Banking & FinTech

Why organisations work with Anthony Hilton Five decades inside the City press, from trainee on The Guardian in 1968 to City Editor of The Times and the Evening Standard, give audiences a working memory of how UK financial crises, regulatory shifts and market cycles actually play out. A named position of record. As Senior Commentator for The Independent and The Standard his arguments on markets, pensions and the economy are already in public circulation, so organisations get a writer whose views are testable. Specific authority on pensions and long-term savings, an area he has covered as a weekly columnist for more than 30 years and on which he has been singled out by UK pensions industry awards. A track record of calling the 2008 crash, recognised by the University of Aberdeen with an honorary degree in 2010 for articles from 2005 to 2007 warning that the financial system was heading for trouble. Deep fluency in corporate and financial communication, drawn from his book How to Communicate Financial Information to Employees and a career running the editorial operation at the Evening Standard as Managing Director. Biography highlights Senior Commentator for The Independent and The London Standard, writing on markets, pensions, investor relations and the economy. Former City Editor of The Times (1981 to 1983) and City Editor of the Evening Standard (1984 to 1989), then Managing Director of the Evening Standard from 1989. Author of City Within a State: A Portrait of Britain’s Financial World, a study of how the City of London really works. Wincott Prize for Business Journalism; Business Journalist of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Financial Journalism at the 2014 ABI Financial Media Awards; Association of British Insurers Commentator of the Year (twice); Decade of Excellence Award, World Press Awards, 2007. Honorary degree from the University of Aberdeen, 2010, for services to journalism, including articles from 2005 to 2007 predicting the financial crash; MA in Economics, University of Aberdeen. Joint founder and past non-executive chairman of Newsdesk Media Group; Visiting Professor in Economics at London Metropolitan University, 2010 to 2012; former Editor of Accountancy Age. Biography The 1970s sterling story, the 1980s Big Bang, the dotcom crash, the 2008 banking collapse and the pensions and inflation shocks since: the same journalist has covered them in real time for a general reader, inside the British national press. That continuity is unusual, and it is the reason senior audiences listen when Anthony Hilton explains what is happening in the City. He joined Fleet Street in 1968 as a trainee on The Guardian, moved to New York in 1978 as Business Correspondent for the Sunday Times, and returned in 1981 to become City Editor of The Times. From 1984 he was City Editor of the Evening Standard, then its Managing Director from 1989, before returning to writing. He is now Senior Commentator for The Independent and The London Standard. The published argument is the other half of the case. City Within a State set out how the City of London actually works as a system of firms, regulators and capital flows. How to Communicate Financial Information to Employees codified what he has observed boards and finance chiefs get wrong when talking about money to their own people. His weekly columns on pensions, investor relations and the economic outlook have run for more than 30 years. The recognition is from bodies that matter in the field. The Wincott Prize for Business Journalism, Business Journalist of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Financial Journalism at the 2014 ABI Financial Media Awards, and Commentator of the Year from the Association of British Insurers, twice. The University of Aberdeen awarded him an honorary degree in 2010 in recognition of columns from 2005 to 2007 that warned the financial system was heading for serious trouble. Key speaking topics UK economic outlook and policy City of London, markets and investor relations Pensions, long-term savings and retirement policy Corporate governance and financial communication Financial journalism and the media view of business Economic history and lessons from past UK financial crises Ideal for Boards and CEOs in financial services, asset management, insurance and pensions needing an informed macro and markets read CFOs, heads of investor relations and corporate communications teams preparing for scrutiny from the City press Pensions trustees, scheme sponsors and providers running strategy or member communication programmes Conferences and industry dinners needing a senior City commentator as host, moderator or after-dinner speaker Audience outcomes A clearer read on how UK economic policy, Bank of England decisions and market conditions intersect with their own sector A working columnist’s view on how the City press is interpreting their industry and their company Named historical reference points for making sense of current market and pensions stress A sharper frame on pensions and long-term savings policy for employers and trustees An argument on where the UK economy is heading and what that implies for strategy and communication

Why organisations work with Alex Brummer Five decades of front-line financial reporting, from the 1976 sterling crisis to the 2008 banking collapse to the post-Brexit settlement, give audiences a working memory of how financial crises actually unfold. A named position of record. As City Editor of the Daily Mail he writes the paper’s daily view on business, markets and the economy, which means organisations get an author whose arguments are already in public circulation. Book-length theses backed by serious publishers. Bad Banks on financial system fragility and The Great British Reboot (Yale University Press, 2020) on UK economic strategy give audiences a coherent argument, not a survey. Specific expertise on pensions and long-term savings, the subject of The Great Pensions Robbery, which matters to any organisation running a material defined benefit liability or rethinking retirement provision. Award weight from credible bodies: Wincott Senior Financial Journalist of the Year, British Press Awards Financial Journalist of the Year, Overseas Press Club of New York for US coverage. Biography highlights City Editor of the Daily Mail since May 2000, writing the paper’s daily commentary on business, markets and the economy. 