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Now in its 19th consecutive year, the European Financial Services Conference is widely considered as the major event in the Brussels calendar on financial services, annually attracting some 400 senior bankers and financial policymakers to discuss the most pertinent issues affecting European and global financial markets.
Hosted by Barclays, Generali and Kreab, this year’s conference is planned to take place on 15 June 2021 in a hybrid format, combining a virtual event with a limited live element in Brussels. As we continue on the pathway out of the crisis, the conference will explore the vision for the next generation European financial system.
Building back better – Opportunities and challenges ahead
Mainstreaming ESG
CBDC – The future of the digital euro
Europe and the emerging new global partnerships
Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice President, 'An Economy that Works for People' European CommissionValdis Dombrovskis is the European Commission’s executive vice-president for an economy that works for people. Between 2014 and 2019, he was vice-president responsible for the Euro and Social Dialogue, also in charge of Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union.
Previously, he served as Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia for three consecutive terms from 2009 to 2014, becoming the longest serving elected Head of government in Latvia’s history.
Before that, Dombrovskis was elected twice as a Member of the European Parliament as part of the Europeans People’s Party (EPP) Group. He was also Head of the Latvian Delegation in the EPP Group.
He served as a Member of the Saeima, the Latvian Parliament in 2004 and in 2014. He also served as Minister of Finance from 2002 to 2004. Previously, he worked as a senior economist and chief economist at the Bank of Latvia from 1998 to 2002.
Dombrovskis holds a BA in physics from the University of Latvia and in economics from Riga University of Technology. He also holds an MA degree in physics in from the University of Latvia.
Executive Vice President 'An Economy that Works for People', European Commission
Gabriele Galatari di Genola, Group Chairman, GeneraliGabriele Galateri di Genola was appointed Chairman of Assicurazioni Generali on 8 April 2011. He was reappointed Chair by the Board of Directors on 7 May 2019 and he fully entered in charge on 23 May 2019, when the new article 29.1 of the Articles of association entered into force.
He holds a degree in Law and an MBA from Columbia University. He was appointed CEO of IFIL in 1986 and CEO and General Manager of IFI in 1993; subsequently, in 2002, he was appointed CEO of Fiat. From 2003 to June 2007 he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mediobanca. From 2003 to 2010 he was Vice-Chairman and a member of the Board of Directors of Generali. From 2007 to 2011 he was Chairman of Telecom Italia S.p.A., where he was a member of the Board of Directors until April 2014.
Group Chairman,
Generali
Kevin Wall, CEO, Barclays EuropeKevin joined Barclays Bank Ireland PLC in May 2017 as Chief Executive Officer. Kevin previously served as Chairman of Corporate Banking and Vice Chairman, Investment Banking for Barclays based in London. He is a shareholder non-executive director of the Business Growth Fund in the U.K. Kevin joined Barclays as a graduate and has held client and product leadership roles in corporate and investment banking as well as in strategic planning and Human Resources. He has worked in the U.S., Australia, Asia and the U.K. Barclays Bank Ireland had responsibility for the Barclays Groups European branches and businesses, with Dublin housing Barclays European Head Office Functions. Kevin graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Accounting and Financial Analysis from Warwick University.
CEO, Barclays Europe
Javier Pérez-Tasso, CEO, SWIFTPrior to this he was Chief Executive, Americas & UK region since September 2015. In this position, he significantly deepened SWIFT’s engagement model with global transaction banks and successfully delivered business development results in high-growth markets. He was also an Executive sponsor of SWIFT’s Customer Security Programme from 2016 to 2018, helping to formulate and lead SWIFT’s response to the growing cyber challenge facing the community.
