2021 Speakers - ACCIS Conference

Ingvar Birgisson

Group Director of Global Solutions, Creditinfo Group

Ingvar Birgisson has a vast experience from managing projects and products in the field of credit risk management. He holds a master’s degree in Industrial engineering and International Project Management from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. As the Director of Global Solutions for Creditinfo Group, he is responsible for evaluating business opportunities in the 33 markets where Creditinfo operates and defining the product/solution strategies accordingly. Ingvar is passionate in finding new ways of using smart technology and data to bring increased value to the 10.000+ clients that Creditinfo has worldwide.

Mesrur Börü

Senior Data Scientist, TAZI.AI

Mesrur Leads the Data Science team of TAZI AI. Prior joining TAZI AI, Mesrur worked for several Asset Management companies as Data Scientist and Investment and Business Development Executive. He gained his Master Degree in Economics from Middle East Technical University where he also was a research assistant and did his second Master in Data Analytics at Sabanci University Istanbul.

He also started a PhD in Economics at the University of Houston where he used to work as Teaching Assistant. At TAZI he is leading several data science projects together with his team. Mesrur is also participating in several EU Projects like ITEA and H2020.

Elena Brolis

Policy Officer, DG JUST E1 Consumer Policy Unit, European Commission

Elena is a Policy Officer in the Financial Services team of the Consumer Policy Unit of DG JUST. She is currently leading the work on the Consumer Credit Directive Review and working on the ongoing Review of the Distance Marketing of Financial Services Directive. Elena also manages the Financial Services User Group, an expert group set up by the Commission in order to involve users of financial services in policy-making. Previously, Elena coordinated an alliance of EU manufacturers whose work was focused on trade policy. Elena studied Economics and Political Science and holds a MA in European Political and Governance Studies from the College of Europe.

Isabella Cesarini

Head of Product and Project Management, AUTO1 FinTech

Isabella Cesarini, Head of Product and Project Management at Auto1 FinTech, is an experienced project manager with a track history of complex digital and financial projects with over 20 years of experience in the mobility finance sector. During this time she held project lead positions at Daimler Chrysler Financial Services, Daimler Financial Services and Mercedes-Benz Bank. Now at Auto1 she is responsible to develop fully digital, regulatory compliant processes, products and customer experience, leveraging her passion for data mining as a data scientist. As a leader she relies on a high performance team management culture and applies a target oriented, agile approach.

CEO, FINcredible

Christian Ochs is CEO of FINcredible, an Austrian FinTech company and part of the KSV1870 Group. FINcredible provides digital credit checks based on PSD2 bank account data. In addition, Christian is Assistant Professor in Finance at Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU-Vienna), and holds a Ph.D. in Finance. During his young career, he already served as researcher and lecturer at several internationally renowned institutions, e.g., NYU Stern School of Business, or the National Bank of the Kingdom of Denmark. Christian strongly advocates the importance of domain knowledge and deep problem understanding in data science, in particular when assessing consumer credit risk.

Déborah Faure

Financial Services Officer, BEUC

Déborah currently works as Financial Services Officer at BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation. She advocates for consumer rights with a specific focus on the retail banking sector. Her areas of expertise include consumer and mortgage credit, and she is closely following the review of the Consumer Credit Directive, advocating for appropriate safeguards to be added in light of the sector’s increasing digitalisation. Prior to joining BEUC, Déborah worked as a case-handler at the European Commission, DG Competition, focusing on platforms and digital payments, and as a lawyer in international law firms. Déborah is a qualified lawyer and holds a Master of Laws (LLM) from the University of Cambridge, UK.

Gerhard Huemer

Economic Policy Director, SMEunited

Gerhard Huemer is Director for Economic and Fiscal Policy at the European Association of Craft, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEunited). His main dossiers are economic policy coordination, macroeconomic dialogue, monetary policy and tax policy as well as SME finance, R&D and Innovation and State aid. Mr Huemer is also responsible for the UEAPME Study Unit and the Press Office. Before joining SMEunited, Gerhard was Executive Secretary of the “Economic and Social Council” of the Austrian Social Partners. He holds a diploma in Economics and began his career working in the Economic Policy Department at the Austrian Economic Chamber.

Gjergji Kasneci

Data Science and Analytics Research Group Lead at the University of Tübingen / Chief Technology Officer, SCHUFA AG

After completing his PhD in Graph-based Mining and Retrieval at the Max Planck Institute for Computer Science in Saarbrücken, Germany, in 2009, Gjergej joined Microsoft Research in Cambridge, UK, as a postdoctoral researcher, where he worked on probabilistic inference in knowledge bases. In 2011, Gjergej joined the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam, Germany, where he led the Web Mining and Analytics Research Group. Mid 2014, Gjergej joined SCHUFA Holding AG, where he currently holds the CTO position. Since April 2018, Gjergej is also leading the Data Science and Analytics Research Group at the University of Tübingen.

