Judging Panel
We are delighted to welcome a stellar panel of judges from across the spectrum of the Open Banking eco-system. The events team at Open Banking Expo will ensure that there are no conflicts of interest during the judging process, and all judges will sign an NDA to ensure no information is shared outside of the judging process.
Alejandro Servín
Alejandro Servín
Head of Open Banking BBVA MexicoAlex Servín is an accomplished executive and serial entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience driving innovation in fintech and banking. As Head of Open Banking at BBVA Mexico, Alex leads cutting-edge initiatives, having previously served as General Manager for Mexico at Belvo, the leading Open Banking platform in Latin America. He has founded and led successful startups such as Pagaloop (Fintech) and Punto a Punto (Last Mile Delivery), combining his entrepreneurial vision with a robust background in Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) and Corporate Law to bring a well-rounded approach to business leadership.
Alexandra Bloomfield
Alexandra Bloomfield
Assistant Commercial Director: Financial Services HM Revenue & CustomsA South African in North Yorkshire! I’ve worked in various roles across Orange/EE/BT over the last 10 years, with my most recent appointment being the Payments Strategy Lead for the Group. As well as being the outward facing industry person, I’m also the business owner for our internal PSP, so a significant proportion of my role is to balance the needs of our customers against cost to serve, and ensure an exceptional digital experience whilst balancing the need for efficiency and compliance. I’m a passionate advocate for Open Banking, across all forms, and it’s my ambition to embed it in every part of our ecosystem across our brands.
Ana Climente
Ana Climente
Head of Open Banking BBVA SpainAna Climente is Head of Open Banking at BBVA Spain in charge of connecting with new ecosystems to promote partnerships with 3rd parties and developing new ways of distributing financial services through APIs. Before, she was Head of Digital transformation for enterprise clients at BBVA Spain leading the creation of solutions leveraged on data for enterprise clients to help them make better financial decisions.
Previously, Ana was Vice President of payments and collections in the transition to SEPA and was in charge of developing cash management solutions at BBVA. And has also represented BBVA and the Spanish financial sector in different EBA and EPC working groups.
Ana joined BBVA in 2005. Before that, she worked as strategy consultant at Accenture, specialized in B2B solutions for Europe, Middle East and Africa. She also started up Adquira, a leading Spanish procurement company.
Ana graduated in International Business Administration with a double degree in Spain and Germany in 1998.
Andrew Moor
Andrew Moor
President & Chief Executive Officer EQ BankAndrew joined Equitable Bank (TSX: EQB) as Chief Executive Officer in 2007. Andrew’s focus in recent years has been in positioning Equitable Bank as “Canada’s Challenger Bank”. Andrew has been establishing EQ Bank as a leading digital banking player, with an easy to use mobile app that offers a unique combination of payments functionality and great savings rates. Equitable Bank is Canada’s ninth largest schedule 1 bank with over $30 billion of assets under management. Equitable was a founding shareholder in Borrowell, and participates in the Portage ecosystem through an investment in Portage Funds giving the Bank a view into the Canadian fintech ecosystem.
Andrew is a keen observer of the challenger and neo bank community around the world. He is interested in how banks can lever technology to improve the societies in which they operate. He is a member of the Executive Council of the Canadian Bankers Association and Chairman of the Banks and Trust Companies Association. Andrew is a Director of Sleep Country Canada Inc. (TSX:ZZZ) and a member of the Smith School of Business Advisory Board at Queen’s University.
Archi Shrimpton
Archi Shrimpton
Senior Manager, Open Banking & Open Finance Lloyds Banking GroupArchi has 15 years’ experience in financial services, having worked in a variety of strategy, outsourcing, transformation and change roles. Today he leads industry engagement on Open Banking and Open Finance for Lloyds Banking Group.
Chris Higham
Chris Higham
Head of Payments & Cards Secure Trust BankChris heads up the Payments and Cards function at Secure Trust Bank, a specialist savings and lender serving the UK market. He was previously Head of Open Banking at Virgin Money and is focussed on how alternative ways to pay and use customer data can lead to better outcomes for customers, banks and society as a whole.
Conrad Ford
Conrad Ford
Chief Product & Strategy Officer Allica BankConrad Ford is Chief Product & Strategy Officer at Allica Bank (www.allica.bank), named by The Sunday Times as the UK’s fastest-growing company, and by Deloitte as the UK’s fastest-growing fintech firm ever. Backed by TCV – investors in the likes of Netflix, Revolut & Spotify – Allica is reimagining banking for established SMEs with the latest technology. Previously Conrad was sole founder of Funding Options – a fintech listed in the 2022 FT1000 ranking of Europe’s fastest-growing firms – that latterly sold to leading neobank Tide.
