Speakers

Mr. Ho has been appointed as Executive Director (Banking Policy) of Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) in April 2017.  His key responsibilities include implementing international regulatory standards and banking policy making, including policy on green and sustainable banking.

An economist by training, Mr. Ho joined the Research Department of HKMA in 2001.  Before taking up his present role, he had worked in various functional areas including monetary operations, market development, and financial stability surveillance.

Before joining HKMA, Mr. Ho served in the investment banking industry as an economist between 1993 and 2000.

Nick has been with ANZ Bank for over 10 years, spanning a career across New York, Hong Kong, and Cambodia. He has held roles across Risk, Trade Product and Relationship Management, and has served on various banking association committees including as the Chair of the Compliance Committee for the Association of Banks in Cambodia. As CRO Hong Kong, Nick is Chair of the Risk Management Committee and responsible for end-to-end Risk Management (Credit, Market, Operational) and Compliance/Regulatory engagement. He is a member of the Hong Kong Executive Committee, Asset Liability Committee and Global Transaction Banking Leadership Team.

 As Global Head of Risk, Transaction Banking, Nick acts as the primary Risk Executive alongside ANZ’s global Transaction Banking business which spans over 30 countries. He serves on ANZ’s Transaction Banking and Loans Product Committee, which is responsible for governance, approval and oversight of all TB and Loan products, and is the senior risk approval point for any policy/transaction exceptions. Prior to ANZ, Nick worked in Corporate Treasury with Siemens AG, where he was part of the team that deployed Siemens’ first-ever Supply Chain Finance program.

Alicia García Herrero is the Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis. She also serves as Senior Fellow at European think-tank BRUEGEL and non-resident Research Fellow at Madrid-based political think tank Real Instituto Elcano. She is currently Adjunct Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and member of the advisory board of Berlin-based China think-tank MERICS. Finally, Alicia is advisor to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s research arm (HKIMR) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as well as a member of the board of the Hong Kong Forum and co-founder of Bright Hong Kong.

In previous years, Alicia held the following positions: Chief Economist for Emerging Markets at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Member of the Asian Research Program at the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), Head of the International Economy Division of the Bank of Spain, Member of the Counsel to the Executive Board of the European Central Bank,

Head of Emerging Economies at the Research Department at Banco Santander, and Economist at the International Monetary Fund. In addition, Alicia has always combines her professional career with academia, having served as visiting Professor for John Hopkins University, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai and Carlos III University in Madrid.

Alicia holds a PhD in Economics from George Washington University and has published extensively in refereed journals and books (see her publications in ResearchGate or Google Scholar. Alicia is also very active in international media (Bloomberg and CNBC among others) as well as social media (Twitter, LinkedIn and Weibo). As recognition of her leadership thoughts, Alicia has recently been nominated TOP Voices in Economy and Finance by LinkedIn.

An internationally recognized financial services expert, Soon Kit offers deep and wide experience accumulated over 15 years in the financial services sector. Bringing a global perspective enriched with grounded experience, he is currently Enterprise Resilience Officer at BNY Mellon assuring the firm broad business and operational resilience across multiple lines of business.
 
Prior to this, he was Risk Vice President of Fullerton Fund Management and Wolters Kluwer’s Asia-Pacific Risk Practice Director guiding regional risk and financial practices for its software clients. At OCBC Bank Group, Soon Kit was managing the risk of Global Treasury, Investment Banking, OCBC Securities and Bank of Singapore. He complements his expertise with international advisory experience garnered at financial software firm Misys / Finastra where he led the risk management teams to solve broader subjects of banking risk with financial firms, banks, regulators in Europe and Asia. Prior to this, Soon Kit provided consulting at Moody’s Analytics.
 
Recognized for his practical expertise by regional banking conferences and professional media, Soon Kit has contributed many live and case interviews to breaking news developments and industry best practice conferences. 

Graduating with honors in Quantitative Finance from the National University of Singapore, he is also a certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and an Energy Risk Professional.
 

Kalpana Seethepalli is the Director of ESG for Asia Pacific and leads the work on results frameworks, measurement, monitoring and sustainable finance taxonomies for ESG transactions.

Dr. Seethepalli brings 20 years of sustainable finance experience across 15 countries from the multilateral and private equity markets. She is a global expert in design, measurement and reporting frameworks to achieve positive ESG impact through commercially viable investments.

Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Dr. Seethepalli was Managing Director, Sustainability & Impact for Infra-Tech Capital, an impact fund investing in companies utilizing technology to provide infrastructure services and achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She joined Infra-Tech Capital after a long career with the World Bank Group focusing on sustainable development and investment policy, blended finance and Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). She has $2 billion in direct investment experience in sustainable finance, and led complex World Bank advisory mandates in Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Mexico, Philippines, South Korea, South Africa, Poland, Timor Leste, Kenya and Ghana.

Dr. Seethepalli led the World Bank Group’s dialogue with APEC, ASEAN, G20 Finance Ministers, multilaterals and development partners, and is a frequent speaker participant on sustainable financing at global fora, such as the World Economic Forum, convening private investors, advisors and thought leaders. She has also strengthened dialogue with NGOs and global civil society on ESG issues on live investments.

Dr. Seethepalli has a Ph.D. in Strategic Management & Public Policy focusing on infrastructure privatization in emerging markets from the George Washington University, USA.

Mushtaq Kapasi is ICMA’s Chief Representative for the Asia-Pacific region. He has been based in Hong Kong since 2002, engaged in senior strategy, capital market and legal roles covering the region at international banks active in Asia. He has worked as a lawyer in debt capital markets and derivatives, a structurer in equities and fixed income, a manager of complex trades with regulatory and accounting considerations, and an adviser to top executives on emerging market strategy. He has also served as a consultant on financial structures of renewable energy projects in frontier markets. He is a member of the New York State Bar, and studied mathematics at the University of Texas and law at Yale University.

