Hong Kong Fintech Week'24

Tom serves as Chief Executive Officer of Bullish, responsible for creating, planning, and implementing the company's strategic direction. Previously, Tom served as CEO, President and Chairman of Far Peak Acquisition Corporation, and Far Point Acquisition Corporation. Tom also serves as Chairman of Global Blue Group Holding AG (NYSE: GB). Tom brings many years of executive leadership in the finance industry, including serving as President of the NYSE Group of Intercontinental Exchange Inc., or ICE, from 2014 to 2018. Tom led all operations for the NYSE and managed a diverse range of equity and equity options exchanges, comprising the largest equities listing and securities trading venue in the world. In this role, Tom spearheaded the NYSE through a significant strategic and operational transition, revitalizing an iconic business and brand. Tom also presided over a series of operational improvements which led to the tripling of profits, the doubling of pre-acquisition operating margin, the reduction of annual costs by US$550 million, and the modernization of NYSE technology. Prior to joining the NYSE, Tom served as the SVP of Financial Markets at ICE, where he oversaw a variety of modernization efforts, strategic acquisitions, and exchange consolidations. Prior to joining ICE, Tom was President of SunGard Kiodex, after serving as its CFO and COO.

Luanne Lim was appointed Chief Executive, Hong Kong, HSBC, in February 2022, having previously served as Chief Operating Officer, Hong Kong, HSBC, a role that she has held since 2017. Ms Lim has more than 25 years of experience in the banking industry. Since joining HSBC Retail Banking in Singapore in 1999, she has held leadership roles and spearheaded strategic growth and transformation initiatives across HSBC’s key markets in Asia, including: · Mainland China: Set up and built a sizeable client operations division of a strategic joint venture · Vietnam: Supported the significant expansion of the business and the local incorporation of HSBC Bank (Vietnam) Ltd, the first wholly foreign- owned bank to operate both branches and transaction offices in Vietnam. She continues to serve as a member of HSBC Bank (Vietnam) Ltd’s Members’ Council. · Malaysia: Led HSBC Data Processing Malaysia Sdn Bhd, supporting businesses and operations for more than 25 markets around the globe · Indonesia: Oversaw the integration of PT Bank Ekonomi with HSBC Indonesia in her capacity as the Chief Operating Officer and a director of the Board During her time as Chief Operating Officer, Hong Kong, Ms Lim delivered key innovation and efficiency programmes that demonstrate her strong understanding of the needs of our customers and employees in Hong Kong. She currently holds various roles in the financial services industry. She is a Vice Chairperson of the Hong Kong Association of Banks, and sits on the Banking Advisory Committee and Financial Infrastructure and Market Development Sub-Committee of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. She is also a council member of Treasury Markets Association, a member of the Academy of Finance, Chairman of Financial Services Advisory Committee and Asia Financial Forum Steering Committee of Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), and a member of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Taskforce on Trade and Investment of the HKTDC. Ms Lim is also a strong advocate for workplace inclusion and has a passion for the environment.

John Lindfors is the Cofounder and Managing Partner of DST Global, which backs exceptional category-leading internet and software companies led by visionary founders. Previously, John was the Head of European Tech and a Partner of Goldman Sachs in London

Head of FinTech at the China’s tech giant that is known for its WeChat Pay with over 800M users globally

Lily Liu is an entrepreneur and investor focused on the cryptocurrency industry. She has a background as a CFO and operating executive in the US, China, and throughout emerging markets. Lily is the Co Founder of Anagram; the President of the Solana Foundation; on the founding team of Osmosis, and an advisor to Brave. Previously, Lily co-founded Earn.com which was acquired by Coinbase in 2018. She was also the CFO of the Chinaco Healthcare Corporation, where she built a 500-bed private hospital in China. Lily also worked at KKR in New York as well as McKinsey in New York and Beijing. Lily received a BA in Economics and International Relations from Stanford, and studied East Asian Studies at Harvard.

