The Swiss International Finance Forum will welcome a number of speaker from both Switzerland and abroad.

In addition to keynote speeches and podium discussions different workshops are offered. The conference will be hosted by Melinda Crane.

You find the complete programme overview here.

Federal Councillor, Head of the Federal Department of Finance (FDF)

Ueli Maurer was elected to the Swiss Federal Council in December 2008. From 2009 to 2015 he served as Head of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (VBS). He has been Head of the Federal Department of Finance since 1 January 2016. In 2013 Ueli Maurer served as president of the Federal Council. His political career began in 1978 on the town council of Hinwil. In 1983 he was elected to the cantonal parliament of Zurich and in 1991 to the National Council. From 1996 to 2008 Maurer was president of the national Swiss People’s Party (SVP). In his
professional life he was the director of an agricultural cooperative and then served as director of the Zurich Farmers’Association.

Economist and Professor, Harvard University    

Kenneth Rogoff is professor of Public Policy and Economics at Harvard University. Between 2001 and 2003 he was chief economist and director of research at the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC. His treatise “Foundations of International Macroeconomics” (joint with Maurice Obstfeld) is an academic standard for graduate studies and his monthly columns on global economics issues are published in over 50 countries. Rogoff is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences as well as the Council on Foreign Relations and the Group of Thirty. He also serves on the Economic Advisory Panel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Since 1978 he holds the life title of international grandmaster of chess.

Member of the European Parliament

The German CDU-politician Burkhard Balz was elected member of the European Parliament in June 2009 and full member oft he Economic and Monetary Affairs Commitee, where he acts as Coordinator/Spokesperson of the EPP Group. His successful career in banking equipped Balz with an in-depth knowledge of the European and global financial markets. Before joining the European Parliament, Burkhard Balz completed a bank apprenticeship and managed the relations with institutional clients, most recently as Vice-President for the Commerzbank AG Hanover branch. Among his clients were insurance companies, pension funds and foundations. Burkhard Balz successfully completed his studies in law at the University of Göttingen and started to gain work experience abroad during traineeships in Tokyo and London.

Professor at Oxford University

Ian Goldin has been Professor of Globalisation at Oxford University since 2006. He is the director of the university’s Oxford Martin School, a leading centre for the study of financial and systemic risks and cybersecurity. Prof. Golding studied at the University of Cape Town, the London School of Economics, Oxford University and INSEAD before going on to work for the OECD in Paris. As a leading economist, he then worked for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London and subsequently became managing director of the Development Bank of Southern Africa. During this period, Prof. Goldin was an economic advisor to President Mandela and was nominated “Global Leader of Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum. He became Vice President of the World Bank in 2003.

Chairman of the Board, UBS Group AG

Axel A. Weber has been chairman of the Board of Directors of the UBS Group AG since 2012. He is a board member of the Institute of International Finance, the International Monetary Conference, and the Swiss Bankers Association as well as a member of the Group of Thirty. From 2004 to 2011 Axel A. Weber served as president of the German Bundesbank. During this period he also held the following positions: member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, member of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements, governor of the International Monetary Fund as well as member of the G7 and G20 Ministers and Governors. Weber holds a PhD in economics from the University of Siegen, where
he also received his habilitation, and he is a professor at several universities.

Chairman of the Board, Credit Suisse Group AG

Urs Rohner has been chairman of the Board of Directors of the Credit Suisse Group AG since 2011. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute of International Finance, vice chairman of the Swiss Bankers Association and a member of the Board of Directors of GlaxoSmithKline plc. He also served as vice chairman of the Board of Directors of Credit Suisse Group AG, and he was a member of the Executive Board, where he was the Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel. From 2000 to 2004 he was chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG. He began his career as an attorney in Zurich and New York. Rohner received a Master’s degree in law from the University of Zurich in 1983.

Group CEO, UBS Group AG

Sergio P. Ermotti has been Group CEO of UBS Group AG since 2014. He was appointed to the Executive Board in 2011 and was chairman and CEO of the UBS Group Europe, Middle East and Africa before being named as Group CEO of UBS AG. Before moving to UBS, Ermotti served as Group Deputy CEO of UniCredit in Milan from 2005 to 2010. He began his career in 1987 at Merrill Lynch, where he held various
positions in equity derivatives and capital markets. Ermotti earned a diploma as a Swiss federal banking certified expert and a degree in the Advanced Management Program at the University of Oxford.
   

Director, FINMA

Mark Branson was born in 1968 and is a British citizen. He studied mathematics and management studies at Trinity College Cambridge. He also obtained a master’s degree in Operational Research from the University of Lancaster. He started his professional career at Coopers & Lybrand Management Consultancy Services. Three years later he moved to Credit Suisse in London. In 1997, Mark Branson took a further step in his professional career by joining the former SBC Warburg, where he held several key positions. In 2006, he became CEO of UBS Securities Japan Ltd. Mark Branson has been at FINMA since 2010. He was appointed Deputy CEO in February 2013. He became the Chief Executive Officer of FINMA on 1 April 2014.

Managing Director, BlackRock

Thomas Fortin is Head of Retail Technology for the Retail and iShares businesses. Previously he was Chief Information Officer for BlackRock and headed the Aladdin development team from 2002 to 2011. Before moving to BlackRock, he worked at Wall Street Systems for ten years. Thomas Fortin has an MBA in Finance from New York University and Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University.   

