2024 Agenda

Kevin is Partner & CRO of Pilgrim Partners Asia and approaches nearly 3 decades of experience in Banking & Finance.

He was former Head of Asian Sovereign Wealth in ABN AMRO Asset Management, SVP-Head of Wealth Management Advisory at HSBC, and operated quantitative strategies in a sub-billion-dollar AUM middle eastern family office.  A former SIMEX Nikkei 225 Floor trader, he started his trading career in Citibank N.A. Treasury Services.

He has taught portfolio, wealth, AML and treasury management courses in SMU, TABF (Taiwan), Shanghai Jiao Tong, Beijing Tsinghua and Chiangmai University. He has also appeared in MoneyFM 89.3 radio and has been a regular conference speaker on investment strategies, portfolio management and AML/terrorist funding typologies.

He has an MSc in Finance from CUNY (Zicklin) and is a Doctoral candidate in International Political Economy at Rangsit University, Thailand.

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 .

Matthew McCalman joined the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in March 2022 in Beijing as Principal, Head of Investments, responsible for managing approximately $US 28 Billion in liquidity portfolios. He has over 25 years’ experience in financial markets across asset management, trading, and balance sheet management.

Prior to his role at the AIIB, he held fixed income trading and balance sheet management roles with Toronto Dominion Bank in Singapore. He was also a portfolio manager with Alliance Bernstein in Australia, and he started his career as an economist with the Australian Treasury.

Matthew holds a M.Sc from the K.U.Leuven in Belgium and B.Ec from the Australian National University. 

Joe Parsons is deputy editor on the global markets desk. He was formerly deputy editor at Global Custodian, and prior to that he was at The Trade.

Simon joined CMC Markets in 2006 and has been in his current position as Group Head of Trading since 2018.

He is responsible for the global quantitative trading teams in London, Frankfurt and Sydney, which also includes quantitative analysis and front office developers.

At present, Simon is focused on expanding the company’s institutional offering, covering FX liquidity provision and multi-asset execution services globally.

Prior to his current CMC appointment, Simon was Head of Quant Analysis, where he designed and executed the development of in-house pricing and risk systems from the ground up.

He holds a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Durham, United Kingdom.

Mike Pun is the Head of Global Intermediary Services (GIS) in Asia Pacific under the FX, EM Rates & Commodities business in HSBC. The focus of the GIS business is to create and provide innovative solutions and services to satisfy clients’ needs of executing FX, EM rates and Commodities trades in developed and emerging markets.

Mike is based in HK and he has worked in various roles in the Markets and Securities Services businesses in HSBC covering FX and Asset Servicing in Asia and the Middle East.

Stephen Totten is the Director of Quantitative Analysis at oneZero. Steve is responsible for further advancing oneZero’s heavy investments in analytics, focusing on solutions for institutional brokers, regional banks, asset managers, PTF’s and their EcoSystem Liquidity Partners.

Steve joined oneZero after a long tenure at UniCredit where he was Global Head of eFX, responsible for their end to end provision of electronic foreign exchange services to clients, including sales and distribution, pricing and both principal and agency trading. Prior to joining UniCredit, Steve was a Portfolio Manager at Citadel Investment Group, where he was responsible for developing and managing FX and Macro systematic trading strategies, and an Associate on the FX Desk at Morgan Stanley.

Experienced Managing Director with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry. Skilled in Market Risk, Leading Teams, Electronic trading , Foreign Exchange and Interest Rates, Management, Helping Clients Succeed and Trading. Strong business development professional with a Master's degree focused in Mathematics from University of Cambridge.

Arjen Gaasbeek is Managing Director of for Verition Advisors (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., and member of the Arbitrage team. Verition is a US headquartered multi-strategy, multi-manager hedge fund with more than USD 7.5billion under management.  Previously Arjen was Managing Director for Flow Traders Asia and has also worked for Celera family office, Ingensoma, ABN Amro and Optiver. Verition focuses on global investment strategies including global credit, global convertible arbitrage, volatility and capital structure arbitrage, event driven investing, equity long/short  and capital markets trading as well as quantitative trading

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.

Chris is responsible for FX research and strategy at OCBC Global Treasury. He has over 15 years of experience in FX trading, research, and banking ops. Prior to OCBC, he was SVP, Senior FX Strategist with Malayan Banking Berhad, covering both G7 majors and Asian FX, an Economist with Capitaland’s Group Planning unit and an Asian NDF trader at ANZ Bank.

He has been nominated as Finalist for Best Emerging Markets Research & Strategy at the Technical Analyst Awards in London from 2016 – 18 and 2020. He has also been regularly quoted on newswires, media, including Bloomberg, Reuters, The Edge, etc.

Masters of Business Administration, Australian Institution of Business.

Abdullah is currently Managing Director, Head of Global Markets APAC for First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) and is responsible for delivering the APAC Global Markets strategy. As a member of the Global Markets Executive Committee, Abdullah leads a team of senior Global Markets professionals across the APAC network and footprint. He is also responsible for the delivery and oversight of the governance, regulatory and compliance framework for APAC Global Markets, as well as a member of the Singapore Exco Management Team. Abdullah began his career in Financial Services 28 years ago in a variety of roles covering commercial to institutional banking before joining Global Markets 23 years ago. Through his leadership he has been responsible for cross-asset Sales, Trading and Liquidity Management businesses in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. His leadership around customer solutions has cultivated high performance cultures in businesses has led over the years. Prior to joining FAB, Abdullah was with Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac) both across Australia and Asia, where he held the most recent position as Co-Head of Financial Markets and Head of Corporate Solutions, Asia. His leadership credentials extended to representing Westpac on the Asia Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA), as a board member. Abdullah holds an MBA and a Graduate Diploma in Management from the Australian Institute of Business.