26 years at The Guardian in senior roles including US Financial and Washington Correspondent, Financial Editor, Foreign Editor and Associate Editor. Author of seven books including The Great British Reboot (Yale University Press, 2020), Bad Banks (2014), Britain for Sale (2012) and The Great Pensions Robbery (2011). Wincott Prize for Senior Financial Journalist of the Year (2001); British Press Awards Financial Journalist of the Year (1999); Overseas Press Club of New York (1989). Honorary Doctor of the University, University of Bradford (2014). Columnist for New Statesman; contributor to The Spectator and Jewish Chronicle; chair of the Jewish News editorial board. Biography The 1976 sterling crisis, the 2008 banking collapse and the post-Brexit argument over UK industrial strategy have one thing in common. The same journalist covered them from inside a working newsroom, in real time, for a general reader. Since May 2000, that newsroom has been the Daily Mail, where Alex Brummer is City Editor. The role means writing the paper’s daily view on business, markets and the economy, turning movement in the FTSE, the Bank of England and global capital markets into a clear argument rather than a data dump. Before that he spent 26 years at The Guardian, including ten years as US Financial and Washington Correspondent covering three presidential elections, then Financial Editor, Foreign Editor and Associate Editor. The books map the territory he speaks from. Bad Banks (2014) traced the post-2008 banking system’s unresolved fragility. Britain for Sale (2012) set out the costs of foreign ownership of British industrial assets. The Great Pensions Robbery (2011) examined the unwinding of UK retirement provision. The Great British Reboot, published by Yale University Press in 2020, argues how the UK can rebuild economic strength through research, technology and industrial reform. The recognition is from bodies that matter in the field: the Wincott Prize for Senior Financial Journalist of the Year, the British Press Awards for Financial Journalist of the Year, and the Overseas Press Club of New York for best foreign correspondent in the United States. Bradford awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2014. Key speaking topics UK economic outlook and industrial policy Banking stability and systemic financial risk Pensions, savings and long-term capital Foreign ownership of UK assets and national economic security Global markets and macroeconomic trends Post-Brexit economic strategy Ideal for Boards and CEOs in financial services, asset management and banking needing an informed macro read alongside strategic decisions CFOs and treasury leaders exposed to rate, currency and pensions risk Policy forums, regulators and industry bodies across financial services, infrastructure and pensions Conferences needing a City Editor-grade host or moderator across business, economics and markets Audience outcomes A clearer read on how UK economic policy, banking regulation and market conditions intersect with their own sector Named historical reference points, from the 1976 sterling crisis to 2008 and beyond, for interpreting current financial stress A sharper frame on the pensions and long-term savings question facing UK employers A working journalist’s view on what is actually driving coverage and sentiment around their industry An argument, not a survey, on where the UK economy is heading and what that implies for strategy

Why organisations work with Salvatore Cantale He directs IMD’s Finance for Boards programme, the sitting reference point for non-executive directors who need to challenge financial strategy with authority rather than deference to the CFO. His work sits at the intersection of strategy and finance, so leadership teams leave with a clearer view of which growth bets, acquisitions and restructurings will actually compound value, and which are expensive to justify. He has built a substantive ESG-finance practice covering green bonds, sustainability-linked instruments and climate tech, addressing the question most boards are quietly avoiding: what does sustainability policy do to the numbers. His consulting track record spans global banks (MUFG, UniCredit, ICBC, Development Bank of Japan, APG) and operating businesses (Unilever, Kering, Maersk, Pernod Ricard, Lacoste), which translates into sessions grounded in how the work is done, not how it is theorised. He teaches finance as a language of leadership, not a specialist function, which is what senior executives from non-finance backgrounds usually need and rarely receive. Biography highlights Professor of Finance at IMD Business School, Lausanne Directs IMD’s Finance for Boards, Business Finance and Driving Sustainability from the Boardroom programmes PhD in Finance and MSc in Management, INSEAD; BA in Economics and Finance, University of Catania Former faculty director of the Master’s in Finance at Tulane University’s A.B. Freeman School of Business Recipient of the Global Finance Association Best Paper Award and the Southern Finance Association Outstanding Paper Award Contributor to I by IMD, World Economic Forum Agenda, MIT Sloan Management Review, Financial Times and Wall Street Journal Biography Boards are being asked to sign off on strategies, acquisitions and ESG commitments whose financial consequences are only vaguely understood in the room. Salvatore Cantale’s work is built around the gap that opens when strategic ambition outruns financial literacy at the top of the organisation. As Professor of Finance at IMD, he runs the programmes, Finance for Boards and Business Finance among them, that senior leaders attend when they cannot afford to keep outsourcing that judgment. His intellectual territory is the join between strategy, business models and financial outcomes. The question that animates his teaching is practical: how does a stated strategy actually show up in the P&L, the balance sheet and the cost of capital, and what should a board be able to see that a management deck hides. That framing draws on research in value creation, capital structure and corporate financing choices, work that has been recognised by the Global Finance Association and the Southern Finance Association. A second stream of his work focuses on the relationship between ESG policy and financial performance. Green bonds, sustainability-linked instruments, climate tech investment, investor activism, these are presented to boards as moral or regulatory questions and funded as financial ones. Cantale treats them as both, so executives can defend their choices in either room. His writing on CFO roles, the CEO-CFO-board triumvirate