Mattias Levin

Deputy Head of Unit, DG FISMA B.5 Digital Finance Unit, European Commission

Mattias Levin is the deputy head of unit of the Digital Finance unit of the European Commission’s Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union DG (“FISMA”). At FISMA, he has previously worked on regulation related to banks, investment firms, conglomerates and financial market infrastructures. Before joining DG FISMA, he was a member of the Bureau of European Policy Advisers (BEPA), a think tank attached to the President of the European Commission. Prior to joining the Commission, Mattias was a Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). Mattias studied at the London School of Economics, Lund University and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques of Strasbourg.

Gavin Littlejohn

Interim Chief Research & Innovation Officer, Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence

Gavin Littlejohn serves as Chair of the Financial Data and Technology Association (FDATA), which is a trade association for firms who use Open Finance in their business models. In this role Gavin is a leader of the Open Finance movement and has campaigned for balanced financial and privacy regulation, customer data rights, robust technical and identity standards, and the properly governed and funded delivery of open market architecture where participants rights are protected.

As well as advising central banks, regulators and governments in many markets, Gavin serves on the UK Open Banking Steering Group, the pan-European Berlin Group’s Open Finance Steering Group and the TISA, Open Investments Savings and Pensions Steering Group.

FDATA has also been instrumental, along with the University of Edinburgh, in setting up the new Global Open Finance Centre of Excellence, where Gavin has been the visionary and is serving as the Interim Chief Innovation and Research Officer.

Gavin has been a fintech entrepreneur his whole career, pioneering technologies such software as a service, distributed computing and open finance. Gavin is the founder of Money Dashboard and served as CEO until 2015. He also advises several venture capital firms on their portfolio, advises both start-ups and corporate financial service firms on strategy and occasionally teaches innovation techniques.

Chris Muyldermans

Head EU Affairs, Corporate Public Affairs, KBC Group

Chris Muyldermans is Head EU Affairs, Corporate Public Affairs KBC Group NV. In this role, she analyses the regulatory change and forthcoming legislation in Belgium and the EU impacting KBC Group and its clients. She represents KBC before European and Belgian policy-making bodies, in trade associations and other leading policy circles in Europe. Between 2011 and 2013 Ms Muyldermans worked as Head of Policy Advice, Public Policy & Regulatory Affairs and before then as Head of the UCITS_IV Program (2010-2011). Previously, she has worked in several positions, such as Member of the Board, and Expert Business Development Manager for KBC Asset Management N.V.

Peter Norwood

Senior Research and Advocacy officer, FinanceWatch

Peter Norwood is a Senior Research and Advocacy Officer at Finance Watch, working, amongst other topics, on retail services and financial inclusion. Peter has extensive experience in EU financial services policy. He has worked for more than ten years for regulators, institutions and associations in the financial services sector, including the German Insurance Association (GDV), Lloyds Banking Group, the European Commission (as a Seconded National Expert) and the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Throughout his career, Peter has worked on a wide variety of different EU financial services policy topics, including insurance, capital markets, sustainable finance, retail services and financial inclusion, and financial stability.

Prior to his professional career, he graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, DC with an MA in European Studies and from the George Washington University with a BA in International Affairs. Moreover, he attended the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris for a year to complete the university’s undergraduate student exchange program.

Patricia Suárez

Founder and President of ASUFIN

Patricia is a German & English educated philologist. As a consumer, adversely affected by a non-transparent banking product, she founded ASUFIN (2009), the Spanish Financial Users Association, which now includes more than 20.000 associates and of which Patricia is President. She is a regular speaker at conferences, sessions, congresses and seminars on financial education and financial users’ rights in Spain and in Europe.

Jon Roughley

Global Head of Data Exchange, Experian

Jon leads the Experian Data Exchange, a global innovation team focused on developing propositions to facilitate access to new and non-traditional data. The team works closely with our regions and businesses to explore how innovative solutions can harness new data assets the deliver benefits to businesses, their customers and society at large.

Jon joined Experian in 2013 and prior to joining the Data Exchange team was Director of Enterprise Strategy for the UK&I business where he led the implementation of Open Banking and the definition of our open data strategy. He has also played a pivotal role in several strategic acquisitions and in leading the implementation of the Innovation Pathways programme across the UK.

Before joining Experian Jon held a number of senior strategy and strategic change positions in UK financial services companies, with a focus on life, pensions and investments.

He has a Master’s in Business Administration (Distinction) from the University of Northampton.

Anne Schaedle

Head of Unit, DG FISMA A.1 Policy Definition and Coordination Unit, European Commission

Anne Schaedle is Head of Unit for Policy definition and coordination in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for financial stability, financial services and capital markets union (DG FISMA).

Anne joined the European Commission in 2008. From 2008-2014 she worked in the Directorate-General for Competition in the area of mergers. In 2015 she joined DG FISMA working first on the crisis management framework and bank resolution files. From 2016 -2019 she worked as policy assistant to the Director General, in February 2020 she became Deputy Head of Unit of the Asset Management unit.

Anne started her professional career in the private sector as lawyer in commercial law firms in Munich and Brussels.

Anne holds law degree and a PhD in law from University of Augsburg (Germany) and a Public Policy Master degree (MSc) from London School of Economics, UK.

Nina Schindler

CEO, European Association of Co-operative Banks

Nina Schindler is Chief Executive Officer at the European Association of Co-operative Banks (EACB), appointed in February 2021.

Before, Nina was Head of Government and Public Affairs EU at Deutsche Bank as of 2017. Throughout her carrier, she fulfilled similar positions for Commerzbank and the Association of German Banks in Brussels. Nina graduated as a lawyer in Germany and is holding an LL.M. (University of Exeter, UK).

She is a member of various committees at European Payments Council (EPC), at the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) and at the European Banking Industry Committee (EBIC).

Dr. Frank Schlein

CEO Germany, Austria, Poland CRIF

Dr. Frank Schlein, CEO of the CRIF business region Germany, Austria and Poland, joined the global information service provider in May 2020, with the goal to expand the market position as well as accelerate the growth of the CRIF Group in the different country markets. Frank Schlein brings 20 years of experience in risk and address management to his new position. During this time he has been Managing Director of various service companies in the financial services, data management and direct marketing sectors, most recently 6 years as President Risk Management at Arvato Financial Solutions. He lives with his wife and two children in Baden-Baden.

Federico Sembolini

Lead Data Scientist, Equifax Iberia

Federico is based in Madrid, leading Equifax’s innovative data science team with a focus on machine learning and big data analysis. Prior to joining Equifax in 2017, Federico gained his PhD in Astrophysics for the Autonomous University of Madrid where he later worked as an Assistant Professor, collaborating with the European Space Agency and participating in several international scientific projects and publishing several peer-reviewed articles.

Eric Van den Broele

Director of Research & Development, Graydon Belgium

Eric leads the R&D department within the business intelligence company Graydon Belgium. In the last decade, Eric has concentrated mainly on insights based on Big Data and Community data. He engages in developing new algorithms who express themselves about the ‘probability of anything’. e.g.; algorithms that aim to describe the activity degree of a company, the probability of a company committing fraud, the probability of a company being involved in crime such as human trafficking, drugs or money laundry, the probability of developing absenteeism, etc.

Based on his observations during the Brussels terrorist attacks in 2016, where he observed companies’ behaviour in an ‘economy in discontinuity’, he created ‘shock resistance’ algorithms that were later on developed and introduced on web-based platforms by the entire Graydon-Belgium team.

Eric is a co-founder of the institute for credit management at the Vlerick Business School and a member of the EU expert network ‘Early Warning Europe‘. He has participated in several academic and governmental research groups and authored numerous book and publications. His latest book ‘Na de crisis, de ommekeer’ (After crisis, the turnaround) was published in December 2020.

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.

Marion Walsmann

Member of the European Parliament

Born in 1963 and grew up in Erfurt, Thuringia.

From 1981 to 1985, she studied law at the University of Leipzig and worked as lawyer at VEB Robotron Sales.

1986 she moved to the Erfurt city building office as a legal counsel. In 1990 head of the legal department of the city of Erfurt, but in the same year after the re-establishment of the state of Thuringia, she took over the leadership of the Thuringian Ministry of Justice.

She later held various functions within the ministry, including as head of the constitutional law unit. Most recently, she was the deputy head of department and head of human resources in the prison department. 2004-2018 member of the Landtag of Thuringia.

In 2008 Walsmann was appointed State Minister of Justice.

2009 State Minister of Finance. 2010-2013 Head of the State Chancellery and State Minister for European Affairs. From 2015 until 2018, Walsmann was the State Parliament’s delegate to the European Committee of the Regions.

MEP since 2019.

She is Vice-Chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs and of the Delegation to the EU-North Macedonia Joint Parliamentary Committee. She is a member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection.

She is also a substitute of the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age and of the Delegation to the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Partnership Committee, the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee.

2021 ACCIS Annual Conference

Speakers