SPEAKERS

György H Matolcsy

Magyar Nemzeti Bank

Governor

Dr. György Matolcsy serves his second term as the governor of Magyar Nemzeti Bank, the central bank of Hungary. He was nominated to the position in 2013 and his tenure was renewed in 2019 for another 6 years. Since 2013 he is also a member of the Fiscal Council. Prior to his current position he was minister of national economy between 2010-2013. In 2007 he founded the Hungarian Economic Development Institute, which he headed for 3 years. Between 2000-2002 he was Hungary’s minister of economic affairs. Mr Matolcsy is the author of the Széchenyi Plan, a comprehensive strategy aiming to promote the economic growth in Hungary. He was director of the Institute for Growth (2002-2010) and its predecessor organisation, the Privatisation Research Institute from 1995 to 2000. From the end of 1998 he has been a member of the economic advisory body of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Starting in 1991 he spent 3 years as a member of the Board of Governors at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) representing the Hungarian Government. In 1990 he joined the Office of the Prime Minister and served as the personal economic advisor to Prime Minister József Antall. Acknowledging his efforts in promoting economic development in Hungary, he was awarded the Barankovics Commemorative Coin in 2013. He graduated at Karl Marx University of Economics in 1977 and obtained his Doctorate degree in 1984. Mr. Matolcsy is actively involved in educational activities. He is a frequent lecturer at top foreign and Hungarian universities. He is an honorary doctor at the University of Debrecen and the University of Kaposvár, and honorary member of Fudan Development Institute (FDDI) of Fudan University and of the FDDI International Advisory Board of Shanghai Forum. Mr. Matolcsy is the author of numerous publications, articles, and books. His most recent publications include the new English edition of New Sustainable Economics – Global Discussion published by the MNB, and the book titled On the Edge of Times which collects his short thoughts written between 2019 and 2022 as feedbacks for articles of remarkable Western thinkers and journalists. His other books include Economic Balance and Growth, for which the second edition was published in 2021 (first edition in 2015), The American Empire VS. The European Dream - The Failure of the Euro (2019), Bringing Up the Rear (Éllovasból sereghajtó; 2008), American Empire (Amerikai birodalom; 2004), and Our Living Memories (Élő emlékeink; 2003).

Robert Holzmann

Oesterreichische Nationalbank

Governor

Robert Holzmann is an Austrian economist, Governor of the Austrian Central Bank und member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (since 2019), and elected member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (since 2014). He holds honorary positions at the South-Western University in Economics and Finance, Chengdu, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur and University of New South Wales, Sydney. Before his return to academia in 2011, he held various positions at the World Bank including for 12 years Sector Director and acting Senior Vice President. Before joining the World Bank in 1997 he was academic in Austria and Germany, and senior economist at the IMF and OECD. He has published 39 books and over 200 articles on financial, fiscal and social policy issues. He has travelled to over 90 countries in the world.

Catherine L. Mann

Bank of England

Member of Monetary Policy Committee

Dr Catherine L Mann joined the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England on 1 September 2021. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Economic Association, among others. Previously she was Chair of the Economic Advisory Committee of the American Bankers Association. And she was also a member of the Executive Board of the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession, of the National Association for Business Economics, and of the advisory committees of the Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago, Boston, and New York, among others. Prior to her appointment, she was the Global Chief Economist at Citibank from February 2018 to May 2021, where she was responsible for thought leadership and cross-fertilisation of research. Prior to that she was the Chief Economist and G20 Finance Deputy at the OECD from October 2014 to November 2017. She has also held positions as the Rosenberg Professor of Global Finance at Brandeis University, Senior Fellow at the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics and Assistant Director in the International Finance Division at the Federal Reserve Board. Dr. Mann’s research addresses the relationships between financial markets and real economies with a focus on spillovers, including climate; and structural policies and outcomes, with a focus on the nexus of globalisation, inequality and productivity. She has authored or co-authored seven books, 60-plus articles, and numerous shorter pieces and testimony. She has a PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an undergraduate degree with honors in Economics from Harvard University.

Morten Linnemann Bech

BIS Innovation Hub Switzerland

Centre Head

Morten Bech joined the BIS in mid-2011. Before taking up his current assignment in 2020, he was the head of the secretariat supporting the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures with responsibility for coordinating and contributing to the activities of the Committee and its various working groups. He has also served as Secretary to the Markets Committee. He previously worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Danish central bank. In 2009, he was a visitor at the Monetary Affairs Division of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington DC. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has written on various issues relating to monetary policy implementation, money markets, the network topology of financial markets, large-value payment systems and systemic risk. Fields of interest: Monetary policy, Financial markets, Financial market infrastructures

Mu Changchun

Director of the Digital Currency Research Institute

The People's Bank of China

Mr. MU Changchun is appointed Director-General of the Digital Currency Institute, People’s Bank of China in July, 2019. Mr. Mu joined the People’s Bank of China in 1995 and was appointed as the Deputy Director-General of Payment & Settlement Department in 2017. Mr. MU is a member of CPMI, a member of FSB Financial Innovation Network, and also a member of IMF High-level Advisory Group on Finance and Technology.