and CSRD compliance sits in I by IMD, the World Economic Forum Agenda, MIT Sloan Management Review and the financial press. The consulting record gives the work texture. Cantale has advised APG, MUFG, UniCredit, ICBC and the Development Bank of Japan on the financial institutions side, and Unilever, Kering, Maersk, Coca-Cola Hellenic, Pernod Ricard and Lacoste on the corporate side. That range is why senior audiences recognise themselves in his examples: the tension between a sustainability roadmap and a quarterly earnings call is not abstract when the person teaching it has sat on both sides of it. Key speaking topics Value creation and capital allocation Finance for boards and non-executive directors The strategic role of the CFO ESG, green finance and sustainability-linked instruments Business models and financial performance Mergers, acquisitions and corporate restructuring Governance and financial regulation Ideal for Boards and non-executive directors sharpening their ability to challenge management on financial strategy CEOs, CFOs and senior executive teams working through capital allocation, M&A or business model change Leadership teams translating ESG and sustainability commitments into credible financial plans Banks, asset managers and financial institutions navigating governance, regulation and investor expectations Audience outcomes A sharper read of how a given strategic choice will land in the financial statements and the cost of capital Clearer language for boardroom debate on value creation, capital structure and investment trade-offs Specific frameworks for assessing ESG and sustainability initiatives on financial as well as non-financial grounds A more confident view of the CFO’s role as strategic partner rather than scorekeeper Practical reference points drawn from named financial and corporate institutions Cantale has advised

Why organisations work with Huang Yiping He sits on the Monetary Policy Committee of the People’s Bank of China, which puts him inside the conversation that shapes Chinese interest rate, credit, and currency decisions, not commenting on it from the outside. He runs the National School of Development at Peking University, the institution that has educated a generation of Chinese policy economists and whose research directly feeds government thinking. His digital finance research programme is the reference point for how platforms like Ant Group, WeChat Pay, and the state-run digital yuan system are reshaping Chinese banking and credit allocation. He built a career that bridges Wall Street and Beijing, with nearly a decade as Chief Asia Economist at Citigroup and a further stint at Barclays, so he reads Chinese policy with a market operator’s instinct. He is willing, as Bloomberg documented in 2024, to publicly challenge official economic strategy, which makes his private read on policy direction far more useful than the standard think tank commentary. Biography highlights Dean of the National School of Development, Peking University, and Boya Distinguished Professor. Member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the People’s Bank of China, reappointed in March 2024 after serving 2015 to 2018. Director of the Institute of Digital Finance at Peking University. Former Managing Director and Chief Asia Economist, Citigroup; later Chief Economist for Emerging Asia, Barclays. Co-editor, with David Dollar, of The Digital Financial Revolution in China (Brookings Press, 2022). Columnist at Project Syndicate; contributor to East Asia Forum; PhD in Economics, Australian National University. Biography China’s economic team spent the decade after the global financial crisis building a credit-driven growth model that worked until it didn’t. Huang Yiping has spent that same decade arguing, from inside the system, that the model had to change. His seat on the Monetary Policy Committee of the People’s Bank of China gives that argument unusual weight. As Dean of the National School of Development at Peking University, Huang leads the country’s most influential economic policy school. The NSD trains senior officials and publishes much of the research that informs Chinese financial and macroeconomic decisions. Before Peking University, he spent nearly a decade as Chief Asia Economist at Citigroup and Chief Economist for Emerging Asia at Barclays, which is why his reading of policy still tracks to what markets actually need to know. His research focus has shifted with the economy. The Digital Financial Revolution in China, co-edited with Brookings’s David Dollar in 2022, set the frame for how platforms, mobile payments, and the digital yuan are rewiring Chinese credit. His Project Syndicate columns through 2024 pushed Beijing to rein in local government debt and to rebalance away from investment toward household consumption. In August 2024, Bloomberg singled out his critique of official policy as one of the sharpest to come from inside the PBOC advisory structure in years. For international leaders, the value is specific. Huang can tell a board what Beijing is actually weighing on interest rates, on the property sector, on capital controls, and on the structural rebalancing that will shape Chinese demand for the next decade. He does it with the vocabulary of someone who has worked in a trading room, not only in a seminar room. Key speaking topics Chinese macroeconomic policy and PBOC decision-making Financial system reform and capital market liberalisation in China Digital finance, platform regulation, and the digital yuan Rebalancing the Chinese economy from investment to consumption Local government debt and fiscal reform in China China’s role in global trade and emerging market capital flows Ideal for Boards and executive committees of multinationals with material China exposure CFOs, treasurers, and CIOs at financial institutions allocating capital across Asia Strategy and policy leads in technology and payments businesses operating in or alongside Chinese platforms Senior government, regulatory, and multilateral audiences tracking PBOC direction Audience outcomes A clearer view of how Chinese policymakers are likely to weigh monetary, fiscal, and structural choices in the next twelve to twenty-four months. An informed read on where Chinese financial reform and platform regulation are heading, from someone inside that work. A sense of the real disagreements inside the Chinese policy community, rather than the official line. Sharper questions to bring to their own China strategy, credit exposure, and supply chain decisions.