Dan Wilson
Dan Wilson
Senior Manager, Payments Strategy & Industry Nationwide Building SocietyDan is currently the Head of Payments Strategy, Industry and Roadmap at Nationwide Building Society – Leading all external industry engagement, development of payments strategy and broader oversight of portfolio strategy delivery and governance. With over 15 years’ experience in payments, Dan started his career at Barclays before holding roles at JP Morgan & Chase and Nationwide. His passion is to make payments safer, more user friendly and more accessible for customers across the UK – helping to build new products , services and tools to make it easy as possibly for people to interact with their finances.
David Parker
David Parker
Director Polymath ConsultingI have an in depth knowledge of Payments and Cards. In particular the company and myself are very well known for our work in E-money/prepaid cards and emerging payments covering areas such as mobile money/mobile wallets and Mpos. I have also worked extensively supporting and advising SMEs having been involved in SME payments projects since the early 2000. I have been involved in co-founding two companies involved with open banking; KYP and Konsentus.
I am increasingly active in Fintech and am currently holding a range of positions including Board NED, Board Advisor, Advisory Board, Investor in companies including: Hands In, KYP, Konsentus, Itemize, Edfundo, Swiipr and Unizest.
Dr Ruth Wandhöfer
Dr Ruth Wandhöfer
Global Fintech 50 InfluencerDr. Ruth Wandhöfer has been instrumental in shaping the future of finance and money during her impressive career over more than 23 years. She operates at the nexus of technology, identity, finance, regulation and cyber security and advises and speaks to international audiences on the evolution of the digital economy.
As a sought-after keynote speaker, author and recognized global authority on banking, technology and regulation she is a very influential female leader in the Fintech space, promoting the understanding, development and deployment of new business models and technologies for our digital future across payments, financial markets and processes.
After a distinguished career of over 11 years with Citi, Ruth has also advised the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the White House, the Singapore MAS, the EBRD and the OECD.
She is a Visiting Professor at CASS Business School (now Bayes), where she gained her PhD, teaching Fintech in Banking and Finance and Digital Money as well as providing Executive Training on topics such as Financial Market Infrastructures, Payments and the Future of Value in a World of Technological Change. She is also a Visiting Professor at the London Institute of Banking and Finance and an occasional lecturer at Queen Mary London School of Law.
Since 2018 Ruth is also an independent Non-Executive Director on various boards ranging from regulated banks and stock exchanges to Fintechs in addition to being an active Angel and VC investor for years.
In the past she has been the Chair of the Statutory Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) Panel in the UK and board member of the London Stock Exchange Group, Gresham Technologies and Digital Identity Net.
Furthermore, she advises the City of London Corporation, the British Standards Institution and the European Third Party Provider Association (ETPPA).
Ruth was named as one of 2010s ‘Rising Stars’ by Financial News; named in Management Today’s 2011 ‘35 Women under 35’ list of women to watch and identified as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Finance 2012 by the Treasury Risk Magazine. She received the ‘Women in Banking and Finance Award for Achievement’ in 2015 and in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022 she was named on the global ‘Women in Fintech Powerlist’ of Innovate Finance (Senior Leader in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023).
So far, she published three books: “EU Payments Integration” (2010), “Transaction Banking and the Impact of Regulatory Change” (2014) and “Redecentralisation: Building the Digital Financial Ecosystem” (2023).
She balances this extraordinary career while raising her two children and championing for a better work life balance for single parents and more support for women entrepreneurs. She is also in the process of writing a novel dealing with the implication of Quantum AI.
Ellie Hewitt
Ellie Hewitt
Director, Payments Consulting KPMGEllie is a Director in KPMG’s Payments Consulting practice, leading payments strategy, commercialisation and product; as well as KPMG’s Open Banking and Open Finance teams. She has extensive experience in the payments industry, recently leading product strategy for open banking and real time payments for Visa. Ellie has extensive experience in product innovation, use case design, M&A activity, and running large transformation programmes. Ellie’s experience extends across Europe and Australia, working across the industry with large banks, payment schemes, payment infrastructure operators, fintechs and regulators.
Emma Lindley
Emma Lindley
Managing Director CAFEmma Lindley is Managing Director of Global Expansion for CAF a digital identity company with offices in Brazil, the USA, Canada and the UK. She is also co-founder and Chair of Women in Identity a not-for-profit organisation membership organisation focused on developing inclusive products in the digital identity industry and is an advisor to Kantara UK.
