Speaker Biographies

Confirmed Speakers

Moderators

Valdis Dombrovskis

Vice-President and Commissioner for the Euro and Social Dialogue, European Commission

Valdis Dombrovskis is the Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of the Euro and Social Dialogue, Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union.

Prior he has served three consecutive terms as Prime Minister of Latvia, becoming the longest serving elected head of government in Latvia’s history.

Before becoming Vice-President, Valdis Dombrovskis was elected for the second time as a Member of the European Parliament (first, 2004-2009) and Head of Latvian Delegation in the EPP Group.
He served as a Member of the Saeima (Parliament) of Latvia (03.2004-06.2004; 01.2014-06.2014) and was Latvia’s Minister of Finance from 2002 to 2004.

Valdis Dombrovskis was born on 5 August 1971 in Riga, Latvia. He graduated with a degree in physics from the University of Latvia (1993) and economics from Riga University of Technology (1995). He received his master’s degree in physics in 1995 from the University of Latvia. In 1995 -1998 he worked as a research assistant at the Mainz University, Germany, the Institute of Solid-State Physics, Latvia and the University of Maryland (USA).

Prior to joining politics, he worked as a senior economist and chief economist at the Bank of Latvia (1998-2002). He is a co-author of book with Anders Aslund „How Latvia came through the financial crisis” which was published in 2011.

In November 2014 Valdis Dombrovskis was awarded by the Order of the Three Stars (Triju Zvaigžņu ordenis), the highest State Decoration of the Republic of Latvia.

Ashok Vaswani

CEO, Barclays UK

Ashok Vaswani is the CEO for Barclays UK, covering Personal Banking, Wealth, Entrepreneurs and Business Banking and Barclaycard UK. Ashok joined Barclays in 2010, managing the credit card business across the UK, Europe and the Nordics, becoming chairman of Entercard. He went on to manage Barclays in Africa, Barclays Retail Business Bank globally and Barclays Personal and Corporate Banking.

Ashok represents Barclays as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Barclays Africa Group Limited and is a member of the Board of Directors, Telenor ASA and a member of the Trustee Board at Citizens Advice. He also sits on the advisory boards of a number of institutions such as
Rutberg & Co and is Founder Director of Lend-a-Hand, a non-profit organisation focused on rural education in India. Ashok has previously served on the advisory boards of S. P. Jain Institute of Management, Insead Singapore and Visa Asia Pacific.

Prior to Barclays, Ashok was a partner with a J P Morgan Chase funded private equity firm – Brysam Global Partners, which was focused on building retail financial service businesses in emerging markets.

Ashok has demonstrated a passion for building and managing businesses across the globe. He started his career in Mumbai, India and since then, has worked and lived in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the US. Ashok spent twenty years with Citigroup. His last position at Citigroup was CEO, Asia Pacific. Ashok was also a member of the Citigroup Operating Committee, the Citigroup Management Committee, and the Global Consumer Planning Group.

Ashok graduated from Bombay University, Sydenham College, College of Commerce and Economics and has post graduate degrees from both the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Institute of Chartered Secretaries of India.

He was born in India, is married to Veena, with a grown up daughter who is working in San Francisco.

Jean-Paul Servais

Chairman, FSMA

Nationality: Belgian
Born in Brussels, 13 September 1963

CURRENT NATIONAL MANDATES
Chairman of the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA)
Member of the following international organizations of supervisory authorities for the financial sector: IOSCO, ESRB, ESMA and EIOPA

CURRENT INTERNATIONAL MANDATES
Member of the ESMA Board of Supervisors (Committee of the European Securities and Markets Authority composed of the heads of the supervisory authorities of EU Member States)
Chairman of the Financial Innovation Standing Committee (FISC) established by ESMA
Vice chair of the IOSCO Board (International Organization of Securities Commissions)
Member of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB)
Chairman of the IOSCO European Regional Committee
Chairman of the Audit Committee of IOSCO-OICV
Member of the Monitoring Board of IOSCO
Member of the Euronext College of Regulators (composed of the FCA (UK), the AMF (France), the AFM (the Netherlands), the CMVM (Portugal) and the FSMA)
Member of the Euroclear College of Regulators (composed of e.g. the Bank of England, the FCA, the AMF, the Banque de France, the NBB and the FSMA)

