2026 Speakers

Ashley Alder became Chair of the FCA Board in February 2023.

Ashley was previously the Chief Executive Officer of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong, a role he has held since 2011.

He also chaired the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).

Ashley began his career as a lawyer in London in 1984 and practised in Hong Kong for more than 20 years. He was Executive Director of the SFC's Corporate Finance Division from 2001 to 2004, before returning to private practice at Herbert Smith LLP, a law firm, as Head of Asia.

Ashley also holds the position of PSR Chair, effective 26 January 2026.

Ayaz Baetov is the Special Representative of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Permanent Representative of the Kyrgyz Republic to the United Nations, and First Deputy Chairman of the Management Council of the Special Financial and Investment Territory (SFIT) Tamchy.

He previously served as Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers and Minister of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic, contributing to legal and institutional reforms and the modernisation of public administration.

Mr. Baetov has coordinated the establishment and development of the Tamchy SFIT, including the development of its legal and regulatory infrastructure, institutional framework, and governance mechanisms. His work supports the creation of a modern investment environment designed to attract international capital, promote innovation, and strengthen the Kyrgyz Republic’s integration into global financial markets.

A distinguished legal scholar and public policy expert, Mr. Baetov holds a Doctor of Legal Sciences degree from Kyrgyz National University and a Master of Public Policy degree from the National Graduate Research Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, Japan. He was also a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Program.

His professional experience spans government, academia, international development, and legal reform. He previously served as Country Director for Uzbekistan at the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative and held senior positions in the judicial and public sectors.

Mr. Baetov is a Professor and author of academic publications, legal textbooks, and analytical papers. He is fluent in Kyrgyz, Russian, and English.

Bilal Bin Saqib, early Bitcoiner since 2016 and active angel investor in the space, is Pakistan’s Minister of State, and Chairman of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority.

He holds a master’s degree from the London School of Economics, has a keen interest in AI, quantum, and robotics, and is committed to channeling emerging technologies into Pakistan’s growth story. Recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30 and honored as an MBE by King Charles III, Bilal blends policy, technology, and purpose.

Denis Beau has been Deputy Governor of the Banque de France since August 2017 and First Deputy Governor since January 2024. In this capacity, he represents the Governor as Chair of the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR) and has chaired the Observatory for the Security of Payment Means since January 2024. He is also a member of the Board of the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) and of the ECB Supervisory Board, and has chaired the ECB Budget Committee since 2023. At the international level, he co-chairs several groups dedicated to payments, market infrastructures and financial stability. In particular, he has co-chaired the Working Group on Modernisation (WGM) of the Financial Stability Board since March 2026.

His responsibilities cover in particular microprudential supervision, payments and market infrastructures, innovation, currency activities, the Banque de France branch network, and internal management.

As graduate of Sciences Po Paris and INSEAD, Denis Beau joined the Banque de France in 1986. He has since held numerous senior positions in financial markets, payments and financial stability, including Director General of Financial Stability and Operations from 2012 to 2017.

Appointed by Sovereign Order No. 8-230 of 20 August 2020, H.E. Ms Marie-Pascale BOISSON is Monaco’s fourth Ambassador to China since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in January 1995.

A lawyer by training, she initially practised in the private sector before joining the Monegasque civil service in 2000.

After eight years with the State’s Legislative and Legal Affairs Services, she continued her career at the Directorate of Judicial Services, then, from 2011, within the Department of Finance and the Economy, before being appointed in 2011 as Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit, responsible for combating money laundering, the financing of terrorism and corruption.

In her various roles, she was called upon to work on the implementation of numerous international conventions, particularly in the banking, financial and judicial sectors, before joining the Monegasque diplomatic service.

Skills and experience: Georges has almost 30 years of experience in the banking industry across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and has held a number of executive roles at a regional, global business and functional level.

Career: Georges was appointed Group CEO from 2 September 2024. He most recently served as Group CFO between January 2023 and September 2024. Georges joined HSBC in 2005 with extensive trading experience in London, Paris and Tokyo. He has since held a number of senior leadership roles, including Head of Global Banking and Markets, Middle East and North Africa; Chief Executive Officer for HSBC, Middle East, North Africa and Türkiye; Global Head of Markets; and co-Chief Executive Officer, Global Banking and Markets based in London. He was named Euromoney’s Banker of the Year in 2026.

He holds a degree in Engineering from the École Polytechnique in Paris, France, as well as a postgraduate degree in Statistics and Economics from the École Nationale de la Statistique et de l’Administration Économique (ENSAE).

External appointments:
– Member of Monetary Authority of Singapore, International Advisory Panel
– Member of the Asia Business Council
– Member of the International Business Leaders Advisory Council (Beijing IBLAC)
– Member of the UK-India CEO Forum
– Member of the Semafor World Economy Global Advisory Board
– Member of the Board of Directors of the Peterson Institute for International Economics
– Member of the World Bank Private Sector Investment Lab
– Member of Advisory Board of The China Children Development Fund
– Principal Member of The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero
– Member of Financial Services Task Force of the SMI

Bill Winters was appointed to the Board of Standard Chartered PLC as Group Chief Executive on 10 June 2015.

Bill has had a distinguished career in banking, having spent 26 years with JP Morgan in diverse leadership roles, becoming co-Chief Executive Officer of the Investment Bank in 2004 until he stepped down in 2009. Bill was the only career banker to be invited to be a committee member of the Independent Commission on Banking, established by the UK government. Subsequently, he served as advisor to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards and was awarded a CBE for his services to the UK economy and financial services.

In 2023, Bill was appointed UK chair of the India-UK Financial Partnership formed between the Ministry of Finance of India and HM Treasury.

Bill is an Independent Director on the Board of Stripe Inc, Board Advisor of the International Rescue Committee and Chair of The Coronet Theatre Board of Trustees

Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and Executive Director of Bank of China since January 2025 and President of the Bank since December 2024, Chief Compliance Officer of the Bank since February 2026, and Deputy Secretary of the CPC BOC Committee since November 2024, concurrently as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) Limited since February 2025,

Mr. ZHANG served as Executive Vice President of China Development Bank from February 2021 to November 2024. Prior to that, Mr. ZHANG had worked in Bank of Communications for many years, and he served as Chief Risk Officer from July to November 2020. Mr. ZHANG served as General Manager of the Risk Management Department and Director of the Internal Control and Crime Prevention Office from February 2019 to November 2020, General Manager of the Risk Management (Asset Preservation) Department from February 2017 to February 2019. Before that, he held a number of other positions at Bank of Communications, including President of Guizhou Branch.

Jenny Johnson is Chief Executive Officer of Franklin Templeton. In a career spanning more than 35 years, she has been a driving force behind the company’s transformation into one of the largest global investment managers with $1.7 trillion in assets under management.

Ms. Johnson held leadership roles in all major divisions of the business before becoming CEO in 2020. She has led the evolution of the business in recent years, further diversifying the company’s investment capabilities and solutions for clients. Ms. Johnson was named to Fortune’s “Most Powerful Women” list in 2026, recognizing the world’s most influential business leaders. She has also been named to Forbes’ “World’s 100 Most Powerful Women” list and Barron’s list of the “100 Most Influential Women in US Finance.” The Committee for Economic Development honored Ms. Johnson with a 2024 Distinguished Leadership Award. In 2026, she was named a CNBC Changemaker. A sought-after speaker at industry conferences and global forums, Ms. Johnson frequently shares her perspective on leadership, the evolving investment landscape, technology, innovation and digital assets.

Ms. Johnson serves on the board of directors of Thermo Fisher Scientific, the Investment Company Institute and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Foundation. She is a member of the International Advisory Panel of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Advisory Board on AI in Finance for Luxembourg and the Advisory Group to the Asian Development Bank, and serves on the NYSE Board Advisory Council.

Ms. Johnson earned her B.A. in economics from the University of California at Davis.

Fred is Primavera Capital Group’s Founder, Chairman and CEO. He oversees the firm’s overall strategy, talent development and culture, and assumes the primary responsibilities in establishing and maintaining the firm’s long-term partnerships with global investors. Fred initiated and led investment transactions such as Alibaba Group, Ant Group, Yum China, ByteDance, Xpeng Inc., Kuaishou Technology, SenseTime, and Mead Johnson Greater China.

Prior to forming Primavera, Fred was Partner and Chairman of Greater China at Goldman Sachs and a member of Goldman’s Partnership Committee. He previously served as an economist at the International Monetary Fund. He also served on the Hong Kong Government’s Strategic Development Committee and the Advisory Committee for the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, and was an independent director of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and ICBC.

Fred is currently the non-executive chairman of Yum China Holdings Inc. and serves on the boards of UBS Group AG and Chubb Limited. In addition, he is a member of the The Nature Conservancy’s global Board of Directors and the co-chair of its Asia Pacific Council, a trustee of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) and the China Medical Board, a member of the HKEX Mainland China Advisory Group, the Global Advisory Board of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Jerome A. Chazen Institute of International Business at Columbia University, Harvard Kennedy School’s Dean’s Leadership Council and Harvard University’s Global Advisory Council.

Fred holds a Master in Engineering Science from Tsinghua University and a Master and PhD in Economics from Harvard University.

In 2026, I joined the Department of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (DSAI) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University as a Chair Professor. Returning to Hong Kong is a full-circle moment for me. Twenty years ago, I received my M.Phil. degree from the Multimedia Laboratory (MMLab) at The Chinese University of Hong Kong under the supervision of Prof. Xiaoou Tang and Prof. Jianzhuang Liu. I then moved to the United States to pursue my Ph.D. at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign under the supervision of Prof. Thomas S. Huang.

Before joining PolyU, I was a Principal Engineer and Director at Google DeepMind. For more than a decade, I have worked on intelligent assistants and AI agents, contributing to Gemini, Google Assistant, Apple Intelligence, IBM Watson, and Switi Inc., a startup I co-founded that was acquired by Google in 2018. More recently, my research has focused on AI assistants for special education, particularly for children with autism.

My research interests span computer vision, large language models, speech and multimodal AI, intelligent agents, and AI for education. I currently serve as an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (TPAMI).

