2023 AGENDA

Jerome Kemp is president of Baton Systems. Prior to his current tenure, Jerome was an independent consultant and senior advisor to the company. Kemp has over 35 years’ experience in capital markets and has previously held the position of global head of futures, clearing and collateral at Citi, with his responsibilities expanding in 2018 to cover the bank’s foreign exchange prime brokerage business. During this time, he built the cleared derivatives business to a position of global leadership. Kemp also spent 18 years at JP Morgan, where he rose to global co-head of the futures and options and over-the-counter clearing business. He was chair of the Futures Industry Association Board from 2018 to 2020. Kemp holds a bachelor's degree from Brandeis University and a master's degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Fatema Bookwala is the Markets and Securities Services COO at HSBC Singapore with regional responsibilities in ASEAN (TH, MNL, VN). Fatema is a seasoned Front Office COO with 17+ years of Cross-Asset experience in Financial Services industry. Her areas of expertise include Strategy Development and Execution, Transformation, Regulatory Change, Risk Management and Governance as a strong business partner with all business infrastructure areas.
Fatema is a Rank holder Chartered Accountant from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and completed Level 3 CFA from CFA Institute Charlottesville.
Fatema is passionate about diversity & inclusion and sustainability initiatives, and is an active member of the Sustainability and Balance Employee Resource Groups at HSBC.

Paul Houston serves as CME Group’s Managing Director, Global Head of FX Products. He is responsible for leading the development, execution and management of the exchange's FX business globally. He is based in London.

Prior to joining the company in April 2016, Houston most recently worked for Deutsche Bank in London where he was Head of FX & Fixed Income Prime Brokerage and Listed Derivatives Client Solutions in Europe, Middle East and Africa. In that role, he delivered a range of FX, OTC rates and credit clearing, listed derivatives clearing and execution products and services to institutional clients including hedge funds, asset managers and banks.

Before joining Deutsche Bank in 2012, Houston ran global FX and fixed income prime brokerage teams at a number of banks including Credit Suisse, RBS and JP Morgan Chase in London and New York. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and the Association of Corporate Treasurers.

Mallika Sachdeva is responsible for driving Deutsche Bank’s views on Emerging Asian markets with a focus on currencies and sovereign fixed-income. She is based in Singapore.

In her role, she advises a broad range of institutional and corporate clients on the dynamics of Asian markets and identifies compelling investment opportunities in the region. Mallika writes for a wide range of Deutsche Bank publications, providing fundamental and quantitative analysis on regional economic trends, capital flows, and market technicals. She meets clients globally to share the bank’s views.

She has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics (Honors) from the University of Chicago, and a Masters in Finance from INSEAD.

She has consistently been ranked amongst the best analysts in Asia in the Institutional Investor Global Fixed Income Research Survey.

Christopher joined Nomura in 2022 as Global Head of eFX Trading, overseeing the trading, quant and technology teams behind Nomura’s electronic FX business, based in Singapore. He is helping to drive Nomura’s aggressive growth plans for the breadth of its electronic offering.

He has been working in the eFX space since its infancy in 2005, spending time in London and Singapore with industry leaders Barclays, Deutsche Bank and Citi. Prior to joining Nomura his focus had been on building electronic businesses in largely voice traded products like NDFs and restricted currencies.

Christopher holds a MA from the University of Cambridge, where he read mathematics.

He re-joined Barclays in 2018, having previously worked at Barclays between 2005 and 2011 as part of the regional eFX trading team. In his current role, he is responsible for the electronic markets making desk based in Singapore which prices G10, EM & NDF currencies to clients via multiple channels. He focuses on algorithmic price generation, low market impact hedging, order execution strategies and intelligent analytics. Gaurav is a recognized industry expert and has represented Barclays on multiple occasions at industry conferences, sharing his views on FX strategies and market outlook. He holds a BE (Hons) in Software Engineering from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Besides managing a global team of principal electronic market-makers in cash FX, NDF, Metals & US Treasuries, he is responsible for electronic product and business development with a specific focus on illiquid markets. Alex also oversees controls and governance items for the global electronic Macro business.

He was a principal eFX book-runner for 13 years, making markets in FX, NDF and Metals, and dealing in both OTC and Listed products. He specializes in the quantitative design and optimization of low-latency pricing, risk-management, and execution trading algorithms. His expertise also includes formulating distribution strategies across channels and venues in order to maximize client engagement and returns. Over the years he has sponsored key strategic initiatives including an electronic NDF buildout.

