily focused on cross-border resolution issues and the international regulation of asset managers (NBFIs).

Earlier in his career at Commerzbank, Thilo was a relationship manager in the Corporates & Markets division, where he was responsible for public-sector clients. In this role, he enhanced client relations with German state-level and federal governments, as well as with European Union institutions. His advisory work at Commerzbank was underpinned by a decade of experience in the Equity Capital Markets department, where he was responsible for the Steel & Capital Goods sector and coordinated with Commerzbank’s subsidiary in Poland. He facilitated transactions for major clients, including ThyssenKrupp AG, Linde AG, and Grupa Lotos S.A.

Before joining Commerzbank in 2001, Thilo served as an assistant to the CEO at Stadtsparkasse Köln, Germany’s largest municipal savings bank at the time, before moving to its Corporate Finance Department. Thilo holds a diploma in Economics and a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Cologne.

For the past decade, I have been working on regulatory products in the area of credit risk, with an initial focus on modelling (EBA “IRB repair” and benchmarking programs). I have also contributed to the finalisation of the Basel 3 standards and its implementation in the EU banking regulatory package (CRR 3). 
Currently, I am coordinating the work on credit risk in relation to the mandates arising from CRR 3. This covers the new provisions in the standardised approach, such as specifications on off-balance-sheet items and the risk weighting of exposures related to real estate. On the modelling side, the focus is on the recognition of credit insurance in the framework, the revision of the definition of default and the modelling of credit conversion factors (CCF).
 

Prior joining Amundi, Hamza’s spent 12 years with Natixis Asset Management. His latest role was Head of Engineering and Quantitative Research at Seeyond, the active quantitative portfolio management arm of Natixis Investment Managers.

He started his career in 2004 at AON Hewitt Associates as Financial Engineer in the Investment Consulting department.

Hamza holds a Ph.D in management science (Quantitative Finance) DRM Finance and a Research Master Degree in Finance from University of Paris Dauphine, and a Master Degree in Applied Statistics and Actuarial Science from CNAM- ENSAE.

Joost Dijkers is the Head of Risk Management of Transtrend, a Rotterdam-based Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA). After having obtained a Master's degree in Applied Physics from Delft University of Technology, he decided to start a career in financial services. One year at insurance company Achmea was more than enough to learn that the actuarial profession didn't suit him. But how different it was when he joined Transtrend, where he felt immediately at home. He joined as a Research Analyst in 2006 and never left. In 2013, he was asked to set up an independent Risk Management department, which he still heads. With his team of four, he covers all aspects of risk management, whether operational, strategic or financial, in close contact with first line risk owners. Together, they serve a range of international clients, with currently around 6 billion USD assets under management.

Stefan Wlaschiha is the head of Market Risk in the Banking Book for Deutsche Bank responsible for the coverage of Treasury, Private Bank, and Corporate Bank.  With over 20 years of experience in the financial industry, Stefan has worked in various risk management roles in Frankfurt, New York, London, and Berlin gaining expertise across all the major asset classes.  He has played an instrumental role in developing Deutsche Bank's banking book market risk framework including Interest Rate Risk & Credit Spread Risk in the Banking Book (IRRBB & CSRBB), pension risk & portfolio stress tests and market risk economic capital models.

As a Market Risk Manager at Intesa Sanpaolo, I lead the development and implementation of market risk methodologies that comply with both current and upcoming regulatory requirements, such as Basel 2.5, FRTB, and ICAAP. With over 10 years of experience in the banking industry, I have a strong background in financial risk management, banking balane sheet optimization, analytical skills and team leadership

I also support the business line with quantitative and qualitative reporting for RWA optimization, addressing the impact of the new regulatory landscape on business models. Additionally, I actively participate in industry meetings and advocate on behalf of the bank for FRTB implementation. My mission is to drive market risk innovation and optimization at Intesa Sanpaolo, one of the leading European banking groups. I'm also a Lecture in Derivative Security Pricing class at UCSC Milan (undergrad level).

Bülent Karakaya is the managing director and ESG principal at Commerzbank AG, and his 25 years of experience have propelled him into a leadership role as a senior banking executive and university lecturer. He studied Business Administration in Würzburg and San Diego, USA, and has been with Commerzbank since 2008. Throughout his tenure, he has held various positions across all bank mandates, ranging from direct client engagement as a product specialist in Capital Markets to serving in the Internal Audit function with global corporate client responsibility. Currently, he is the ESG Principal in the Corporate Clients segment, where he has successfully integrated sustainability into all line functions of the corporate bank. His global responsibilities include strategy, steering, target setting, client engagement, and governance, making him the first point of contact for internal and external stakeholders regarding the corporate clients segment. In addition to his corporate role, Bülent Karakaya has been a university lecturer since 2010, specialising in banking, finance, and investments, focusing on risk management and corporate treasury. He is 46 years old, married with two children, and is a sports enthusiast with a UEFA coaching license.

Jacek Rzeźnik has over 13 years of risk management experience. Currently works as a Deputy Director in Balance Sheet Risk Management at mBank (#4 Bank in Poland, 70% owned by Commerzbank). He has been heading up teams responsible for market risk, interest rate risk in the banking book and liquidity risk. He’s got a vast experience in risk analysis & governance, stress testing, contingency planning, as well as various ALM, FTP and regulatory topics. He is a member of Risk Committee, ALCO and ALM Committee.

Prior to joining mBank, he had spent 9 years at JP Morgan Chase in Global Credit Risk Management in London. In his last role, as a Vice President, he was responsible for counterparty credit risk for a portfolio of FI & Sovereign clients from Emerging Markets. His experience included credit risk assessment, portfolio reviews, credit restructuring, trade approvals, structured derivatives, trade finance, Islamic Finance and loan transaction structuring and execution.