Barnabás Virág

Deputy Governor

Magyar Nemzeti Bank

Barnabás Virág has been Deputy Governor of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank since 22 June 2020
Deputy Governor of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank responsible for monetary policy and financial stability since 22 June 2020. From 2015 until his appointment as Deputy Governor he served as Executive Director of the MNB responsible for monetary policy and economic analysis. Between 2013 and 2015 he was Director of the MNB responsible for economic analysis. From 2003 he worked as an Analyst at the MNB. Prior to that he taught at the Budapest University of Economics and State Administration (today Budapest Corvinus University) and was an Analyst at the Ministry of Finance.
In 2017 he was awarded the Popovics Prize.
He completed his studies at the Budapest University of Economics and State Administration.

Sean Kidney

Climate Bonds Initiative

CEO

Sean Kidney is CEO of the Climate Bonds Initiative, an international NGO, working to mobilize global capital for climate action. Projects include a green bond definitions and certification scheme with $34 trillion of assets represented on its Board; working with the Chinese central bank on how to grow green bonds in China; market development programs in Brazil, Mexico, ASEAN and Africa; and market tracking services for the green bonds industry. He is a member of the European Commission's Platform on Sustainable Finance, and was a member of its predecessors, the 2017 EU High Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance and the EU Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance. He is also a member of green finance committees in China, India, Mexico and Kazakhstan. Sean is also a Professor in Practice at SOAS University of London.

Csaba Kandrács

Deputy Governor

Magyar Nemzeti Bank

Education

I earned a degree in public administration management at Public Administration College of Budapest in 2003, a degree in law at University of Pécs in 2007, and a degree in economics at Szent István University of Budapest in 2014.

Professional experience

I started my professional career as a financial expert at the Hungarian Ministry of Finance in 2003, then joined the Budapest 5th District Local Government in 2009 as Head of the Financial Unit. In 2012 I was appointed Deputy State Secretary of the Hungarian State Treasury at the Ministry for National Economy and later in that year I became the President of the Hungarian State Treasury. In 2013 I was appointed as a Member of the Monetary Council, then I became the Chairman and CEO of MARK Ltd., the asset management company established by the Central Bank of Hungary. From 2016 I served as Executive Director of the Central Bank of Hungary responsible for the supervision of financial institutions, and also as a member of the Financial Stability Council. On 2nd October 2019 I have been appointed as the Deputy Governor responsible for financial institutions supervision and consumer protection of the Central Bank of Hungary and also as a member of the Monetary Council and continue to serve as a member of the Financial Stability Council.  

Mihály Patai

Deputy Governor

Magyar Nemzeti Bank

Since 22 April 2019, Mihály Patai has been deputy governor of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (The Central Bank of Hungary), and member of the monetary council. Until April 2019 he was the President of the Hungarian Banking Association, and the chairman and chief executive officer of UniCredit Bank Hungary since 2006. From 1996 to 2006, he was chairman and chief executive officer of Allianz Hungaria Insurance. From 1993 to 1995, he served as executive director of Kereskedelmi Bank, and from 1988 to 1993, he worked as assistant to the executive director of World Bank. He graduated from the Budapest University of Economics. He studied under scholarships in London, Vienna and Moscow. He is the chairman of the Budapest Stock Exchange, chairman of the board of directors at GIRO Zrt. and vice president of the Hungarian Economic Association.

Dániel Palotai

Executive Director

International Monetary Fund

Dániel Palotai is an economist. He earned his Master’s degree at the Corvinus University of Budapest. He began his professional career at Magyar Nemzeti Bank, the central bank of Hungary, then from 2007, he went on to work at the European Central Bank. From November 2010 he was Head of the Macroeconomic Policy Department of the Ministry for National Economy and was actively involved in the development of Hungary’s Structural Reform Program. In March 2013 Dániel Palotai re-joined the Magyar Nemzeti Bank to become Executive Director and the Bank’s Chief Economist. In 2015, he received the Popovics Sándor award, which is a prestigious recognition awarded to young economists under the age of 45. He was a member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the European Central Bank and a member of the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC) of the European Union. In October 2020 Dániel Palotai was elected to serve as an Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In his capacity as a Member of the Executive Board, he represents the Constituency of the Central and Eastern European countries.