CURRENT ACADEMIC POSTS
Professor (lecturer) at the ULB (Free University of Brussels) and deputy Director of the special Master in Tax Law (Master complémentaire en droit fiscal) at the ULB
(Has also taught at other universities in Belgium and abroad, lecturing on a range of financial and legal topics)
Author or co-author of numerous contributions for various colloquia and study days, both at a national and international level, as well as articles and publications, in particular in areas of relevance to the FSMA's activities and the academic and scientific activities undertaken at the ULB

DEGREES
Master of Law (Maîtrise en droit), Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
Master of Economics in Business Management (Master in de economie, bedrijfskunde), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)

José María Roldán

Chairman and CEO, Spanish Banking Association

Mr. José María Roldán is Chairman and CEO of the Spanish Banking Association since April 2014, after 13 years as Director-General at the Banking Regulation and Financial Stability department of the Bank of Spain and member of its Executive Board. From May 2015, he is also the Vice-President to the European Banking Federation (EBF).

During his tenure in office as Director-General he was part of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), and chaired both, the Standards Implementation Group (SIG) of the BCBS and the Joint Forum during the tenure of the BCBS.

He founded and was the first Chairman of the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS); the forerunner of the European Banking Authority (EBA), after being President of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) and chaired the extinct Banking Advisory Committee (BAC) of the EU.

Mr. Roldán joined the Bank of Spain as Senior Economist of the Research Department in 1989, but in 1994 he takes up a post at the European Monetary Institute (the forerunner of the European Central Bank) in Frankfurt.

Marc Antoine Autheman

Chairman, Euroclear

Marc Antoine Autheman is Chairman of the Board of Directors of both Euroclear plc and Euroclear SA/NV.

Mr Autheman also chairs the Board of two investment companies: Cube Infrastructure Fund and Third Point Offshore Investors Ltd. Furthermore, he is Chairman of the steering committee of a research initiative, created by the College de France, which evaluates mathematical models used in finance.

Mr Autheman is a former Chief Executive Officer of Crédit Agricole Indosuez, the corporate and investment banking subsidiary of Crédit Agricole SA (1998-2003).

He started his career in finance in the French Treasury in 1978 and worked at the Treasury for a decade. After which, he worked in the private office of the Finance Minister and Prime Minister Bérégovoy, as an adviser and later chief of staff, from 1988 to 1993.

Mr Autheman was the Executive Director for France of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, from 1993 to 1997.

Mr Autheman earned Master’s degrees in law and in economics at the University of Paris. He also attended L’Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA).

Mario Nava

Director, Directorate E - Financial system surveillance and crisis management, DG FISMA, European Commission

Mario Nava (born Milan, 1966) holds a first degree in Economics from Bocconi University (1989), an MA from the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium (1992) and a PhD in Public Finance from the London School of Economics (1996).

As of May 2016, he is Director of the 'Financial system surveillance and crisis management' directorate in the Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union DG (formerly the Internal Markets and Services DG) of the European Commission. He was previously Director of the 'Regulation and prudential supervision of financial institutions' directorate. Prior to that, from April 2011, he held the position of Acting Director. From November 2009 until September 2013, he was Head of the 'Banking and Financial Conglomerates' unit.

Previously in the Internal Markets and Service DG, from May 2004 to October 2009, he was the Head of the ‘Financial Markets Infrastructure’ Unit. From December 2007 to May 2008, he was also Acting Director for the Financial Services Policy and Financial Markets Directorate.

From 2001-2004, he was a member of the Group of Policy Advisers of the EU Commission President, Prof. Romano Prodi. Within the Group he was responsible for economic matters in general and in particular the EU budget and economic policy coordination between the Member States.

Prior to joining the Group of Policy Advisers, he worked first for the Commission's Taxation Department (1994-1996), then for the Budget Department (1996-2000), and then in the Cabinet of the Competition Commissioner, Prof. Mario Monti (2000-2001).

Alongside his work at the Commission he is active in research and teaching. He is a visiting professor at Milan's Bocconi University and an occasional lecturer in many universities across Europe.

Claudio Costamagna

Chair, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti

Chairman of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Spa since 10 July 2015.

Since April 2016, he has been Chairman of FSI SGR Spa, the company formed by the reorganization of Fondo Strategico Italiano Spa – FSI (CDP Group), of which he was Chairman from July 2015 to April 2016.

Born in Milan in 1956, Claudio Costamagna attended the Ecole Européenne in Brussels before returning to Italy and enrolling at Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi.