Pérez-Tasso joined SWIFT in 1995 and held a number of position including as Chief Marketing Officer, a role in which he was responsible for developing SWIFT’s current five-year strategy. The SWIFT2020 strategy he defined has led to the co-operative’s renewed focus on cross-border payments, expansion into financial crime compliance and deeper presence in the market infrastructures area, including its entry into instant payments. Earlier in his career, Pérez-Tasso held a number of technology and leadership positions in business development in regional offices in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
CEO, SWIFT
Danuta Maria Hübner, Member, European ParliamentProfessor Danuta Hübner is a Polish economist, academic and policy maker. Born in 1948, she received her Masters degree from the Foreign Trade Department at the Warsaw School of Economics (1971) and a PhD in 1974. She is still teaching at the Warsaw School of Economics and was awarded honorary doctorates in economies and law by several universities including Sussex University and Economic University in Poznan.
Before becoming an advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister in Poland in 1994, she has been engaged in building the new Polish economy after communism. As a Polish Advisor, Vice-Minister or Minister, she has promoted a new approach to industrial policy as well as the development to prepare Poland’s entry in the European Union and in the OECD. Ms. Hubner became the first Polish Minister for European Affairs and the first Polish member of the European Commission (regional policy).
Since 2009, she has been a Member of the European Parliament, where she uses her experience in international institutions, for instance as Undersecretary General for the United Nations (Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva between 1998 and 2000).
Member, European Parliament
Jörg Kukies, State Secretary for Financial Market Policy and European Policy, Federal Ministry of Finance GermanyJörg Kukies serves as state secretary for financial market policy and European policy at the German Federal Ministry of Finance, a position he has held since 2018. Previously, he was co-chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs AG and managing director of the Frankfurt branch of Goldman Sachs International from 2014 to 2018. Kukies has also served as head of equity derivatives for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, for Goldman Sachs International from 2011 to 2014.
Kukies has a Ph.D. in finance from the University of Chicago, an MPA from John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and BA in Economics from Pantheon-Sorbonne University, Paris.
State Secretary for Financial Market Policy and European Policy, Federal Ministry of Finance Germany
Mary Schapiro, Vice Chair for Global Public Policy, Bloomberg, Head of TCFD Secretariat and Vice Chair of CFLIMary L. Schapiro is the Vice Chair for Global Public Policy of Bloomberg, the global financial technology company that was founded in 1981. She has been at Bloomberg since October 2018, and also serves as a Special Advisor to the Founder and Chairman.
Ms. Schapiro, who has had a distinguished career as a financial services regulator under four U.S. presidents from both political parties, oversees Bloomberg’s
public policy and regulatory priorities globally. Her service as the 29th SEC Chair culminated decades of regulatory leadership. She was the first woman to serve as SEC Chair, and the only person to have served as chair of both the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. During her four years as SEC Chair, Ms. Schapiro presided over one of the busiest rulemaking agendas in the SEC’s history, during which the agency also executed a comprehensive restructuring program to improve protections for investors and pursued aggressive enforcement of the federal securities laws.
Ms. Schapiro also serves as an advisor to Bloomberg in multiple capacities, including as a leader for two groups chaired by Michael R. Bloomberg. The first group – the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures – has developed and garnered wide spread support for a voluntary framework for corporate disclosure of climate-related risk information to help investors, lenders, underwriters and others make informed financial decisions. The second group – the Working Group on U.S. RMB Trading and Clearing – supports the internationalization of China’s currency in order to improve the competitiveness and efficiency of U.S. businesses by lowering trading costs and improving access to China’s markets. The third is the Climate Finance Leadership Initiative.
Before becoming SEC Chair and working for Bloomberg, Ms. Schapiro served as chief executive officer of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the largest nongovernmental regulator of securities firms. Earlier, she was Chair of the CFTC from 1994 to 1996, a commissioner of the SEC from 1988 to 1994, and general counsel of the Futures Industry Association. She serves on the board of both Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), and CVS Health (NYSE: CVS). She previously served on the board of GE and the London Stock Exchange. She is also a member of the governing board of the Center for Audit Quality and serves on advisory boards at the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Vice Chair for Global Public Policy, Bloomberg, Head of TCFD Secretariat and Vice Chair of CFLI
Andrew McDowell, Vice President, European Investment BankAndrew McDowell is one of the eight Vice Presidents of the EIB who, together with President Werner Hoyer, form the Management Committee that runs the bank on a day- to-day basis.