John Feeney is the Head of Conduct (C&IB) at National Australia Bank Limited (NAB). He has been in financial markets for over 30 years in trading and management roles across most asset classes. Prior to joining NAB, Mr. Feeney has worked for Commonwealth Bank in Sydney, Citi in Sydney and London and Macquarie Bank in Sydney. Over this time he has traded and managed interest rate derivate, foreign exchange, traded credit, commodities and funding businesses. Currently, Mr. Feeney is an ISDA Board Member and an AFMA Board member.

Mike has over 17 years' experience in financial markets, covering areas such as structuring, trading, portfolio management and risk management across Asia Pacific and Europe.
His most recent role was as a Director of Markets for The Royal Bank of Scotland RBS Capital Resolution team, managing the close-out and wind-down of RBS' non-core OTC derivative portfolios in Asia Pacific.
Previously, Mike had senior roles at Audley Capital Advisors, Bluecrest Capital, RBS and WestLB.
Mike has an MBA and a Master of Applied Finance from Macquarie University and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Otago. He is also a Member of the Singapore Institute of Directors.

Sam Edwards, Head of APAC Central Collateral Desk, Credit Suisse. Sam is based in Hong Kong and is responsible for Secured Funding in the region. Sam moved to Hong Kong in 2013, having previously run the European Collateral Trading desk in London. Prior to joining Credit Suisse in April 2008, Sam spent 6 years at Lehman Brothers on the Equity & FI Funding desk

Raymond leads an award-winning China research team based in Hong Kong and Shanghai. The team has been recognised by KangaNews as the #1 Asian Research Pool in 2021, 2020, 2018 and 2017, and #2 Best Team for Asian Macroeconomic Research in 2016 by Asiamoney. He is the author of China’s Trump Card Cryptocurrency and its Game-Changing Role in Sino-US Trade published by John Wiley & Son (ISBN: 978-1-119-69912-5).

Raymond has covered China’s economy for more than 25 years. His provocative ideas and non-consensus market calls have garnered a strong following among ANZ’s clients, including central banks, corporate treasurers and portfolio managers. He presents at international conferences regularly and shares his view on Bloomberg, CNBC and CBN. He is often invited to participate in consultative meetings with governments and supranational organisations. He serves on the steering committee of China Chief Economist Forum.

Raymond earned a Ph.D. in economics at Queen’s University, Canada, and is a holder of Financial Risk Manager (FRM). He started his career in 1997. Prior to joining ANZ, he was Deputy Head of Asia Economic Research at Swiss Re.

Charles Feng currently is Managing Director, Head, Macro Trading, Greater China and North Asia, Financial Markets at Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong). He joined Standard Chartered in 2009.

From 2007 to 2009, he was the Head of China Fixed Income Trading at Morgan Stanley based in Hong Kong.  From 2002 to 2007, he was the Head of China Interest Rates Trading for Deutsche Bank based in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Before he returned to Asia in 2002, he was an interest rate derivatives trader and research strategist with Credit Suisse in London and New York. He started his career in the financial markets with Salomon Brothers as a fixed income research analyst in 1995 in New York.  

Edmund Ng co-founded Eastfort Asset Management with Brummer & Partners in 2015 and he is currently the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of the fund. Eastfort AM fund products focus mainly on China fixed income market. Before establishing Eastfort AM, he was the Head of Direct Investment Division at Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) from early 2007 to mid-2015. In that capacity, he was responsible for all the internally managed portfolios. Prior to joining HKMA, he spent 20 years in JP Morgan where he was a Managing Director of the Asia-ex-Japan market business and managed trading activities of 8 regional centres.  Mr Ng graduated from University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Microbiology.  Currently, he is an Independent Non-executive Director of the OTC Clearing company board.

George Sun is Head of Global Markets for Greater China, responsible for leading and developing BNP Paribas’ fixed income and equities business in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Prior to this, George was Head of FXLM & Commodity Derivatives Institutional Sales and Head of Domestic Clients for Global Markets APAC – responsible for FX, rates and commodity derivatives businesses with the Bank’s institutional clients, as well as domestic clients in the region.

George has over 20 years of experience in Asia, the US and Europe. Prior to joining BNP Paribas, he worked at Standard Chartered Bank, where he was Head of Institutional Sales in Asia Pacific and Head of Corporate Sales in North Asia. Previously, he was Co-Head of Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities Sales in Asia Pacific ex-Japan at Nomura International; Head of Credit Sales in Asia Pacific ex-Japan at Lehman Brothers; and Managing Director in Global Structured Credit Products at Merrill Lynch. He also worked as a structured finance credit analyst at Standard & Poor’s in New York and London, and began his career as a corporate lawyer at the law firm of Thacher Proffitt & Wood in New York.

George holds an undergraduate degree in economics from Harvard University, and a juris doctor degree from Harvard Law School.

Oliver Shang worked as Head of Fixed income for CLSA Asset Management – Active Investment, focusing on developing fixed income AM business with CITIC CLSA and clienteles; with more than 12 years' experience in Asia-ex-Japan Fixed Income Products, he has a wide range of product knowledge including Asia credit, Convertibles and other fixed income products. Besides the proven track record of strong performance, he also demonstrates a strong skill set as of a risk manager – in the difficult market condition of past a few years for most Asian long-only fixed income mandate, he delivered decent positive return in 2021, flattish return in 2022 YTD while a low single digit only drawdown in March-2020 during global liquidity crisis that time.