Why organisations work with Sung Won Sohn His forecasting record is one of the few in the economics profession that has been publicly audited. The Wall Street Journal has repeatedly ranked him the most accurate forecaster in the country, including first place in 2006 and a top-three ranking in 2012 as the only academic in the top ten. Analysis built from inside three institutions most economists only write about. Dr. Sohn served as a Senior Economist on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, as Chief Economist at Wells Fargo, and as President and CEO of Hanmi Financial Corporation in Los Angeles. A Pacific-rim lens that US-focused commentators rarely offer. Korean-born and long specialised in trans-Pacific trade, he reads US-China and US-Korea exposure the way someone who has tracked those flows for four decades does. Constant presence in live financial coverage. Reuters, CNN, CNBC, NBC, and Bloomberg cite him regularly on Fed decisions, inflation prints, and tariff announcements. Audiences hear what is shaping markets this week, in the language of the data that week. Biography highlights Professor of Finance and Economics, College of Business Administration, Loyola Marymount University Former Senior Economist on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers at The White House Former Executive Vice President and Chief Economist at Wells Fargo Bank; former President and CEO of Hanmi Financial Corporation in Los Angeles Named the most accurate economic forecaster in the United States by the Wall Street Journal in 2006, with top-five rankings from the same publication in 2010 and 2012 Named to Time Magazine’s Board of Economists; one of the five most accurate US forecasters by Bloomberg News; most accurate forecaster for the Western States by Blue Chip Publications Author of Global Financial Crisis and Exit Strategy and The New Economy; Chair of the Investment Committee at LACERS, overseeing a multi-billion-dollar public pension fund; Director, Western Alliance Bancorporation Biography In 2006, the Wall Street Journal named its most accurate economic forecaster in the United States. The winner was running what he himself described as a one-man operation against forecasting teams at Goldman Sachs, Citibank, and Bank of America. His name was Sung Won Sohn. The Journal has returned to him in the years since, at one point ranking him the only academic in the country’s top ten forecasters. The forecasting record is built from a career that has sat on three different sides of the economic question. Dr. Sohn served as a Senior Economist on President Nixon’s Council of Economic Advisers, with a brief covering the Federal Reserve and financial markets. He then spent three decades inside Northwest National Bank as it became Wells Fargo, rising to Executive Vice President and Chief Economist. In 2005 he crossed the table entirely, becoming President and CEO of Hanmi Financial Corporation in Los Angeles. Today Dr. Sohn is Professor of Finance and Economics at Loyola Marymount University’s College of Business Administration and president of SS Economics, his own consulting firm. Reuters, CNN, CNBC, NBC, and Bloomberg cite him routinely on Fed decisions, jobs data, and tariffs. His books Global Financial Crisis and Exit Strategy and The New Economy address the questions that still sit on most board agendas. What sets the commentary apart from other US-based macro voices is a Pacific-rim lens. Korean-born and formerly chief executive of a Korean-American bank in Los Angeles, Dr. Sohn has tracked trans-Pacific trade flows for four decades. He reads US-China and US-Korea exposure the way someone who has lived on both ends of those flows reads them. He also sits on the Board of Directors at Western Alliance Bancorporation and chairs the Investment Committee at LACERS, the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System. Key speaking topics US economic forecasting and the Federal Reserve Inflation, interest rates, and monetary policy International trade, tariffs, and non-tariff barriers The Pacific-rim economy and US-China relations AI and the future of business and productivity Digital currencies and the future of payments Competitive strategy in a volatile economy Ideal for CFOs, treasurers, and finance leadership teams needing a clear read on Federal Reserve policy and interest rate direction Board directors and investment committees making decisions sensitive to inflation, tariffs, and global trade flows CEOs and strategy leaders in manufacturing, retail, banking, and logistics with material exposure to US-China and Pacific-rim trade Asset managers, pension trustees, and financial advisers who need a macro voice with a publicly verified forecasting record Audience outcomes A forecast of where US growth, inflation, and interest rates are likely to move over the next two to four quarters, and the indicators that matter most A reading of US-China and US-Korea trade dynamics that goes beyond the headlines, including the non-tariff barriers that often matter more than the tariffs themselves A sharper sense of how AI is actually reshaping pricing, productivity, and labour markets, grounded in specific company examples A way to pressure-test their own planning assumptions against someone who has sat inside both the Council of Economic Advisers and a major bank’s forecasting team

Karl Schmedders’ background He has published numerous research articles in international academic journals such as Econometrica, The Review of Economic Studies, The Journal of Finance and The Review of Financial Studies, among others. Before joining IMD, Karl held (tenured) faculty positions at the Kellogg School of Management and at the University of Zurich. He is passionate about teaching and has received numerous teaching awards at Stanford University and Kellogg, including the Walter J. Gores Award, Stanford‘s university-wide teaching award and the L.G. Lavengood Professor of the Year Award at Kellogg. He is Vice President of the board of LPX AG, a research firm focused on listed alternatives. Also, Karl is a founding partner of an EdTech startup developing integrated software for teaching, learning and assessment. Professor Schmedders holds a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Stanford University.