Marius Jurgilas

Super How?

Senior Vice President

Mr Jurgilas is a Professor of Practice at Vilnius University and Senior Vice President for Research and Innovations at Super How? blockchain technology laboratory in Lithuania. His research focuses on the areas of Financial infrastructure, Blockchain, Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and Web3 technological innovations. Mr Jurgilas served until recently as a member of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, a position he held for over 9 years. In this role, he was responsible for the field of financial assets management and market operations, payment instrument policy and payment systems, as well as research. In recent years Lithuania has emerged as a top jurisdiction for fintech companies within the EU under the leadership of the Bank of Lithuania. Prior to joining the Bank of Lithuania, he worked as an economist at Norges Bank and the Bank of England. He has also worked in research at the European Central Bank and gained academic experience in the US. Mr Jurgilas holds a Bachelor’s degree in Finance from Vilnius University and both a Master’s degree and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Connecticut.

Petia Niederlaender

Oesterreichische Nationalbank

Director for Payments, Risk Monitoring and Financial Literacy

Petia took over the role Director for Payments, Risk Monitoring and Financial Literacy of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) in February 2021. She leads the payments strategy and policy as well the work on the digital Euro project within the central bank of Austria. She is member of ECB’s Market Infrastructure Board, chairs the National Payments Committee and acts as a non-executive board member at the Austrian payments’ innovations hub – OeNPAY. Beyond payments Petia is interested in improving the financial education and competences of the citizenship. She works together with her team in several national initiatives. She is a member of the executive board of the National Financial Literacy Strategy of Austria and holds the role of chairperson of the supervisory board of the Foundation for Economic Education. Prior to her role in the Austrian National Bank, Petia had several management positions in one of the biggest Retail Banks in Austria, served on the board of EBA Clearing as well as national and international payments bodies. She has more than 15 years of professional experience in payments and banking and holds a master degree in investment banking from Vienna University of Economics.

Thammarak Moenjak

Bank of Thailand, London Representative Office

Chief Representative

Thammarak Moenjak is Chief Representative, Bank of Thailand (BOT) London Representative Office, and Advisor to BOT’s Central Bank Digital Currency Team. A career central banker, Thammarak has been deeply involved in the areas of monetary policy, reserves management, corporate strategy, and financial institutions policy. Thammarak is the author of Central Banking: Theory and Practice in Sustaining Monetary and Financial Stability, published by John Wiley and Sons in 2014, which has since also been translated into Mandarin and released in China. Thammarak has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Melbourne, Australia, Master in Public Management from Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, Singapore, and B.Sc.(Econ) from the London School of Economics, UK. He was a Lee Kuan Yew Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University in 2013, and Assistant Chief Representative, Bank of Thailand New York Representative Office in 2008-2009.

Shu-Pui Li

Central Bank of the UAE

Advisor to the Governor

Shu-Pui Li joined the Central Bank of U.A.E. (CBUAE) in November 2018 and is currently the Advisor to H.E. the Governor of Central Bank of UAE. His major responsibilities include the development of the central bank digital currency (CBDC) strategy and the related implementation, the Fintech Strategy establishment; implementation of the National Payment Strategy and the continued enhancement of the financial market infrastructure of U.A.E.; and the provision of advisory support to the digital transformation of the CBUAE.

Prior joining CBUAE, Shu-Pui was the Executive Director of the Financial Infrastructure Department of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and spent 17 years at the HKMA. His work covered the following areas:
• in charge of the Fintech Facilitation Office (FFO) of the HKMA, which helps build the fintech ecosystem in Hong Kong and promote Hong Kong as a fintech hub in Asia;
• development and promotion of the financial infrastructure in Hong Kong, including the four large value payment systems (covering USD, HKD, euro and RMB), the faster payment system (7*24 payment system), debt securities clearing and settlement systems and research and proof-of-concept on CBDC;
• continued development and promotion of the largest RMB offshore centre and infrastructure worldwide in Hong Kong, which has on average close to one trillion RMB turnover on a daily basis. Related key projects included the enhancement to liquidity provision, mutual fund recognition, stock connect and bond connect, which allow mainland RMB financial products to be available at the off-shore centre.
• development of the soft infrastructure in Hong Kong, including implementation of the deposit protection scheme, investor and consumer education, enhanced competency framework for banking practitioners, and currency and note printing; and
• coordination with overseas central banks and service providers to facilitate cross-border cooperation in financial infrastructure development.

Shu-Pui had also worked for the JP Morgan and Chase before joining the HKMA and was in charge of the Information Risk Department for the entire Asia region.