Director, Head of Samsung Pay Europe

Nathalie Oestmann is responsible for the development and roll-out of the mobile payment service Samsung Pay. Prior to joining Samsung, Nathalie Oestmann worked at American Express for over 15 years as Global Marketing Vice President, and before that she was a management consultant with Deloitte in New York. Nathalie Oestmann has a Master’s degree from Cornell University in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering.
 

Chairman, Swiss Bankers Association

Patrick Odier has been chairman of the Swiss Bankers Association since 2009 and is also vice chairman of economiesuisse. In addition, Patrick Odier has worked at the Lombard Odier Group since 1982, and since 1986 as a partner. He has been chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Lombard Odier & Co Ltd. since 2014. He holds an economics degree from the University of Geneva and an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago. He is also a board member of several Swiss and international academic institutions and non-profit organizations.

CEO, TWINT AG

Thierry Kneissler has been CEO of TWINT AG since its spinoff from PostFinance in 2014. TWINT is the first integrated payment and shopping app in Switzerland. Prior to joining TWINT, Kneissler spent six years as a member of management of PostFinance, where he had started working in 2003. Prior to that he worked for the internet company New Impact AG and Berner Kantonalbank, where he was a project manager.
Kneissler studied economics at the University of Berne and holds an Executive MBA from the University of St. Gallen.

Head of Paymit, SIX Payment Services AG

Armin Schmid has been Head of Paymit since 2016. After receiving a Master’s degree from the ETH Zurich, the engineer started his career in management consulting at McKinsey and went on to receive an MBA from the University of St. Gallen in 2002. Prior to joining SIX Payment Services, Schmid was a Director at Sandpiper Digital Payments AG, General Manager at PayPal Switzerland and Austria and Director for Strategy & Expansion at eBay Europe.

Head Digital Products, Aduno Gruppe

Tobias Wirth is a founding member and member of the board of smama and Head Digital Products at Aduno Group. His career took him from Sunrise to SIX Payment
Services before joining Aduno Group. He has realised various M-payment projects with Swisscom, MasterCard, Visa and banks in the NFC field and has extensive technological expertise. Wirth is also a lecturer in mobile business and digital finance at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences and Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration.
 

CEO and founder, InvestGlass SA

Certified financial manager Alexandre Gaillard is CEO and founder of InvestGlass SA. The company developed the first Swiss robo advisor for asset managers. Prior to this he worked for Union Bancaire Privée and the Bank of China. Gaillard is also the founder and organiser of Swiss Fintech.


 

Head of Banking Trends & Innovation, Swisscom

In 2010 Dr. Falk Kohlmann received his Ph.D. from the University of St. Gallen and Leipzig on the subject of business- oriented service architectures for banks. Since 2014 he has been Head of Banking Trends & Innovation and the e-foresight think tank at Swisscom, which supports numerous banks in digital banking as well as identifying and analysing trends. Kohlmann previously worked in the field of management consulting at Swisscom.
 

Co-founder, Descartes Finance AG

Dr. Adriano Lucatelli is CEO and co-founder of digital wealth manager Descartes Finance AG. He is also a member of the board of a number of companies and lectures in international finance at the University of Zurich. Lucatelli previously worked as a managing director at UBS and Credit Suisse.

 
 

Senior Innovation Manager, UBS

Alex Batlin, a British IT expert, is in charge of UBS’s Fintech Innovation Lab and its Crypto 2.0 Pathfinder programme. In this capacity, he researches new technologies, such as blockchain, and their effects on business models. He is also the Global Head of Technology Research Service and has in-depth knowledge of big data, social media and cloud services. Before being recruited by UBS, he worked for Nomura, JPMorgan and CSC.

Co-founder, Nexussquared

Daniel Gasteiger started his career as a forex trader at Credit Suisse before moving to UBS Investment Bank. He then became a Managing Director at UBS, developing the office of the chairman of the Board of Directors. He set up Nexussquared in 2015 with the object of making Switzerland Continental Europe’s leading blockchain hub.
 
 

CEO and founder, Cyverse AG

Shira Kaplan founded Cyverse AG, of which she is now the CEO, as a cyber security firm offering security solutions for global businesses. She previously worked for Teva Pharmaceuticals and Julius Bär in Private Banking and Investor Relations. She has a degree from Harvard and an MBA from the University of St Gallen.
 
 

Lecturer and project manager, University of Lucerne

Prof. Dr. Andreas Dietrich heads up the Master of Science in Banking and Finance programme at the University of Lucerne’s Financial Services Institute in Zug (IFZ) and also runs its Financial Services Management competence centre. As well as being one of the leading researchers in the fintech field, he has been on the Board of Directors of the Cantonal Bank of Lucerne since 2015.
 
 

CEO, DealMarket AG

Urs Haeusler is the CEO of DealMarket, a global fundraising platform. He has over 15 years’ experience of working for various internet businesses including time spent as the CEO of Ticket Online Schweiz. An expert in fintech, he had previously worked for a major firm of management consultants. He has been the proprietor of Haeusler Management & Ventures, an online consultancy firm, since 2008. He has a Master’s degree in business management from the University of St. Gallen.
 

Chairman of the Executive Board, Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank

Dr. Beat Oberlin is a notary who has gained his management education in the US. He has some 20 years of experience of working for a major bank and has also held management positions in corporate customer and retail business. He has been the chairman of the Executive Board of Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank – the first Swiss bank to launch its own crowd funding marketplace – since 2005. He also sits on a number of Boards of Directors including that of the St. Claraspital in Basel.