She has a proven track record in identity over the last 20 years in early-stage venture-backed companies and large £1B+ publicly held companies.
Prior to joining CAF she held roles at GBGplc, Visa, and was co-founder of Confyrm which sold to Capital One, she has also advised governments globally.
Emma has been recognised in the Innovate Finance Powerlist, Liminal Top 100 leaders in Identity, Goode Identity Awards, Tech 100, and was recently awarded an MBE in The Queens New Years Honours List for services to the identity industry.
She has an MBA from Manchester Business School and completed her thesis in Competitive Strategy in the Identity Market.
Euan Ballantyne
Euan Ballantyne
Product Director Pay.UKEuan has 22 years experience in leading product management and development teams in cards, payments and lending. Having originally moved into financial services with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney, further spells back in the UK with Visa, Tesco Bank and RBS/Natwest led him to join Pay.UK as Product Director in 2022. Euan’s team works on developing and managing great customer and end user focused products and services that are provided by Pay.UK to the UK market. A keen outdoor enthusiast, Euan is always up for a mountain hike or an outing on skis, bikes, or boards.
Eyal Sivan
Eyal Sivan
Mr Open BankingEyal Sivan, also known as Mr. Open Banking, is one of the foremost global experts in the open banking space.
In his efforts to drive advancements in open banking worldwide, Eyal created the unique personal brand Mr. Open Banking. Under this persona, he hosts the only podcast dedicated to the open banking community, interviewing the key leaders, innovators and influencers who are driving the emergence of open banking around the globe. Since its launch in 2020, the podcast has grown to over 60 thousand subscribers, with Eyal being recognized by Open Future World as the number one Open Finance Influencer in the world for 2022.
Today, Eyal is the General Manager for North America at Ozone API, global pioneers of open banking who’s platform powers some of the largest and most advanced data sharing ecosystems on the planet. In his role, he is responsible for expanding the firm’s global position as a leading open banking solution provider to the United States, Canada and beyond.
Faith Reynolds
Faith Reynolds
Director Devon Fields ConsultingFaith is an independent consumer finance expert. She is a member of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Financial Services Consumer Panel where she chairs the EU Working Group and is the lead for technology and innovation. She acts as the Customer Representative on the Open Banking Implementation Entity Steering Group and authored the widely-read report, ‘Open Banking: A Consumer Perspective’. She recently joined the Current Account Switch Service as an independent non-executive director. Faith is also a member of the RegTech Council.
Previously, Faith was a member of the Payments Strategy Forum, ESMA’s Financial Innovation Standing Committee Consultative Working Group, as well as CILEX’s Strategic Risk Committee. Between 2010-2012 Faith pursued the Clore Social Leadership Programme, undertaking research into Big Society while based at the Institute for Government and more recently helped the Institute look at how it creates impact.
Fiona Fenn Smith
Fiona Fenn Smith
Head of Ecosystem Communications Open Banking Limited
Ghela Boskovich
Ghela Boskovich
Head of Europe Financial Data & Technology AssociationGhela Boskovich is the Head of Europe for the Financial Data and Technology Association; she is also a well-known advocate for improving inclusiveness and diversity in Financial Services.
Ghela’s past work was centered on fast-tracking internal innovation and the practical application and comercialisation of fintech/bank collaboration. Currently, she focuses on fostering an ethical data democracy, individual consumer empowerment over their data, data economy disruptive business models, and facilitating banks’ emerging technology consumption.
Ghela takes product, service, journey, and business model redesign from initial concept to go-to-market delivery. Her strong regulatory economic background lends an ability to navigate compliance mandates with a commercial angle, as well as identify new commercial opportunities in a rapidly deregulated landscape. She is an evangelist for Open Banking and Finance as a means to nurture Customer Lifetime Value, and transform Financial Services for the greater good.
Harcus Copper
Harcus Copper
Head of Integration & Information Services BarclaysHarcus Copper is Head of Integration and Information Services globally, responsible for SWIFT and Host-to-Host connectivity propositions, APIs and Open Banking for corporate clients and Non-Bank Financial Institutions. Harcus has over 26 years’ experience in Cash Management developed over a number of roles covering multiple disciplines during his 31 years with Barclays.
Henk Van Hulle
Henk Van Hulle
Chief Executive Officer Open Banking LimitedHenk was appointed CEO in January 2022 to implement an effective and appropriate governance and management framework for the organisation, and to manage the delivery of the CMA Roadmap and the operations of OBL.