Jacek holds a MSc. in Management and Regulation of Risk from London School of Economics and a BSc. in International Business Administration from RSM Erasmus University. In 2018 nominated as Future Leader in Finance by Institute of International Finance. He regularly runs training courses and presents at ALM, IRRBB, Liquidity & Funding Risk conferences in London, Vienna and Warsaw. He is a co-author of “A guide to behavioural modelling” published by Risk Books.

Over 30 years’ experience in the financial industry,  sustainable track record of building up new teams for risk and control functions. Worked for Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, New York and for the last 12 years based in Berlin. Mainly involved in the setup and built out of DB Risk Centre GmbH in Berlin being the Executive Director until the legal entity got merged into Deutsche Bank AG in 2015. Since 2018 intense focus on Third Party Risk Management, ongoing optimization and strategic development of existing teams and processes in alignment with increased complexity and regulatory demand around that topic. 

Mariam Arzumanyan is a Head of Operational Risk Service at Ameriabank, a leading bank in Armenia. Mariam graduated from Armenian State University of Economics (ASUE) with honor and gained Bachelor’ and Master’s degree of Economics in the field of Finance and Credit. She started her professional career when she was a postgraduate student and her expertise in financial sector spans over 13 years, nearly 10 years out of which she has been employed in Risk Management Department of Ameriabank [a leading bank in Armenia]. Mariam has authored number of scientific articles in finance and worked as assistant professor of risk management in ASUE. Mariam has attended different international conferences and courses earning achievement certificates. Mariam has led the implementation of a robust non-financial risk management framework at the Bank. This framework now encompasses key non-financial risk areas, such as IT Risk, Operational Risk, Third-Party Risk, and Business Continuity Planning to identify the business proactively identifies, assesses, and mitigates potential threats within and beyond the financial sphere. Her scope of professional duties includes improving risk management frameworks, strengthening controls and enabling profitable growth with the Bank’s risk appetite.

An expert in the field of sanctions and embargoes. He has more than 15 years of experience in the financial market. Has worked in leading banks in Germany for more than 10 years. Closely involved in AML and S&E topics. Experience in managing teams, supporting projects as an expert, participating in the implementation and improvement of IT systems. Cooperates with authorities (OFAC, European Commission, Bundesbank) responsible for sanctions issues. Member of a group consisting of representatives of the largest German banks.

Jeff Simmons joined MUFG Bank in June 2014 as the head of enterprise risk, tasked with creating the function. He has been involved intensively with the enhancement of the risk management framework in MUFG Bank (Europe). This has involved him in the formation of an enterprise risk function in Amsterdam tasked with delivering the full range of regulatory submissions.  In April 2018, Simmons transitioned to MUFG Securities to become involved in the Brexit project. In this capacity he is the chief risk officer for MUFG Securities (Europe) N.V. the Dutch subsidiary of MUFG Securities (EMEA).

Prior to joining the bank, Simmons spent some 20 years specializing in best practice risk management including market risk, credit risk, risk model validation and regulatory risk consulting. As well as having line management responsibilities in various institutions he has also gained extensive experience in implementing risk management frameworks from both a technical and operating model-based perspective.

Erik Vynckier is board member of Foresters Friendly Society, general partner of InsurTech Venture Partners and chair of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, following a career in investment banking, insurance, asset management and the petrochemical industry. He co-founded European Union initiatives on high performance computing and big data in finance, and co-authored High-performance computing in finance and Tercentenary essays on the philosophy and science of Leibniz.  Erik holds a master of business administration from the London Business School and as chemical engineer from Universiteit Gent.

Justin McCarthy has worked in risk, complinace and leadership roles in many firms, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, PwC, Ulster Bank (RBS/NatWest) and with the Irish financial regulator at the Central Bank of Ireland. This work has allowed him to see the changes in risk management and compliance since through and beyond the recent global financial crisis. His work on the PRISM risk-based supervision framework with the Irish regulator included exposure to banking, funds and insurance risk practices as well as the quantitative work done on the related impact models and the challenge in feeding valid financial data to these models.

McCarthy is chief executive officer of the Professional Risk Managers' International Association (PRMIA). This is a global risk management professional body and education organization for risk managers based in the United States with a network of over 45,000 in over 60 chapters around the world. Previous to this, he spent several years as a senior volunteer for PRMIA, serving on many committees and ultimately chairing the global board.

He has a BSc in computer science from University College Cork and an MBA from the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business at University College Dublin. He has a corporate director certificate from Harvard Business School.

Samuel Wilkes is the deputy editor of Risk.net’s regulation desk, based in London. Sam graduated from the University of Hull with a bachelor’s degree in history.

With over a decade of experience spanning continents, Emma has transformed industry conferences into must-attend experiences.  As the Head of Events, Europe at Risk.net, she orchestrates high-impact conferences that connect the brightest minds in risk management across the globe. 

Prior to joining Risk, he reported on the futures and foreign exchange industries for Dow Jones' Financial News and the Euromoney group of publications. Osborn holds a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Warwick.

Sebastian de Quant is the Country Risk Lead for EFG International, a Zürich based private bank and asset manager. He has worked as an Economist at UBS and at the ECB, where he advised Financial Stability task forces and Governing Council members on macroeconomic and financial stability topics. He was also the lead EMEA strategist for a boutique investment advisory firm in DC, serving US macro hedge funds, and has served as a Geopolitics Fellow for the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). Sebastian earned a master’s degree in international economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Bologna and Washington, DC. He received his BA from University College London.