Professor Zhaoyuan Ma is currently a professor at the School of Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech). He is a fellow of IOP, a foreign academician of RAE, and an honorary professor of Korea University.

He has previously served as assistant dean of the Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, principal investigator at The Future Laboratory of Tsinghua University, professor of Intelligent Manufacturing at the University of Sheffield, UK, and a Hundred-Talents Professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

He designed the world's first space cold atom experimental platform on the Chinese Space Station "Tiangong-4." He is the author of Logic of the World, Quantum Dialogue, AI-Not, and Made-in-China Made China.

Maggie Ng is the Chief Executive Officer for Hong Kong at HSBC, while also serving as the Head of Retail Banking and Wealth (RB&W) in Hong Kong. In her dual role, Maggie oversees HSBC’s Hong Kong franchise, and leads the strategic growth of the Bank’s flagship RB&W business.

Maggie has a proven track record of delivering growth, particularly in wealth management, improving customer advocacy; driving digital transformation and effectively managing risks – all underpinned by a people-focused culture.

She joined HSBC in 2020 from IG Group, a leading online trading provider, where she was the Greater China CEO. Prior to that, Maggie co-founded a fintech wealth management and asset management company – Assured Asset Management – which was recognised in 2019 as the “Best New Wealth Management Platform” by AsiaAsset Management magazine and “Editors’ Triple Star” by the Asset magazine.

With over 20 years of experience in the finance industry, Maggie is a seasoned banking professional, having held a number of senior local and regional positions at Citibank in both business and risk management. In her earlier career, Maggie worked for leading professional services firm Ernst & Young (Australia) and global resources company BHP Billiton.

She holds a Bachelor of Technology in Business Information Technology from the University of New South Wales, Australia, and an MBA in Accounting and Finance from California State University, Hayward.

Aveline San was appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Citi Hong Kong in 2022. She became Hong Kong CEO and Head of Banking in 2023. Aveline also serves as Board Director and Chairman of Citibank (China) Co., Ltd.

Aveline began her career as a banking and capital markets lawyer after qualifying as a solicitor and barrister in Australia in 1997. She joined Citi in April 2019 as Regional Chief Compliance Officer for Asia Pacific (APAC). Prior to Citi, she spent 14 years with UBS in various senior management positions, including APAC Group Regional Head of Compliance & Operational Risk Control, General Counsel of Wealth Management for North Asia, and Supervisor of the Board of UBS’ China banking entity.

Aveline is passionate about promoting industry collaboration on innovation. She currently serves on the board of FinTech Association of Hong Kong. Aveline was conferred as an Honorary Certified Banker by the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers in 2024.

Gaurav is currently Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Greater China & North Asia and Chairman of Anchorpoint Financial Limited. He was previously CFO for Singapore and ASEAN Cluster (Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Trust Bank). He joined the Bank in 2009 and has held numerous key positions in Standard Chartered such as Chief Financial Officer of Cluster Markets (Philippines, Sri Lanka, Australia, Nepal, Brunei), Head of Performance Management Analytics Wholesale Banking, and Global Head Asset & Liability Management (ALM) Product Control.

Prior to SCB, Gaurav was Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company focusing on advisory for Banking & Insurance clients. Here he counseled Senior Executives/ Boards of local and multinational banks as they developed their growth strategies, acquired and divested businesses, entered new markets, revamped their organizations, and transformed entire businesses.

Gaurav started his career with Dell Computers and has an MBA in Finance from the University of Texas and undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Iowa State University.

Manoj Bohra is executive vice president and chief data and AI officer at State Street, leading the firm's global strategy for enterprise data, artificial intelligence (AI), and advanced analytics. In this role, he is responsible for building the data and AI platforms that power innovation, strengthen risk and operational intelligence, and enable scalable AI adoption across the organization and its client solutions.

Manoj is recognized for building enterprise-scale data and AI platforms that enable global financial institutions to operationalize AI in complex, highly regulated environments.

He brings more than two decades of experience leading enterprise technology, data, and AI transformation initiatives across global financial services organizations. His work has focused on modernizing large-scale data platforms, operationalizing machine learning through enterprise machine learning operations (MLOps) frameworks and enabling organizations to translate advanced analytics into measurable business outcomes.

Prior to joining State Street, Manoj served as managing director at Google Cloud, where he advised C-suite leaders across major financial institutions on large-scale data modernization and AI transformation initiatives. His work included helping organizations design cloud-native data platforms, operationalize machine learning and generative AI capabilities, and deploy large language models (LLMs) and emerging agentic AI architectures to support use cases across risk management, regulatory compliance, client intelligence, and operational automation. He also worked with institutions to establish governance frameworks for responsible AI adoption.

Earlier, Manoj spent over two decades at Bank of America in several senior leadership roles including senior vice president and managing director. In these roles he led global teams responsible for enterprise data platforms, AI/ML infrastructure, and cloud transformation initiatives supporting hundreds of thousands of users across the bank’s global operations. During his tenure he helped architect and scale one of the largest AI and data science platforms and built foundational enterprise data infrastructure enabling advanced analytics at scale.

Manoj holds several U.S. patents related to data security, distributed data architectures, and scalable data processing.

He frequently speaks on enterprise AI strategy, generative AI adoption, responsible AI governance, and modern data platforms within the financial services industry.

Manoj holds a Master of Science in technology management from Columbia University, a Master of Business Administration in finance from the University of Mumbai, and a Bachelor of Science from Jodhpur University.

Mr. Lin oversees Tencent’s overall fintech business, including payment, wealth management, securities and other fintech services. Previously he was the Managing Partner at Tencent Investment, where he was responsible for Tencent’s equity investment in various areas, such as e-commerce, Internet Finance, Online to Offline and digital contents etc. Notable deals including JD.com, China Literature, Tencent Music, Meituan, PDD, Bilibili etc. Prior to joining Tencent, Mr. Lin held various senior positions in finance, strategy, and operating management at Microsoft and Nokia.

Forest Lin holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Bachelor of Engineering from Zhejiang University.

Annabelle Yu Long is an experienced venture capitalist and board member with a strong background in digital innovation, and business operations in Asia/Pacific. She currently serves as Founding and Managing Partner of BAI Capital, a venture capital firm focused on businesses operating in Asia and beyond with investments across AI, fintech, consumer retail, media and content innovation. Additionally, Ms. Long is a member of the Group Management Committee of Bertelsmann, where she contributes to global corporate strategy and development, and where she has led Bertelsmann’s China growth strategy and its transformation into a well-regarded global investment powerhouse.

Ms. Long serves as an independent director on the boards of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL), Tapestry, Inc. (NYSE: TPR, whose portfolio includes Coach and Kate Spade), and NIO Inc. (NYSE: NIO; HKEX: 9866; SGX: NIO). In addition, she serves as an independent nonexecutive director on the board of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited.

Ms. Long holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and, as a distinguished alumna, served on the School’s Advisory Council as its first Chinese member. She was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2011 and has been actively involved in WEF activities. She has been featured in the Forbes Midas List and Forbes Asia's Power Businesswomen list, among others.

Zhu graduated from Xi’an Jiaotong University and worked for Lenovo Group for 10 years before joining Baidu in December 2008.

At Baidu, Zhu successively served as Senior Director of Public Relations, Vice President and Senior Vice President, responsible for government affairs, Baidu News and other initiatives.

Zhu led Baidu’s Financial Service Group (FSG) established in December 2015. His team swiftly established a business structure covering multiple areas including consumer credit, wealth management, payments, and internet insurance. The FSG reduced financing costs for customers, particularly owners of small and micro enterprises. On April 28, 2018, Baidu announced an agreement on the divestiture of the FSG with investors led by TPG and The Carlyle Group, which involved $1.9 billion in financing and resulted in the new brand “Du Xiaoman Financial” with Zhu as CEO.

Under his leadership, the fintech company driven by AI innovation covers six segments: consumer credit, wealth management, payment, insurance, fintech for personal finance, and fintech for supply chain finance. His team has adhered to the principle of "partners win first, long-term win-win", empowering traditional financial institutions with intelligent solutions while building a strong fintech partner ecosystem.

Du Xiaoman Technology, committed to inclusive finance, has continuously improved its AI prowess, enabling financial institutions to expand access to reliable services for more people. The company has also open-sourced Xuanyuan, the first Large Chinese Financial Chat Model with hundreds of billions of parameters, to offer customers more personalized and higher-quality services.

Additionally, Zhu was elected as Deputy Director of the China Internet Finance Association at the third session of the association’s first council held on March 17, 2018.

Mr. Gan Tian has been serving as the Chief Executive Officer of China Asset Management (Hong Kong) since September 2020, with 20 years of investment management experience. Joining ChinaAMC (HK) since its establishment in 2008, he had previously served as the Managing Director and the portfolio manager, overseeing the firm's longest-running equity absolute return strategy.

Established in 2008, China Asset Management (Hong Kong) Limited ("ChinaAMC (HK)") is a leading Chinese asset manager in Hong Kong, with expertise in a variety of asset classes, covering equities, fixed income, ETF, L&I products, digital assets, as well as mandates and investment advisory services. ChinaAMC (HK) adopts a global outlook to build a versatile platform catering to institutional and retail investors in the region and worldwide. Committed to innovation and growth in the financial sector, ChinaAMC (HK) is actively leading developments in the Web3 space, strategically positioning itself in decentralized finance to explore frontier investment opportunities.

Mr Carstens served as General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) from 2017 to 2025. Prior to that, he was Governor of the Bank of Mexico from 2010 to 2017. During his time as Governor, he was a Member of the BIS Board from 2011 to 2017 and chaired the Global Economy Meeting and the Economic Consultative Committee from 2013 to 2017. He also chaired the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), the policy advisory committee of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), from 2015 to 2017.

Earlier in his career, he served as Mexico's Finance Minister from 2006 to 2009, and as Deputy Managing Director at the IMF from 2003 to 2006. From 2000 to 2003, he was Mexico's Deputy Finance Minister, and from 1999 to 2000, he held the position of Executive Director at the IMF.