Why organisations work with Victoria Scholar She brings an active institutional seat. As Head of Investment at interactive investor, the UK’s second-largest direct-to-consumer platform, her market reads are grounded in current flows and client positioning, not historical commentary. Buyers get a moderator who can carry a finance brief without simplifying it. She has hosted the Euromoney Private Banking Awards and chaired sessions for industry-grade audiences. Her credibility is technical, not just televisual. She holds the Society of Technical Analysts Diploma and won the Bronwen Wood Prize, which lets her speak to charting and positioning audiences as a peer. She is a working broadcast journalist with a current Telegraph column and regular slots on Sky News, BBC, LBC, Times Radio and Al Jazeera, which means she lands on stage already calibrated to a non-specialist audience. CITY A.M. named her Analyst of the Year in 2023, an external validation from a credible UK financial title that distinguishes her from generic markets commentators. Biography highlights Head of Investment, interactive investor (UK’s second-largest direct-to-consumer investment platform). CITY A.M. Analyst of the Year, 2023. Bronwen Wood Prize recipient, Society of Technical Analysts Diploma. Weekly Telegraph column, “Rate My Portfolio”. Regular contributor on Sky News, BBC, LBC, Times Radio, Talk TV and Al Jazeera. Earlier career: Nomura trading floor, then producer at Bloomberg and broadcast roles at CNBC and BBC, then analyst and IGTV presenter at IG Group. Biography Markets do not wait for clarity. Boards, wealth clients and retail investors all have to act while rates, currencies and politics move together, and they need someone who can read that motion out loud without losing the substance underneath it. That is the seat Scholar occupies. At interactive investor, the UK’s second-largest direct-to-consumer investment platform, she leads investment commentary into a client base of hundreds of thousands of self-directed investors. The day job is reading flows, sectors and macro signals as they break, then turning them into something a non-specialist can act on. The Telegraph column “Rate My Portfolio” extends the same discipline to reader portfolios. Her credibility on stage rests on three concrete proof points: the Society of Technical Analysts Diploma with the Bronwen Wood Prize, CITY A.M.’s 2023 Analyst of the Year award, and a working broadcast career that runs through Bloomberg, CNBC, BBC, Sky News, LBC and Times Radio. She started on the Nomura trading floor and added the City University broadcast journalism masters on top of a Bristol economics degree. For event organisers, the practical value is the moderator and host capability. She has fronted the Euromoney Private Banking Awards and chaired industry sessions where the audience is itself made up of finance professionals, which is the harder version of the job. Key speaking topics Financial markets and market outlook Global economic trends and central bank policy Personal investing and portfolio strategy Technical analysis and market positioning Financial media and market commentary Women in finance and STEM Ideal for Wealth and asset management firms running client and adviser events. Banks, brokers and financial services conferences seeking a credible markets host or moderator. Corporate audiences inside financial services who want a working markets commentator on stage. Industry awards, annual conferences and panels needing a moderator fluent in finance. Audience outcomes A read on the macro and market drivers currently moving rates, equities and currencies. A clearer view of what current investor flows and positioning say about sentiment. A working translation of financial-media coverage into what actually matters for capital decisions. A grounded perspective on personal investing and portfolio considerations from an active platform leader.

Why organisations work with Sasha Qadri Her years as Senior Programming Director at Bloomberg Live mean she approaches moderation as an editorial problem: she understands what a discussion is supposed to achieve before she takes the stage to lead it – not just how to keep it moving. She started her career in investment banking and has worked extensively with financial institutions including Lloyds Bank and the Treasury – giving her genuine financial literacy that shows when chairing sessions on fintech, capital markets, and economic policy. Her live broadcast background – including breaking news on Sky News and production roles at CNN and CNBC – means she is rarely unsettled by format changes, difficult panellists, or unscripted moments in high-profile live environments. She has chaired the Innovate Finance Global Summit, co-hosted London Tech Week and its Global Leaders Summit, and emceed Money 20/20 in Europe: events where the participant list demands more than capable chairmanship. Her interviewee roster spans the Former UK Chancellor, the Head of GCHQ, leading technology CEOs, and AI researchers – giving her substantive range across the full landscape of technology, finance, and public policy that executive audiences expect a moderator to navigate. Biography highlights Anchored television news for Sky News; produced and reported for CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, Reuters, and Channel 4 News Former Senior Programming Director, Bloomberg Live – curated and moderated flagship business and technology events Career began in investment banking (UBS cited by multiple bureau sources); subsequent commercial experience at lastminute.com during the dotcom era Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge; further study at The Sorbonne Recent events include: co-host, London Tech Week; chair, Innovate Finance Global Summit; emcee, Money 20/20 Middle East; main stage chair, Tech Show London; main stage chair and moderator, Global Health Exhibition; moderator, FII Institute and Cityscape Global Named interviewees include Rt. Hon. Philip Hammond (Former UK Chancellor), Anne Keast-Butler (Head of GCHQ), Mo Gawdat, Martha Lane Fox, Francesca Carlesi (Revolut UK CEO), and Mike Martin (Strava CEO) Recent corporate clients include Palo Alto Networks, Amazon, Akamai, Royal London, and Mastercard Biography Leadership events at the intersection of technology, finance, and business policy are only as good as the conversation they produce. Sasha Qadri is a broadcaster and event moderator whose career has run across two disciplines that rarely coexist: live television journalism – anchoring for Sky News, producing for CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg – and editorial leadership of major live events as Senior Programming Director at Bloomberg Live. That editorial role is what distinguishes her from the professional host market. At Bloomberg Live, she did not simply