European Financial Integration 2024 – Speakers

Programme

His areas of responsibility cover financial market regulation, the governance of the Swedish FSA and NDO, as well as gambling regulation and public property management. Previously, he has held various management positions at Sveriges Riksbank and at the Swedish FSA. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics and has published a number of academic articles in the area of household finance.

Before joining Euronext, Mr Boujnah was Head of Santander Global Banking and Markets for continental Europe. From 2005 to 2010, he was Managing Director at Deutsche Bank responsible for the development of the investment banking operations in France. Previously he founded KM5 Capital, an advisory company specialised in equity raising and M&A advice for venture capital funds and innovative technology companies. From 2000 to 2002, he was Director of the European M&A team of Credit Suisse First Boston Technology Group in Palo Alto and London. From 1997 to 1999, Mr Boujnah was senior adviser to the French Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry. He began his career in 1991 as a business lawyer at Freshfields.

Mr Boujnah was a member of the Commission pour la Libération de la Croissance Française established by the then President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007. He is founder and Vice-President of the board of directors of the think tank En Temps Réel and President of the board of directors of Accentus and Insula Orchestra, a non-profit cultural initiative.

He is also a member of the board of Borsa Italiana.

He graduated from the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris. He holds a Master degree and a DEA in Law from La Sorbonne Paris, a LLM in Law from the University of Kent, and a MBA from Insead.

President Nadia Calviño is a Spanish economist and lawyer with a prominent career as civil servant and politician in the Spanish government and the European Commission.

Before becoming President of the European Investment Bank Group on January 1st 2024, Ms Calviño served from June 2018 until December 2023 as Vice-President of Spain, Minister for Economy, Trade and Business and Minister for Economy and Digitalization. She chaired the International Monetary and Financial Committee of the IMF in 2022-2023.

Before joining the Spanish government, Ms Calviño had a 12-year tenure at the European Commission where she was Deputy Director General for Competition, Deputy Director General for Financial Services, and Director General responsible for the EU Budget since 2014. 

Her earlier career in Spain encompassed various managerial positions as a civil servant at the Ministry for Economy, focusing on areas such as macroeconomic analysis and forecasting, foreign trade and economic policy, before becoming Director General for Competition in 2004.

In addition to her career in public service, Ms Calviño was associated professor at the Faculty of Economics of the Universidad Complutense of Madrid and has authored numerous articles. 

Her expertise and leadership have been recognised with several prestigious awards, including the “US Foreign Policy Association Medal,” the “Women and Technology Award,” and the “Master of Digital” award, showcasing her contributions in the areas of technological development and international cooperation.

Ms Calviño holds a degree in economics from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and a degree in law from the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia.

Gunjan is responsible for defining and leading the strategic direction of our Capital Markets and Strategic Partnership teams globally, focussed on optimising the ETF ecosystem and maximizing the value of our relationships with our most strategic partners to drive growth and support of our global ETF business. 

Prior to joining the SPDR business in September 2019, Gunjan was Head of SSGA's Cash Business EMEA & APAC, part of a global team running cash investments totalling $350bn for corporate and institutional clients including hedge and sovereign wealth funds.

Before joining SSGA, Gunjan was at the Royal Bank of Scotland, where she held a number of client-facing roles over 10 years, including Prime Brokerage and Structured Credit and became the EMEA Head of Credit & Treasury Markets. 

Gunjan graduated with her B.A (hons) in 2003 from University College London and earned her MBA from Cass Business School in 2013.

He is responsible for the Directorate Banknotes, the Directorate General International and European Relations and the Directorate General Market Infrastructure and Payments.

Before joining the ECB, Mr Cipollone was Deputy Governor of the Banca d’Italia and a member of the Board of the Italian Institute for the Supervision of Insurance. He also served as a member of the Coordination Group for the Cross-border payments programme at the Bank for International Settlements. He previously served as an Executive Director on the Board of the World Bank Group.

Mr Cipollone graduated with honours in economics from the Sapienza University of Rome. He holds a Master of Arts in economics from Stanford University and was a visiting scholar at the economics department of the University of California, Berkeley.