Mr Carstens began his career in 1980 at the Bank of Mexico. He is a member of the Group of Thirty (G30).

Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli became Head of the BIS Innovation Hub on 1 March 2026. As Head of the Innovation Hub, he is a member of the Bank's Executive Committee. Prior to joining the BIS, Mr Mancini-Griffoli was an Assistant Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In this role he was responsible for payments, currencies and financial market infrastructures including digital money and finance. In former roles, he led work on monetary policy and central banking operations. Prior to joining the IMF, Mr Mancini-Griffoli was a senior economist in the Research and Monetary Policy Division of the Swiss National Bank, where he advised the Board on quarterly monetary policy decisions. Earlier in his career, he worked in the private sector at Goldman Sachs, the Boston Consulting Group and technology startups in Silicon Valley. Mr Mancini-Griffoli holds a PhD from the Graduate Institute in Geneva, as well as degrees from the London School of Economics and Stanford University.

Dr. Tony Han is the Founder and CEO of WeRide (NASDAQ: WRD;HKEX: 0800), a global leader in autonomous driving technology. Since founding WeRide in 2017, he has led the company’s expansion across 13 countries and more than 60 cities worldwide. Under his leadership, WeRide became the first publicly listed Robotaxi company on Nasdaq in 2024 and the first Robotaxi company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2025.

Prior to founding WeRide, Dr. Han served as Chief Scientist of Baidu’s Autonomous Driving Division. He was also a tenured professor and doctoral advisor at the University of Missouri, where he directed the Computer Vision and Machine Learning Lab. Dr. Han holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Ben Zhou is the Co-founder and CEO of Bybit, the world’s second largest crypto exchange by trading volume with 80+ million users that has grown significantly since its founding in 2018. With a background in traditional financial markets, Zhou's expertise in navigating the global crypto landscape sets him apart as a leader in the exponential crypto space.

He successfully built Bybit through proactive engagement with regulators and a commitment to compliance, transparency, and customer protection, leading to licenses in multiple countries. Zhou offers valuable insights into the challenges of building a crypto exchange and has a deep knowledge of the global crypto context, as well as key market drivers from liquidity, institutional capital, and trends like Web3 gaming.

Lily Liu is an operator and investor focused on the blockchain industry. Lily is the President of the Solana Foundation.

Lily has a background as a CFO and operating executive in the US, Europe, and Asia. She is a Co-Founder of Anagram. Previously, Lily co-founded Earn.com which was acquired by Coinbase in 2018. She was also the CFO of the Chinaco Healthcare Corporation, where she built a 500-bed private hospital in China. Lily also worked at KKR in New York as well as McKinsey in New York and Beijing.

Lily received a BA in Economics and International Relations from Stanford, and studied East Asian Studies at Harvard.

Richard Teng is an experienced executive with over three decades of financial services and regulatory experience. As the Co-CEO of Binance, he works closely with various stakeholders including regulators, policymakers, industry players and users to further the growth of Binance in a compliant and sustainable manner. Prior to this role, Richard held various senior leadership positions within the company since joining in August 2021.

Before joining Binance, Richard was CEO of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), where he showcased his capabilities as one of the world’s foremost innovative regulators. Richard’s vast experience also includes being the Chief Regulatory Officer of the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and the Director of Corporate Finance in the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Richard received his Masters in Applied Finance from the University of Western Australia.

"Daré Okoudjou is the Founder and CEO of Onafriq. Africa's largest payments network, connecting over 200 cross-border payment partners across 44 African countries and beyond. Our network links over one billion mobile wallets around the world enabling seamless real-time digital payments at an unprecedented scale.

Onafriq enables domestic and cross-border disbursements and collections across our network of networks and work closely with all our partners across the globe to make borders matter less. The company’s network of networks also includes 400 000 strong agent network in Nigeria. Onafriq is also a leading prepaid card processor, partnering with over 80 banks and multiple programmes in over 30 African countries. Onafriq was named by the international business magazine, Fast Company as one of Africa’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies.

Prior to founding Onafriq, Daré worked at MTN Group, where he developed its mobile payment strategy and led its implementation across 21 countries throughout Africa and the Middle East. He began his career as a management consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Paris. Daré was recently named as one of the Endeavor Entrepreneurs of the Endeavor Network, a leading supporter of high-impact entrepreneurs around the world. He was also selected as one of 13 African founders into the inaugural Foundry Fellowship at MIT. As a Fellow he will use his experience and skills to catalyse the next generation of innovation-driven entrepreneurship across the continent. He has an MSc in Telecom Engineering from ENST-Paris and an MBA from INSEAD.

Daré is originally from Benin and now based in Johannesburg, South Africa."

As Deloitte Asia Pacific Financial Services Industry Leader, Stuart is responsible for executing the regional strategy, driving profitable growth, and leading a cohesive team spanning geographies and functions. In this role, he oversees market activation, client leadership for priority accounts, and the development of critical capabilities, partnerships, and alliances with key market players. Stuart also serves on the Global Financial Service Executive, contributing to global decision-making and strategy.

In addition to his AP FSI leadership, Stuart is also responsible for Market Activation across the Asia Pacific region.  He focuses on elevating Deloitte’s reputation and regional brand presence, while cultivating strategic relationships with the firm’s most important clients through CxO engagement programmes and targeted initiatives.

Earlier, as Deloitte’s Global Clients Leader, Stuart managed a portfolio of more than 300 of the firm’s largest clients, representing approximately $15 billion in global revenues. He chaired the Global Client Council, driving innovation and continuous improvement in client experience, sales excellence, and account-based marketing, enabling major clients to achieve industry-leading outcomes.

Stuart began his Deloitte career through the acquisition of DotCom start-up Eclipse in 2001, which became the foundation for Deloitte Digital. With two decades of expertise in digital and emerging technologies, he is passionate about helping clients design customer experiences, business strategies, and operating models that enable them to thrive amid digital disruption.

This breadth of experience underpins Stuart’s ability to connect strategy with execution, foster cross-border collaboration, and guide clients through complex transformation.

Mr. Alger Fung is Chief Executive Officer for AIA Hong Kong & Macau since 2021. Alger is passionate about driving leading customer experience and has led AIA Hong Kong to be recognised as the No.1 insurer of choice in Hong Kong**, and has achieved the highest number of No.1 market positions in the 2025 Provisional Statistics on Hong Kong Long Term Business¹, whilst AIA Hong Kong & Macau delivered exceptional business performance with growth on multiple fronts, making it the largest contributor to AIA Group’s Value of New Business (VONB) in 2025².

Prior to this role, Alger was Chief Executive Officer of AIA Thailand. He led the AIA Thailand team to significantly expand its protection propositions and strengthen its unit-linked business, while continuing to raise the productivity of the agency force. The partnership with Bangkok Bank was also strengthened with sustained new business growth and increased productivity of the banca sales force.

Before leading the AIA Thailand business, Alger was the General Manager of Guangdong Branch, AIA China, where he transformed the agency business into a full-time, professional agency model that delivered significant VONB growth, contributing towards AIA China’s overall outstanding track record of success.

Alger brings with him a wealth of experience with over 30 years in the life insurance industry. Throughout his career, he has served in a wide range of leadership roles with an exceptional track record of success. He is a Governing Committee Member of The Hong Kong Federation of Insurers from 2022.

¹ Provisional statistics of the Insurance Authority on Hong Kong long-term insurance business from January to December 2025. The policies refer to Direct New Business and Direct Inforce Business of Individual Life, Annuity and Linked Individual (Classes A & C) and Other Individual Business (Classes B, D, E&F). "Agency channel" refers to "Agents" as classified by the Hong Kong Insurance Authority under Distribution Channel. “Brokerage channel” refers to “Brokers” as classified by the Hong Kong Insurance Authority under Distribution Channel.

² Source: AIA Group Limited 2025 Annual Results’ “Results highlights” and “Announcement”.

Lawrence Lam is the Chief Executive Officer of Prudential Hong Kong Limited. He leads the Hong Kong executive management team to drive growth and development and oversee operations of Prudential’s life and general insurance business in Hong Kong and Macau, covering a full suite of protection, health, wealth and investment insurance solutions as well as a comprehensive collection of general-purpose insurance products.

Prior to joining Prudential, Lawrence was the Chief Executive of Citi’s consumer bank in Hong Kong. He brings with him a wealth of experience in managing multi-channel distribution and servicing network, developing customer-centric digital ecosystem, and creating client value through segmentation and product innovation. Lawrence has held senior leadership positions at Citi, including Head of Retail Banking, Head of Sales and Distribution, and Director of Consumer Lending, and has played a critical role in building the bank’s insurance business through bancassurance partnership.  

Lawrence currently supports several industry and professional organisations.  He serves as Deputy Chairman of the Life Insurance Council (LIC) of the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers, and a Member of its Governing Committee. He is also a member of the Hong Kong Academy of Finance, and a Council Member of The Hong Kong Management Association, where he chairs its Programme Advisory Committee for Marketing Management. He is an Advisor to Our Hong Kong Foundation, contributing to Hong Kong’s long-term economic and social development.

In recognition of his forward-looking leadership at Prudential Hong Kong, he was named Corporate Executive of the Year at SCMP Live’s Business Awards 2025.

Lawrence holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours) degree from the Ivey Business School. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a Financial Risk Manager (FRM).

Sally is the Chief Executive Officer of AXA Greater China and is responsible for the management and operations of AXA Hong Kong & Macau and AXA Tian Ping. She is also the Chief Executive Officer of AXA Global Private, a comprehensive, unified platform serving high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth customers. She also has oversight of the ICBC-AXA business and AXA Asian Markets Services which specialises in information technology services in Asia.

Sally has extensive management and business development experience in insurance companies covering Asia Pacific Region. She has held a number of senior positions in major insurance companies in Asia, including Hong Kong and Japan.

Prior to joining AXA Hong Kong and Macau in 2018, Sally was with AIA Group for more than 11 years in various senior positions including Regional Director in Financial Planning and Management and Regional Business Development Director. She spent 7 years in Tokyo with Allianz Fire and Marine Japan Ltd as Chief Financial Officer and other senior positions.  She started her career in KPMG Hong Kong in 1996.  