In 1981 he was awarded a degree in business economics. He then began his career in the Financial Control Area of Citibank S.A., before moving in 1985 to Montedison, where he was Head of Corporate Finance for the holding company.

In 1988 Costamagna joined Goldman Sachs, initially as Head of Investment Banking Italy, before becoming Country Head for Italy and Chairman of Goldman Sachs SIM Spa.

In 1999, he was appointed Co-Head of the Investment Banking Division for Europe, the Middle East and Africa and a member of the European Management Committee and the Global Partnership Committee.

Between 2004 and 2006 – the year in which he left the group – Costamagna was Chairman of the Investment Banking Division for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In 2012 he was appointed Chairman of AAA-Advanced Accelerator Applications, a European pharmaceuticals group.

In the same year and until July 2015, he is Chairman of Salini-Impregilo, Italy’s leading infrastructure construction group.

He is currently a member of the Board and Chairman of the Compensation Committee of FTI Consulting Inc, a business advisory group listed on the New York Stock Exchange and a member of the International Advisory Council of Bocconi University.

Over the years, Claudio Costamagna has also served as a director of Luxottica, Bulgari, Il Sole 24 Ore Group, Autogrill and DeA Capital, all companies listed on the Italian Stock Exchange and of Virgin Group Holding.

Serge Harry

Chief of Staff to the Group CEO, Chairman of globeSettle, Country Head for France, Benelux and Germany, London Stock Exchange Group

Serge Harry joined the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) in 2013, where he is a member of the Executive Committee and Group Country Head for France, Benelux and Germany. He is also Chief of Staff to the Group's Chief Executive Officer. He represents LSEG on the Board of Directors of LCH.Clearnet S.A., the Group's clearing house in the euro zone. He is Chairman of MTS France, the European electronic trading market for sovereign debt, and Chairman of globeSettle, the international CSD initiative launched by LSEG.

From 2011 to 2013, Serge Harry was Senior Advisor to Xavier Rolet, Chief Executive Officer of LSEG. During that time, he worked on LSEG's acquisition of LCH Group.

Before joining LSEG, Serge Harry held various management positions in the financial markets sector, including Chief Financial Officer of Euronext Group from 2000 to 2007, where he managed the IPO in 2001; Head of Strategy at NYSE Euronext Group from 2007 to 2008; and Chairman and CEO of Bluenext, the world's leading carbon credit trading exchange, from 2008 to 2010.

Serge Harry was Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Paris Bourse from 1999 to 2000 where he was responsible for setting up Clearnet and for preparing the merger between the Amsterdam and Brussels stock exchanges to create Euronext in 2000. Prior to that, he held various positions at SICOVAM (now Euroclear France) from 1983 to 1999, including that of General Secretary.

Guillaume Eliet

Deputy Secretary General, Regulation Policy and International Affairs Division, Autorité des marchés financiers

Guillaume began his career at the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations and then moved to BNP as a legal expert in the bond market trading room. In 1999, he joined a law firm, Coudert Brothers LLP. He first started at the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) in May 2005, working as a legal expert in charge of doctrine in the Service Providers and Investment Products Department. In 2009, Guillaume was appointed deputy head of the Service Providers and Investment Products Department. In 2010, he was placed in charge of the Asset Management Division before being appointed Deputy Secretary General of the AMF in December 2012. Since March 2014, Guillaume has taken over the head of the Regulation Policy and International Affairs Division.

Guillaume is a lawyer. He earned his Postgraduate Diploma in Tax and Business Law as well as a Master’s Degree in Business Law at the Sorbonne-University of Paris I.

Ugo Bassi

Directorate C - Financial markets, DG FISMA, European Commission

Ugo Bassi is Director of Financial Markets, in the European Commission's DG FISMA (Financial services). Among other high priority files; he manages Capital Markets Union (CMU), a key priority and catalyst for further financial integration in Europe. In addition, he deals with specific financial markets legislation including MifiD/R (Directive and Regulation on Financial Instruments); EMIR (Regulation on Derivatives); CCPs (recovery and resolution); MAD/R (Market Abuse Directive and Regulation); Asset Management including AIFMD, UCITS and EUVECA.

From 2012 onwards, Ugo Bassi worked as Director, in charge of coordination of legal matters and economic analysis within DG FISMA. He also managed specific topics such as the Accounting Directive and related issues, Company Reporting, Audit and Credit rating agencies. Moreover, he has worked to eliminate barriers to capital flows as well as enforcement of all financial services legislation.