Mr. Xu Bing is the Co-founder of SenseTime who is passionate about building AI innovations for a better tomorrow. Before founding SenseTime, Bing was a PhD candidate conducting research on deep learning and computer vision at the Multimedia Lab of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, the first Chinese team to focus on deep learning and computer vision research. Bing, together with several Co-founders from the same university lab, founded SenseTime in 2014 and cultivated it into the world’s leading AI company. Bing is a key executive of the company, primarily managing corporate development strategies and overseeing fundraising activities. Bing was named one of the most promising Innovators Under 35 in China by the MIT Technology Review and is featured on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Asia List. Bing holds two bachelor’s degrees in Information Engineering and in Mathematics from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Mr. Zhu has served as the CEO of Du Xiaoman Technology (formerly Baidu Finance) since April 2018, when Baidu completed its spin-off of the Financial Service Group (FSG) with investors led by TPG and Carlyle. Mr. Zhu led the team to establish Baidu’s FSG in December 2015. Prior to this, Mr. Zhu held the position of Senior Vice President at Baidu, where he was responsible for various roles including public relations, government affairs, and Baidu News. Mr. Zhu graduated from Xi'an Jiaotong University and joined Baidu in 2008. Prior to that, he worked at Lenovo Group for ten years.

Elwin Yuan boasts an extensive 13-year tenure in the venture capital sector, bringing a wealth of experience and insight to the table. Since his arrival at 5Y Capital in 2011, his strategic vision and leadership have been pivotal, culminating in his promotion to Partner in 2017. Elwin's expertise lies at the intersection of digital/social media, AI, and enterprise services, where he has spearheaded investments in industry-defining companies such as Kuaishou (HK: 01024), the trailblazing Musical.ly (acquired by ByteDance), the health and fitness platform Keep (HK: 03650), as well as innovative ventures like Moonshot and Soul. Elwin's journey to 5Y Capital included a formative three-year stint at KPMG, where he sharpened his financial and analytical skills, complemented by a year of hands-on startup experience. His academic credentials include a Bachelor of Science degree from the esteemed Nanjing University. His remarkable track record has not gone unnoticed, with Forbes acknowledging Elwin's success by featuring him on the prestigious Midas List, an accolade that places him among the top 100 venture capitalists globally. To delve deeper into Elwin's professional narrative and his influence within the industry, visit his Forbes Profile.

Jack Zhang is a technology entrepreneur redefining financial services for the digital economy. As CEO and Co-founder of Airwallex, he has built a successful company with a vision to become the global economic infrastructure to empower modern businesses of all sizes to grow beyond borders. Established in Melbourne in 2015, Airwallex has raised over US$900 million in funding and is currently valued at over US$5.6 billion, supported by Sequoia, Lone Pine, Greenoaks, DST Global, Tencent, Hillhouse, Salesforce Ventures and MasterCard. Jack has been recognised as Outstanding Leader of the Year by Fintech Australia and one of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneurs of the Year. An engineer by trade, Jack was also awarded the Kernot Memorial Medal, one of Australia’s most prestigious engineering awards, by the University of Melbourne. Deeply passionate about fueling the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators, Jack launched Capital49, a venture capital fund focused on early-stage investment in high-growth tech-enabled companies. Airwallex is also working to build pathways to entrepreneurship through its AU$3 million scholarship and mentoring partnership with the University of Melbourne and its founding partner sponsorship of Build Club, Australia's first dedicated AI residency, campus and accelerator.

Sergey Nazarov is the co-founder of Chainlink, the leading decentralized oracle network used by global enterprises and leading Web3 projects at the forefront of the blockchain industry. Chainlink oracle networks enable smart contracts on any blockchain to reliably connect to any external API and leverage secure off-chain computations for building feature-rich applications. Chainlink currently secures tens of billions of dollars in value for smart contracts across decentralized finance (DeFi), insurance, gaming, and other major industries. Contributing to building an industry-standard oracle solution used by leading banks, insurance companies, and large technology firms has given Nazarov a unique perspective on what is required to drive the mainstream adoption of blockchain technology and build a world based on cryptographic truth.