chair discussions – she curated them, shaping the content architecture of flagship business and technology events before taking the stage to lead them. The combination of knowing what a conversation is supposed to achieve, then making it happen with senior executives in front of a live audience, is the specific capability organisations are hiring when they book her. Her professional foundation adds further range. She began her career in investment banking and has since worked regularly with financial institutions including Lloyds Bank and the Treasury. A degree in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge gives her the grounding to operate across the full space where technology, finance, economics, and public policy intersect – and to interview figures including a former UK Chancellor and the Head of GCHQ with genuine comprehension, not just broadcast fluency. In 2025, she co-hosted London Tech Week and chaired its Global Leaders Summit, emceed Money 20/20 in Europe, and chaired the Innovate Finance Global Summit (the UK fintech sector’s flagship annual conference). The same year extended her chairing and moderation work across the Middle East, including FII Institute, Cityscape Global, and the Global Health Exhibition. Events that trust her with their main stage consistently feature participant lists where competent chairmanship is insufficient. Key speaking topics Artificial intelligence and digital transformation Financial services and fintech leadership Cybersecurity and technology risk AI adoption and generative AI Sustainability and energy transition Geopolitics, policy, and economic leadership Business strategy and technology innovation Ideal for CTOs, CISOs, and technology leadership conferences requiring a moderator with genuine sector depth, not just broadcast presence Financial services and fintech events – CFO, CEO, and C-suite panel formats where moderator literacy on capital markets, regulation, and digital disruption is material Public-private sector summits on technology, national security, and economic strategy, where interviewees include government officials and policymakers Major international conferences requiring anchor-standard broadcast experience combined with editorial event direction Audience outcomes Executive panel discussions that move past rehearsed positions into substantive exchange Clearer understanding of emerging intersections between technology, finance, and policy – framed for decision-makers, not technical specialists Confident navigation of complex or sensitive topics – AI ethics, geopolitical risk, fintech regulation – without losing audience accessibility A moderated session that maintains engagement and structure across multiple hours, formats, or speakers Conversations shaped by editorial intelligence that understands what the session is supposed to achieve before it begins

Why organisations work with Rebecca Harding A working command of the machinery of trade finance and trade data, built through founding Coriolis Technologies and serving as Chief Economist at UK Finance, that few geopolitics speakers can match. The author of The World at Economic War, selected by Martin Wolf in his Financial Times best economics books of 2025, with a defined argument about how the market system itself has become a tool of great-power conflict. A current operating role: CEO of the Centre for Economic Security and Chief Economic Adviser to the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank Development Group, which puts her inside the institutions building the new trade and security architecture. Equally credible in a C-suite keynote, a regulator-level workshop, or a wargaming session, having designed formats for finance, defence and policy audiences. A specific point of view on sustainable trade and digitalisation, grounded in advisory work with banks, corporates and parliamentary committees rather than in commentary alone. Biography highlights CEO, Centre for Economic Security, leading research on economic threats, supply chain resilience and the weaponisation of trade. Chief Economic Adviser, Defence, Security and Resilience Bank Development Group. Founder and former CEO of Coriolis Technologies, a trade data and analytics business serving the trade finance sector, acquired by TradeSun. Author of The World at Economic War (2025) and co-author of The Weaponization of Trade (2017), published by London Publishing Partnership. Former Chief Economist at UK Finance, Chief Economist at the Work Foundation, Head of Corporate Research at Deloitte, and Senior Fellow at London Business School. Regular contributor to BBC, Bloomberg, Sky News, CNBC, BBC Radio 4 and Times Radio on trade and economic security. Biography Trade is now a security question. Sanctions regimes, export controls, the digitalisation of payments and the contest over critical minerals have collapsed the old boundary between commercial trade policy and national security. Boards and finance ministries are trying to make capital, supplier and counterparty decisions inside a system whose rules are being rewritten in real time. Rebecca Harding’s career has been built on this seam. She is CEO of the Centre for Economic Security and Chief Economic Adviser to the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank Development Group, two institutions designed for exactly this terrain. Earlier she founded Coriolis Technologies, a trade data and analytics business that gave the trade finance sector a clearer view of risk in cross-border flows, and served as Chief Economist at UK Finance, Chief Economist at the Work Foundation, Head of Corporate Research at Deloitte, and Senior Fellow at London Business School. Her argument is set out in The World at Economic War: How to Rebuild Security in a Weaponized Global Economy, published in 2025 and selected by Martin Wolf in the Financial Times among his best economics books of the year. The thesis, developed from her earlier book The Weaponization of Trade with Jack Harding, is that the market system itself has become a means of great-power competition, and that defence, finance and trade can no longer be governed as separate domains. For senior audiences this matters because the operational consequences are concrete. They show up in supplier dependencies, in sanctions exposure, in the cost and direction of trade finance, and in where capital can credibly be deployed for the next decade. Harding works through those questions with banks, corporates, regulators and parliamentary committees, and her keynotes, panels and wargaming sessions are designed to leave decision-makers with a clearer read of what economic security requires of them. Key speaking topics Economic security and the weaponisation of trade Geopolitics and geoeconomics Trade finance and supply chain finance Supply chain resilience and reshoring Digital and sustainable trade Defence and security finance Macroeconomic outlook and global markets Ideal for Boards and executive committees of banks, insurers and large corporates with cross-border exposure Heads of trade finance, treasury, supply chain and procurement Policy, regulatory and public affairs leaders working on sanctions, export controls and economic security Defence, security and resilience investors and the institutions financing them Audience outcomes A clearer working definition of economic security and what it asks of capital allocation, supplier strategy and trade finance A read on how sanctions, export controls and reshoring are reshaping cross-border risk for specific sectors A framework for separating geopolitical noise from the structural shifts that change long-range plans A view of where digital and sustainable trade infrastructure is heading, and the implications for banks and corporates Questions and pressure tests that a leadership team can take straight into its strategy and risk discussions