Vice President McDowell has oversight of the Bank’s treasury, economics and evaluation functions, as well as lending operations in energy and the bioeconomy. He was the Vice President responsible for the development of the EIB’s new Energy Lending Policy that has committed the EIB to become the first major multilateral financing institution to end support for unabated fossil-fuel energy projects. He has also been an active participant in the European Battery Alliance, helping to align EIB’s financing activities with the goal of building a sustainable battery value chain in Europe.
He is also responsible for institutional relations with 10 European and 14 Asian countries.
Prior to joining the EIB in 2016, Andrew was Chief Economic Adviser to Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny from 2011, co-ordinating the policies that supported Ireland’s recovery from the economic crisis and sovereign bail-out, and Chief Economist of Forfas (from 2000), Ireland’s industrial policy advisory body. He took undergraduate and post- graduate studies in business, economics, finance and international relations from University College Dublin and John Hopkins University.
Vice President, European Investment Bank
Jane Ambachtsheer, Global Head of Sustainability, BNP Paribas Asset ManagementJane Ambachtsheer oversees the firm’s ambitious approach to sustainable investment. This is empowered by the firm’s Sustainability Centre, which undertakes innovative research and policy development, guides BNPP AM’s investment stewardship and industry engagement activities, and supports investment teams in accessing, integrating and reporting on ESG factors. On the business side, Jane is responsible for BNPP AM’s Corporate Social Responsibility (‘CSR’) approach, ensuring the firm’s day-to-day activities reflect the high standards it expects from companies. Jane is a member of BNPP AM’s Global Investment Committee and Business Management Committees, and reports to the Head of Investments, Rob Gambi.
Previously, Jane spent 18 years with global investment consultancy Mercer, where she was Partner and founder of the firm’s Responsible Investment business. Jane regularly researches, writes and speaks on topics addressing the intersection of sustainability and climate with finance and investment. She is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto and a Research Affiliate at the University Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, and holds a Master of Social Science from the University of Amsterdam and a Bachelor of Economics and English Literature with honours from York University.
Global Head of Sustainability, BNP Paribas Asset Management
Verena Ross, Executive Director, ESMAVerena Ross is the Executive Director of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). She was appointed to the role in March 2011 and joined ESMA on 1 June 2011. She is the first Executive Director of the organisation and forms part of the senior management team along with the Chair of ESMA. The Executive Director has responsibility for the day-to-day running of the organisation.
Prior to this, Verena held a number of senior posts in the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA), with her final position being Director of the International Division from October 2009 to May 2011. Verena was also a member of the FSA’s Executive Committee and the Executive Policy and Risk Committees.
Verena joined the FSA in 1998 to run the Executive Chairman’s office during the regulator’s start-up phase, and was briefly a seconded advisor to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission in 2000. She subsequently held various positions in the Markets Division and was Director of the Strategy & Risk Division before becoming Director of the International Division.
Verena is a German national. Following studies in Hamburg, Taipei and London (SOAS) she began her career at the Bank of England in 1994, where she worked as an economist and then banking supervisor.
Executive Director, European Securities and Markets Authority
Last year’s edition of the Annual European Financial Services Conference was aptly titled ‘Embracing Change in a Time of Uncertainty’ and this was reflected in both the format of the conference and the topic areas discussed.
Although we could not all convene in Brussels, 684 delegates heard from a top-level line-up of 20 speakers online who covered the most topical issues in the financial sector, including the impact of COVID-19 on the industry, the Capital Markets Union and Digital & Green Recovery. Attendees took advantage of being able to virtually network, participate in polls and interact with speakers via questions and comments.
If you are interested in becoming involved in this event and finding out more about the sponsorship opportunities available, please contact Charlene Bowditch: charlene.bowditch@forum-europe.com / +44 (0) 2920 783 079
For more information on any aspect of this event, please contact Charlene Bowditch using any of the details below.
Charlene Bowditch
Director | Head of Event Management
Forum Europe
charlene.bowditch@forum-europe.com
Tel: +44 (0) 2920 783 079
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