Sally is a Fellow with CPA Australia and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from The University of New South Wales, Australia.

Mandates held outside AXA:
•        The Hong Kong Federation of Insurers (HKFI):
o        Chairman of Governing Committee (GC)
o        Councillors of the General Insurance Council (GIC) and the Life Insurance Council (LIC)
o        Deputy Convenor of Special Working Group on IA’s Proposed Enhanced Measures for Participating Products
o        Chairman of the Legal Working Group of GIC
o        Chairman of the FemPower Insurance Network of the GC

•        The Insurance Authority (IA):
o        Member of the Industry Advisory Committee on General Business

•        Member of the Market Development Committee for the Financial Services Development Council
•        Industry Member of General Committee of the Insurance Complaints Bureau
•        Council Member of the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Hong Kong
•        President of the 31st East Asian Insurance Congress
•        Member of the HKMA Insurance Management Committee
•        Member of the HKTDC Financial Services Advisory Committee
•        Member of the Advisory Committee on Tax Policy
•        Member of HKGCC Economic Policy Committee

‍

Wilton Kee is Chief Executive Officer of Manulife (International) Limited, overseeing the company’s business in Hong Kong and Macau. He is also a member of Manulife’s Asia Division Executive Committee and Global Leadership Team.

Mr. Kee joined Manulife in 2013 and has held senior leadership roles across pricing, product, health and finance in Hong Kong and Macau. He served as Chief Product Officer and Head of Health before being appointed Chief Financial Officer in 2022 and taking on the additional role of Deputy Chief Executive Officer in March 2026. As Chief Financial Officer, he led the Finance function and oversaw distribution compensation and business intelligence, championing performance management and accountability.

He brings extensive experience in actuarial pricing, financial reporting and risk management in Hong Kong and Japan, including earlier experience in the Asia regional office of a leading international insurance group.

Mr. Kee holds a Bachelor of Science in Actuarial Science from the University of Hong Kong. He is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA) in the United States and holds the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) designation and Certificate in Quantitative Finance (CQF).

Laurent Crouet is Chief Transformation & Operations Officer for Generali Asia, overseeing transformation, technology, operations and security across its Asian markets. He leads initiatives that connect digital capabilities with business strategy, operational excellence and sustainable growth.

With 20 years of experience across Asia and Europe, Laurent has built his career at the intersection of insurance, technology and transformation. Before joining Generali, he held several executive positions at AXA, including CEO of AXA Group Operations in the Philippines, as well as senior roles across digital, data and transformation.

At Generali, Laurent focuses on scaling technology and innovation into measurable business outcomes. He is particularly passionate about moving innovation beyond isolated pilots by building the governance, platforms and cross-market collaboration needed to deliver meaningful value for customers, agents, partners and employees.

Originally from France and now based in Kuala Lumpur, Laurent brings extensive cross-cultural leadership experience. His philosophy is simple: technology enables transformation, but alignment, talent and disciplined execution drive success.

Eason Wang leads WeBank’s bank-wide AI development and adoption. His work spans AI infrastructure and engineering capabilities, key AI applications, and the exploration of emerging technologies and innovative use cases. He focuses on translating AI technologies into scalable solutions across banking businesses and internal operations.

Geoff Kot is responsible for developing digital platforms for the Corporate and Investment Bank, as well as leading innovation initiatives in AI across the Group.

Joe Bonanno is the Head of Wealth Intelligence at Citi Wealth where he leads Wealth’s strategy across data, artificial intelligence, and client and advisor experience. In this role, he is responsible for transforming Citi Wealth into an AI-powered, intelligence-driven platform -integrating data foundations, advanced analytics, and next-generation digital experiences to redefine how wealth management engages and operates. He is the leader of OneWealth, Citi’s unified data and intelligence ecosystem, which connects client, account, and investment data to power real-time decisioning and personalized engagement at scale. This foundation enables capabilities such as Advisor Insights, Ask Wealth, Citi Scribe, and Citi Sky -Citi’s next-generation AI interface designed to deliver conversational, intelligent experiences for both advisors and clients.

Joe is also driving strategic partnerships with leading technology firms, including Google and Palantir, to accelerate the adoption of generative AI, agentic workflows, and large-scale data intelligence across the platform. Prior to this role, he led Data, Digital & Innovation for Citi’s Securities Services business, where he drove cloud transformation, AI/ML adoption, and digital asset innovation. Earlier in his career, he held senior leadership roles at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, where he built enterprise data platforms, advanced analytics capabilities, and next-best-action engines supporting millions of clients.

Lareina is a growth-focused senior business executive with over 20 years of experience across Asia and Europe. Known for her strategic vision and execution, she excels at navigating complex, matrixed organizations to deliver results.

As Head of SME Business for DBS Hong Kong, Lareina is an energetic, adaptable leader who builds low-ego, high-performing teams capable of achieving ambitious shared goals. Having completed three international relocations, she brings a global perspective and exceptional agility to dynamic environments.

A prominent figurehead in the financial ecosystem, Lareina previously served as Chair of the FinTech Association of Hong Kong (FTAHK) and continues to drive industry evolution as a Director on its Board.

Mankila Hung is Head of Innovation and Payment at Ele Bank Limited, where she leads the bank's digital payment strategy and product innovation. She has successfully launched consumer card products and cross-border remittance solutions, expanding the bank's payment capabilities across multiple channels.

With over 20 years of experience in the payments and financial services industry, Mankila has held key positions at Visa and American Express, where she led commercial and money movement solutions, managed strategic client relationships, and drove product development across the Asia Pacific region. Her expertise spans digital payments, cross-border money movement, product solutioning, and business development.

Mario Shamtani brings more than 30 years of experience in financial services technology, with a career spanning senior leadership roles at some of the world’s leading institutions. He is widely recognized for his ability to build scalable, modern platforms that deliver value to customers, clients, and regulators globally.​

Before joining HSBC, Mario served as Chief Information Officer for Markets, Investment Banking, and Regions at JP Morgan, where he was responsible for strategy, product, and engineering teams across multiple business lines. In this role, he successfully led large-scale technology initiatives that supported global growth and innovation.​

Earlier in his career, Mario spent eight years at Citibank, where he held key leadership roles including Global Head of Fixed Income and Currencies Technology, and Head of the Citi Innovations Centres in London and Israel. These positions highlighted his expertise in driving transformation and fostering innovation within complex financial ecosystems.​

At HSBC, Mario leads the Chief Technology Office, overseeing Infrastructure, Data Strategy, AI in Tech, Platforms and Architecture, and the Technology Centres. His deep industry knowledge, leadership experience, and forward-looking approach are instrumental in shaping the company’s technology strategy and future growth.​

Wolf Ruzicka is a veteran technology executive with over 25 years of experience leading enterprise strategy, innovation, and digital transformation. As Chief Commercial Officer at Unlimit, he drives the company’s global commercial strategy, partnering with clients to unlock growth through AI-driven solutions.

Throughout his career, Wolf has built and scaled high-performing technology businesses. He joined EastBanc Technologies as CEO in 2007, growing the company from 25 to over 200 employees. Following its merger with Solvd, now a nearly 1,000-person organisation, he led Solvd’s strategic advisory efforts, helping to position it as a leader in sophisticated software solutions. He also served as President of APIphany, a division of EastBanc Technologies, through its acquisition by Microsoft. Prior to that, he held leadership roles at MicroStrategy and contributed to global initiatives with organisations such as Mercedes-Benz, Lufthansa, and the Japanese government.

An entrepreneur, investor, and technology advocate, Wolf has served on numerous boards, including Microsoft’s Customer Advisory Board for Azure, Halcyon House, Spense, Kion, and the Investment Board of Virginia Venture Partners, contributing to nine successful exits. He is also the author of AI Driven and a dedicated mentor in the technology and venture community.

Hong Zhang is Chief Executive Officer of PayPal Greater China, Chairmann and General Manager of PayPal’s licensed entity in China, PayPal Payments Co., Ltd. She oversees PayPal’s strategic planning, business innovation and operational management in Greater China, leading the team to drive the company’s long-term growth in the Greater China market.

Hong Zhang joined PayPal in 2023 as Vice President, leading the execution of several key global initiatives in China. With nearly three decades of experience in international financial markets and executive leadership, she brings deep insights into China’s policy landscape and industry trends.

Prior to joining PayPal, Hong Zhang served as Senior Managing Director and Chief Representative of the New York Office at China Investment Corporation (CIC). Her extensive background spans corporate strategy, cross-border investment, corporate governance and international business development, with proven expertise in managing cross-regional operations across China and North America.

Hong Zhang holds an LL.M. from Columbia University, and both master’s and bachelor’s degrees in law from the University of International Business and Economics.

Mr. Xu is the Executive Director & CEO of AInnovation Technology Group（02121.HK）. He has nearly 30 years of experience in sales, customer service, technology and corporate management, and has held executive positions at Fortune 500 companies – Microsoft, SAP, IBM, Wanda. He was former vice president at Microsoft Greater China, former vice president of SAP Greater China, former general manager of IBM Greater China Finance Unit and Global Information Service Unit, former vice president of Wanda Internet Technology Group. Mr. Xu has served multiple industries, including manufacturing, financial service, retail, telecom, health care, education and public service, and has in-depth knowledge and understanding to a variety of industries in China.

Mr. Xu founded AInnovation in February 2018, and led the company to successfully listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on January 27, 2022, becoming the first "AI+ manufacturing" stock in China.

Mr. Xu graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and holds an EMBA degree from Peking University. Mr. Xu has extensive industry connections. He actively participates in public benefit activities such as education and charity. He is a corporate mentor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Tongji University, and the School of Management of Fudan University. Mr. Xu has served as an independent director of Honma Golf, a leading global golf brand and a Hong Kong listed company, since June 2016. At present, Mr. Xu serves as the chairman of the Frost & Sullivan LeadLeo Expert Committee on Innovation.

Li jing is chief strategy officer of stepfun, leading corporate strategy and ecosystem development. he drives ai applications across intelligent agents, finance and content creation, with deep experience scaling innovative products from concept to commercialization.

