Inaugural Director of Banco Santander's blockchain lab in Madrid. Expert in all manner of crypto, blockchain and distributed ledger systems and their integration across the banking stack including retail, corporate and capital markets.

With over 13 years of experience, Irina specializes in the broad spectrum of commercial and corporate work including M&A, corporate  restructurings and governance issues, as well as complex joint ventures and strategic alliances. Having served in-house in senior legal roles with multinationals in oil & gas, construction and maritime industries, Irina has developed a thorough expertise in heavy industrial sectors, such as energy, oil & gas, EPC and engineering, capital and infrastructure projects. Over the past five years, Irina has been focusing on emerging technology being introduced or developed alongside the traditional business models. She regularly advises in relation to all aspects of emerging businesses, including regulatory framework, capital-raising as well as matters relating to contractual arrangements such as software and technology licensing, consultancy, and contracts for supply and maintenance of hardware and equipment.

Mai Alowaish is the Chief Data Officer at Gulf Bank. With experience in e-commerce applications and digital analytics in both the United States and Kuwait, Mai has implemented a variety of analytics and e-commerce solutions and enabled digital transformation for online retailers, financial institutions, airlines, and more. Mai is an active member and mentor with the Digital Analytics Association (DAA) and the recipient of the 2019 DAA President’s Award

Anna brings 20 years of experience in driving and fostering banking and payments innovation in Europe, with a focus on CEE (Citigroup, T-Mobile, mBank, PwC).Anna is building cooperation models between banks and Fintech startups, particularly with regard to Open Banking, Payments as well as AI projects. She is also a Senator, Member of the Global Startup Committee at the WBAF – World Business Angels Investment Forum, Jury Member and Expert at the EU/EC European Innovation Council (SME Accelerator) aimed at financing innovative SMEs across EU. Featured in the 100 Women in FinTech (100WFinTech) global directory and “Women in FinTech Powerlist 2019”; “TOP 25 Women Leaders in Financial Technology of 2019”; “TOP 100 Women in FinTech 2019 List; “20 Most Influential Women in Payments”. Co-Author of The PAYTECH Book and The AI Book.Her particular expertise lies in the field of innovative digital payment and financial solutions, acquired in the strategy, innovation and product management roles. Anna introduced one of the first online payment gateways in the CEMEA region as well as the first digital wallet and the mobile payment platform. Managed the implementation of the first local mobile banking apps and the first local mobile payments initiative.

Michele Curtoni works as VP in State Street’s Digital Product Development and DLT team. Prior to his current role, he was manager and strategy leader for LSEG Emerging Technologies group. Michele currently focuses on working in the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and Digital Assets space, and has been in the space for the past 4 years. In his roles Michele has covered many aspects of the innovation cycle, from working on implementing business applications and proof of concepts with emerging technologies, to start-ups and wider Fintech space engagement. He also worked over four years in the LSEG Group Strategy division, taking a central role in several of the Group’s high profile acquisitions and corporate partnerships as well as other Group strategic initiatives. Michele holds an MSc from the University of Warwick in Economics and International Financial Economics (EIFE).

Michal is a Forbes Magazine Contributor, covering Fintech, Insurtech, Regtech and Blockchain and author of Six reports on the Fintech, Insurtech and Regtech ecosystem and co-author in a Fintech book. While launching FinTech ventures in eleven countries (of which one has been sold to a bank and one has performed a recent IPO), Michal decided to multiply his knowledge as a practitioner with extensive insight into academia. Sweden is his seventh country of residency where he is the head of insights for Stockholm Fintech Week, a co-founder of Innobridge helping leaders of Fintechs and Incumbents to share knowledge behind closed doors. He is also the Head of Operations and Compliance of Safello, a leading cryptocurrency broker

Brett King is a world-renowned futurist and speaker, an International Bestselling Author, and a media personality who covers the future of business, technology, and society. President Xi Jinping cited his book Augmented on the topic of Artificial Intelligence and he was voted Top Foreign Author for 2019 in Russia. He has spoken in over 50 countries, at TED conferences, given opening keynotes for Wired, Techsauce, Singularity University, Web Summit, The Economist, IBM’s World of Watson, CES, SIBOS and many more. He has appeared as a commentator on CNN, CNBC, BBC, ABC, Fox, and Bloomberg. He previously advised the Obama administration on Fintech policy and advises regulators and bank boards around the world on technology transformation. King hosts the world’s first and #1 ranked radio show on FinTech called “Breaking Banks” (180 countries, 7m million listeners). He is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Moven, a successful mobile start-up, which has raised over US$47 million to date, with the world’s first mobile, downloadable bank account, available in the United States, Canada, UK, Indonesia, Russia, Tanzania, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and New Zealand. Named”King of the Disruptors” by Banking Exchange magazine and the “Godfather of Fintech” by The Australian newspaper, King was voted American Banker’s Innovator of the Year, voted the world’s #1 Financial Services Influencer by The Financial Brand and was nominated by Bank Innovation as one of the top 10 “coolest brands in banking”. He was shortlisted for the 2015 Advance Global Australian of the Year Award for being one of the most influential Australians living offshore. His books have been released in over a dozen languages and he has achieved bestseller status in 20 countries. His fifth book Augmented: Life in the Smart Lane was an international bestseller, top 10 in North America and China, and the book remained in the top-10 on Amazon for 2 years. Bank 4.0, which followed, spent 2 years on the Amazon bestsellers list for Banking books. His coming book for the post-Coronavirus world is entitled The Rise of Technosocialism and is due out early 2021

Tuncay is the Head and Executive Director of Group Online & Mobile Banking and Country Head of Digital Banking of UAE Standard Chartered Bank. He is responsible for driving Online and Mobile Banking Initiatives and Platform Management across the Group and Managing and driving Digital Banking Platforms and capabilities for UAE under Retail Banking. As a Turkish National, he started his career in e-commerce start-ups and be a part of the team to develop World’s first Price Comparison e-commerce platform, which enabled online checkout from multiple e-commerce websites with single sign-on. After the E-commerce experience, he worked in TEB BNP Paribas Technology Department as Project Manager, Yapi Kredi Bank Alternative Delivery Channels Department as Cross Channel Coordination and Planning Specialist and worked at Akbank as Head of Mobile Banking in Turkey. Prior to his role at Standard Chartered, he was the Head of Mobile Financial Services, and Head of Agile transformation for Retail Banking at Emirates NBD for 5 years in UAE. Tuncay has a degree in Management Engineering from Istanbul Technical University of Turkey.