Mr Cipollone is the author of several books. His papers have been published in international journals such as the American Economic Review, the Journal of the European Economic Association and the Journal of Policy Modeling.

He was Spanish Minister of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (2016-18) and Minister of Economy and Competitiveness (2011-16). He served as Secretary of State for Economic Affairs and a member of the Economic and Financial Committee of the EU (2002-04). Prior to that, he was Secretary General for Economic and Competition Policy (2000-02) and Director General (1996-2000).

Mr de Guindos was Director of IE Business School in Madrid and the PricewaterhouseCoopers/IE Center for the Finance Sector (2010-11). He was previously Head of Financial Services at PwC (2008-09). He was Chief Executive Officer Iberia at Lehman Brothers and Chief Executive Officer at Nomura Securities (2006-08).

He received a BSc in economics with honours from CUNEF Universidad in Spain in 1982 and qualified as State Economist and Trade Expert in 1984.

Paulina has worked on financial services matters in the European Commission in different positions since she joined in 2004, including in the private office of then Commissioner Michel Barnier, subsequently Vice-President of the European Commission, between 2010 and 2014 and as Financial Adviser in the private office of the then European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, between 2014 and 2019. In 2019/20, Paulina was Director of the Commission's Task Force for relations with the United Kingdom and was directly involved in the negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom.

He chairs the Stress Test Task Force of the European Systemic Risk Board and coordinates financial integration work by ECB staff. He led teams for the Quality Assurance of SSM stress tests and was involved in country crisis management. He also worked at the BIS as an FSI fellow.

Mr Henry was beforehand a long-standing Eurosystem forecast coordinator. He started at the ECB leading the macromodelling team. He arrived in Frankfurt more than 25 years ago, to prepare Monetary Union, after being a macroeconomist with Banque de France. Prior to his central bank career, he conducted research at the OFCE and the INSEE in Paris.

Mr Henry has numerous academic publications in e.g. the Review of Economics and Statistics or with Cambridge University Press, with contributions on stress-testing such as the ECB STAMP€ e-book. He is a founding member of the CEPR Euro-Area Business Cycle Network. An ENSAE graduate, Mr Henry holds a PhD in Economics and a BA in History from Paris Sorbonne.

He is also CEO of Bolsas y Mercados Españoles, Sociedad Holding de Mercados y Sistemas Financieros, SA, since April 2017 and President of Federación Iberoamericana de Bolsas since September 2023. He served as General Manager of BME from December 2012 to April 2017, with the specific role of coordinating the action of business units and corporate areas. Chairman of the Risk and Security Committees as well as Member of the board of several subsidiaries. Previously, he joined BME as Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive Committee, assuming the role of conducting the integration process of the newly created group and leading the IPO process which took the company public as of 14th July 2006.

Prior to his incorporation to Bolsas y Mercados Españoles, Mr. Hernani was Deputy General Manager of the Bilbao Stock Exchange (until 2003), CFO of Norbolsa, S.V.B. (until 1998) and Consultant in Coopers & Lybrand Brussels (until 1989). 

Mr. Hernani earned a Degree in Economics and Business by University of Deusto in 1986, a Master’s Degree in European Economic Studies, specialising in Economics, by The College of Europe in Brussels in 1988 and a Master’s Degree in Advanced Management by University of Deusto in 1997.

Peter was elected Chairman and CEO of Prague Stock Exchange in September 2004. He is also Chairman of the Central Securities Depository Prague and Power Exchange Central Europe. On group level he is Member of the Board of Vienna Stock Exchange.

Peter was elected the President of FESE in 2018. In 2019 he was selected as a member of the High Level Forum on the Capital Markets Union.

During his career he was a member of the Board of the Czech Broker Dealer Association, President of Ljubljana Stock Exchange, Member of the Board of Budapest Stock Exchange, and he was the Chairman of Czech Investor Compensation Fund.

He is a member of the Board of the European organization “EuropeanIssuers”, Vice Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Hellenic Capital Market Commission, member of the Stock Markets Steering Committee of Hellenic Exchanges Athens Stock Exchange SA and a member of various other expert and working groups and legislative committees. He has extensive experience in financial regulation, corporate and M&A, start-ups financing and fintech. He has various publications on financial markets regulation, company law and fintech.