He is now leading the next phase of the development of open banking as it moves to a new regulatory framework and Future Entity.
Henk joined OBL from Post Office Ltd, where he had more than nine years’ experience in senior roles in innovation, including Managing Director of Digital Services and as Deputy CEO, Financial Services and Telecoms.
He has considerable expertise in managing profitable and consumer-focused blue chip and start-up firms, including senior roles at Egg PLC, Prudential UK, and Belgian internet bank.
Huw Davies
Huw Davies
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer Ozone APIHuw is a globally recognised pioneer in open banking and open finance. He led the development of the UK open banking ecosystem during his time as a key member of the leadership team within the Open Banking Implementation Entity and has continued to drive open finance globally as the CEO of Ozone API.
A seasoned executive with almost 30 years in the banking industry. He is the former Global Head of Payments at HSBC where he led multi billion dollar global revenue businesses. He has also previously led Digital Payments at MasterCard, overseeing the launch of initiatives such as contactless payments in the London transit system and Apple Pay across the UK.
He has a proven track record of building high growth businesses, both within major corporations and startups.
Huw and the team at Ozone API believe Open Finance will change the world and are on a mission to provide the technology and expertise to banks and central banks to unleash that huge potential.
Janine Hirt
Janine Hirt
Chief Executive Officer Innovate FinanceJanine Hirt is the CEO of Innovate Finance (IF), the industry body representing the world-leading UK FinTech sector. Having joined the initial IF leadership team in 2015 first as Head of Community then Ecosystem Director, she moved into the COO role in 2017 before stepping up to lead the organisation in 2021. Janine is passionate about driving transformation to create a more democratic, transparent and inclusive financial services sector for all. Her professional career has been marked by roles that sit at the intersection of policy, international relations, and industry, including senior positions at Chatham House, (the Royal Institute of International Affairs) and the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce. Janine has been selected as one of the top 50 most influential women in UK tech by Computer Weekly for the last three years running and has been included in the Women in Trade Association Powerlist for the past two years. Janine is a regular speaker at international conferences and has been featured in broadcast media and print publications including Sky News, BBC World News, ITN Business, CityAM, Forbes, and the Financial Times.
Janine received her BA Magna Cum Laude from Boston College, JYA at Oxford University, and her MSc from the London School of Economics. Janine is an American, British, Swiss and German national who calls London and NYC home.
Joris Hensen
Joris Hensen
Co-Founder, Deutsche Bank API Program Deutsche BankJoris Hensen is responsible for the client facing business of the Deutsche Bank API Program, which he co-founded in 2015. With more than 50 partnerships and a company-wide coverage of data-based products, Deutsche Bank is now one of the world’s leading open banking players. The Developer Portal of Deutsche Bank gives partners quick and easy access to more than 40 API products, enabling them to connect personalized apps and services and thus open up new areas of value creation.
Joris’ work includes brand and partnership development in the area of open banking as well as the expansion of internal processes and structures to accelerate the bank’s digital transformation.
In his more than ten years at Deutsche Bank, Joris Hensen has worked as a project manager on various international projects. He became enthusiastic about innovations and trends early on and set up a corporate foresight program in which he developed future scenarios and innovation strategies for Deutsche Bank. He now regularly writes and publishes on the topics of foresight, innovation, and APIs.
In his spare time, Joris is committed to supporting entrepreneurial school and financial education as well as social entrepreneurship for more than 400,000 young students in India (www.karmaheld.de).
Lana Abdullayeva
Lana Abdullayeva
Chair, iNED & AdvisorChair, iNED and Senior Advisor, with wealth of global experience in finance & banking, data & tech, as well as governance, Lana helps businesses to scale and sustain growth. She works with digital businesses, driving an evolutionary shift with positive impact to economies and society. Currently Chair of the Board @Serene, iNED @Fyorin, Board Member @TFPA.
Scientist by education, strategist by experience and visionary by heart, Lana brings a distinctive mix of industry knowledge and technical expertise from decades of exec and non-exec experience, working with some of the world’s most influential institutions across established and fast-growing economies.
An independent speaker and author, who occasionally speaks to the professional forums about technology evolution, how it is transforming industry sectors, changing consumer behaviour, influencing society and humanity. In her thought-provoking publications, she analysed current and historical trends, their impact on future market developments, as well as their systemic implications.
Louisa Murray
Louisa Murray
Chief Sales Officer RailsrLouisa Murray, a trailblazer in financial services, began her career in the early 90s as one of the first female derivatives traders in the City. Lou was a founding member of the UK Swaps Desk at CIBC Wood Gundy, trading Deutsche Marks and subsequently Euro Swap books. Louisa held various directorships but she now serves as the Chief Sales Officer at Railsr, becoming one of the first employees at the innovative embedded finance company. Through rapid expansion, Lou continues her commitment to nurturing and supporting the Railsr team.
Phillip Mind
Phillip Mind
Director for Digital Technology & Innovation UK FinancePhillip is currently employed as Principal Adviser to UK Finance, the trade body for the financial services industry, with a portfolio including payments policy and open banking.
Before that, Phillip worked at the Local Government Association leading on local government finance and public service reform. And at HM Treasury in a variety of policy roles, including leading policy reviews (the Independent Commission on Local Government Finance and Russell Commission on Youth Volunteering) and as the Budget Project Manager.
On secondment from the Treasury, he was CEO of the Giving Campaign, a national partnership between government and the voluntary sector to encourage charitable giving.
Phillip has a degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and a Master’s degree from Loughborough University.
Robert White
Robert White
Head of Payments SantanderRobert is the Head of Payment Services for Santander UK and is responsible for defining the strategy and future model of payments in the UK, as well as working with colleagues across Europe to support the Santander Group Payment plans. He is passionate about payments and innovation that can deliver excellent solutions to customers. His current role brings together the ecosystems of payments, cards and Open Banking, where he shapes discussions on businesses cases and investment strategies, governance and regulatory developments. He is a leading voice in the industry, bringing his knowledge and experience to bear through several industry and regulatory board seats.
Samantha McGregor
Samantha McGregor
Deputy Director Smart Data Research UKSam McGregor is Deputy Director of Smart Data Research UK, a UK Research and Innovation data infrastructure programme hosted by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
Her background and interests centre on enabling impactful, large-scale research, infrastructure and innovation projects and programmes that address the biggest challenges we face.
Sam joined Smart Data Research UK from the Arts and Humanities Research Council where she established and oversaw ground-breaking, multidisciplinary and multisectoral research and innovation investments spanning:
– artificial intelligence
– design for the green transition
– the creative industries
She was previously Head of ESRC Data and Infrastructure, where she led on development and delivery of data services and big data investments including Administrative Data Research UK, the Consumer Data Research Centre and the UK Data Service.
She worked at the Alan Turing Institute during its inception, facilitating development and implementation of the institute’s strategy and enabling cross-disciplinary data science research collaborations.
Simon Lyons
Simon Lyons
Chief Strategy Officer Obconnect.ioSimon is Ex OBIE and now a Standards transformation lead at Pay.Uk. During his time at OBIE he was intrinsic in the UK Government delivering their Open Banking effort which has matured to process over £6BN in perfect tax payments. He now continues to work with the standards of Open Banking from Pay.Uk where he leads an initiative to deliver a solution to a legacy problem that 45% of the UK workforce faces every single week. Continued engagement with the tax authorities has allowed Simon to assist HMRC in expansion of Open Banking into areas that have always faced legacy challenges.
I firmly believe that the biggest change I will see in my career in Banking is the availability of standardised APIs. Getting the bank you want not the one you are given is immensely powerful. Starting the banking journey from within existing channels is the shift change. The benefits are clear to see.
Stephen Wright
Stephen Wright
Head of Regulation & Standards, Bank of APIs NatWest GroupStephen has been leading market engagement and the delivery of regulatory requirements with respect to Open Banking/Finance at NatWest Group for the past six years.
His career spans product management, tactical and strategic planning, and transformation delivery roles in banking and telecommunications.
He has a keen interest in payments from his experience in card issuing, card acquiring, PAYG top-ups, digital payments, ATMs, and account-to-account payments.
Steve Boms
Steve Boms
Executive Director FDATA North AmericaSteve Boms, President and founder of Allon Advocacy, LLC, has two decades of experience working inside government, public and private companies, trade organizations, and the technology industry, and assists organizations as they engage with policymakers in Washington, across the country, and around the world. Steve has spent his career focused on complex financial services public policy issues, having worked in the United States Congress on the committee with jurisdiction over banking issues. He has led advocacy efforts and public policy teams globally for equity options exchanges, large U.S.-based financial institutions, and leading fintech firms. A recognized expert in the partnership between financial technology and public policy, Steve has testified before the United States Senate, the Senate of Canada, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development regarding financial services and technology.
In addition to working directly with Allon Advocacy’s clients, he is a frequent conference panelist and his perspective is frequently solicited by reporters on the technology, financial services, and regulatory beats.