Mike Xu is the Co-Chairman and CEO of Fosun Capital and a Global Partner of Fosun Group. He has extensive experience in technology investment, corporate management, and cross-border business development, with a strong focus on FinTech, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and other emerging technologies.

At Fosun, Mike has led investments in leading technology companies, including Espressif Systems, a global provider of IoT semiconductor solutions that successfully listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange STAR Market; HeHe Technology (CCT), a leading Chinese AI and big data company; and Delhivery, a major Indian e-commerce logistics company. He has also played an active role in fostering international technology partnerships, including Fosun's collaboration with MIT on the China Future City Lab and its strategic partnership with Plug and Play.

Prior to joining Fosun, Mike held senior management positions at Microsoft China, Nielsen, and Bertelsmann-Arvato. He also co-founded Wicresoft, bringing together extensive corporate leadership experience and entrepreneurial expertise across technology sectors.

Mike holds a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Fudan University and an Executive MBA from Washington University's Olin Business School in St. Louis. He has also pursued advanced studies in finance and management.

With a combination of investment expertise, industry insights, and international experience, Mike is committed to supporting technological innovation and connecting promising companies with global capital and industrial resources.

Ms. Tracy Ji is the Founding Managing Partner of Meridian Capital. She holds an MBA from Imperial College London. She also serves as a member of the Investment Committee of Zhongyuan FoF and a director of the First Council of the China Digital Economy Investment and Financing Alliance. With nearly two decades of experience in venture capital, Ms. Ji previously conducted in-depth research in hedge funds and trading before entering the VC industry.

Leveraging her holistic perspective on economics and finance, sharp grasp of technological trends, and deep understanding of user behavior, Ms. Ji founded Meridian Capital in 2008. Under her leadership, the firm has built a robust investment portfolio across technology, consumer, enterprise services, and the digital economy, establishing Meridian Capital as a leading innovation-driven private equity fund in China.

Meridian Capital maintains offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Silicon Valley. Currently managing over RMB 15 billion in both RMB and USD funds, the firm focuses on leading Series A and B rounds, with investments extending into early-stage and growth-stage companies, alongside strategic industrial M&A and integration opportunities. Meridian Capital has consistently ranked among the Top 50 Venture Capital Firms in rankings published by leading financial institutions and media including Zero2IPO, ChinaVenture, and 36Kr. Ms. Ji herself has received dozens of prestigious awards from Forbes, Fortune, Zero2IPO, ChinaVenture, 36Kr, and 21st Century Business Herald, including Best Investor, Most Influential Businesswoman, Best Female Investor, and Most Entrepreneur-Friendly Investor.

Among the 300+ companies invested in by Meridian Capital, Ms. Ji has led and participated in numerous landmark deals, including:Tian Ge Interactive Holdings Limited、Golden Union Commercial、Weimob、Kanzhun Limited、Biren Technology‌、BFB HEALTH、Ocean Butterflies、Vastai Technologies‌、Shenzhou Semiconductor、Zinsight、Weinian Group、Hefu-Noodles、Yellow Swan、Origin Quantum、TENWAYS、Jiemian News and Cailian Press、DEEPRobotics、X Square Robot、D-Robotics、TCab Tech、Volant Aviation、Chang Guang Satellite Technology、Neolix Autonomous Vehicle.

Aliya Grig is a founder and keynote speaker working across financial infrastructure, advanced technology, and industrial systems. Her work focuses on how modern economies operate across finance, manufacturing, and emerging technologies.

She leads RA88 Finance, a platform focused on modernizing trade finance and cross-border settlement for the real economy. The platform addresses a structural gap in global commerce: while trade has become increasingly digital and multipolar, the financial infrastructure supporting it remains fragmented, slow, and operationally inefficient.

RA88 Finance integrates trade finance, cross-border payments, stablecoin settlement, compliance infrastructure, and tokenized financial workflows into a programmable platform designed for exporters, manufacturers, and commodity traders operating across jurisdictions. The platform combines embedded finance infrastructure, AI-powered compliance systems, and blockchain-based settlement tools to support faster, more transparent, and scalable global trade operations.

Aliya is also the founder of Kosmos City, a global platform focused on human and industrial development, and the Kosmos Foundation, which focuses on empathetic AI, sustainable technologies, and human-centered innovation.

She has spoken at international conferences including FT Future of AI, Web Summit, GITEX Global, TNW Conference, CES Unveiled, AIM Congress, and Hong Kong FinTech Week. She has been recognized by ESA, Forbes 30 Under 30, and Leta Capital’s Top 100 Women in AI.

Ben Wong is the founder and CEO of Riverchain, a fintech company transforming the construction sector with innovative working capital solutions. By leveraging advanced technology, Ben has adeptly simplified the complexities of the construction supply chain, substantially enhancing transparency, efficiency, and liquidity for businesses within this critical industry.

With nearly two decades of experience, Ben brings a deep expertise in supply chain management, finance, real estate, and cross-border trade. His passion for technology and his proven track record in creating scalable enterprises address real-world challenges, particularly the pervasive issue of limited access to working capital that stunts growth among construction businesses.

Before founding Riverchain, Ben was the General Manager of Technology Innovation at New World Development, where he led strategic initiatives in property, retail, health & wellness, and sustainability. His leadership was instrumental in managing early-stage investments and leading venture-build projects, propelling the company to the forefront of industry innovation.

Earlier in his career, Ben served as the Head of Online Strategy and Product Development at Global Sources.  His contributions were pivotal in the company's acquisition by Blackstone in 2017, particularly through the relaunch of Global Sources Direct, a B2B e-commerce platform. He also founded Startup Launchpad, one of Asia’s largest IoT startup trade events.

Ben holds a Bachelor's degree from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and a Master of Business Administration from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Dr Ying Huang assumed the role of Chief Technology Officer at ASTRI in September 2024. A visionary technologist with over 30 years’ experience in ICT, AI, data analytics and decision sciences, Dr Huang is renowned for driving innovation and commercialisation. His illustrious career spans major multinational corporations across the United States and China, where he has shaped research strategies and pioneered advancements in cutting-edge technologies.

Dr Huang’s professional journey includes significant tenures in Beijing, Shanghai and New York, where he held leadership roles at esteemed organisations such as Lenovo Research, IBM Research and Philips Research, accumulating rich experiences and connections.

Dr Huang’s contributions have garnered numerous accolades, including Lenovo Leadership Awards, IBM Outstanding Research Awards. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed academic journals and holds dozens of patents in both the United States and China. His contributions have earned him the title of Professor-Grade Senior Engineer in China.

He serves as a Guest Professor at the College of Software and Microelectronics at Peking University, and has held prominent positions such as the founding Vice Chair of the International Alliance on SparkLink, an emerging short-range communication technology, and a Board member of the Green Computing Consortium.

Dr Huang holds a PhD in Operations Research from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics from Fudan University.

Ir Eric Chan is the Chief Public Mission Officer of the Hong Kong Cyberport. Chan oversees the public mission operation at Cyberport, building the ecosystem of nurturing start-ups from inspiring the next generation, through nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit, to empowering global ambition, through comprehensive entrepreneurship programmes with funding and other value-added services.

Chan has over 30 years of experience in the ICT industry, a chartered engineer, a chartered marketer, and a Fellow of Institution of Engineering & Technology (UK). Prior to joining Cyberport, Chan held various senior positions in global ICT companies. Chan has been active in public services, especially in education and industrial training, professional bodies, and charitable organisations. Chan is the Chairman of Knowledge Management Development Center, Chairman of Industrial Training Advisory Committee (ICT Sector) and serves on a number of advisory committees under Education Bureau and Culture, Sports & Tourism Bureau. He also serves on advisory boards and mentorship programs at the University of Hong Kong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the City University of Hong Kong.

Chan holds a BSc. (Hon) degree in Engineering from University of London, an MBA in Finance from Manchester Business School and received Senior Executive Education from INSEAD (France) and IESE (Spain) business schools.

Mr Eric Or is a veteran in the information and technology industry with over 30 years of experience in organisational management, business development and major account engagement. He leads the HKSTP team in driving the development of Hong Kong's innovation and technology ecosystem through collaboration with corporate clients, business channels and system integrators.

Prior to his tenure at HKSTP, Eric served as the Managing Director, Greater China for Jardine OneSolution (HK) Limited from 2015 to 2020. He also spent over 10 years at Atos in various senior positions and his last role there was Country Managing Director for Hong Kong & Taiwan. Eric holds a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Toronto and has previously served in sales leadership roles at renowned companies including IBM, EMC, HP, and NCR.

Guillermo Ginesta is Managing Partner, Asia Pacific at Brinc, a Hong Kong-headquartered global venture accelerator and investor backing founders solving major challenges through technology. Based in Hong Kong, Guillermo leads Brinc's APAC operations across venture acceleration, corporate innovation, portfolio development, partnerships and investment activity. He works with startups, corporates, government partners and investors to move emerging technologies from pilot to adoption, with a focus spanning AI, climate and sustainability, clean energy and mobility, hardware and robotics, and impact-led venture building.

Guillermo has over a decade of experience in startup investing, accelerator operations and corporate innovation, including work with multinational companies across automotive, luxury, consumer electronics, food technology and financial services. At Brinc, he has helped build and run programs supporting startups from markets across Asia and globally. He is also an active angel investor with two exits and a regular speaker, host and moderator across Hong Kong's innovation ecosystem, including Asia Health Innovation Summit, StartmeupHK Festival, LEAP East Hong Kong and Hong Kong FinTech Week.

His perspective for HKFTW x StartmeupHK sits at the intersection of fintech, venture capital, AI and real-world technology adoption: how founders can access capital, corporate partners and cross-border pathways to scale from Asia to global markets.

Jess Cheng is the Co-Founder and Head of Hong Kong at CHARGESPOT. As part of the team that founded CHARGESPOT in 2017, she led it to become the world's first transnational power bank sharing service provider with over 6,000 spots in Hong Kong and over 96,000 spots worldwide. She has played a pivotal role in establishing CHARGESPOT as the market leader in Hong Kong and spearheaded its expansion across APAC, including Japan, Mainland China, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, United Kingdom and Italy, as well as its acquisition by INFORICH.