Michael Rothlin is the Co-Founder, Managing Director of the 2023 launch White Elk Macro Hedge Fund, based in Hong Kong.

Michael has 25 years markets experience, most of which leading various trading teams across the Asia region with focus on FX and Rates products. He has extensive knowledge and experience running both significant client flow businesses and discretionary risk-taking businesses across G10 and EM markets.

Prior to the new Hedge Fund launch, Michael was most recently at HSBC based in Hong Kong where he was Regional Head of G10 FX and Short End Rates Trading.

In addition, also held prior roles across the region at Société Generale, Barclays, ABN Amro and NM Rothschild.

David has unique experience spanning the full trade lifecycle, execution to ledger. An experienced C-suite executive, David has significant exposure reporting to and working alongside CEOs and other C-suite focusing on strategic direction and operation of firms.

His geographic experience spans London, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Moscow and Johannesburg having held senior executive positions in ask these locations. His experience spans established and emerging markets.

Currently based in Singapore he is looking at opportunities to work with businesses focused on growth and geographical expansion where his strategy and build experience can be leveraged.

Randall E. Duran is a senior lecturer at Singapore Management University and holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.). He was formerly CEO of Catena Technologies, a Fintech company that he founded and was acquired by IHS Markit. For over three decades, Randall has worked with banks and stock exchanges across the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa. Randall is the author of the textbook "Financial Services Technology: Processes, Architecture, and Solutions" and co-author of "Regulation of Fintech in Asia-Pacific".

Wendy is the Head of Treasury Operations for OCBC. She leads 10 treasury operations locations globally and is responsible for 13 OCBC Group entities treasury operational support. Prior to this appointment, Wendy held various operations roles and programme management in Investment and Custody banks.

Wendy has over 20 years of experience in the Operations space, partnering the Business to support new business opportunities, improve efficiencies, and reduce operational risks in the trade lifecycle from inception to settlement.
Wendy was part of the pioneer batch of graduates from Singapore Management University, holding a Bachelor degree in Business Management majoring in Finance and Marketing.

Shen Li is a Managing Director based in State Street Bank Hong Kong office. He heads up State Street Global Markets China and oversees IndirectFX and StreetFX businesses for State Street Bank and Trust, Asia Pacific. Shen’s expertise sits in Emerging Markets trading and operations. He was extensively engaged in setting up China Stock Connect, Bond Connect, CIBM Direct related RMB-FX settlement and hedging solutions. He also set up the FX Sales & Trading business in China for State Street Global Markets in 2021. Shen took the lead in growing State Street’s FX market access in Korea, Taiwan, India, and Vietnam.
Prior to his current position, Shen has held eFX, FX Options trading, and FX research roles in Boston, London, Sydney, and Hong Kong. He has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from The University of Chicago, and a Mater Degree in Quantitative Finance from Bentley University.

Suprita Vohra is a Managing Director at Barclays Bank, based in Singapore, heading their Risk Solutions Group for South East Asia & Australia.

She has spent two exciting decades in financial markets, helping global corporates and institutions navigate their FX & Rates hedging needs.

Having spent her early years with HSBC and Citi, she has called Barclays home for 16 years, building and leading several businesses across Markets and Banking.

Being passionate about continuous learning, she completed her PhD in Finance in 2019 while working, and has published two behavioral finance papers co-authored with Dr. Frank J. Fabozzi, in Journal of International Money and Finance, and Journal of Derivatives.  

Diwakar Verma is based in Hong Kong and currently holds the position of Director, Investment Advisory at Bank of Singapore. Diwakar has been actively involved in multi asset classes advisory and investment solution generation for Non–resident Indian and International Private Banking segment spread across the globe. Diwakar has held Senior Investment Advisory positions in Private Banking organizations like Union Bancaire Privee, RBS Coutts and Citibank in various locations like Hong Kong, Singapore and India. Diwakar is a CFA charterholder ( awarded  by CFA institute, USA).  Diwakar has also obtained MBA qualification from Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University (India) and Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering, Delhi University (India). 

• 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.

Angelina is Senior Advisor to IMC Asia Pacific, a leading global market making and proprietary trading firm. She has previously held Senior Management and Directorate positions with international digital asset exchanges, HKEX, Cantor Fitzgerald, the SFC, and other global financial services companies. She is also the Managing Director of Stratford Finance Limited, a consulting company focused on dealing with regulatory and operational issues in the financial services and digital assets sectors and advises brokerages, fund managers, and technology providers.

Angelina is currently the Chair of The Women’s Foundation and serves on a number of Hong Kong Government appointed Boards and charities, including the New Business Committee of the Financial Services Development Council, Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute, the Ebenezer School for the Blind, the University of Wollongong and is an Honorary Adjunct Professor of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, School of Accounting and Finance. Angelina is a Certified Public Accountant in the United States, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand and is a graduate of the University of Southern California. Her MBA is from Pepperdine University, LLB from HKU/Manchester Metropolitan University, and LLM from Harvard Law School.

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.

Prior to joining the crypto asset management industry, Cici had over 10 years of institutional banking career, specifically in Investment Banking, FI & FX trading across 4 continents.

Cici has been following blockchain technology since 2018 combined with her ESG knowledge from the recent assignment at BNP Paribas in 2021, she has a unique perspective on crypto assets as tools to enable UN Sustainable Development Goals.

She is also an ardent advocate for Blockchain applications in philanthropic management at the Association of Family Office in Asia.