Why organisations work with Neira Jones Understanding Payments, endorsed by Sir Ron Kalifa (author of the Kalifa Review of UK Fintech) and Monzo founder Tom Blomfield, is the closest thing the payments industry has to a standard reference text. She has since extended that body of work with Beyond Payments on decentralised finance and The A-Z of Payments, a 1,600-entry industry glossary. Organisations working with Jones get access to that body of work in a live advisory context, not just a speaker’s perspective. She spent her executive career operating at the scale where payments risk becomes consequential: as Director of Payment Security and Fraud at Barclaycard, she was directly responsible for the security compliance and risk management of approximately 100,000 merchants and third parties. Four years on the PCI Security Standards Council Board of Advisors and current membership on the UK Payment Systems Regulator Panel give her visibility of how standards are made, not just how they should be interpreted – a position that is genuinely rare in a speaker. She makes a specific and verifiable argument – that fraud prevention and cybersecurity are the same problem managed as two – that most organisations have not yet addressed and which has direct commercial and regulatory consequences. She covers three disciplines – payments mechanics, cybersecurity, and regulatory compliance – from a single practitioner perspective. Most organisations rely on separate specialists for each, which produces the fragmented picture Jones helps boards resolve. Biography highlights Author of three Routledge-published books on payments: Understanding Payments (2024), Beyond Payments (2024), and The A-Z of Payments (2025). Understanding Payments is endorsed by Sir Ron Kalifa, author of the Kalifa Review of UK Fintech, and Tom Blomfield, founder of Monzo and GoCardless Former Director of Payment Security and Fraud, Barclaycard – responsible for security compliance and risk management across approximately 100,000 merchants and third parties Panel Member, UK Payment Systems Regulator Former member, PCI Security Standards Council Board of Advisors (four years); Fellow of the British Computer Society Inducted into the InfoSecurity Europe Hall of Fame (2011); SC Magazine Information Security Person of the Year (2012); Merchant Payments Ecosystem Acquiring Personality of the Year (2013); Cybersecurity Woman Influencer of the Year (2021) Listed on the Refinitiv Top 100 Influencers in Financial Services, Fintech Weekly 100 Most Influential People in FinTech (2021), and Retail Technology Innovation Hub Top 100 Influencers (2023) Biography At Barclaycard, Neira Jones was Director of Payment Security and Fraud – responsible for security compliance and risk management across approximately 100,000 merchants and third parties. That scale of direct institutional exposure shaped her central argument: payments security and cybersecurity are the same problem. Organisations almost universally manage them as if they were two. Her three Routledge-published books form the most comprehensive public treatment of how payment ecosystems work. Understanding Payments (2024), endorsed by Sir Ron Kalifa, author of the Kalifa Review of UK Fintech, and Tom Blomfield, founder of Monzo, has become the reference text for practitioners and regulators navigating the industry. Beyond Payments (2024) extends that work into decentralised finance and the next generation of payment infrastructure, and The A-Z of Payments (2025) is a 1,600-entry industry glossary. That practitioner depth is backed by formal standards standing. Jones served on the PCI Security Standards Council Board of Advisors for four years and is a Panel Member for the UK Payment Systems Regulator – roles that give her direct visibility of how payment standards develop and how regulatory expectations form. She is a Fellow of the British Computer Society. The industry recognition reflects both communities she works across. She is an InfoSecurity Europe Hall of Fame inductee and SC Magazine’s Information Security Person of the Year. She appears on the Refinitiv Top 100 Influencers in Financial Services and the Fintech Weekly 100 Most Influential People in FinTech. Key speaking topics Payments ecosystems and fintech infrastructure Payment security and fraud prevention Cybercrime in financial services Financial regulation and compliance (PSD2, GDPR, AML) Digital trust and open banking Cybersecurity governance for boards Decentralised finance and digital currencies Ideal for Chief Risk Officers and Chief Information Security Officers in financial services and payments organisations Boards and executive committees approving payments infrastructure or fintech partnerships Compliance, legal, and regulatory professionals operating in payments and fintech Fintech investors and M&A teams requiring cybersecurity and payments due diligence expertise Audience outcomes A structural understanding of how payments ecosystems work – across cards, open banking, real-time payments, and digital currencies – and where security and compliance risk sits in each Recognition of why fraud prevention and cybersecurity are typically managed as separate functions when the threat landscape treats them as one – and what that costs Practical clarity on the regulatory environment governing payments, including PSD2, GDPR, and AML frameworks, and how those requirements shape commercial decisions A framework for evaluating fintech partnerships and payments infrastructure decisions against security, fraud, and compliance criteria Greater confidence engaging with regulators, auditors, and technology vendors on payments security questions

