Conference Programme
-
-
08:30 - 09:00
Registration
-
09:00 - 09:15
Opening Remarks
Speakers
John McKenzie
Chief Executive Officer, TMX Group Chair, The World Federation of Exchanges
John McKenzie is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TMX Group.
Mr. McKenzie is a member of the TMX Group Board of Directors and also a member of the Board of Directors of several TMX Group subsidiaries.
Mr. McKenzie has worked for TMX for over 25 years. Prior to his appointment as CEO on August 17, 2020, he served as Chief Financial Officer and was responsible for corporate strategy, corporate development, investor relations and the financial management of the company as well as for the administrative oversight of TMX Group’s Capital Formation business. He has led various TMX acquisitions, including the Maple transaction, and the acquisitions of Montréal Exchange and Trayport.
From July 2015 to August 2016, Mr. McKenzie served as President of CDS, Canada’s equity and fixed income clearing house and a wholly-owned subsidiary of TMX Group. Prior to that he was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and CFO of CDS.
Mr. McKenzie is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (FCPA, FCMA) and has an MBA from Edinburgh Business School, HeriotWatt University and an Honours BA from Wilfrid Laurier University. He has served on a number of boards, and is currently the Chair of the World Federation of Exchanges, and a Board Member and Treasurer for the Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation.
Nandini Sukumar
Chief Executive Officer World Federation of Exchanges (WFE)
Nandini Sukumar is the Chief Executive Officer of the World Federation of Exchanges, the global association for exchanges and CCPs. The WFE represents more than 250 exchanges and clearing houses globally, educating stakeholders on the vital role played by market infrastructures in the real economy and as a standard setter, finding the consensus on issues among the global membership. Of our members, 37% are in Asia-Pacific, 43% in EMEA and 20% in the Americas. WFE’s 87 member CCPs and clearing services collectively ensure that risk takers post some $1.1 trillion (equivalent) of resources to back their positions, in the form of initial margin and default fund requirements. WFE exchanges, together with other exchanges feeding into our database, are home to over 49,054 listed companies, and the market capitalisation of these entities is $116.58 trillion; around $155 trillion (EOB) in trading annually passes through WFE members (at end 2024). Ms. Sukumar is Vice Chair of IOSCO’s Affiliate Members Consultative Committee and Chair of the AMCC’s Sustainability Taskforce.
Dr. Pedro Gurrola Perez
Head of Research World Federation of Exchanges (WFE)
Pedro joined the World Federation of Exchanges in October 2019 from the Bank of England, where he led the Financial Market Infrastructures Directorate’s Research Team. He had joined the Bank of England in 2013, after two years at the UK Financial Services Authority. Previously, Pedro spent more than 15 years lecturing and doing research at a range of well-regarded academic institutions, including the University of Barcelona and the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM).
Pedro holds two PhDs: one from the University of Barcelona, Spain, and one from the University of Montpellier, France, and has published across key academic journals, including the Journal of Financial Market Infrastructures, the Journal of Risk, International Finance and the Journal of Futures Markets. His recent work includes research on the economics of distributed ledger technologies (DLT) for securities settlement, on the network structure of settlement fails and on market liquidity risk in CCPs. He has also published research on payment systems, back-testing methodologies and on the structure of interest rate futures markets. In 2007 he received the National Award on Derivatives Research, awarded by the Mexican Derivatives Exchange (MexDer).
-
-
09:15 - 10:15
Panel 1: Technology Transformation: Evolving Infrastructure in Central Clearing
Market infrastructures are under pressure to support extended trading hours, faster risk cycles, and higher operational resilience on technology stacks often designed for batch processing and manual intervention. These pressures are being intensified by the move towards 24/7 trading models, the growing use of AI and advanced analytics in risk management, and emerging tokenisation and DLT-based market structures. Where do legacy systems actively constrain resilience and scalability, and where do modern architectures genuinely improve them? What are the concrete advantages and trade-offs of cloud adoption, modular system design, and increased reliance on third-party providers, and how can we be confident that transformation results in greater resilience rather than new points of fragility? How should MIs manage concentration and geopolitical dependencies on global technology providers, including the risk of service disruption, jurisdictional constraints, or loss of access, while maintaining auditability, operational control, and supervisory confidence?
Chair
Amandeep Rehlon
Head of FMI Portfolio, Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
Amandeep Rehlon is Head of FMI Portfolio at the secretariat of the BIS Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI), the international standard setter for the safety and efficiency of payment, clearing, settlement and related arrangements. In this role, he works with other financial sector standard setters (including IOSCO and the FSB) and financial authorities to establish and promote global standards and recommendations for the regulation of FMIs. He is based in Basel, Switzerland.
He previously worked at the Bank of England for over 20 years in a number of roles related to financial stability, resolution and FMIs, most recently as Head of Post Trade Policy. He was seconded to the Financial Stability Board in 2016-2019. He holds Masters degrees from the Universities of Oxford and Warwick and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
Speakers
Christian Sjöberg
President, Nasdaq Clearing AB Nasdaq, Inc
Christian Sjöberg brings over two decades of international experience in post-trade infrastructure, clearing, and financial market operations. He has held senior leadership roles across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, with a strong track record in building and transforming market infrastructure organizations. He joined Nasdaq in 2022 as Head of Business Development & Portfolio Strategy for Post Trade, where he has driven strategic initiatives supporting exchanges, CCPs, and CSDs globally. Prior to Nasdaq, Christian held senior roles at major market infrastructure organizations including HKEX, SIX x-clear, and Oslo Clearing, with a focus on clearing, risk management, and operational transformation.
Vikram Kothari
Managing Director & CEO, NSE Clearing National Stock Exchange of India (NSE)
Mr. Vikram Kothari has worked in areas of product development, operations, risk management, sales in the stock exchange, custody, clearing and banking space for more than 20 years. Prior to his current role as Managing Director of NSE Clearing Limited (formerly known as National Securities Clearing Corporation Limited) in India, he worked with organizations like JP Morgan Chase, HSBC, and NSE in various capacities. He joined NSE Clearing Limited in November 2017. He is a graduate from Mumbai University and a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Cindy Hull
Vice President and Head of Financial Markets Group Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Cindy Hull is vice president and head of the Financial Markets Group at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. In this role, she leads a team of experienced professionals that are responsible for analyzing public policy issues in financial markets and communicating findings to policymakers, regulators, industry leaders and the public.
Hull has experience in trading, portfolio management, operational readiness planning, and policy analysis. Hull previously served as a Policy Advisor on the team and prior to that held various leadership roles in the Markets Group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. This included leading trading operations for the Fed and U.S. Treasury holdings of foreign currency reserves. She also led operational readiness initiatives to improve the capacity for the Federal Reserve to implement a wide-ranging set of existing and potential policy directives for open market operations. Hull also played an instrumental leadership role in the Fed’s agency mortgage-backed securities purchase program during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hull is a native of Puerto Rico and received a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University.