Shu-Pui is a qualified Chartered Accountant (FCA) of the Institute of Chartered Accountant England & Wales, a qualified Chartered Information System Engineer (CEng), a certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and a member of the British Computer Society (MBCS). He has also obtained a Masters degree in research of computer graphics and a Bachelors (1st Class Hons) degree in Computing Science at the University of Manchester.

Gábor Gyura

UNEP FI

Sustainable Finance Consultant

Gábor Gyura is an international consultant supporting banks globally in identifying and managing their sustainability impacts in line with the UN’s Principles for Responsible Banking. Besides his current consultancy role, since 2021 he also acts as assistant professor at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Previously he spent 15 years in financial services regulation in various positions and was founding head of the Sustainable Finance Department at the Central Bank of Hungary, being responsible for the Bank’s green agenda between 2018 and 2022. He has a masters degree in Economics and also holds a PhD in Earth Sciences.

Sonja Gibbs

IIF

Managing Director and Head of Sustainable Finance

Sonja leads the IIF’s work on sustainable finance and sovereign debt policy, focusing on research and advocacy for the Institute’s global membership across the financial services industry. Her research interests include the economic impact and financial market pricing of climate and ESG risks, sustainable investment and capital markets development in emerging markets. She oversees the IIF Weekly Insight, which offers a concise perspective on global financial markets with an ESG lens, and the IIF Global Debt Monitor, which looks across mature and emerging economies for debt-related vulnerabilities such as the rapid buildup in EM corporate debt levels. Her policy work on behalf of the IIF includes outreach and liaison efforts vis-a-vis the G20/G7, the multilaterals, global regulators and standard setters, and the Central Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), as well as the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ). She also serves on the boards of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (IC-VCM), and of Egypt’s Regional Center for Sustainable Finance (RCSF). Sonja has spent over 20 years in banking and financial markets, most recently with Nomura International in London, where she was Chief Equity Strategist. Earlier positions include stints as a U.S. economist and bank credit analyst in New York and Los Angeles. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) has an MBA and BA from the University of California, Berkeley. Sonja’s work is widely cited in the financial press; she is a regular speaker on sustainable finance and global debt issues at industry conferences and in the media. She and her team also host the popular series of IIF Transition Finance Workshops and ESG Webinars.

Linda Zeilina

International Sustainable Finance Centre (ISFC)

Founder and CEO

Linda is the Founder & CEO of the International Sustainable Finance Centre (ISFC), where she oversees its work on non-financial reporting standardisation and sustainable investing. Linda is a Fellow at RSA, a non-executive director at a London-based logistics company, Pedal Me, and a Member of the Agora Energiewende Council for Europe. Linda also holds positions as an Advisory Board Member at the Romanian Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (RoSIF) and the Czech Sustainable Investing Forum (CzechSIF). Currently, Linda is collaborating with the Florence School of Banking and and Finance on a project focused on climate risk and climate-related supervisory needs. Linda started her career as a speechwriter before moving to management and strategic consulting in London and Nordic countries. Linda is an alumna of University of Glasgow, McGill University, and the London School of Economics.

Henner Asche

Deutsche Bundesbank

Deputy Director General, Markets

Henner Asche (born 1957) is Deputy Director General Markets at the Deutsche Bundesbank. He is responsible for monetary policy instruments and procedures and the implementation of monetary policy in the Euro Area, for financial market monitoring and market intelligence, the management of the Bundesbank’s investment and monetary policy portfolios, third-party mandats and foreign reserves. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Network for Greening the Financial System. He has 35 years professional experience in the central banking sector. Henner Asche joined the Bundesbank (Central Office in Frankfurt am Main) in 1986. He worked as an expert with several central banks in Eastern Europe and Asia. His educational background includes a diploma in Economics of the University of Hamburg.

Cheng Lin

Institute of Finance and Sustainability (IFS)

Director of Center for International Collaborations

Cheng Lin is Director of Center for International Collaborations at the Institute of Finance and Sustainability (IFS), Head of Secretariat Beijing Office for the Green Investment Principles (GIP) for the Belt and Road. He has been leading the Global Green Finance Leadership Program (GFLP), a platform for capacity building and knowledge sharing on green finance, working under the G20 Green Finance Study Group (2016 - 2018) and the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group (2021- ), and the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) since 2017. Prior joining the IFS, he served as Deputy Director of Research Center for Green Finance Development at PBC School of Finance of Tsinghua University between 2017 and 2021. Before that, he was with the PBOC from 2010 to 2017, including the International Department and Haikou Central Sub-branch. From 2014-15, he was Deputy Representative at the PBOC Representative office in Tokyo. He received bachelor’s degree from Wuhan University in 2018 and master’s degree from Shanghai International Studies University in 2010. He studied in the University of York on Environmental Economics as a Chevening Scholar between 2021 and 2022.