He has over thirty years’ experience in the global funds and asset management industry and has held leadership positions in Ireland and overseas with both traditional and alternative asset management firms. Domestically, he is an active participant on all key government and regulator sponsored groups relating to the industry. He is a member of the Board of the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA), the International Investment Funds Association (IIFA) and basis.point, the charity of the funds industry and its wider ecosystem. He was previously an Advisor to the Asset Management Association of China’s International Partners Committee and a Council Member of the Irish Association of Pension Funds. He attained honours undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at University College Dublin.

Aleksandra is Vice Chair of EIOPA’s Occupational Pensions Stakeholder Group (OPSG), Member of the United Nations Civil Society Advisory Body of the Principles for Responsible Banking (UNEPFI), Member of the Consumer Policy Advisory Group (CPAG) and of the EC Directorate-General for the Environment Eco-labelling Board.

Before joining BETTER FINANCE she worked for the Polish consumer and competition watchdog. She studied at the Faculty of Management at the Poznan University of Economics and at the Warsaw School of Economics. She has a vast experience in management of international projects, e.g. EU funded capacity building projects. She worked at the Division for World Bank International Monetary Fund, Debt Issues and International Finance Structure at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. She was an expert at various EU Council’s Working Parties such as the WP on Financial Services as well as European Commission’s Working Groups and Advisory Committees.

The Commissioner’s vision for the portfolio is focused on ensuring the financial sector’s strength and stability, so that it can deliver for people, society and the environment.

Before joining the Commission in October 2020, Ms McGuinness was First Vice-President of the European Parliament from 2017. She served as an MEP from Ireland for 16 years, and was a Vice-President of the Parliament since 2014.

As Vice-President, she oversaw relations with national Parliaments, led the Parliament’s dialogue with religious and philosophical organisations, and had responsibility for the Parliament’s communication policy.

During her time in the Parliament, Ms McGuinness sat on a range of committees, covering agriculture, environment, public health, budgets, petitions and constitutional affairs. Her legislative work included leading for the EPP Group on the European Climate Law, the revision of medical devices legislation, and CAP reform post-2013. As an Irish MEP representing the border region, she was outspoken on Brexit and the consequences for the EU and Ireland.

In 2006-2007, Ms McGuinness chaired the Parliament’s investigation into the collapse of the Equitable Life assurance company which identified issues around weak financial regulation.

Prior to becoming an MEP, she was a award-winning journalist, broadcaster and commentator.

She took up the role on 1 November 2021 and is responsible for representing the Authority as well as preparing the work of and chairing its Board of Supervisors and Management Board.

Between 2011 and 2021 Verena Ross served as ESMA’s first Executive Director, when she was responsible for building up the organisation and overseeing its day to day running.

Prior to this, Verena held a number of senior posts in the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) and was a member of the FSA's Executive Committee. Verena joined the FSA in 1998 to run the Executive Chairman’s office during the regulator’s start-up phase and was briefly a seconded advisor to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission in 2000. She held various positions in the FSA’s Markets Division and was Director of Strategy & Risk Division before becoming Director of the International Division.

Verena is a German national. Following studies in Sinology and Economics in Hamburg, Taipei and London (SOAS) she began her career at the Bank of England in 1994, where she worked as an economist and banking supervisor.

He also writes Free Lunch, the FT's weekly newsletter on the global economic policy debate. He has been writing for the FT since 2009, when he joined the paper as economics leader writer.

Before joining the FT, he worked in academia and policy consulting. He is the author of three books, on business ethics, the euro, and on the economics of belonging.

His research is primarily about financial systems and financial services policies, with a main geographical focus on Europe. A graduate of France’s Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole des Mines, his earlier experience included senior positions in the French government and private sector in the 1990s and early 2000s. He is also an independent board member of the global derivatives trade repository arm of DTCC, a financial infrastructure company that operates on a non-profit basis. In September 2012, Bloomberg Markets included Véron in its yearly global “50 Most Influential” list with reference to his early advocacy of European banking union.