-
-
10:15 - 10:30
Coffee Break
-
10:30 - 11:15
Academic Paper Presentation 1: Clearing Markets and Client Clearing Services by Salil Gadgil, Robin L. Lumsdaine, and Mark Paddrik
This paper examines client clearing, which now accounts for the majority of risk managed in centrally cleared markets. Using confidential transaction-level data on credit default swaps, we show that client clearing enhances netting efficiency for dealers and generates pricing advantages for clients. Adoption of central clearing leads clients to expand their sets of dealer trading partners, thereby enhancing market access and competition. To access central counterparties, clients depend on clearing member firms, favoring those with stronger credit quality and with whom they have established trading relationships. Offering these services creates spillover benefits for member firms’ market making activity by improving client retention and pricing power. Clients’ reliance on clearing members creates operational fragilities under stress, however, especially for those with limited member relationships. The findings provide novel insights about the economic consequences of client clearing and are particularly relevant in light of recent clearing mandates, most notably in U.S. Treasury markets.
Presenter
Salil Gadgil
Researcher Office of Financial Research (OFR)
Joined the OFR in 2022. His primary areas of research are market microstructure and asset pricing. His work has largely centered on the credit default swap and corporate bond markets. He holds a doctorate in finance from the Anderson School of Management at University of California, Los Angeles and a bachelor’s degree in economics and mathematics from Swarthmore College.
-
-
11:15 - 11:30
Coffee Break
-
11:30 - 12:15
Practitioner Session 1: Clearing For Extended Hours Trading
Speakers
Arianne M. Collette
Managing Director, Head of US Equities Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC)
Arianne M. Collette serves as Managing Director, Head of U.S. Equities at DTCC, based in Jersey City. Arianne is responsible for leading the strategic planning and execution of DTCC’s U.S. Equities business objectives, driving growth initiatives, revenue generation, process improvements, and market expansion. She partners across the organization to advance innovation, capital efficiency, and operational risk management within DTCC’s clearing and settlement infrastructure, ensuring alignment with regulatory requirements and industry priorities.
Arianne has more than 20 years of experience in securities finance, with a proven track record of delivering growth and enhancing competitive positioning in complex global environments. Her expertise spans strategic oversight, operational management, and managing significant volumes of equity and fixed income trading, clearing, and settlement activity.
Prior to joining DTCC, Arianne held senior leadership roles at Morgan Stanley, including Chief Operating Officer and Head of Strategy for Reinvestment within Corporate & Institutional Solutions, Global Head of Sales Strategy, and Americas Head of Resource Optimization. In these roles, she was responsible for margin, capital, and collateral optimization strategies for both centrally cleared and uncleared activity.
Arianne is also the co-founder and global chair of Women in Securities Finance, a global industry group of over 1,000 members dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion within the financial services industry.
Mike Hansen
Chief Clearing and Settlement Services Officer Options Clearing Corporation (OCC)
Mike Hansen is Chief Clearing and Settlement Services Officer and Dallas Site Leader at OCC, the world’s largest equity derivatives clearing organization.
In this role, Mike is responsible for OCC’s day-to-day clearance and settlement functions and oversees the Collateral Services, Technical Certification and Documentation Services, Corporate Actions and Market Operations functions. As Dallas Site Leader, he manages approximately 250 colleagues in OCC’s Dallas office. Previously, he served as Managing Director, Clearing and Settlement Operations. Mr. Hansen has more than 20 years of options industry experience and has served in various roles throughout his tenure at OCC, including in back office processing, pricing and member services. Mr. Hansen first joined OCC in 2004 as an Investor Services representative.
Prior to joining OCC, Mr. Hansen worked on the Cboe trading floor; first with Timber Hill LLC and then Everest Trading LLC as a market-maker.
Mr. Hansen serves as a member director on the Dallas Regional Chamber and the Metrocrest Services boards of directors. He completed the Securities Industry Institute program at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
-
-
12:15 - 13:45
Lunch
-
13:45 - 14:45
Panel 2: Tokenisation and Digital Collateral in Clearing & Settlement
Tokenisation initiatives and digital asset sandboxes are accelerating, raising fundamental questions about their relevance for clearing and settlement. What near-term benefits are genuinely achievable, such as improved collateral mobility, faster settlement, or intraday liquidity optimisation? What new risks emerge around legal certainty, interoperability, cyber resilience, and governance? And how can lessons from pilot regimes and sandboxes be translated into durable improvements for core clearing and settlement processes?
Chair
Dirk Schrade
Deputy Director General, Payments & Settlement Systems Directorate Deutsche Bundesbank
Dirk Schrade is Deputy Director General of the Payments & Settlement Systems Directorate at the Central Office of the Deutsche Bundesbank in Frankfurt. After finishing his studies of business administration at the Bundesbank University of Applied Sciences he worked for many years in the branch and Main Office of the former Land Central Bank in North-Rhine Westphalia.
In 2000 he joined the Payment Systems Policy Division at the Central Office of the Bundesbank in Frankfurt, focusing first on the development of large value payment systems, notably TARGET2.
Since then, he is dealing, inter alia, with policy issues on domestic, European as well as international payments and, more broadly, with developments in the financial market infrastructure, including CSDs and CCPs. A specific focus is on innovation and resilience. Dirk Schrade represents the Bundesbank in the Market Infrastructure and Payments Committee (MIPC) of the Eurosystem.
Speakers
Val Wotton
Managing Director and Global Head of Equities Solutions Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC)
Valentino (Val) Wotton is Managing Director and Global Head of Equities Solutions at the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC). In this role, he is responsible for NSCC equity clearing of trades executed on major U.S. exchanges and other equity trading venues and DTC the central securities depository which completes the transfer between trading parties of securities and cash. He also leads the firm’s global middle-office trade processing solutions, including CTM, ALERT and TradeSuite ID. Working closely with his global team, clients, industry organizations and his peers, Val focuses on setting business strategy, growing and enhancing services, and delivering increased value to clients, enabling them to meet evolving operational, risk and regulatory compliance demands such as global accelerated settlement and extended trading hours (24x5) efforts. Additionally, Val leads enterprise-wide modernization efforts at DTCC and is the Regional Administrative Manager for DTCC EMEA, Chairman of the DTCC EMEA Operating Committee, and a voting member on the DTCC ITP LLC Board.
Prior to this role, Val was Managing Director of Product Development and Strategy, Repository and Derivatives Services, where he was responsible for overseeing the firm’s Global Trade Repository (GTR), Trade Information Warehouse (TIW) and Report Hub services.
Before DTCC, Val served as Managing Director Head of Global Markets Post-Trade Services, Network Management and EMEA Markets Operations at Barclays. There, he was responsible for the implementation of a strategic global operational model to provide improved post-trade service capabilities to clients and internal businesses as well as the design and delivery of strategic architecture to achieve automation, process improvement and risk management objectives. Previously, Val held several senior roles at Citigroup.
During his career, Val has served on several Boards and Committees, including SIFMA’s Operations and Technology Committee, DTCC’s Deriv/SERV Board, LCH OTC Deriv Net, and the International Swaps & Derivatives Organization’s (ISDA) Market Infrastructure & Technology Committee (MITOC).
Val holds a Bachelor of Law (with French) degree from Nottingham Trent University.