Jess holds a degree in Marketing and Management from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), graduating in 2005. Her career began with the Management Trainee Program at L'Oréal Hong Kong, where she excelled in sales and marketing for the Japanese beauty brand Shu Uemura. Driven by a passion for new challenges and innovation, she seamlessly transitioned between roles and industries, from managing advertising and promotions for Columbia Sportswear at Swire Resources, to leading the launch of the luxury French beauty brand La Biosthetique in Hong Kong and Mainland China.

Currently, Jess is dedicated to powering new possibilities for the business, innovating CHARGESPOT's products, services and delivery to meet the ever-changing needs of society and businesses, and expanding its partner network to create new and exciting touchpoints to support more customers around the world.

Kun is the founder of GGWP, the AI platform modernizing moderation and tackling toxicity in gaming and communities, and founder and CEO of Forge, the first of its kind loyalty and rewards platform for games.

Previously, he founded Crunchyroll, the world's largest destination for anime and manga, and served as CEO for over a decade. He brings 20 years of experience in consumer media, including founding social mapping service Frappr, product and engineering at Slide and HOTorNOT.

Kun graduated from UC Berkeley with honors B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and B.A. in Applied Mathematics in 2004, and was a PhD candidate in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon.

Paul Keely is the Chief Financial Officer of Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZ), overseeing the financial strategy across Dubai Silicon Oasis, Dubai Airport Freezone, and Dubai CommerCity. He also serves on the Boards of Oraseya Capital and Tradeling, and the Audit Committee of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise. With over 25 years of international experience at firms such as KPMG and Glencore, combined with CFO/FD roles at private equity portfolio companies, Paul brings deep expertise in finance, M&A, and strategic growth. He is a Chartered Accountant, holds a Bachelors degree in Business Law, a Masters degree in Blockchain and Digital Currency and is currently pursuing advanced studies in Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation.

Charles Lu is co-founder and COO of Espresso Systems. Prior to Espresso's founding in 2020, Charles worked in various investment and technology roles at Binance Labs (now YZi Labs), Citadel, Meta, and Amazon, and conducted research as a Ph.D. student in Dan Boneh's cryptography group at Stanford University. Charles holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from Stanford in computer science.

Espresso Systems builds digital asset infrastructure for enterprises that need speed and customizability without giving up architectural control. The company is the lead developer of Espresso, a modern high-performance blockchain that provides real-time settlement with subsecond finality and scales to millions of transactions per second. Institutions use Espresso to run dedicated environments for stablecoins, payments, tokenized assets, and collateral management, each with its own compliance and privacy controls, while staying connected to onchain liquidity. Espresso works with leading teams including Offchain Labs (developers of Arbitrum), Polygon, Celo, Cartesi, LitVM (Litecoin), and beyond. We are backed by more than $50 million in funding from leading investors in technology and crypto including a16z, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, Electric Capital, Paxos, and Coinbase Ventures.

Dominic Maffei is Co-founder, Board Member and Chief Executive Officer of Anchorpoint, the first Hong Kong licensed stablecoin issuer, and a joint venture between Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), HKT and Animoca Brands.

Dominic brings more than 15 years of experience across banking, financial markets, fintech and digital assets. Before assuming his current role, he led the development and execution of Standard Chartered Hong Kong's digital asset strategy and contributed to the delivery of the Group's Fintech 2025 agenda. During this time, he spearheaded initiatives focused on tokenised money, digital asset infrastructure, and emerging financial technologies.

Prior to this, Dominic led Standard Chartered's SC Ventures teams in both Hong Kong and the UK, supporting venture-building, fintech partnerships and the development of new business models. Earlier in his career, he held markets, treasury and business management positions at Standard Chartered and JPMorgan. He began his professional career as a lawyer in Silicon Valley, advising start-ups, investors and technology companies, and has also worked with early-stage ventures on business model development and fundraising.

Dominic holds an MBA and a Juris Doctor degree, is a licensed (inactive) attorney in California.

Eric Chen is the ceo of injective foundation. eric has worked within the crypto industry for over six years with his latest project, injective, garnering interest from leading professionals across hedge funds, venture capitals and blockchain projects, including but not limited to pantera capital, mark cuban, hashed and binance. 

Eric was featured in forbes 30 under 30 in 2024 for his work on injective.

Fiona Murray

Vice President and Managing Director of APAC, Ripple

Based in Singapore, Fiona Murray is Vice President and Managing Director of APAC for Ripple,  leading the company’s strategy and business operations in the Asia Pacific region.

During her tenure she has played an instrumental role in onboarding key partners and products  critical to digital asset trade across the region, including building out payment rails for on/off  ramping and overseeing the growth of OTC in APAC.

She drives Ripple's efforts to scale enterprise blockchain and crypto adoption in this region's  fast-growing digital asset hubs, including working to secure the company's landmark Major  Payments Institution (MPI) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Fiona joined Ripple in 2018 and has led the APAC sales team since 2020. Prior to Ripple, Fiona  held business development positions within large enterprises, including Oracle, Fiserv and  Misys (now Finastra), helping financial institutions innovate in payments across Europe and  Asia. Fiona holds a Master of Arts in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of  Oxford.

Lewis Sun was appointed Global Head of Digital Currencies, Corporate and Institutional Banking (CIB), HSBC in May 2026. He provides strategic leadership for Digital Assets and Currencies initiatives within Global Payments Solutions (GPS), with end-to-end accountability for strategy, client proposition, technology and risk, partnering with teams across HSBC.

Mr Sun has held a range of payments and cash management roles in China and Hong Kong since joining HSBC in 2002, including Head of Sales for GPS in China and Head of GPS China.

In August 2017, Mr Sun was appointed Regional Head of Product for GPS, based in Hong Kong. Leveraging his technical expertise and deep understanding of market trends, he assumed the role of Global Head of Domestic and Emerging Payments for GPS in April 2022.

Mr Sun holds a Master’s degree in Electronics Engineering and an International MBA from Tsinghua University, as well as a Certificate in International Cash Management from the Association of Corporate Treasurers (UK).

Nicole is the Chief Ecosystem Officer at Ubyx.  She is an award-winning digital policy expert driving stakeholder engagement, business development and shaping financial regulation in FinTech, AI, and digital assets across UK, EU, MENA, US and APAC; formerly Head of Digital Policy at Barclays.

Nicole is on the European Commission’s (EC) Expert Group on Regulatory Obstacles to Financial Innovation. In addition, she participated in the Crypto-asset and Blockchain roundtables at the European Parliament and presented on AI to the Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN).  She also led a UK Department of Trade Fintech Mission to New Zealand and Australia in 2026.

She regularly speaks on panels, presents at conferences and universities, has published articles (including a series on agentic commerce alongside Amazon, Standard Chartered and the GFIN) and focuses on upskilling and diversity initiatives.  Further, she was named in the Financial News ‘Top 20 Most Influential Women in Digital Assets' and awarded the Freedom of the City of London for her work in FinTech.

Niki Ariyasinghe is Vice President of Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, leading Chainlink's engagement with commercial banks, central banks, asset managers and FMIs across the region. He has 20 years of financial services and consulting experience, including 10 years leading projects applying blockchain technology with large enterprises. This includes pioneering CBDC projects Project Ubin in Singapore and Project LionRock in Hong Kong; live blockchain deployments with leading financial institutions such as UBS; and a cross-border sandbox program with Swift and ANZ Bank under MAS' Project Guardian to enhance the liquidity and efficiency of financial markets through asset tokenisation. Most recently, this includes Project Pangea, a collaboration with Korean and European banking consortia to advance real-time, stablecoin-based cross-border FX settlement.

Prior to Chainlink, Niki worked at blockchain companies R3 and Abra. He also has extensive experience in banking and management consulting, having worked at ING Bank and Accenture Strategy, respectively. He holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.

Alfred Cheung is currently the Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Sales Officer in BOC Group Life Assurance Company Limited (BOC Life), where he oversees overall business development. He leads all distribution channels including bancassurance, tied agency and brokerage as well as business partnerships. Prior to this, Alfred was the Appointed Actuary of BOC Life, responsible for product pricing and valuation, asset-liability management, and actuarial and financial risk management.

Alfred serves as Chairman of the Life Insurance Council (LIC) and a Governing Committee (GC) Member of HKFI. He also serves as Convenor of Sub-Committee on API and E-KYC under the InsurTech Task Force, a member of the Professional Standards Working Group and the Special Working Group on IA’s Proposed Enhances Measures for Participating Policies of LIC. Additionally, he is a member of the Task Force on Greater China Affairs of GC.

Alfred is a mentor for the Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) MBA program. He holds a degree in Actuarial Science from the University of Hong Kong and an EMBA from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Anita has over 20 years’ experience in the Asian Insurance market, managing risk, ensuring compliance, enabling business growth and transformation. Anita has performed leadership roles in both First and Second line and successfully led complex strategic projects from ideation to execution.

Anita has a long history with HSBC Life, performing a diverse range of roles – Programme Lead, Compliance Head, Chief Control Officer and Head of Operations. In each of these roles she has transformed the teams she led, to drive positive change and safe growth for the organization. Prior to HSBC, Anita was a Lead Consultant at Cap Gemini where she supported major Life Insurance clients in Asia.

Edison Sam is the Chief Digital & Technology Officer of CTF Life, where he leads the company's technology, digital, data, AI and transformation agenda. He is responsible for advancing the strategic capabilities that support sustainable growth, innovation and operational resilience, while elevating customer and distribution partner experiences.

With over two decades of leadership experience across the insurance and financial services sectors, Edison has a proven track record of driving business transformation through technology, digital innovation and data-driven strategies. His expertise spans Generative AI, enterprise technology, digital transformation, cybersecurity, and operational excellence.

Prior to joining CTF Life, Edison held senior leadership positions at leading insurers, including AIA Hong Kong, YF Life, Ping An Insurance, Chubb, New York Life and Sun Life. Throughout his career, he has spearheaded large-scale transformation initiatives, strengthened organisational capabilities, and delivered measurable business outcomes through technology and innovation.