AI industry specialist and seasoned investor

Thomas G. Tsao co-founded Gobi Partners in 2002. Gobi’s regional platform supports entrepreneurs from the early to growth stages and has expanded to 13 locations across Asia. In China, Tom and his partners were first-round investors into Airwallex, Dianwoda, Teambition, Tuniu, UR, and WaveOptics. He was named to the Forbes List of China’s Top VCs from 2013 – 2017. For two years, he served as CEO for DMG and created the world’s first subway soap opera starring Huang Xiaoming. Tom also leads the team that manages the Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, which has invested in companies like AutoX, DayDayCook, GoGoX, Prenetics, and WeLab. In 2015, Tom relocated to Kuala Lumpur where he set up several funds with MAVCAP, Malaysia’s largest VC firm. Gobi has invested in over 65 companies in Southeast Asia, including Aerodyne, Carsome, EasyParcel, iStoreiSend, Kumu, and Synagie. Tom is now building Gobi’s TaqwaTech investment practice focused on innovative startups serving Muslim communities such as Airlift, Sastaticket, and UmrahMe. Tom graduated from Harvard University with a BA in Economics and was the inspiration for Seinfeld’s ‘Movie Phone’ episode. In 2006, he founded SEO China, a non-profit organization, which has provided hundreds of internships for underserved college students. He also serves as Chair of the Presidential Scholars Foundation, which cultivates, connects, and celebrates U.S. Presidential Scholars (161 of the nation’s top high school seniors who are selected annually and honored by the White House).

Max is Head of Digital Assets for Asia Pacific at Goldman Sachs. Based in Hong Kong Max is focused across the firms crypto, tokenization and Digital Asset investment initiatives. Max serves as an observer on the boards of BitGo and Blockdaemon, two of Goldman Sachs’ portfolio companies.

As the Head of Authorisation within the Financial Services Regulatory Authority, Wai Lum oversees the licensing of financial services firms in the banking, insurance, payments and capital markets sector. With digital transformation at the forefront of global regulators’ agenda, Wai Lum also spearheads ADGM’s regulatory strategy in financial technology and innovation. He has been instrumental in shaping the fintech landscape in the UAE. The Regulatory Sandbox programme, and subsequent digitalization of the platform, won ADGM accolade as the most innovative and progressive regulator in the Middle East. Wai Lum formulated the Venture Capital Framework for investment managers, and the Private Financing Framework to improve access to alternative financing for ventures and SMEs in the private markets. He was also instrumental in developing ADGM’s virtual asset regulatory framework. Prior to joining ADGM, Wai Lum was Director of Capital Markets Intermediaries at the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Before that, he was Assistant Director of Policy at the Singapore Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment working on environmental policies including climate-rated issues. Wai Lum graduated from Imperial College, London with a Master of Engineering and holds a Master of Science in Applied Finance from the National University of Singapore.

Andrea is the Co-founder and CEO of Aspire, the all-in-one finance software for businesses across Asia. Headquartered in Singapore, Aspire has over 450+ employees across five countries and is backed by global top tier VCs, including Sequoia, Lightspeed, Y-Combinator, Tencent and Paypal. Prior to Aspire, Andrea Baronchelli was part of Lazada’s founding team and spent 6 years building the leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia based out of Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. He held several leadership roles within Lazada across the region including CMO, Commercial director, and CEO Vietnam. Andrea is a Y-Combinator and Rocket Internet Alum.

Dong HE is Deputy Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department (MCM) of the International Monetary Fund. He has oversight responsibility for MCM’s work on digital currencies and fintech. He joined MCM in October 2014 and led MCM’s work on global financial stability analysis, monetary and macroprudential policies, and technical assistance on central bank operations. Dong holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Cambridge. He started his career in 1993 when he joined the World Bank through the Young Professionals Program. He was a staff member of the World Bank during 1993-1998, of the IMF during 1998-2004, and of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) during 2004-2014. At the HKMA, he was Executive Director responsible for directing research and policy advice on issues relating to the maintenance of monetary and financial stability and the development of financial markets. He was also Director of the Hong Kong Institute for Monetary Research. He has published extensively on macroeconomic and financial market issues.

Poman Lo is the Vice Chairman of Century City International Holdings Limited and Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Regal Hotels Group. She is the Founding Partner of AlphaTrio Capital, an Asian-focused sustainable technology fund empowering the next wave of green tech unicorns to provide disruptive solutions for the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. She serves as an Adjunct Professor, teaching sustainable business management at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and founded the non-profit Institute of Sustainability and Technology to nurture the next generation of ESG talent. She is the only person in Hong Kong to be awarded the “Outstanding Young Person Award of the World”, “Outstanding Young Person Award of Hong Kong”, and “Hong Kong Outstanding Student” by Junior Chamber International as well as the first female Asian recipient of the “Oslo Business for Peace Award” by the Business for Peace Foundation in Norway.