Alex holds a MSc in Mathematical Engineering from Ecole Centrale de Lyon in France. Outside of work, Alex is passionate about cutting-edge innovation in technology and science.

Mr TOKUYAMA has been in FX industry for over 20 years in a bank and brokarage houses. He was market making for G10s and FWD in the bank and developed e-FX business in brokerage houses.

In his current role since 2018 at CGS Securities in Singapore, he was one of few members to start up FX department for the firm, and architected and defined FX business workflows as well as front-office and back-office system setups and specifications.

He is currently in-charge of running FX dealing and trading team for cash FX, Leveraged FX, FWD&NDF, Metals, and Indices CFD. 

He has superior domain knowledge of FX trading, trading platforms, and operations. 

Tod Van Name is Bloomberg's Global Head of Foreign Exchange Electronic Trading. He oversees business strategy and product development for FXGO, which is used by the world’s leading FX professionals in corporations, hedge funds, global and regional banks, investment management firms and pension funds. He also serves as Vice President of Bloomberg Global Market Services, LLC.

Mr. Van Name and his team were instrumental in creating FXGO, a multi-bank trading platform for FX spot, forwards, non-deliverable forwards, swaps, deposits and option transactions.  FXGO connects buy-side firms with more than 800 major and regional liquidity providers worldwide, enabling complete and accurate price discovery with in-depth coverage of emerging markets and a wide range of derivatives for both regulated and unregulated markets. FXGO is available on the Bloomberg Professional Service, a trusted source for real-time and historical financial data, news, research, and analytics.

Van Name joined Bloomberg in 2006 as an FX market specialist, then managed a teams of market specialists that provide financial product expertise for the Americas. He was named global business manager for FX and economics in 2010.  Prior to Bloomberg, he traded currencies and options for over 19 years at several major banks, serving as Senior Vice President and FX Manager at Fuji Bank, where he oversaw the spot, forward and option trading desks. He is currently a Vice Chairman of the Foreign Exchange Professional Association (FXPA).

Based out of Singapore, Mitul Kotecha was a TD Securities Senior Emerging Markets Strategist with a wealth of experience. His career as a strategist and economist extends over 25 years and across offices in London, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Prior to joining TD Securities, Mitul held the position of Head of FX and Rates Strategy for Asia-Pacific at Barclays, and prior to that, served as Head of Global FX Strategy and Head of Asia Research at Credit Agricole CIB.

Mitul has developed strong client relationships across the region focusing on Asian macro strategy and global emerging markets. His coverage of financial products spans bonds, interest rates, equities, and foreign exchange. Mitul has been highly ranked in various FX research and forecasting polls including FX Week, Bloomberg, Reuters, and Asiamoney.

He is a frequent speaker at various economic and financial global conferences, is regularly consulted by the media for views on markets and economies, has given a TEDX talk, and authored the book “Chronology Of A Crisis.” Mitul has appeared on business channels such as CNBC and Bloomberg TV and is regularly quoted in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Associated Press, and Dow Jones.

Mitul holds a Masters of Science Degree in Economics and Finance from the University of Warwick and an Honours Degree in Economics.

Frances joined OCBC Global Treasury in January 2021, responsible for interest rates research. She has over 20 years of experience as an economist, rates and FX strategist. Prior to OCBC, she was Head of Asia Macro Strategy with Westpac, Head of Rates Strategy Asia ex Japan with Societe Generale , and Head of Asian Rates Strategy with Credit Agricole.

Frances was named as No.1 of Best for Overall Interest Rate Research Analyst in Asiamoney Fixed Income Poll 2012, 2013 and 2014; No.1 as Best Local Currency Analyst in FinanceAsia Fixed Income Research Poll 2012 and 2013; No.3 of Best for Overall FX Research Analyst in Asiamoney FX Poll 2012 and 2014; and No.1 as Best Analyst in FinanceAsia Fixed Income Research Poll 2011.

She received her Master of Philosophy (Economics) and Bachelor of Social Science (Economics) degrees from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is also a CFA charterholder .

Maximillian Lin is a FICC strategist based in Singapore with coverage responsibility for Asia macro and currency strategy at CIBC. In this capacity, he works in collaboration with the global sales and trading teams to develop market insights, trade ideas and analytical models to assist CIBC's corporate and institutional clients with their macroeconomic investment decisions.

Prior to joining CIBC, Maximillian was an Asian currency and rates strategist at Credit Suisse, NatWest Markets and UBS. Earlier in his career he worked in M&A advisory at Lehman Brothers and The Gores Group, a US private equity firm. Maximillian received an MBA with honours from the University of Chicago, as well as an MSc and BSc in Materials Science and Engineering from UCLA.