Barry King
Head of Post Trade Policy Bank of England
Barry King has served as Head of the Division of Post Trade Policy at the Bank of England since December 2022, where his responsibilities include leading the post trade policy agenda both internationally and domestically, focusing on clearing and settlement, OTC derivatives, and regulation of overseas financial market infrastructures. Prior to this role, Barry held various positions including responsibility for financial and operational risk across clearing, settlement and payments, and acted as the Head of the FMI Regulation Division at the BoE. Earlier experience includes a Technical Specialist role at the Financial Conduct Authority and work as a Policy Advisor at the UK Ministry of Finance, HM Treasury. While Barry's academic background includes a degree in Economics from the University of Southampton. Additionally, Barry has contributed to CPMI-IOSCO international standards for FMIs for many years, including the development of the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructure following the Great Financial Crisis and more recently as co-chair of the CPMI-IOSCO Margin Implementation Group.
Dr. Efthimia Kefalea
Head of Derivatives Clearing Market Development Eurex Clearing, Deutsche Börse Group
Efthimia Kefalea is a director at Eurex Clearing, responsible for Derivatives Clearing Market Development. She leads initiatives leveraging new technologies, including ECB's exploratory work on wholesale central bank money and BIS Project Agorá. An advocate for innovation, she collaborates with market players and tech providers to develop integrated clearing solutions. She has held various roles in new products and IT innovation at Deutsche Boerse Group. Efthimia holds a PhD in AI and robotics from the University of Bonn, Germany and a Master's in computer engineering from the University of Patras, Greece.
John McPartland
Independent financial regulation and market infrastructure policy advisor
John McPartland spent the entirety of his professional career in the derivatives industry in the roles of commercial banker, broker, FCM executive, exchange member, CCP executive and until his recent retirement, Senior Policy Advisor in the Financial Markets Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. In that capacity, he participated in influencing public policy germane to high frequency trading, market structure, CCP default waterfall components, and market concentration issues. He is a graduate from the University of Minnesota and a US Air Force veteran.
-
-
14:45 - 15:00
Coffee Break
-
15:00 - 15:45
Academic Paper Presentation 2: Expanded Value at Risk (eVaR): Risk Management for Multi-Asset and Multi-Product Portfolios at CCPs by Fernando Cerezetti, George Kapetanios, and Alexia Ventouri
As markets evolve and technology advances, market integration enables not only larger-dimension portfolios but also more complex financial contracts. Any risk metric that fails to correctly measure these two dimensions will deliver biased risk estimates. When multivariate distributions are considered, traditional risk metrics used by central counterparties (CCPs) are typically deployed using a simplified characterisation of the probability space. This raises the question of whether these metrics could be enhanced to capture the risks of today’s portfolios. The objective of this paper is to propose an alternative method for assessing the market risk of multi-asset and multi-product portfolios, namely an expanded Value at Risk (eVaR). There are two key benefits of the eVaR. First, loss of information is reduced by defining the metric at the risk-factor level. Traditional risk methods assess probability based on a portfolio’s profit and loss (PnL), which can underestimate risk for non-outright exposures. Second, the eVaR is a portfolio-specific risk metric. The method inverts the traditional logic whereby all portfolios are assessed under the same set of states of the world, even though they may have substantially different risk profiles. The proposed method can be used to complement existing risk tools used by CCPs by locally expanding estimates already available, or it can be used as a standalone, end-to-end risk calculation.
Presenter
Fernando Cerezetti
Risk Director, ICE Clear Europe Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE)
Fernando Cerezetti is a Risk Director at ICE Clear Europe, part of Intercontinental Exchange. He currently co-chairs the Risk Committee of the European Association of CCP Clearing Houses (EACH). He holds a PhD in Statistics, with focus on Bayesian Statistics, and is a PhD candidate in Economics at King’s College London. Prior to joining ICE, he worked as a Risk Advisor for the Risk, Research and CCP Policy division of the Bank of England. His research interests include risk management, financial market infrastructures, financial stability, and statistical hypothesis testing.
Discussant
Radoslav Raykov
Principal Researcher, Financial Stability Department Bank of Canada
Radoslav Raykov is a Principal Researcher at the Financial Stability Department at the Bank of Canada. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Economics from Boston College. Prior to joining the Bank, he worked at the Boston Fed and taught at Harvard University.
His research interests focus broadly on financial stability, and in particular, on: systemic risk, banking regulation and reform, and derivatives markets.
-
-
15:45 - 16:00
Coffee Break
-
16:00 - 16:45
Panel 3: Exchanges & FMIs: Design Choices and Market Alignment
As new central counterparties emerge and existing clearing structures evolve across both developed and growing markets, exchanges are revisiting a core strategic question: what do they need from an FMI to underpin liquidity and provide long-term resilience? This session examines the exchange perspective when establishing or reshaping clearing arrangements, including governance models, ownership structures, and service design. Drawing on practical experience, we will share insights on sequencing a new FMI build, aligning with regulatory expectations, and shaping clearing ecosystems - offering a view of how exchanges and FMIs can align incentives and market objectives from the outset.
Speakers
Wael Al-Hazzani
Chief Executive Officer, Saudi Securities Clearing Center (Muqassa) Saudi Tadawul Group
Mr. Wael bin Abdullah Al-Hazzani currently holds the position of CEO of the Saudi Securities Clearing Center (Muqassa), a role he has held since the company's establishment in May 2018.
Muqassa is considered one of the key pillars in the development of the Saudi financial market, as it is the only licensed entity to operate as a clearing house for both sides of trading transactions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Additionally, Muqassa is part of the Saudi Tadāwul Group, and a core part of the Financial Sector Development Program, reflecting the group's commitment to achieving Saudi Vision 2030.
Wael has over 20 years of professional experience, during which he held several leadership positions at the Saudi Stock Exchange. His last positions included Director of Settlement and Clearing, and General Manager of the Post-Trade Transformation Program, where he played an active role in developing and improving post-trade operations.
Furthermore, Wael has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Securities Depository Center (Edaa), a member of the Board of Directors of Saudi Tadawul Group, a member of the Board of Directors at Tadawul Investment Company, Chairman for the Risk Committee at Wamid, and a member of the Risk Management Committees at both Edaa and Saudi Tadawul Group.
In 2020, Wael significantly contributed to facilitating the launch of the first derivatives market in Saudi Arabia. In April 2022, he also successfully led the implementation of a set of improvements, the largest of their kind in the history of the Saudi financial market, through the Post-Trade Transformation Program. These improvements aim to enhance investment opportunities and increase access to a variety of financial instruments, as well as offer new products that facilitate the access of both local and international investors to innovative financial instruments. These initiatives also aim to strengthen the post-trade infrastructure, increase its efficiency, and support market participants in developing and offering a wide range of products and services.
Academically, Wael holds a Master's degree in Finance and Business Administration, in addition to a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from King Saud University in Saudi Arabia. He holds an Executive Management certificate from Harvard, as well as professional certifications from other global institutions including INSEAD, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and the International Institute for Management Development (IMD).
Bo Wang
Executive Vice President Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE)
Mr. Wang Bo is Executive Vice President of the the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE).