Why organisations work with Nadine Hani A moderator with genuine financial substance: an MBA from the American University of Beirut and a prior career as a private banking consultant at ABN AMRO and BNP Paribas, before two decades anchoring business news at Al Arabiya. Few hosts on regional stages carry that depth. Interview experience that translates directly to live moderation. She has questioned Henry Paulson, Timothy Geithner, Jamie Dimon, David Rubenstein and Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud on Al Arabiya, and has reported from Davos every year since 2008. Working fluency in Arabic and English with native command of the Arab business landscape, well suited to GCC and pan-regional events where audiences switch between languages and references shift between Wall Street and Riyadh. A track record on the stages where serious money meets policy: confirmed moderator at Future Investment Initiative programmes in Riyadh and at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos. Biography highlights Senior Business News Presenter at Al Arabiya News Channel; presenter and co-producer of Al Aswaq Al Arabiya. Former business news anchor at CNBC Arabiya, Dubai, and former private banking consultant at ABN AMRO and BNP Paribas in Lebanon. Has interviewed Henry Paulson, Timothy Geithner, Jamie Dimon, David Rubenstein, Robert Zoellick, Michael Eisner and Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. Moderator at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting and at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh; reporting from Davos annually since 2008. Weekly columnist on financial and economic affairs for An Nahar, Lebanon. MBA, American University of Beirut; Procter & Gamble scholarship recipient. Biography On the stages where finance ministers and global fund managers take questions, the host is often the weakest link. Most are journalists with an introductory grasp of markets, or industry figures who cannot run a room. Hani is one of the few who can do both. She has presented and co-produced Al Aswaq Al Arabiya on Al Arabiya News Channel since 2005, after joining from CNBC Arabiya in Dubai. She also writes a weekly column on financial and economic affairs for An Nahar in Beirut. The work has put her in the chair opposite Henry Paulson, Timothy Geithner, Jamie Dimon, David Rubenstein, Robert Zoellick and Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. Her financial fluency was earned before broadcasting. She worked as a private banking consultant at ABN AMRO and BNP Paribas in Lebanon, advising high-net-worth clients on investment alternatives. She holds an MBA from the American University of Beirut, where she was a Procter & Gamble scholarship recipient. On the international circuit, she has reported from Davos every year since 2008. She regularly moderates at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting and at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, the annual gathering convened by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Both events draw the senior investors and policy figures she has spent two decades interviewing. She works fluently in Arabic and English, and is comfortable on either side of the switch when audiences are mixed. Key speaking topics Global markets and economic outlooks Middle East and GCC economic developments Monetary policy and central banks Financial sector and banking Capital flows and sovereign wealth Geopolitics affecting markets Business journalism and financial media Ideal for Investor conferences and capital markets events that need a chair with the financial fluency to question CIOs, fund managers and finance ministers Pan-Arab and GCC corporate gatherings where bilingual moderation in Arabic and English is required Sovereign-fund and policy-led investment forums, including events run on the Future Investment Initiative or Davos model Awards hosting, after-dinner engagements and televised panels where on-camera poise matters as much as command of the subject Audience outcomes Sharper questions for senior leaders, drawn out by a chair who knows where the financial substance lies Programme flow that makes complex economic content accessible without diluting the detail for specialist attendees Bilingual delivery where audiences move between Arabic and English mid-conversation without the room losing thread Discussion that gets past rehearsed talking points and into the issues senior decision-makers actually want addressed

Key speaking topics Macroeconomic trends and outlook Financial services strategy and market dynamics Investment banking and capital markets Global economic risk Leadership in financial services Media and public policy analysis Ideal for Financial services executives and boards Banking and capital markets conferences Corporate leadership teams navigating economic uncertainty Industry forums requiring an experienced chair or moderator Audience outcomes Clear understanding of current macroeconomic drivers affecting financial services Structured perspective on risk and opportunity in banking and capital markets Insight into how global economic trends shape strategic decision-making Informed context for board-level and executive discussion Why organisations work with Margaret Doyle Combines senior consulting experience, financial journalism and executive insight. Brings credibility from Deloitte leadership and major global media platforms. Able to translate complex economic and financial issues into clear business implications. Experienced conference chair who can manage high-level discussions with authority and clarity. Biography Margaret Doyle brings together senior-level financial services insight, global economic analysis and broadcast journalism expertise. As a Partner at Deloitte UK and Chief Insights Officer for Financial Services, she sits on the UK Financial Services Executive and leads the firm’s financial services eminence, shaping strategic thinking across banking, capital markets and the wider sector. Her career spans top-tier consulting, international journalism and executive leadership. She began at McKinsey & Company before moving into financial reporting and analysis, writing for The Economist, The Daily Telegraph and Reuters Breakingviews, and editing Global Agenda for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos. Margaret has also been a prominent BBC presenter, hosting flagship Radio 4 programmes including Today, The World Tonight and Analysis, alongside The World Today on the BBC World Service and Wake Up to Money. Her broadcasting background brings clarity, authority and balance to complex financial and macroeconomic issues. An economics graduate of Trinity College Dublin and MBA from Harvard Business School as a Fulbright Scholar and Baker Scholar, she combines rigorous economic understanding with board-level commercial awareness. Margaret is widely engaged to chair and moderate high-level conferences, particularly in financial services, where informed, strategic discussion is essential.