Between 2006 and 2012, he has held various management positions and was involved in negotiations on some key files in response to the financial crisis, prior to which he worked in public procurement, including the successful adoption of the Defence Procurement Directive.

A lawyer by profession, Ugo Bassi worked as "referendaire "in the Court of Justice before joining the European Commission and he has worked in private sector law firms before taking up service within the European Institutions.

Karel Lannoo

Chief Executive, CEPS

- Chief executive of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) since 2000, one of the leading independent European think tanks. Published some books and numerous articles in newspapers, specialised magazines and journals on general European public policy, and specific financial regulation and supervision matters. Latest book: ‘The Great Financial Plumbing, From Northern Rock to Banking Union’, Rowman and Littlefield, 2015;
- Regular speaker in hearings for national and international institutions (EU Commission, European Parliament and related), at international conferences and in briefings for executives;
- Rapporteur for many CEPS task forces, chaired by senior European officials and business leaders (with a.o. Helmut Schlesinger, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, Jose-Maria Roldan, Thomas Huertas)
- Directs the European Capital Markets Institute (ECMI) and the European Credit Research Institute (ECRI), both operated by CEPS;
- Independent director of BME (Bolsas y Mercados Espanoles), the listed company that manages the Spanish securities markets (since 2006); Member of the Euribor Steering Committee, European Money Markets Institute (EMMI) (2013 – present)
- Karel Lannoo holds a baccalaureate in philosophy (1984) and an MA in modern history (1985) from the University of Leuven, Belgium and obtained a postgraduate in European studies (Centre d’Etudes européennes, CEE) from the University of Nancy, France (1986). Before joining CEPS, he worked for STUC (students’ cultural centre), did a stage in the EU Commission (spokesmen’s service), was employed by an Italian agro-food company (Ferruzzi) and a professional association, and was also active as free-lance journalist.

Wally Adeyemo

Former Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council

Wally Adeyemo served as the Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, serving as President Obama’s senior international economic advisor. In this capacity, he was responsible for coordinating the policymaking process related to international finance, trade and investment, energy, and environmental issues. Mr. Adeyemo also served as the President’s representative to the G-7 and the G-20.

Mr. Adeyemo has held several senior management positions at the Treasury Department, including Senior Advisor & Deputy Chief of Staff. In that role, he advised the Treasury Secretary on a range of issues, including international economics and financial regulation. Mr. Adeyemo served as the Treasury Department’s chief negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s provisions on macroeconomic policy, and worked extensively with Congress and international counterparts to advance the President’s agenda.

After the passage of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, Mr. Adeyemo served as the first Chief of Staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). In that capacity, he helped to build the Bureau’s initial executive leadership team and served as a member of the CFPB’s Executive Committee.
Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Mr. Adeyemo was an Editor for the Hamilton Project, a program at the Brookings Institution focused on advancing public policy proposals that contribute to long-term economic growth. His research at the Hamilton Project focused on the global financial crisis, higher education policy, job training, and various other topics.

Mr. Adeyemo received a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Arlene McCarthy OBE

Special Advisor to the Chairman & Non-Executive Director, Bloomberg

Arlene McCarthy OBE is the Executive Director of AMC Strategy. She is Special Advisor to the Chairman of Bloomberg and a Non-Executive Director for Bloomberg TFL and TRL. She is a member of the European Commission High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance.

Arlene advises on a broad range of EU Financial services regulation and policymaking, including Capital markets Union and Sustainable Finance.

Arlene is a strategic policy advisor to Bloomberg Philanthropies and to Michael Bloomberg’s team engaged on the FSB Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, supporting and advising Bloomberg’s Head of Sustainability. She is a strategic policy advisor to the UN Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, Michael Bloomberg, team coordinating activities for his team with the European Commission on the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy.

Arlene has over 20 years of European legislative & Policy experience as President of the European Parliament's Internal Market and Consumer Affairs Committee and Vice-President of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee. She was the rapporteur and shadow rapporteur on key financial services dossiers MiFID II, MiFIR, Market Abuse, Benchmarks, CRD III, UCITS, Banking Reform and was Parliament's key negotiator on the EU directive on transparency and accounting standards.