Known for his strategic foresight and collaborative leadership style, Edison is passionate about harnessing emerging technologies to accelerate innovation, create long-term value and support sustainable business growth.

Polakit Teekakirikul is a physician-scientist, cardiologist, and healthcare executive specializing in precision medicine, longevity science, and AI-driven healthcare innovation. He currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of VitalLife Scientific Wellness Center and Chief Science Officer of Bumrungrad International Hospital, where he leads strategic initiatives in genomics, preventive medicine, digital health, and next-generation wellness ecosystems.

With expertise in cardiovascular genetics and genomic medicine, Dr. Polakit focuses on integrating multi-omics, AI, and predictive analytics into clinical practice to enable more personalized and proactive healthcare. His work centers on shifting healthcare from reactive disease management toward precision prevention and healthspan optimization.

Beyond medicine, Dr. Polakit is actively involved in the convergence of healthcare, finance, insurance, and technology. He is particularly interested in how AI, digital biomarkers, wearable technologies, and genomic risk profiling can reshape the future of health financing, underwriting, and preventive insurance models. He frequently explores collaborations between healthcare systems, fintech platforms, insurers, and technology companies to create scalable wellness and longevity ecosystems.

At VitalLife, he has led the expansion of scientific wellness programs that combine advanced diagnostics, genomics, regenerative medicine, and personalized lifestyle interventions. In parallel, at Bumrungrad, he plays a key role in driving innovation partnerships in biotechnology, AI-enabled healthcare systems, and translational medicine.

Dr. Polakit is a strong advocate for the future integration of longevity medicine, digital health infrastructure, and financial technology to create sustainable healthcare models focused on prevention, resilience, and long-term human performance.

Mr. Andre Blumberg leads the digital function for CLP in Hong Kong, spanning data, AI, cybersecurity, and technology delivery and operations. Beyond the day-to-day, he drives CLP's digital transformation agenda, including the rollout of its ERP programme. At Group level, he sets the related policies, standards, and assurance framework, aligning technology with business strategy and supporting CLP's energy transition.

Mr. Blumberg joined CLP in 2001 and has since held a series of senior leadership roles across the Group's technology function. He holds bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration and in Information Systems from the University of Cologne and completed Executive Development Programmes at IMD and Ivey Business School. Prior to joining CLP, he was based in Singapore as a Management Consultant with PwC, serving Fortune 100 clients across the Asia-Pacific region.

Mr. Blumberg chairs the CIO Board of the Hong Kong Computer Society and serves on several industry advisory committees.

Outside work, he is the founder and organiser of the Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge, a 298km annual ultra-endurance trail running event.

Archana Kotecha is a UK-qualified barrister, CEDR-accredited mediator, and a leading voice in business and human rights, with expertise in forced labour, human trafficking, and responsible business conduct. With over 18 years of experience advising UN agencies, governments, businesses, and civil society across Asia, she develops solutions that centre the rights-holder perspective and ensure human rights are embedded in business operations.

Archana founded The Remedy Project in 2019 with a mission to influence human rights due diligence and to advise large corporations on grievance mechanisms and remedy frameworks. In September 2026, she was appointed Interim Group CEO of Diginex, where she brings together technology, data and specialist expertise to help businesses see how compliance and business value go hand in hand, and how Diginex's methodologies turn insight into practical action and measurable outcomes.

Archana’s leadership has been recognised by the Financial Times, the Emilie Ashurst Anti-Slavery Award, and Industry Era Women Leaders, among others. She contributes to global standards-setting through advisory roles with the Asian Seafood Improvement Collaborative, the Forest Stewardship Council, the UN OHCHR, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the Global Business Initiative on Human Rights, and as a member of the European Commission DG GROW Informal Expert Group on Forced Labour. She is also a Visiting Senior Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Dr. Kang Qu currently serves as the Deputy General Manager at Global Corporate Banking Department at Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited (“BOCHK”). His primary responsibilities include strategic planning and financial performance management for the Corporate Banking sector. Before moving to Corporate Banking, he worked at the bank’s Economics & Strategic Planning Department and the Hong Kong Financial Research Institute of Bank of China focusing on BOCHK’s sustainability strategy, ESG regulatory and listing disclosures and green research. Prior to joining BOCHK in 2021, Dr. Qu spent years working in London, where he joined Bank of China Limited London Branch in 2006 and held positions as Head of Macro Research, Strategic Planning, and Sustainability.

Dr. Qu’s work is highly regarded within the industry. He has received multiple professional awards, including the Bloomberg Businessweek ESG Elites Award in 2025 and the Second Prize in the 2025 Green Finance Skills Competition organized by the Chinese Financial Workers' Union. Furthermore, he has published over 50 articles in both international and domestic journals, covering research areas such as macroeconomics, financial and banking development, and green finance.

In addition to his roles at Bank of China, Dr. Qu serves as the Chinese expert for the Special Policy Study (SPS) group of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), a Member of Directors of the China International Finance Society, the Vice President of the Hong Kong Green Finance Association (HKGFA), and a member of a Working Group led by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority on the Hong Kong Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance (Information and Communications Technology Sector).

Dr. Qu holds a BSc degree in Computer Science and Technology from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), a MSc degree from London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and a PhD in Finance from University of Durham in the UK.

Grace Cheung is General Manager Sustainability at Cathay. Leading the Group Sustainability Department, Grace oversees sustainability strategy and ESG performance of the whole Cathay Group. Under Grace’s leadership, sustainability has changed from a standalone specialist function to an integrated strategic and operational imperative in the airline group.

During Grace’s tenure, Cathay Pacific has committed for its net zero carbon emissions goal by 2050, supported by its mid-term target for using 10% sustainable aviation fuel and 12% carbon intensity improvement by 2030. The airline has also launched the first major Corporate Sustainable Aviation Fuel Programme in Asia in 2022.

Grace has also led Cathay’s effort in circular economy, reducing its environmental footprint on materials and waste. The airline has reduced its customer-facing single-use plastic items from an average of 7.7 pieces per passenger in 2019 down to 3.1 in 2023. A new target is set to bring it down further to 1.5 pieces per passenger by 2025, supported by additional targets on recycled plastics usage and recycling rate.

Grace represents Cathay in a number of industry working groups advocating for supportive policies and best practices sharing for further development of sustainability in the airline industry. Grace was the Chair of the Environment & Sustainability Board at the oneworld alliance and the Vice Chair of the Sustainability & Environment Advisory Council at the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and currently the members.

Jens-Peter is an expert in the transportation sector for 30 years and a Fellow of IET.

He has degrees in electrical engineering and economic psychology, because for him, technology and people belong together, especially when it comes to digital transformation and the application of artificial intelligence.

By living and working throughout Europe, America and Asia, he became passionate about diversity and leveraging cultural synergies for the development of disruptive innovations.

As the CEO of Siemens Mobility in Hong Kong, he is working with his team and local partners to turn Hong Kong into a sustainable and smart city.

Holding patents by himself, he is always looking for bright ideas and supports talents and their visions. And still today he is dealing with latest technologies and is using AI for developing apps by himself, just for fun.

Joanne Hon joined Equinix in 2024 as Managing Director of Equinix Hong Kong, leading the company’s business strategy in the market. She focuses on expanding the company’s capacity and digital services to accelerate customers’ digital transformation.

Ms. Hon brings to Equinix more than 25 years of extensive financial technology, investment, insurance, legal and professional services experience in the Asia-Pacific region. Prior to her role at Equinix, she has held leadership positions at several publicly listed multinational companies and private equity-backed technology firms, including Thomson Reuters, Mercer, Dealogic, CPA Global and Broadridge.

Ms. Hon holds a master’s degree in Financial Management from the University of London, and a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Asian Studies from the University of British Columbia. She also serves on the boards of several NGOs, including The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Young Women's Christian Association and Child Development Centre.

As Founder and CEO of Lise, Mark Kepeneghian is dedicated to modernizing market infrastructures in Europe.

Through Lise, he is developing a unified infrastructure integrating both trading (MTF) and settlement (CSD) functions. This project aims to create the first natively tokenized stock exchange, operating 24/7, with the goal of simplifying access to financing for SMEs and mid-caps through instant settlement.

Mark also leads Kriptown, the technology company designing the technical architecture (trading and post-trade) required to operate these tokenized financial instruments.

Alongside his operational roles, he actively participates in industry initiatives regarding financial regulation:

- AMF (French Financial Markets Authority): Member of the "Market Organisation and Functioning" Consultative Commission.

- ADAN: Vice-President and Chair of the Tokenization Committee, contributing to the definition of the regulatory framework for digital assets.

- France FinTech: Board Member, focusing on topics related to tokenization and capital markets.

He also sits on the boards of startups in the MedTech and LegalTech sectors.

Matti Lievonen is a distinguished leader in the renewable fuels industry, currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of EcoCeres, a global innovator in sustainable biofuels. Appointed CEO in January 2025, Matti brings decades of executive experience, a strong track record in scaling renewable energy businesses, and a deep commitment to combatting climate change through cutting-edge decarbonization solutions.

Matti is renowned for his transformative leadership in the energy sector, particularly during his tenure as CEO and President of Neste Corporation, where he spearheaded the company’s rise as a world leader in renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). His expertise in biomass-based biofuels and bioproducts has been instrumental in driving the adoption of renewable fuels across industries. Prior to Neste, he held senior executive roles at UPM Biofore Corporation and served on the boards of Fortum, SSAB, Solvay, and the Confederation of Finnish Industries, cementing his reputation as a strategic visionary in sustainable industrial development.

Mr Paul Chow is Group General Counsel and Group Chief Sustainability Officer at HKEX and is a member of its Management Committee.

Based in Hong Kong, he heads up the Group’s Legal & Secretariat functions, overseeing the Legal and Secretarial Services teams globally. He also provides strategic legal counsel to the HKEX Board and Senior Management team. In addition, Mr Chow oversees the Sustainability function at HKEX, encompassing the Corporate Responsibility & Foundation team and the Carbon & ESG Product team. In this role, he is responsible for driving the Group's sustainability strategies that align with HKEX’s purpose and long-term goals.