Mr. Wang Bo has long been engaged in the research and development of securities information technology, and the construction of trading and supervisory systems. He has been in the front line of research and development for nearly 20 years and has accumulated rich experience in trading system construction and operation and maintenance. With his expertise in domestic securities trading systems, the systems he led to development have won the Financial Technology Development Awards of the People’s Bank of China and the Science and Technology Awards of the Securities and Futures Industry for several times.
In 2016 and 2019, Mr. Wang Bo was selected into the projects “Shanghai Golden Talent” and “Shanghai Leading Talent” respectively, and presided over the national program for key research and development – “Research on Key Technologies for Information Disclosure Review and Supervision under the Registration-based Issuance System of the Capital Market”.
Since 2019, he has promoted the construction and launch of the issuance and listing review system of the SSE STAR Market. Under this system, the entire process of issuance application acceptance and review and registration can be conducted electronically. He has also led the implementation of a series of technology supervision applications, improving the digital and smart development of trading surveillance and corporate supervision. On this basis, he was awarded as an “Individual with Outstanding Contribution to the Establishment of the SSE STAR Market and the Pilot Registration-based Issuance System” by the China Securities Regulatory Commission.
Mr. Wang Bo was born in August 1977. He has a master’s degree in engineering.
Ante Romić
CCP Advisor Qatar Stock Exchange
Bruce Butterill
Executive Director Americas’ Central Securities Depository Association (ACSDA)
Bruce Butterill a Canadian citizen, based in Colombia and is the Executive Director of the Americas’ Central Securities Depository Association (ACSDA), a position he has held since 2007. He is also an independent Capital Market Infrastructure consultant, and has worked on engagements with Securities Depositories, Clearing Corporations and Stock Exchanges in 17 countries across the globe. Prior to becoming a consultant Bruce spent 19 years with CDS, the Canadian Depository for Securities, where at various times, as a member of the Executive Management Committee, he was the senior executive responsible for national operations, international relations and the product management/development functions.
-
-
17:00 - 20:00
Opening Reception
-
-
-
08:30 - 09:00
Registration
-
09:00 - 09:45
Academic Keynote
Speaker
Rod Garrat
Professor, Department of Economics University of California at Santa Barbara
Rod Garratt is a professor in the economics department at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a member of the Bretton Woods Committee. He has worked as a Senior Advisor at the Bank for International Settlements, a Research Advisor to the Bank of England and is a former Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He has also held visiting scholar positions at the Bank of Canada and the International Monetary Fund. During his time at the FRBNY he co-led the Virtual Currency Working Group for the Federal Reserve System. From 2015-17 he was a member of the team that completed Project Jasper (phase 1 and 2), the first proof of concept for a wholesale interbank payment system that uses distributed ledger technology. In 2018 he testified before the Subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Trade, U.S. House of Representatives at a hearing on “The Future of Money: Digital Currency.” While at the BIS from 2023-25, he helped initiate and implement Project Agorá, a seven-country, public-private initiative to improve correspondent banking that drew on research he coauthored with colleagues in the Monetary and Economic Department. Garratt received his undergraduate degree from the University of Waterloo and his Ph.D. from Cornell University. He has published in the top economics journals including Econometrica, the American Economic Review and the Journal of Political Economy. He is an Associate Editor of the European Economic Review and Digital Finance.
-
-
09:45 - 10:00
Coffee Break
-
10:00 - 11:00
Panel 4: The Future of FMI Risk Management: How Will It Evolve?
This panel will explore the changes we can expect for risk frameworks built around historical stress scenarios and end-of-day processes. How should stress testing evolve? How can CCPs balance procyclicality controls with timely risk responsiveness? And what role should advanced analytics and AI play in risk management without undermining governance, accountability, or confidence in the clearing system? What evidence is there that they materially improve risk outcomes, and where may their benefits be limited? And looking ahead, will regulatory scrutiny around model approvals continue to intensify, or could more flexible regimes emerge, to support innovation and competitiveness?
Chair
Robert Steigerwald
Independent policy advisor
Robert S. Steigerwald is an independent financial regulation and market infrastructure policy advisor. Robert retired from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago in March 2025, after twenty-five years of service in the bank’s Financial Markets Group, where his work focused on financial regulation, post-trade clearing and settlement infrastructures, systemic risk, and financial technology.
Before joining the Chicago Fed, Robert was a trading associate on the precious metals and foreign currency desk of Shearson/American Express, Inc. and an associate attorney at Kirkland & Ellis, an international law firm based in Chicago, where he represented the Chicago Board of Trade, the Board of Trade Clearing Corporation, and National Futures Association, among other clients, in litigation, regulatory, and corporate matters.
He also served as US legal counsel and corporate secretary for Multinet International Bank, a clearinghouse for OTC foreign currency transactions that was formed in the 1990s by a group of North American banks and The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC). He later served as US legal counsel during the formation of the CLS Bank International, which succeeded to the operations of Multinet in 1997 and introduced a novel “payment vs. payment” model for the settlement of foreign currency transactions in 2000.
Robert has published many articles in the literature on financial markets and market infrastructures, including articles that have been referenced in two surveys of the economics literature on central clearing. From 2017 to 2022, he was a member of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Market Risk Advisory Committee and in 2005 was a visiting scholar at the Bank of Japan’s Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies (IMES).
Robert currently serves as an independent member of CME Group’s Clearing House Risk Committee and is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Financial Market Infrastructures.
He is a graduate of the University of San Francisco School of Law and Stony Brook University, State University of New York.
Speakers
Massimo Cutuli
Chief Financial Risk Officer Options Clearing Corporation (OCC)
Massimo Cutuli is Chief Financial Risk Officer at OCC, the world’s largest equity derivatives clearing organization.
Mr. Cutuli has more than 25 years of experience in financial services and management consulting. As CFRO, he is responsible for OCC's market, credit and liquidity risk, default management, customer margin methodologies, and model development activities.
During his time at Optiver, a derivatives market-making firm, Mr. Cutuli was responsible for all risk oversight of the firm’s U.S. activities including market and operational risk, algorithmic trading controls, principal strategic investment risk due diligence and working with finance on capital optimization. Prior to Optiver, Mr. Cutuli was the Head of Risk for Citadel Securities where he was responsible for risk oversight in North America, EMEA and APAC. Before Citadel, Mr. Cutuli worked in banking at J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs, spent some time with PWC's Finance and Risk Advisory practice, and was a quantitative developer for Bloomberg LP.
Mr. Cutuli received a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering and a Master of Science in Space Science from the University of London, a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University, and a Master of Science in Operations Research from Columbia University. He has served as a member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and London Clearing House (LCH) risk committees and currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.
Tao Chen
Group Head of Quantitative Risk Management Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (HKEX)
Tao Chen is the Group Head of Quantitative Risk Management at Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Limited. He worked at the London Metals Exchange prior to his relocation to Hong Kong in 2020, where he established and headed the Quantitative Risk department. Prior to his role at the LME, he has worked extensively in the investment banking industry – primarily in London.
Serhan Gokturk
Chairman, AD Clear, and Chief Risk Officer ADX Group
Serhan Gokturk is the Chairman of AD Clear, and Chief Risk Officer of ADX Group, where he leads enterprise-wide risk management activities, addressing operational, technological, financial, strategic, legal, and environmental risks by maintaining a systematic and integrated risk methodology.