Arlene was named as one of the top 100 influential women in European Finance in 2010, 2011 & 2012 and she was awarded 2014 Parliamentarian of the Year for outstanding contribution to the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee. Arlene was also awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in the Queen's 2015 New Year’s Honours List for Parliamentary and Political Services.

Stephen Fidler

Brussels Bureau Chief, The Wall Street Journal

Stephen Fidler has been Brussels Editor of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires since October 2009. He runs a bureau of 11 journalists and leads coverage from Brussels of the European Union and the euro zone as well as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He writes a regular column and was part of a team of Journal reporters named as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2011 for their reporting on the euro-zone debt crisis.

Before joining the Journal in London in March 2009, he spent 22 years with the Financial Times in senior roles, including international capital markets editor, Latin America Editor, defence and security editor, and U.S. diplomatic editor. In the latter role, he was based in Washington DC.

He spent almost a decade as a correspondent for Reuters in London, New York and the Middle East. His first job in journalism was with a group of English newspapers in his native Lincolnshire. He holds a degree in economics from London University, and was formerly a senior consulting fellow for the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Stefano Micossi

Director General, Assonime

Born in Bologna, October 27th, 1946
Married to Daniela Zanotto and father of Francesco and Chiara

Current positions:
Director General, Assonime (since April 1999) [Assonime is a business association and private think tank active in corporate law, capital markets, company taxation, competition and regulation polices, IPR]
Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the LUISS School of European Political Economy (SEP, since 2013)
Honorary Professor at the College of Europe (since 2016)

Other positions:
Member of the Board of Directors of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (since 2015)
Member of the Board of Directors of CIR Group (since 2009)
Member of the Board of Directors and Executive committee of EuropeanIssuers, the European association of listed companies (since 2009)
Member of the Board of Directors of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) in Brussels (since 2005)
Member of the Corporate Governance Committee of the Milan Stock Exchange
Member and Coordinator of the scientific committee of Confindustria, the Confederation of Italian Industry (since 2008)
Member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer of the International Yehudi Menuhin Foundation in Brussels (since 2003)
Founding member and coordinator of EuropEos, an association of leading journalists, jurists, economists and political scientists created in 2003 to foster the European construction

Former positions:
Professor at the College of Europe, Department of Economics (1991-2015) [course on the EU Internal Market and Related Policies]
Chairman of the Board, CIR Group (April 2009 – April 2013)
Director General for Industry at the European Commission (1995-1998)
Director of Economic Research of Confindustria (1988-1994)
Economist (1972-78), Head of Office (1980-85), Assistant Director and then Acting Director (1987-88) of the International Division of the Bank of Italy’s Research Department
Chairman of the Alternates of the Monetary Committee of the European Community
Assistant to the executive director for Italy, IMF (1978-80)

Publications:
Has published extensively in national and international economic journals on macro-economics, international economics and European economic and policy affairs
Has written influential Policy Briefs for CEPS and Vox-Eu, editorial comments for Il Sole 24 Ore, La Stampa, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal Europe, La Voce, Project Syndicate, and at present collaborates regularly with La Repubblica – Affari e Finanza
Co-author of three widely read pamphlets on the financial crisis, “Keep it simple: Policy responses to the financial crisis” (with Carmine Di Noia, Assonime and CEPS, March 2009), “Overcoming too big to fail – A regulatory framework to limit moral hazard and free riding in the financial sector” (with Jacopo Carmassi and Elisabetta Luchetti, Assonime and CEPS, March 2010), “Time to set banking regulation right” (with Jacopo Carmassi), CEPS, March 2012

Education:
Degree in Law, Università degli Studi di Milano (1971)
MA (1973) and MPhil (1974), Yale University Graduate School of Economics

David Reed

Partner, Head of Financial Services Practice, Kreab

David Reed runs the global network of Financial Policy Advisers and serves as a Partner in Kreab's Brussels Office, where he leads the firm's Financial Services Practice. He has a background from the European Commission’s Asset Management Unit in DG FISMA, where he worked mutual fund regulation, retirement savings markets, and alternative investment fund regulation. Prior to that he worked in London at the UK financial services regulator, the FSA, first as a relationship manager supervising investment firms, and then as regulatory adviser in the Chairman’s office, attached to the International Strategy Team. David’s first jobs were in management consultancy with McKinsey & Company and The Evaluation Partnership, specialising on financial services issues, and in private equity, with Campbell Lutyens.