Sun Xiaohe is from the Global Trading Desk at Bank of China Limited, Singapore Branch. She has been leading the bank’s efforts in liquidity provision to SGX RMB products and for various other exchanges around the globe. She has extensive experience with FX and Derivatives products where she focuses on FICC product &strategy development for Singapore Branch.

Gary is a Product Manager at SGX Group looking after North Asian FX and interest rates products, including the SGX USD/CNH futures contract which is among the top 10 most traded FX futures contracts globally.

An experienced FX and Rates professional with in-depth knowledge of the regulation of Asian currencies, Gary was formerly a FX and Rates trader with various banks such as ING, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce as well as United Overseas Bank, with a focus on Asian emerging markets.

Gary graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor’s in Computing.

Based out of Singapore, Mitul Kotecha was a TD Securities Senior Emerging Markets Strategist with a wealth of experience. His career as a strategist and economist extends over 25 years and across offices in London, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Prior to joining TD Securities, Mitul held the position of Head of FX and Rates Strategy for Asia-Pacific at Barclays, and prior to that, served as Head of Global FX Strategy and Head of Asia Research at Credit Agricole CIB.

Mitul has developed strong client relationships across the region focusing on Asian macro strategy and global emerging markets. His coverage of financial products spans bonds, interest rates, equities, and foreign exchange. Mitul has been highly ranked in various FX research and forecasting polls including FX Week, Bloomberg, Reuters, and Asiamoney.

He is a frequent speaker at various economic and financial global conferences, is regularly consulted by the media for views on markets and economies, has given a TEDX talk, and authored the book “Chronology Of A Crisis.” Mitul has appeared on business channels such as CNBC and Bloomberg TV and is regularly quoted in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, Associated Press, and Dow Jones.

Mitul holds a Masters of Science Degree in Economics and Finance from the University of Warwick and an Honours Degree in Economics.

Nirman is in-charge of financial portfolio management at Abiman Asset Management, a single family office located in Singapore. His responsibilities include asset allocation, security selection and risk management. He invests into single bonds, equities and commodities in a multi-asset context. His work is influenced by factor based investing and systematic approach to asset allocation and risk management. Prior to Abiman, he worked at Taurus Family office, a multi-family office. At Taurus, he advised and managed portfolios for high net-worth families in a multi-asset context. He also successfully managed an Emerging market credit fund which ranked in top 1% globally in terms of performance, among emerging market credit funds. Prior to Taurus, Nirman worked for Citi wealth management, within the fixed income department, advising clients on their fixed income investments. Nirman has graduated from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (Masters in Business) and University of Mumbai (Computer Sc. Engineering).

• Rachana, as the Regional Co-Head of Fixed Income, is responsible for all Asia local and hard currency fixed income investments, including Islamic flagship Bluewaterz total return bond fund. She has over 25 years of experience managing Asian government and corporate bonds and foreign exchange. Rachana spent nine years at Cargill Singapore where she was Head of Foreign Exchange and Interest Rates. Most recently, she was Head of Asia and Emerging Markets Fixed Income at DBS Asset Management.
• Rachana graduated from Birla Institute of Technology and Science with a Masters in Management Studies (Finance). She holds an MBA (with distinction) from University of South Carolina, Columbia and is a CFA charterholder.

Ashvin Murthy is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of AVM Capital. He launched the AVM Global Opportunity Fund in 2016, a macro investment strategy with an established track record of delivering consistent returns through the economic cycle. The fund received the accolade of Best Performing Macro fund in 2021 by the Hedge Fund Journal, and also came in top when they looked at returns over 2, 3 and 5 years.

Ashvin began his career in finance in the Fixed Income division at UBS. He was involved in trading complex derivatives across the Fixed Income spectrum, a journey that involved working in 4 different teams across Singapore, London and Zurich. He then moved to Hong Kong to lead the FX Options Team at Natixis. This breadth of experience in financial markets enabled Ashvin to develop a proprietary strategy that delivers robust and steady returns through different economic regimes.

Ashvin was awarded a scholarship by the Singapore Public Service Commission to study Engineering in France. He graduated with a Diplome d’Ingenieur (Master of Science in Engineering) from Ecole Centrale Paris and received the Bourse d’Excellence Eiffel from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in France. Ashvin then went on to obtain a Master of Science in Financial Engineering from Columbia University in 2003.

Gareth Nicholson joined Nomura in July 2021 as Chief Investment Officer and Head of Discretionary Portfolio Management for International Wealth Management. He is based in Singapore.

Gareth works closely with Nomura’s Global Markets and Investment Banking businesses to expand the firm’s product offerings and spearhead a streamlined, solutions-driven coverage effort for high-net-worth clients, external asset managers and family offices. With a strong institutional investment background, he creates and manages DPM strategies for fixed income, equity and multi-asset portfolios, while providing risk management support.

Gareth has over 16 years of experience in financial markets. Prior to Nomura, he was Head of Fixed Income DPM at Bank of Singapore, where he was also a member of its investment committee. Before that, he was with Aberdeen Standard Investments for almost 10 years as a fixed income trader and an Asian credit portfolio manager. He began working in finance in 2004 as a derivatives specialist with Deutsche Asset Management after an early career as a mathematics teacher.

Gareth holds a BSc in Financial Mathematics from the University of Johannesburg. He was born and raised in East London, South Africa.

Kevin focuses on valuation anomalies and believes in detailed research and analysis and works with a group of like minded professionals within his investment ecosystem that lead up to investment decisions. Kevin was a volunteer with CFAS - UIRC, an advisor to CFA Institute China-India strategy team and was a Board Member of CFA Singapore and Secretary. Kevin has spoken for CFAI across the region (Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Singapore, Manila, Bangkok, HCMC, Hanoi) and has conducted lectures in Beijing Normal University, Zhongshan University-Lingnan College, National University of Singapore, HKUSpace and the Wealth Management Institute. Kevin is also a member of the Monetary Authority of Singapore - Commercial Affairs Department Panel of Experts on Securities Offenses and also serves as a senior advisor to GoDigitalediaGroup (a leading media company focused on intellectual property rights management. GDMG is transforming how music networks and brands, senior advisor to AlteredVerse (a Geo spatial spinoff building digital twins in the Metaverse), CIO to Smobler Labs (an Animoca and The Facebook investee company, focused on the Metaverse - builds, GameFi and Phygital), and founder of Being Human Capital.

Kevin brings with him more than 30 years of investment experience and was the Head of Greater China Property Research with Yuanta Securities (Hong Kong) with responsibilities ranging from research coverage and analysis, marketing, assisting in primary and secondary equity issues, PE and funds. Prior to Yuanta, Kevin was the SVP with Pacific Star Financial (a subsidiary of Pacific Star Group) and was engaged in fund creation, structuring, documentation, marketing, fund raising and investment. Kevin was also the Chief Operating Officer of CITIC Securities (formerly known as CITIC Frontier China Research), Managing Director of Matrix Venture Capital, Director of Matrix Venture Catalyst, Director of Kleinwort Benson Securities Asia, Head of Regional Property and Singapore Country research. Prior to his senior management appointments, Kevin was a regional special situations analyst with Barclays de Zoette Wedd, a quantitative analyst with BZW Australia (both part of Credit Suisse), Assistant Manager (FX) with Chase Manhattan Bank Singapore and a Japanese equity salesman with Nikko Merchant Bank Singapore.

Kevin graduated with an MBA from New York Stern School of Business/Australian Graduate School of Management in 1992 and a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil, Hon's) from the University of Melbourne in 1986. Kevin was awarded the Australian Post Graduate Scholarship Award and an AGSM scholarship and was conferred the Chartered Financial Analyst charter in 1992.

Mallika Sachdeva is responsible for driving Deutsche Bank’s views on Emerging Asian markets with a focus on currencies and sovereign fixed-income. She is based in Singapore.

In her role, she advises a broad range of institutional and corporate clients on the dynamics of Asian markets and identifies compelling investment opportunities in the region. Mallika writes for a wide range of Deutsche Bank publications, providing fundamental and quantitative analysis on regional economic trends, capital flows, and market technicals. She meets clients globally to share the bank’s views.

She has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics (Honors) from the University of Chicago, and a Masters in Finance from INSEAD.

She has consistently been ranked amongst the best analysts in Asia in the Institutional Investor Global Fixed Income Research Survey.

Leo Tay is Managing Director and Head of FX, Rates, and Derivatives Trading in ING Bank NV, based in Singapore. He manages a diverse and inclusive trading team across Asia, and is also responsible for eTrading and digital asset initiatives. In a broader capacity he is the Lead of Sustainability FM Products, championing the integration of ESG principles into financial market offerings. Leo holds an MSc In Financial Mathematics from the Technische Universitat Kaiserslautern, Germany and BS/BA from the Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines.