2024 Speakers - ACCIS Conference

Judith Arnal

Associate Senior Research Fellow at CEPS and ECRI and Board member, Bank of Spain

Judith Arnal is Board member at the Bank of Spain. She is an Associate Senior Research Fellow at CEPS and ECRI and a Senior Research Fellow at the Elcano Royal Institute. She conducts extensive research on financial and European policy affairs and is a regular contributor to financial media.

Judith has extensive professional experience, having been the Head of Cabinet of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of Spain and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, as well as a Board Member of several public institutions tasked with advancing the Digital Agenda and supporting start-ups. She worked for 10 years in the Spanish Treasury, being the Head of the Financial Analysis Department.

In the European field, she was the chair of the Eurogroup Working Group Task Force on Coordinated Action for almost four years. Her chairmanship saw the design of the technical details of the European Stability Mechanism reform.

Judith has a PhD in economics and finance. She is also a Chartered State Economist in Spain and the recipient of several prizes, such as the Best Young Lawyers Award by Garrigues.

Armando Capone

General Manager Italy, Experian

Biography coming soon.

Joanna Charlińska

Director of Sales, BIK

Joanna Charlińska is a graduate of University of Warsaw – faculty management. She also finished postgraduate studies in Project Management, organized by the Warsaw School of Economics.

She started her business career in credit intermediary and later at the Credit Card Canter in Cetelem Bank S.A. Her adventure with BIK began in 2006 and over the years she gained an experience in various departments, ranging from marketing, R&D, cooperation with foreign credit bureaus and consumer organizations. In 2009-2010 she was a leader of a project that enabled consumers an access to BIK products through online banking. In 2012, she established a consumer business line in BIK. Since 2015, as the Director of Sales, she is responsible for the bik.pl website, customer communication, sales activities, and B2B relationships. She appears in media as a BIK expert, discussing responsible borrowing, data protection, and anti-fraud measures.

Mariusz Cholewa

CEO BIK and ACCIS President

Mr. Mariusz Cholewa is a graduate of the University of Gdańsk, the Faculty of Management. In 2005 he obtained his PhD Degree in Economics. He also completed postgraduate studies in Banking and Finance, with the specialisation in Investment Banking, conducted by the London Guidhall University, the Gdańsk Banking Academy and the University of Gdańsk.

In the years 1993-1998 he cooperated with the Gdańsk Banking Academy, as a Management Board member, participating at the same time in the research on the financial restructuring of enterprises and banks pursued by the Gdańsk Institute of Market Economics. In the years 1995-2003 he was an associate professor at the Faculty of Management at the University of Gdańsk.

In the period of 2007-2010 he was the CEO of Bank Rozwoju Cukrownictwa S.A. In 1998 Mariusz Cholewa joined Bank Handlowy w Warszawie S.A. (Citi Handlowy), where he held a number of managerial positions, and till April 2013 he was the Director of the Strategy Department. He was a member of supervisory boards of many companies for e.g.: banks, investment and insurance companies including public granted companies. In the years 2012-2013 he was a member of Biuro Informacji Kredytowej S.A. Supervisory Board.

He has been the President of the BIK Management Board since June 2013. He is also the President of the Supervisory Board of BIG InfoMonitor S.A. – Economic Information Bureau.

Since May 2020 he has been the President of the Management Board of ACCIS, the voice of organisations responsibly managing data to assess the financial credibility of consumers and businesses.

Dr Orkun Deniz

Executive Vice President, KKB-Turkish Credit Bureau

Dr Orkun Deniz graduated from Boğaziçi University, Department of Computer Engineering in 1995. He continued his academic studies at Yeditepe University, first receiving his MBA and later his doctorate degree in Management and Organization. He started his professional career at Akbank as a Software Developer in the IT Department. He was among the founding team of Kredi Kayıt Bürosu, which he joined in 1997, and he played an active role during the launch of Türkiye’s first credit bureau system. He continued his career at Fortis Bank, serving as Director in charge of System Development, Reporting, Loan Policies, and Rating in the Corporate Loans Department. He held several roles during the transformation process of KKB, which he rejoined in early2011.Primarily, Mr. Deniz ensured the expansion of the product portfolio of KKB by developing new products and services as the Manager of Project and Process Management. Later, he directed all relations with the financial sector as the Manager of the Banks and Financial Institutions Unit.

Throughout his career at KKB, Mr. Deniz has provided consulting support for the attempts of many countries to establish credit bureaus.

Since September 2016, Mr.Deniz has served as the Assistant General Manager in charge of the Banks Association of Türkiye Risk Center operations.

Marta Borrat i Frigola

Senior Legal Counsel Products, ABN AMRO

Marta works as a senior legal counsel at ABN AMRO Bank and specialises on data protection legislation. She chairs the Privacy and Data Protection Expert Group of the European Banking Federation (EBF) and the Expert Pool Privacy of the Dutch Banking Association. She participates on behalf of the EBF at the multi-stakeholder group of the European Commission on the application of the GDPR. In addition, Marta teaches Data protection law in the banking industry at the Open University in the Netherlands and is one of the founding board members of the Dutch Association on Privacy Law.

Ege Metsandi

Chairman of the Management Board, Krediidiregister

Ege Metsandi is a distinguished executive with a proven track record of driving growth, fostering innovation, and leading change across various sectors throughout her career.

Since May 2023, Ege Metsandi has served as the Chairman of the Management Board/CEO at Krediidiregister, a credit reference agency poised for high growth in the region and being part of Aktiva Finance Group which is the only full-solution financial infrasturcture services provider in Baltic region. Krediidiregister boasts the largest database of payment remarks register and is at the forefront of spearheading licensed open banking data categorization and credit scoring in the Baltic region.

Prior to her current role, Ege Metsandi served as CEO at Creditinfo Estonia for 6 years when she successfully navigated the company through a period of restructuring, adapting it to evolving innovation and significantly increasing sales and operational efficiency.

Before transitioning to the credit reference industry, Ege Metsandi held several leading positions in the banking industry, focusing on trading, investment and fund management at both local and regional levels.

In addition to her corporate roles, Ege Metsandi has been actively involved in various organizations and initiatives aimed at promoting innovation and business growth. She serves as a Member of the Management Board at Finance Estonia, an umbrella organization working to establish Estonia as an innovative hub for financial services. Furthermore, she holds the position of Chairman of the Supervisory Board at state-owned company AS Metrosert Eesti, overseeing the functions of the Central Office of Metrology and the newly established Center of Applied Research in Estonia.

Viktor Nagy

CEO, BISZ Zrt. Hungary

Viktor Nagy has a wide range of view, knowledge and experience of the different fields of the financial sector including banking, insurance and other financial institutions.

Viktor Nagy currently holds the position of CEO at BISZ Zrt. since 2014, which is the credit reporting agency in Hungary providing credit information as its main activity. He is also the member of the Board. From 2014 to 2019 he acted as the Chairman of the Board. Besides BISZ Zrt. he is the member of the Board of Trustees of the Money Compass Foundation which aims to improve the Hungarian students’ financial culture. Before joining BISZ Zrt. he worked as a senior commercial finance manager over the Czech & Slovak market at the Prague headquarter of the UK based International Personal Finance’ subsidiary. In the prior 3 years he was the financial planning and analysis manager at Provident Financial. He attained his banking (both credit and debit) experience at the GE Money subsidiary called Budapest Bank between 2007 and 2009. Additionally he acquired significant insurance finance knowledge gained during the work at Allianz Hungary in the previous 5 years.

Graduated and received his master’s degree in the Actuarial science at Budapest University of Economics in 2002. During his university studies he also studied in Belgium in the frame of the ERASMUS program. Throughout both his studies and his work at multinational companies he travelled and lived several times abroad for shorter or longer periods. Married and lives with his wife and two sons in Budapest.

Hedwige Nuyens

CEO International Banking Federation

Hedwige Nuyens is the CEO of the International Banking Federation (IBFed), a representative body of key national banking associations, covering the vast majority of the banking industry across the world. Hedwige leads the IBFed’s policy advocacy, contributing to increase the effectiveness of the financial services industry’s response to the multilateral and national government issues affecting their common interests. Previously she worked as Head of Regulatory Affairs, CFO and CRO in major European banks, building experience in strategy, risk, finance, compliance, regulatory and digital transformation.

Her pro bono work is dedicated to European Women on Boards, a not for profit organisation advocating for gender balance in Executive Committees and Boardrooms.

Hedwige holds a Faculty of Law and a Master’s in financial sciences from the Catholic University Louvain, a Master’s in business administration and finance from the EHSAL Brussels. She followed Master Classes on Digital Transformation at INSEAD, on Sustainable Finance at Cambridge, on Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning at MIT and on Cyber Security at Harvard.

Elvira Oliva

EU Regulatory Coordinator, CRIF

Elvira coordinates CRIF’s regulatory affairs and public affairs in the EU, both for B2B and B2C businesses lines. She is in charge of CRIF’s engagement with EU and local industry associations and of regulatory activities related to EU initiatives. Prior to joining CRIF, Elvira worked in the public affairs consultancy sector – focused on financial and regulated energy markets. She has additional work experience at the EU Parliament and the Italian Permanent Representation to EU. Elvira is a graduate from the University of Bologna with a thesis on EU law, with a specialization on EU politics from Johns Hopkins – School of Advanced International Studies, also located in Bologna.

Professor Dr. Boris P. Paal

Professor for Law and Regulation of the Digital Transformation at TU Munich

Professor Dr. Boris P. Paal, M.Jur. (Oxford) is a full tenured Professor for Law and Regulation of the Digital Transformation at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), School of Social Sciences and Technology, Department of Governance.

Professor Paal’s research and teaching focuses on the implications and regulatory issues of digital transformation, in particular with respect to the digital and data economy as well as the legal framework for future technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

In October 2023, he was appointed to the TUM as a professor of excellence. He previously held chairs for data, media and information law at the University of Freiburg (2009-2021) and the University of Leipzig (2021-2023). From 2020-2023 he was active on the bench as a judge at the Hamburg District Court (IP- and IT Law).

Professor Paal has more than 25 years of experience in academia. He is the editor and author of leading commentaries and ground-breaking publications on all areas of the law and regulation of the digital transformation. Professor Paal provides legal expert expertise in various settings to public and private institutions. Research stays and guest lectureships took him to international universities of excellence, e.g. Cambridge (UK), Harvard, New York (Columbia, Fordham, NYU), Oxford (UK), Seoul (SNU), Stanford, Yale.

Patricio Remón

President - Europe, Equifax

As President for Europe, Patricio leads the UK and Ireland and Iberia businesses at Equifax. Patricio has been with the organisation since 2006 and prior to taking up his current position held a number of Equifax senior leadership roles in Argentina, Peru and Ecuador.

Beatrice Rubini

Executive Director - Personal solutions & cybersecurity services, CRIF

Beatrice Rubini is an Executive Director at CRIF, where she leads the consumer segment offering within one of the Strategic Business Centers. With extensive expertise in credit bureau information and credit topics on one hand, and identity theft and cyber risk on the other hand, she leads various studies and research at CRIF, aiming at raising public awareness and educating consumers on crucial subjects such as financial management and cyber risk exposure.

Satrajit Saha

Global CEO, Creditinfo

Satrajit Saha was appointed Global Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Creditinfo in November 2023. Formerly the CEO of TransUnion Europe for five years, he led the board of all TransUnion’s European entities. Prior to this, he served as Chief Business Officer at TransUnion India, where he crafted and executed market strategies for TransUnion’s CIBIL. Satrajit also held the position of Cards Head, Africa Region, at Barclays Bank. His extensive background positions him as a strategic leader ready to drive Creditinfo’s global growth and maturity, with a focus on financial inclusion.

Dr. Ole Schröder

Member of the Management Board / CAO / CFO

Dr. Ole Schröder has been a member of the Board of Management of SCHUFA Holding AG since January 2020. After studying law at the University of Hamburg, a Master of Laws (LLM) in international business law at the University of Stellenbosch/South Africa and his second state examination, he worked for eight years as a lawyer at the law firm White & Case. He was a member of the Bundestag (German Parliament) from 2002 to 2017. Between 2009 and 2017, he served as Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of the Interior, where he was responsible for information technology, digitalisation and data protection. Most recently, he worked as a consultant for KPMG, among others, and as a guest lecturer at the Frankfurt School of Finance. Dr. Ole Schröder has been a member of the ACCIS Management Board since 2021. At SCHUFA, he is responsible for Finance, Human Resources, Legal, Internal Audit, Compliance & Data Protection and Public Affairs.

Martin Smedberg

Group Head of Regulatory Strategy, Enento

Martin Smedberg was appointed Group Head of Regulatory Strategy at Enento Group in February 2024. Before that, he served as General Counsel at Enento and UC-Group during 14 years. In the Nordics the Enento brands Asiakastieto, UC, allabolag and Proff are widely known.

Prior to joining Enento, he worked as a lawyer (Sw. Advokat) at law firms in Stockholm and served as a civil court notary at the District Court. Mr. Smedberg holds a Master of Laws from The School of Economics at the University of Gothenburg and a Master of European Law from the University of Stockholm.

Craig Tebbutt

Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer, Equifax

Craig joined Equifax in 2011, with an extensive background in the credit reference industry, he has deep market knowledge and strong commercial and customer focus. Craig is responsible for leading the strategy, product, marketing and consultancy functions.

Kiki Tsourou

Data Protection Officer, Tiresias

Kiki D. Tsourou is a GDPR expert. She is an attorney at law admitted to the Supreme Court and an Accredited Civil & Commercial Mediator by the Accreditation Committee of the Greek Ministry of Justice (Law 3898/2010). She is a member / representative of the Hellenic Bank Association at the Organisation for the Promotion of Alternative Dispute Resolution Methods (OPEMED).

She holds an LLM on both Civil and Labor law and an LLB degree from the Law School of the University of Athens. She has also studied European Law at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) and Consumer Law at the University of Tubingen (Germany). She is a founding partner of «CHRISTOS D. PSARRAKIS & Associates Law Firm» and has been practicing law since 1999.

She has long experience in Data protection, banking and employment, and is an accredited GDPR expert/DPO executive by TUV Austria. She attends legal seminars and conferences and is a trainer for bank employees on personal data protection issues.

Kiki has been an in house legal counsel/personal data advisor at Bank Information Systems SA (TIRESIAS SA) since Feb. 2003. In January 2019 became its deputy DPO. Since February 2020 she has been appointed as the organization’s DPO.

By working in a corporate/banking environment Kiki has the ability to come in contact with every day legal issues and practical matters, deal with great number of contract making and negotiations, manage legal risk and resolve crisis.

Dr. Anikó Túri

State Secretary for Public Administration of Ministry for National Economy

Dr. Túri graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences of BME (Budapest University of Technology and Economics) in 2011 by finishing the International Business Bsc Programme. In 2015, she also completed the Legal Studies Programme of the Faculty of Law of ELTE (Eötvös Loránd University).

In 2011, during the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, Dr. Túri worked as a Liaison Officer between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary and the Council. In 2014-2015, she headed the Secretariat of the Government Commissioner for the Danube Region Strategy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary. In 2015-2022, Dr. Túri was a direct legal expert of the Vice President for Monetary Policy and Financial Stability of the Hungarian National Bank, providing wholescale legal support to the Vice President and his subordinates. As a senior lawyer, she also performed banking and corporate law tasks. In addition, from 2020, Dr. Túri also acted as a member of the Supervisory Board of DIPA Diósgyőri Papírgyár Zrt.

In 2022, she held the position of State Secretary for Financial and Economic Regulation, State Property and Postal Affairs at the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister of Hungary.

Since 2023, she holds the position of State Secretary for Public Administration of the Ministry for Economic Development – then Ministry for National Economy.

Dr. Túri speaks English and French on negotiation level. She is married, mother of one child.

Enrique Velázquez

Director General, ACCIS

Enrique Velázquez was appointed Director General of ACCIS in June 2017. Before that, he worked for the Brussels-based European Banking Federation (EBF) for over ten years, the last five as head of Public Affairs.

Prior to joining EBF, Enrique was a Supervisor at the Spanish Securities Markets Supervisor (CNMV) in Madrid for nearly five years. He was also an Officer at the Paris-based Committee for European Securities Regulators (CESR), the embryo of the current European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).

Mr. Velázquez holds a double degree in European Business Studies from the University of Humberside (United Kingdom) and in Law, from the Universidad Autónoma, in Madrid.

Barnabás Virág

Deputy Governor for Monetary Policy, Financial Stability and International Relations, Hungarian Central 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, financial stability, and international relations. 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.

Gerhard Wagner

CEO, KSV1870 Information GmbH

Vienna-born Gerhard Wagner was appointed as the new Managing Director of KSV1870 Information GmbH on April 1, 2018. Wagner is responsible for the strategic direction of KSV1870 business areas, including corporate and private information, and leads the company through digital transformation in coordination with the KSV1870 Holding Board.

Wagner joined KSV1870 in 1990 in marketing and sales before being appointed Head of Foreign Services two years later, overseeing projects in Germany, Italy, Poland, and Armenia. From 1993, Wagner took on various roles within the KSV1870 Group as a product manager and project leader. In 2002, Wagner assumed responsibility for the Private Information department, and in 2006, he took over as the head of the Customer Care Center at KSV1870. Since 2008, Wagner has has been responsible for the economic and private databases of the company.

Additionally, Wagner has been a representative of the KSV1870 Group at ACCIS since 2018. He is an active a speaker on topics such as debt prevention and risk assessment.

Unlocking the Power of Credit Information

Speakers