He is a capital markets professional with 25 years of experience in securities exchanges industry, primarily focusing on risk management, audit, and market surveillance functions. Before joining ADX in 2022, Serhan held several technical and managerial roles at Borsa Istanbul and the Saudi Tadawul Group, where he actively contributed to various transformation projects.
Mr. Gokturk holds a Master’s (MSc) in Capital Markets from the University of Reading (ICMA Centre), an Executive MBA from Istanbul Technical University, and is a Ph.D. candidate in Economics at Istanbul University. He also holds several professional certifications (CIA, CFE, ICMAc, ISO22301) and provides training and advisory sessions at various institutions, including the EU Joint Research Centre, ACFE, IIA, and Cambridge University.
Huan Zhang
Chief Risk Officer Nodal Clear
Mr. Zhang serves as the Chief Risk Officer for Nodal Clear, overseeing the Risk Team. Prior to this role, Mr. Zhang spent almost two years in China managing the clearing operations at the Dalian Commodity Exchange and leading the product and operations team at the newly-established Guangzhou Futures Exchange. Mr. Zhang began his career at Dean & Company as a strategic consultant and then worked at Nodal Exchange in market administration and risk management roles for 10 years. Mr. Zhang holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and an MSCEP from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
-
-
11:00 - 11:15
Coffee Break
-
11:15 - 12:00
Academic Paper Presentation 3: Deepening the Secondary Market: Integrating Trade Credit into Market Clearing with the Cycles Protocol by Tomaž Fleischman and Ethan Buchman
Current post-trade clearing systems rely almost exclusively on cash or cash-like collateral, leaving vast reserves of short-term liquidity embedded in trade credit outside formal settlement infrastructures. This paper introduces a clearing framework that integrates accounts receivable and payable (AR/AP) into secondary market settlement via the Cycles Protocol, a distributed, multilateral mechanism based on double-entry accounting and atomic cycle execution.
By representing both past obligations and future commitments as edges on a unified obligation graph, the protocol enables direct offsetting of interlocking balance-sheet claims across firms, exchanges, and clearinghouses without novation and without a central counterparty (CCP). Compared with liquidity-saving mechanisms (LSMs) in RTGS systems, this approach extends liquidity optimisation beyond interbank payments to real-economy financing networks, reducing systemic reliance on scarce collateral and central intermediaries.
Presenters
Tomaž Fleischman
Principal Scientist and Co-Founder Cycles Protocol SA
Tomaž Fleischman is a Principal Scientist and Co-Founder of Cycles, where he links trade credit, digital assets, and the real economy to reinvent clearing and settlement. His work focuses on creating robust, inclusive market processes and encompasses financial market infrastructure, applied research, and system design.
Prior to founding Cycles, Tomaž worked across research and technology roles related to market structure, risk, and settlement systems. He started out with IBM, served as CEO of a trading company, and held senior positions at telecom and internet provider Telemach. Later, he worked at Be Solutions, as a senior consultant, advising companies on sales transformation, strategic repositioning, and turnaround initiatives for financially or operationally distressed firms, before becoming product research lead at Informal Systems.Ethan Buchman
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Cycles Protocol SA
Ethan Buchman is CEO and Co-Founder of Cycles, an open clearing protocol designed to clear the most debt, for the most people, with the least money. His work spans from business development and product to protocol design and engineering.
Prior to founding Cycles, Ethan co-founded the Cosmos Network and was a pioneer in application-specific blockchains, consensus protocols, and interoperability. His company Informal Systems specialized in security, formal methods, and protocol design for blockchain systems, and last year sold their Malachite consensus product to Circle to serve as the foundation of their Arc blockchain. He has been building production blockchain systems for over a decade. Ethan holds a B.Sc. in Physical Science and an M.A.Sc. in Engineering Systems and Computing from the University of Guelph.Discussant
John Fennell
Chief Risk Officer & Head of Clearing Operations EDX Markets
John Fennell is the Chief Risk Officer/Head of Clearing Operations of EDX Markets, a U.S.-based digital asset exchange and clearinghouse designed for institutional investors backed by some of the largest global financial services company (Citadel, Virtu, Fidelity and Schwaab). EDX operates with a market structure modeled more closely on traditional equities and futures markets than on typical retail crypto exchanges. Prior to joining EDX, John served as the Chief Risk Officer for the Options Clearing Corporation where he lead industry changing initiatives delivering risk reducing and capital efficient solutions for the U.S. options markets and its Members for over 25 years.
-
-
12:00 - 13:30
Lunch
-
12:15 - 13:15
CCP Working Group Meeting - Roundtable on Resolution & Wind-Down Planning
WFE members and invited speakers only
-
13:30 - 14:15
Practitioner Session 2: General Business Risks and Non-Default Losses - Operational Resilience at CCPs
Central counterparties have developed robust frameworks to manage non default losses and general business risks alongside their well established default management arrangements. This session will explore how CCPs structure and operationalise these safeguards in practice, covering risks arising from operational disruption, cyber incidents, legal exposures, investment activity, and third party dependencies. How are capital buffers calibrated and governed? How do recovery planning tools interact with general business risk frameworks? And what does effective operational resilience look like in an environment of increasing technological complexity, interconnection, and geopolitical uncertainty?
Speakers
Olivier Léon
Vice-President & Chief Risk Officer, TMX Post-Trade Services TMX Group
Olivier Léon is the Vice-President and Chief Risk Officer for TMX Post-Trade Services, which includes the Canadian Derivatives Clearing Corporation (CDCC) and the Canadian Depository for Securities (CDS). In this role since 2022, Mr. Léon is accountable for the oversight of the TMX Post-Trade Services’ identification, measurement, and management of its risks, such as it delivers on its strategic and operational objectives and within its risk appetite. Previously, Mr. Léon has held the TMX Post-Trade Services’ Enterprise Risk Management function. Prior to joining TMX in 2014, he served as a consultant for ten years, advising financial industry clients on operational risk, business continuity, and regulatory compliance. Mr. Léon holds an MBA from Laval University (Canada) and a Master in Management from Montpellier Business School (France).
-
-
14:15 - 14:30
Coffee Break
-
14:30 - 15:30
Panel 5: Launching New Derivatives Markets and Kickstarting Liquidity
Developing liquid and resilient derivatives markets remains a priority for many, yet the road to success is often uneven and non-linear. What conditions need to be in place for a new derivatives market to gain traction? How can we design products, margin frameworks, and access models that manage risk and attract participation? How should consumer protections be implemented without impeding access to those who need derivatives to hedge risks? This panel explores practical lessons from markets that have launched new derivatives or successfully scaled liquidity, and examines how clearing, market structure, and regulatory design can enable sustainable growth.
Chair
Richard Metcalfe
Head of Regulatory Affairs World Federation of Exchanges (WFE)
Richard Metcalfe is Head of Regulatory Affairs at the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE). Before taking up his WFE post in March 2018, he worked on MiFID implementation at the Markets Division of BNY Mellon in London. He also has extensive experience in wholesale financial services and policy issues, with particular emphasis on derivatives and central clearing; and on asset management. In addition to working at ISDA and the IA, he has worked for SWIFT. Earlier in his career, he wrote for and edited various financial publications. He lives in London and studied languages at university.
Speakers
Jiyouji Ueda
Executive Director of CCPs, Securities and Derivatives Grupo Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (Grupo BMV)
Jiyouji Ueda has over 25 years of experience in risk management, clearing, and settlement across derivatives, equities, and fixed-income markets. He is currently leading the implementation of the Debt CCP, integrating government repos and federal public debt instruments, as well as overseeing the transition of rates in the derivatives market. As Executive Director of CCPs, Securities and Derivatives at Grupo Bolsa Mexicana de Valores, he has driven the development of advanced margin and risk methodologies, T+1 settlement, and the introduction of new financial products such as futures, options, and swaps. His focus on operational resilience, ISO standards, and financial system stability has strengthened market infrastructure. Recognized with the Risk Award 2019, Ueda has actively contributed to the evolution of the CCP ecosystem.
Claudio Latorre Ibáñez
General Manager, Contraparte Central S.A (CCLV) nuam exchange
Julie Schoening
Global Chief Operating Officer Graviton Research Capital
Dr. Julie Schoening is the current Global Chief Operating Officer at Graviton Research Capital, where she was previously Global Head of Risk and Compliance.
Priot to this, Julie was the Chief Risk Officer of FTX US Derivatives, also known as LedgerX, a CFTC regulated derivatives exchange and clearing house. She led the development of the Initial Margin model, risk management policy and procedures for the CFTC application using direct clearing and real time de-risking methodologies in 2022.
Prior to joining FTX, Julie spent the past 15 years of her career at Alphadyne Asset Management, a global macro hedge fund based in NYC, the CFTC, and the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.
Cristina Di Luigi
Deputy Head of Post Trading Division, Markets and Payment Systems Oversight Directorate Banca d’Italia
Cristina is Deputy Head of the Post Trading Division of the Markets and Payment Systems Oversight Directorate at Banca d’Italia. Her primary focus is on central clearing, and she has participated in various international policy-making groups addressing central counterparties and, more generally, financial market infrastructures at both European and global level. She represents Banca d’Italia in the CPMI-IOSCO Policy Standing Group. Cristina holds a BSc in Economics and a MSc in International Relations, both from LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome. She is currently a DPhil candidate in Economic Geography at the University of Oxford.
-
-
15:30 - 15:45
Coffee Break
-
15:45 - 16:30
Academic Paper Presentation 4: Climate Risk Premium: Evidence from Commodity Options by Xin Gao, Bingxin Li, Kaitao Lin, and Rui Liu
This paper investigates the pricing of climate-related risks in the commodity derivatives market. Leveraging a proprietary dataset of “brown” and “green” iron ore options traded on the Singapore Exchange, we document the existence of significant climate-specific variance and skewness risk premia. Our analysis reveals a nonlinear, inverted U-shaped relationship between climate policy uncertainty and these risk premia. Low-to-moderate uncertainty elevates premia by destabilising market expectations, whereas extreme uncertainty suppresses them by reducing market activity. We also find that the impact of climate policy uncertainty is asymmetric, with sustained levels having a stronger effect than transient shocks. These effects are concentrated in short-maturity options, highlighting the transitional nature of policy-induced risks. By employing a novel dual-differencing methodology, our study provides a direct and robust measure of climate-specific risk premia. This advances the understanding of climate risk pricing in commodity derivatives and offers valuable insights for policymakers and investors.
Presenter
Dr. Kaitao Lin
Senior Financial Economist World Federation of Exchanges (WFE)
Kaitao joined the World Federation of Exchanges in May 2020 and currently holds the position of senior financial economist in the Research Team. Kaitao holds a Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Houston and is a Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA®) charterholder. His research focuses on market microstructure issues, such as trading rules, their effects on market participants, and market quality. His current work includes ESG and crypto assets. Kaitao’s papers have been accepted for publication in well-regarded academic journals, such as the Quarterly Journal of Finance, and presented in various international conferences, including the U.S. SEC Ph.D. Symposium, the China International Conference in Finance, and the Financial Management Association Annual Meeting.
Discussant
Dr. Xuhui (Nick) Pan
Assistant Professor of Finance University of Oklahoma
Xuhui (Nick) Pan is an Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of Oklahoma. His main research interests are broadly in asset pricing, especially in the economic implications of financial derivatives, investment, and risk management. His research has been published in the Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and the Journal of Banking & Finance, among others. His research work has won several awards, including the Best Paper Awards from Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) in 2014 and the Dong Energy Prize for Best Paper from the European Financial Association (EFA) in 2012. He has won Harold E. Hackler Outstanding MBA Professor Award at the University of Oklahoma in 2025 and Dean’s Excellence Teaching Awards at Tulane University in 2017. Nick also serves as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Commodity Markets.
-
-
18:00 - 22:00
Gala Dinner
-
-
-
09:00 - 09:25
Registration
-
09:25 - 09:35
Market Opening Ceremony
-
09:35 - 11:00
Innovation Award Presentations
Moderator
Nandini Sukumar
Chief Executive Officer World Federation of Exchanges (WFE)
Nandini Sukumar is the Chief Executive Officer of the World Federation of Exchanges, the global association for exchanges and CCPs. The WFE represents more than 250 exchanges and clearing houses globally, educating stakeholders on the vital role played by market infrastructures in the real economy and as a standard setter, finding the consensus on issues among the global membership. Of our members, 37% are in Asia-Pacific, 43% in EMEA and 20% in the Americas. WFE’s 87 member CCPs and clearing services collectively ensure that risk takers post some $1.1 trillion (equivalent) of resources to back their positions, in the form of initial margin and default fund requirements. WFE exchanges, together with other exchanges feeding into our database, are home to over 49,054 listed companies, and the market capitalisation of these entities is $116.58 trillion; around $155 trillion (EOB) in trading annually passes through WFE members (at end 2024). Ms. Sukumar is Vice Chair of IOSCO’s Affiliate Members Consultative Committee and Chair of the AMCC’s Sustainability Taskforce.
-
-
11:00 - 11:15
Coffee Break
-
11:15 - 12:00
Academic Paper Presentation 5: Friend or Foe? Bilateral vs. Centralized Trading in Index Dividend Derivatives by Scott Mixon and Esen Onur
In response to the 2008 financial crisis, the Uncleared Margin Rules (UMR) mandated minimum collateral for uncleared derivatives in order to reduce systemic risk. Using transaction-level data on economically equivalent S&P 500 dividend swaps and futures, we document the unintended market consequences of this regulation. We show that following UMR implementation, the dividend derivatives market shifted decisively: swap transactions virtually vanished, and futures trading volume came to dominate. Consistent with theoretical predictions, futures trading is bifurcated. We find that a majority of futures volume is now executed bilaterally as block trades, with the remainder transacting on the order book. Furthermore, we uncover a notable shift in market participation. Dealers who were previously active in the swaps market now hold the majority of sell-side futures positions, while new market entrants, who had never traded swaps, account for the largest share of buy-side positions. Our findings highlight how regulatory reforms can induce profound, and potentially unforeseen, shifts in market structure and participant behaviour.
Presenter
Esen Onur
Research Economist Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
Esen joined the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2011 as a research economist in the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE). Currently he serves as a supervisory economist in OCE, guiding the academic research output of the office. Previously, he served as the head of academic outreach where he established numerous research collaborations with top academic researchers. His own research interests are centered on derivatives markets and market microstructure. His work contributes to the understanding of how market participants use derivatives markets, with a specific focus on the interaction of futures and swaps trading, and traders’ decisions around central clearing. He has also studied how the speed of trading and the changes in technology affect traders’ decisions and market outcomes. In addition to research, Esen has provided cost-benefit analyses for a variety of rulemakings, was instrumental in creating the Commission’s Weekly Swaps Report, and contributed to the CFTC’s involvement in global swaps data harmonization efforts. Prior to joining the CFTC, he was a professor of economics at California State University, Sacramento. His research has been published in leading journals such as Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Commodity Markets, Journal of Alternative Investments, Journal of Futures Markets, and International Journal of Finance and Economics. He received a Ph.D. in economics from University of Virginia.
Discussant
Rama Kumanduri
Managing Director & Head of Model Risk Management Options Clearing Corporation (OCC)
Rama Kumanduri is Managing Director and Head of Model Risk Management at the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC). He has extensive experience in model development in option pricing and risk management methodologies. His prior experience includes UBS, Credit Suisse and model development at the OCC.
-
-
12:00 - 13:30
Lunch
-
13:30 - 14:30
Panel 6: Prediction Markets and Event-Based Trading
Prediction markets and event-based contracts are gaining visibility across jurisdictions, raising new questions for market infrastructures about product design, risk management, and regulatory treatment. How should we assess the risk characteristics of event-driven products that settle on discrete, binary outcomes rather than continuous price formation? Do existing margin models, default management tools, and stress frameworks adequately capture jump risk, concentration, and information asymmetries inherent in these markets? And what lessons can we draw from early experiences to determine where central clearing adds value, where guardrails are needed, and how to engage constructively with regulators as these markets continue to evolve?
Chair
John Lothian
Executive Chairman John J. Lothian & Company, Inc.
John J. Lothian is an award-winning financial media executive, journalist, and electronic trading pioneer based in Chicago. A graduate of Purdue University with degrees in finance and mass communications, he began his career during the rise of global futures markets. Over the years, he has transitioned from a journalist to a futures broker, trader, Commodity Trading Advisor, and, in 2000, to a prominent publisher, founding the John Lothian Newsletterand pioneering industry blogging.
As the publisher of John Lothian News and co-founder of MarketsWiki, Lothian has consistently championed market transparency and innovation. His commitment to the next generation led to the creation of MarketsWiki Education, a platform designed to ignite interest in derivatives and capital markets among young professionals. He has further documented the industry's evolution through extensive historical video projects and the launch of specialized resources like MarketsReformWiki.
Beyond his professional achievements, Lothian is a dedicated volunteer and philanthropist. He is an award-winning volunteer in Scouting America and an advocate for the underprivileged, focusing his efforts on hunger relief and women's initiatives. He champions numerous charitable causes, notably driving fundraising efforts for the FIA’s Futures for Kids Kilt Challenge, the Greater Chicago Food Depository, and Scouting America.
In recognition of his lifelong contributions and leadership within the sector, Lothian was inducted into the FIA Futures Hall of Fame in 2024. This honor underscores his dual legacy as both a visionary in financial media and a compassionate leader committed to social responsibility and industry mentorship.
Speakers
Ashwini Panse
Chief Risk Officer, North American Clearing; Managing Director, ICE India Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE)
Ashwini Panse is the 2nd Line Chief Risk Officer for the North American clearing houses at ICE. Panse is also the Head of Risk Oversight for ICE Clear Netherlands and ICE Clear Singapore. Panse oversees the risk management framework at the clearing houses and provides expertise, support, and challenge to the management of all financial and non-financial risks. Panse joined ICE in 2010 and prior to becoming the 2nd Line Chief Risk Officer, Panse served in other leadership roles in Risk, Compliance, and Internal Audit across ICE’s global business units.
Panse has served as the Chief Compliance Officer for ICE Trade Vault U.S. and in her Internal Audit role, Panse administered the Global Sarbanes Oxley 404 compliance and testing program and internal audits for ICE’s U.S. subsidiaries. She is a Board Member of the FIA Operations America Division, which promotes industry cooperation and exchange of ideas on all topics impacting the U.S. Marketplace. She is also a Board Member and Treasurer at McKenna Farms Therapy Services Inc., a non-profit organization that provides therapeutic programs and resources for children with special needs and their families.
Panse began her career at Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLC, holds an MBA in Finance from Xavier University, Williams College of Business and is a Certified Public Accountant and a Chartered Accountant.
Robert Tasca
Managing Director, Derivatives Products and Services, Montréal Exchange TMX Group
Robert Tasca, Managing Director, Derivatives Products and Services with TMX Group, at the Montréal Exchange, is responsible for managing the derivatives portfolio, specifically fixed income and equity derivatives. Robert's team focuses on enhancing the current derivatives product portfolio and developing new products, in addition to strategic initiatives and partnerships to help drive value to its clients.
Robert joined the Montréal Exchange in 1998, where he began his career in the open outcry pits or "floor" in Montréal, transitioning to the electronic platform in October 2000. With over 20 years of derivatives experience, Robert brings a full-service perspective to Montréal Exchange's customers.
Prof. Paolo Saguato
Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School George Mason University
Paolo Saguato is a Professor of Law at Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University, specializing in financial regulation. His research interests encompass the intersection of banking, securities and derivatives regulation and the international and comparative dynamics of financial markets. Professor Saguato serves as a member of the ESMA Consultative Working Group of the CCP Policy Committee. In addition, he is the co-editor of “Financial Markets Infrastructures: Law and Regulation,” recently published by Oxford University Press, and the author of multiple academic articles on clearinghouses and financial market infrastructures.
Before joining Antonin Scalia Law School, Professor Saguato was a Research Fellow at the Georgetown Law Center, a Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Global Hauser Fellow at New York University School of Law. Professor Saguato earned a BA (Laurea in Scienze Giuridiche) and a JD (Laurea Magistrale in Giurisprudenza) summa cum laude at the University of Genoa (Italy) and a PhD in Private, Business, and International Law at the same university. In addition, he holds a LLM from Yale Law School, which he attended as a Fulbright Scholar, where he focused his studies on financial markets regulation and corporate law and was a senior editor of the Yale Journal on Regulation.
Angelina Kwan
Chief Executive Officer Stratford Finance
Angelina is a passionate advocate for technology, digital assets, and blockchain, with a strong focus on advising start-ups. She currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Stratford Finance, a consulting firm dedicated to addressing regulatory and operational challenges in the financial services and digital assets sectors. In this role, she provides expert guidance to brokerages, fund managers, and technology providers.
Ms. Kwan is an experienced financial services executive with a robust background in senior management roles at prominent organizations, including Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), Cantor Fitzgerald, CLSA, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, and HG Asia/ABN AMRO.
She is particularly knowledgeable in the digital asset space, having previously served as the Global Chief Operating Officer of BitMEX and the HashKey Group. In these roles, she has also consulted for and advised brokerages, fund managers, and technology providers on regulatory and operational matters.
In addition to her corporate responsibilities, Angelina contributes her expertise to various Hong Kong government boards and committees, including the New Business Committee of the Financial Services Development Council; Cantonese Opera Development Fund Investment Committee member. She chairs The Women’s Foundation and serves on the boards of the Ebenezer School for the Blind, the University of Wollongong Hong Kong, Web3 Harbour, as well as Chevalier Hong Kong and Zurich Life Insurance, Hong Kong.
Angelina is a Certified Public Accountant in the United States, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California, an MBA from Pepperdine University, an LLB from the University of Hong Kong/Manchester Metropolitan University, and an LLM from Harvard Law School.
-
-
14:30 - 14:45
Coffee Break
-
14:45 - 15:30
Practitioner Session 3:
This session will discuss recent trends in risk modelling, focusing on the challenges brought by regulation and by the introduction of new products.
Dr. Pedro Gurrola Perez
Head of Research World Federation of Exchanges (WFE)
Pedro joined the World Federation of Exchanges in October 2019 from the Bank of England, where he led the Financial Market Infrastructures Directorate’s Research Team. He had joined the Bank of England in 2013, after two years at the UK Financial Services Authority. Previously, Pedro spent more than 15 years lecturing and doing research at a range of well-regarded academic institutions, including the University of Barcelona and the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM).
Pedro holds two PhDs: one from the University of Barcelona, Spain, and one from the University of Montpellier, France, and has published across key academic journals, including the Journal of Financial Market Infrastructures, the Journal of Risk, International Finance and the Journal of Futures Markets. His recent work includes research on the economics of distributed ledger technologies (DLT) for securities settlement, on the network structure of settlement fails and on market liquidity risk in CCPs. He has also published research on payment systems, back-testing methodologies and on the structure of interest rate futures markets. In 2007 he received the National Award on Derivatives Research, awarded by the Mexican Derivatives Exchange (MexDer).
-
-
15:30 - 15:45
Coffee Break
-
15:45 - 16:30
Academic Paper Presentation 6: Risk Management for Options Using Deep Generative Modelling of Risk-Neutral Distributions by Rohit Barvea, Aniket Bhanu, and Rejaul Barbhuyan
Presenter
Rohit Barve
Deputy Manager, Research & Policy, NSE Clearing National Stock Exchange of India
Rohit Barve is the Deputy Manager of the Research & Policy department at NSE Clearing. He is involved in research initiatives in risk management, capital markets, and policy analysis. His interests include intersection of capital markets and machine learning methods and development of AI-based tools for risk management and operational efficiency. He holds an MS in Data Science from Northeastern University and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from University of Pune.
Discussant
Jorge Cruz Lopez
Managing Director, Head of Research Global Risk Institute
Jorge Cruz Lopez is Managing Director, Head of Research at Global Risk Institute. In this role he oversees internal and external research projects, ensuring the delivery of industry-leading content. Jorge also manages research partnerships in Canada and abroad, and actively engages with GRI members to ensure that research efforts are aligned with member priorities.
Prior to GRI, Jorge was Director of the Master of Financial Economics Program at Western University, where his research interests included financial risk management, asset pricing and financial market infrastructures. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the New York Institute of Finance, and an editor of the Journal of Financial Market Infrastructures and the Latin American Journal of Central Banking.
Jorge’s extensive experience includes being a Senior Economist and Principal Researcher at the Bank of Canada, and editor of the Financial System Review. More recently, Jorge served as Director of Research and Financial Engineering at Financial Network Analytics Ltd., a leading FinTech firm in the UK. He has been a Visiting Scholar at De Nederlandsche Bank, HEC Paris, and Queensland University of Technology, and has held teaching positions in the business schools of Carleton University, the University of Ottawa, and Simon Fraser University, where he obtained a PhD in Finance in 2014.
-
-
16:30 - 16:45
Concluding Remarks & Announcement of WFEClear 2027
Speakers
John McKenzie
Chief Executive Officer, TMX Group Chair, The World Federation of Exchanges
John McKenzie is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TMX Group.
Mr. McKenzie is a member of the TMX Group Board of Directors and also a member of the Board of Directors of several TMX Group subsidiaries.
Mr. McKenzie has worked for TMX for over 25 years. Prior to his appointment as CEO on August 17, 2020, he served as Chief Financial Officer and was responsible for corporate strategy, corporate development, investor relations and the financial management of the company as well as for the administrative oversight of TMX Group’s Capital Formation business. He has led various TMX acquisitions, including the Maple transaction, and the acquisitions of Montréal Exchange and Trayport.
From July 2015 to August 2016, Mr. McKenzie served as President of CDS, Canada’s equity and fixed income clearing house and a wholly-owned subsidiary of TMX Group. Prior to that he was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and CFO of CDS.
Mr. McKenzie is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (FCPA, FCMA) and has an MBA from Edinburgh Business School, HeriotWatt University and an Honours BA from Wilfrid Laurier University. He has served on a number of boards, and is currently the Chair of the World Federation of Exchanges, and a Board Member and Treasurer for the Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation.
Nandini Sukumar
Chief Executive Officer World Federation of Exchanges (WFE)
Nandini Sukumar is the Chief Executive Officer of the World Federation of Exchanges, the global association for exchanges and CCPs. The WFE represents more than 250 exchanges and clearing houses globally, educating stakeholders on the vital role played by market infrastructures in the real economy and as a standard setter, finding the consensus on issues among the global membership. Of our members, 37% are in Asia-Pacific, 43% in EMEA and 20% in the Americas. WFE’s 87 member CCPs and clearing services collectively ensure that risk takers post some $1.1 trillion (equivalent) of resources to back their positions, in the form of initial margin and default fund requirements. WFE exchanges, together with other exchanges feeding into our database, are home to over 49,054 listed companies, and the market capitalisation of these entities is $116.58 trillion; around $155 trillion (EOB) in trading annually passes through WFE members (at end 2024). Ms. Sukumar is Vice Chair of IOSCO’s Affiliate Members Consultative Committee and Chair of the AMCC’s Sustainability Taskforce.
Dr. Pedro Gurrola Perez
Head of Research World Federation of Exchanges (WFE)
Pedro joined the World Federation of Exchanges in October 2019 from the Bank of England, where he led the Financial Market Infrastructures Directorate’s Research Team. He had joined the Bank of England in 2013, after two years at the UK Financial Services Authority. Previously, Pedro spent more than 15 years lecturing and doing research at a range of well-regarded academic institutions, including the University of Barcelona and the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM).
Pedro holds two PhDs: one from the University of Barcelona, Spain, and one from the University of Montpellier, France, and has published across key academic journals, including the Journal of Financial Market Infrastructures, the Journal of Risk, International Finance and the Journal of Futures Markets. His recent work includes research on the economics of distributed ledger technologies (DLT) for securities settlement, on the network structure of settlement fails and on market liquidity risk in CCPs. He has also published research on payment systems, back-testing methodologies and on the structure of interest rate futures markets. In 2007 he received the National Award on Derivatives Research, awarded by the Mexican Derivatives Exchange (MexDer).
-
-
17:00 - 18:00
Farewell Reception
-