Prior to joining HKEX in 2021, Mr Chow worked at Cathay Pacific Airways where he was Group General Counsel and Company Secretary. Before working in-house, he was a partner at Davis Polk Wardwell LLP, Linklaters and Slaughter and May, bringing broad experience from both private practice and as in-house counsel, along with specific expertise in corporate finance and capital markets. Outside of HKEX, he is a member of the Supervisory Committee of Tracker Fund of Hong Kong, Funds Management Sub- Committee of the Hong Kong Housing Authority, Resolvability Review Tribunal, Standing Committee on Compliance of the Law Society of Hong Kong and Green Technology and Finance Development Committee, and the Working Group on “Co-Prosper Hong Kong” – Welfare Projects Matching Platform under the Commission on Targeted Poverty Alleviation.

Mr Chow holds a Bachelor of Laws from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Master of Science in Global Business from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Tracy Wong Harris is an Asia-focused sustainable finance executive with over 20 years’ global experience across Asia, Europe and the US. She is Chief Investment Officer and Head of the Asia Team at the Green Accelerator. Green Accelerator makes green projects in emerging markets investment-ready and connects them with the right capital from philanthropic, public, and commercial sources, using blended finance as needed. She also serves as Private Capital Mobilisation Strategy Advisor to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), where she led the design of the Bank’s blended-finance platform to crowd institutional capital alongside AIIB’s origination.

Former Managing Director and Head of Sustainable Finance, Asia at Standard Chartered, she scaled the franchise eightfold across 21 markets, financing renewables, green buildings, aviation, shipping and industrial decarbonisation. As Executive Vice President of the Hong Kong Green Finance Association (HKGFA), she contributes to policy and market development. She serves on the board of the Hong Kong Green Building Council (HKGBC) and on the Hong Kong Financial Services Development Council (FSDC) Policy Research Committee. She previously served on the Sprinkles Charity Foundation board and as an Alternate Board Member of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM).

She holds BA and MSc degrees in International Finance and Capital Markets (UK), completed the Social Finance Executive Programme at Oxford Saïd Business School, and is certified in Green and Sustainable Finance by the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers.

Albert Liu, Kneron’s founder and CEO. After graduating from the Taiwan National Cheng Kung University, he got the scholarships from Raytheon and the University of California to join the UC Berkeley/UCLA/UCSD research programs, and then got his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Before establishing Kneron in San Diego in 2015, He has worked in R&D and management positions in Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics R&D centre, MStar and Wireless Information.

Albert has been invited to give lectures of computer vision technology and artificial intelligence at the University of California, as well as to be a technical reviewer for many internationally renowned academic journals. In addition, Albert owned more than 30 international patents in the areas of artificial intelligence, computer vision and image processing. He has published more than 70 papers in major international journals. In 2020, published Deep Learning – Hardware design. In 2021, published Introduction to Artificial Intelligence 4th Industrial Revolution.

Moreover, Albert has received numerous awards such as 2021 IEEE TCAS Darlington award, 2022 Pan Wen-Yuan Foundation IoT Innovation Award, 2022 IEEE CTSoc Awards Corporate Innovation Leadership Award.

Dr. Hongjuan Liu is the Chief AI & Data Officer for Hong Kong and Macau at Manulife (International) Limited. As a member of Manulife Hong Kong’s senior management team, Dr. Liu plays a key role in advancing the company’s AI and data agenda. He leads Manulife Hong Kong and Macau’s cross‑functional AI & Data team, driving the development and execution of advanced analytics, AI deployment, and data platform strategies, while ensuring strong governance and operational excellence. He also represents Manulife Hong Kong and Macau in external AI and data‑related forums and industry dialogues.

Dr. Liu brings over 20 years of experience in AI, data strategy, analytics, and digital transformation across multiple industries and geographies. Before joining Manulife, he served as Vice President, Data at McDonald’s China, and previously held senior data and analytics leadership roles at a few global technology and automotive organizations. He also has extensive experience in the insurance industry, having served in data, CRM, and analytics leadership roles at major insurers such as Ping An Insurance, Ageas, Cigna, and Prudential.

Dr. Liu holds a PhD in Management Science and a Master of Science in Operational Research from Lancaster University, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree from South China Normal University.

Michael is the Managing Director and General Manager of Google Hong Kong, overseeing strategy and market operations in Hong Kong.

Since joining Google in 2011, Michael has held key leadership roles in sales and strategic partnerships. Notably, he spearheaded the launch of Google Pay across the Asia Pacific region and has been instrumental in driving digital transformation for partners across diverse sectors. In 2018, he was appointed Google's global head of sales strategy and enablement, tasked with developing and growing the advertising sales force.

Michael serves on the boards of the American and Canadian Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong and the Advisory Board for Information Systems Programs at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School, drawing on over two decades of experience in the technology field.

Michael holds an Executive MBA from the Kellogg-HKUST EMBA program and an Honours Business Administration (HBA) from Ivey Business School in Canada.

Philip is a Founding Member and Managing Director of Primavera Capital. He serves on the Leadership Committee, Investment Committees, Strategic Partnerships Committee, Portfolio Management Committee, Sustainability Committee, Operations Committee, Risk Committee, among others. His board experience spans both for-profit and non-profit organizations.

Prior to Primavera, he held positions in investment banking based in Hong Kong and in a hedge fund based in San Francisco.

He holds a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University.

Primavera Capital is a global investment firm managing USD20 billion in assets, with 100 portfolio companies and 100 professionals across private equity, venture capital, and credit strategies.

Abby is the Chief Compliance Officer of Elebank, a forward-thinking digital bank driving customer-centric innovation through the extensive use of AI in risk models, systems, and user journeys.

With over 30 years of regulatory and banking experience, Abby spent more than a decade at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) before holding senior compliance leadership roles across major commercial and retail banking groups. Her expertise spans Financial Crime Compliance (FCC), wealth compliance, and general regulatory frameworks.

Actively engaged in industry development, Abby has contributed to various Hong Kong Association of Banks (HKAB) committees, including AML and the Code of Banking Practice, and was among the pioneering first batch of public-private partnerships uniting banks with the Hong Kong Police Force’s Anti-Deception Coordination Centre (ADCC) to combat fraud.

With over 15 years of experience in legal and investigative fields, Afia has honed her skills in criminal investigations, stakeholder engagement, and writing, positioning herself as a trusted authority in the industry.

She has worked on extremely high-profile and landmark cases in the criminal defense domain, showcasing her ability to navigate complex challenges. Afia proudly holds multiple certifications from esteemed institutions and is currently pursuing her PhD in Counter-terrorism and Deradicalization, reflecting complete commitment to ongoing education and professional growth.

Agnes K Y Tai, PhD, CCB.D, SCR®, FRM, CFA Sustainable Investing, Responsible AI, CAIA, MBA, FHKIoD

Prof Tai is a board director at Great Glory Investment Corporation, a globally recognized expert in sustainable and responsible investing, governance, risk, and strategy with 46 years of experience in financial markets and 15 years of board training worldwide.

She is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Climate and Nature Governance, a Trustee of Chapter Zero Alliance (overseeing 35 chapters in 70+ countries), a Supervisory Board member of Global Reporting Initiative, a Council member and Training Committee Vice Chair of the Hong Kong Institute of Directors, an Adjunct Professor of the University of Hong Kong, a Global Association of Risk Professionals Hong Kong Committee member, a VTLP Impact Circle Advisory Board member, and a frequent speaker, author and judge.

She has a PhD from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology with dissertation titled “Do carbon risks matter for Hong Kong equity prices?”, an MBA from the University of Chicago – Booth School of Business, a BSc (Honors) from Roosevelt University in USA and is a graduate of the Stanford University Senior Executive Leadership Program and the 2011 Stanford Directors’ College.

Ajay Mathur is Managing Director and Head of Consumer Banking Group and Wealth Management of DBS Hong Kong.

He joined the bank in December 2017. Ajay is responsible for leading DBS HK’s consumer banking and wealth management business. He has more than 25 years of extensive retail and wealth exposure in Indonesia, Singapore and India.

Ajay holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and earned his Master of Business Administration from the University of Mumbai in India.

Alan is a consulting partner based in HK with a focus on advanced analytics, digital transformation and emerging technology (Blockchain/DLT, Data and AI) in financial services industry. Alan has over 16 years of experience supporting Banks and Insurance Companies on emerging technology assessment, digital transformation, system architecture design, and has led over 10 full SDLC of large scale Enterprise Application, Analytics and Blockchain Solution implementation.

Alan Lau works at the intersection of technology, finance, and culture. His deep experience spans the two technologies reshaping our world: AI and tokenisation.

He builds and scales technology businesses. As Executive Chairman of Growhill Wealth, he leads an AI-native wealth platform that uses agentic AI to empower independent financial advisers serving high-net-worth investors across Asia. Earlier, as founder-CEO of Tencent WeSure, he built one of the world's first AI-native regulated insurance carriers serving 100 million customers, with machine learning designed into underwriting, distribution, claims, and service. More recently, at Animoca Brands, he led the build-out of tokenisation infrastructure that brings real-world and virtual assets on-chain.

Before Animoca, he spent nearly two decades at McKinsey. He led McKinsey Digital across Asia-Pacific, running large-scale transformation programmes in big data, e-commerce, and digital user experience design for the region's biggest companies.

He is an independent director of Tapestry (NYSE: TPR), the $30bn S&P500 owner of Coach and Kate Spade. Earlier, he served on the Digital Advisory Board at Burberry (LSE: BRBY). These roles, alongside his operating work, have given him an unusually close understanding of Gen Z consumers, the cohort that will define the next decade of consumption and customer experience across multiple sectors.

Albert is a Managing Director at Eurazeo within the Venture team, based in Singapore. He is leading a growth stage fund looking at insurtech and fintech opportunities across Asia. He has experience both operating and investing into tech companies in Asia, particularly Southeast Asia, over 16 years, including the past 12 years as a VC. He also previously spent 5 years in management consulting.

He completed his MBA at the University of California, Berkeley and did his undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania.