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Programme

Date

31/05/2022

Time

14:00 - 17:20 CET

14:00 - 14:10

Introduction and welcome

Petr Koblic

President, FESE; Chair and CEO, Prague Stock Exchange

biography

Petr Koblic began his career in investment banking in 1993. He served at middle management level and later top management level in number of domestic and international investment banks.

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. At group level he is Member of the Board of Vienna Stock Exchange. In 2018, Peter was elected President of FESE, and in 2019, was selected as a member of the High Level Forum on the Capital Markets Union.

During his career, Petr has also been 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 Chairman of the Czech Investor Compensation Fund.

Oleh Shamshur

Ambassador of Ukraine to the Kingdom of Belgium

biography

Ambassador Shamshur graduated from T. Shevchenko Kyiv University, Department of International Relations and International Law in 1978. He has a Ph. D. in History and is an author of over 80 scientific publications.

In 1978 he started his professional career at the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine where he worked at the Institutes of Social and Economic Problems of Foreign Countries and World Economy and International Relations, including in 1984-1989 as Director of Programs of ISCPFC. In 1992-1993 he was a visiting scholar at University College London. Since 1993 he has worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, being posted to Geneva (counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Ukraine) and Brussels (deputy chief of Mission at the Ukrainian Embassy to the Benelux countries). He served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (2004-2005), being Ukrainian chief negotiator of the Ukraine-EU Action plan, and Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States (2005-2010) and France (2014-2020). Prior to his appointment as Ukraine’s Ambassador to France Oleh Shamshur was serving as a Senior Advisor to PBN Hill and Knowlton Strategies, as a non-resident Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and as a Senior Advisor to the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council.

He also worked (1996-1998) as Deputy Head of the National committee for nationalities and migration of Ukraine and member of the presidential commission for citizenship of Ukraine.

Before his appointment as Ambassador of Ukraine in Belgium he had worked as political and business consultant, and had been non-resident senior fellow of the Atlantic Council of the United States.

14:10 - 14:25

Keynote speech

Mairead McGuinness

European Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union

biography

Mairead McGuinness is the European Commissioner for financial services, financial stability and Capital Markets Union. 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 an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and commentator.

14:25 - 15:25

Panel | Sustainable finance - transitioning to a green economy

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive aims to make it clearer for companies to fulfil the ESG metrics. However, it brings some challenges. Will the European Single Access Point (ESAP) contribute to alleviating these challenges or will it bring additional complexity? What benefits will the EU Green Bond Standard bring to issuers and investors? The proposal on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence was presented in February after many postponements – what are the key priorities and challenges?

Sponsored by

Panellists

Julie Becker

CEO, Luxembourg Stock Exchange

biography

Julie Becker has been at the helm of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) since April, 2021. She joined LuxSE in 2013 and was appointed to its Executive Committee two years later, before being named Deputy CEO in 2019.

Her career in the financial sector in Luxembourg spans over two decades and includes positions at the Central Bank of Luxembourg and Dexia. In 2016, Julie Becker founded the Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX), the world’s leading platform for sustainable securities. A recognised expert in the field of sustainable finance, Julie Becker has represented LuxSE and LGX at numerous, international expert forums and conferences over the past years, including at the prestigious EU High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance from 2016-2018. She is also the Chair of LuxCMA, a capital markets industry association established in 2019.

Julie Becker specialises in regulatory and legal matters linked to capital markets. She holds a master’s degree in European & Corporate Law and a Master Degree (DEA) in Private Law from the University of Nancy II, France. She is also an alumna of the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Ben Granje

CEO, Vlaamse Federatie van Beleggers (VFB)

biography

Ben Granjé holds a Master of Psychology and is the owner of Becononmics, a consulting firm dedicated to Investor Education and Behaviour. Currently, he serves as CEO for the Individual Investor Federation in Belgium, VFB (Vlaamse Federatie van Beleggers). Ben holds several mandates in the sustainable investment area, such as the Advisory Committee to the Central Labeling Agency of TowardsSustainability (the Belgian ESG fund label), and the H2020-Level EEI project time and advisory council (led by 2Degrees Investment Initiative for the EU). In 2022, he was appointed to the ESMA Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group.

Prior experience includes over a decade at Morningstar, a stint with an AM/fund company and several years in banking/investment advisory roles.

Granjé is co-author of several investment books and an international speaker at investment conferences.

Saskia Slomp

CEO, European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG)

biography

Saskia Slomp was appointed EFRAG CEO from 1 April 2019 responsible for the operations, finance, governance and administration of EFRAG, relations with stakeholders and the European institutions and the activities oriented at users. She is also directly involved in the European Lab, which was established by EFRAG in 2018 and in EFRAG’s sustainability reporting activities.

She has been Governance and Admin Director at EFRAG from 1 January 2010 until 31 March 2019. In this role, she supported the various governance bodies of EFRAG and was responsible for the user activities and outreach events, in addition to her responsibilities for human resources.

Until the end of 2009, she was Technical Director at FEE (now Accountancy Europe), one of the founding member organisations of EFRAG. She has been involved in EFRAG since its establishment. Within Accountancy Europe, she was responsible for financial reporting, company law, corporate governance, capital markets, SMEs, sustainability reporting and assurance and the public sector. In the beginning of her career, she worked with KPMG in The Netherlands. Saskia is a member of the Dutch NBA.

Luc Vansteenkiste

Chair, EuropeanIssuers

biography

Luc Vansteenkiste is the Chairman of EuropeanIssuers. He holds a Master in Chemical Engineering from the University of Louvain. He established his career with Recticel, where he became CEO in 1991 and later Vice President in 2010.

In addition to serving as Chairman of the Employer’s Federation of Belgium (FEB) from 2002 to 2005, he . Luc Vansteenkiste also has been the Chairman of Lannoo, Sioen, Smartphoto, Telindus and was member of the board of Delhaize, BNPP-F, Ter Beke, Bois Sauvage, CBR and BATC. He is currently member of the Board of SVK and member of the Sustainability Board of EFRAG.

Active in the economic reconversion Marshall Plan of the Walloon Region, his main focus is the promotion of entrepreneurship and job creation, which is why he endorses a stable and balanced regulatory framework.

Moderator

Sara Baldi

Senior Policy Manager, FESE

biography

Sara Baldi works as Senior Policy Manager at the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE). She is responsible for coordinating FESE’s positioning on all policy issues related to sustainable finance and benchmarks, derivatives and fixed income markets, and market abuse legislation. Overall, she actively contributes to FESE’s overarching strategy on how to promote an equity culture in Europe.

Sara has more than 10 years of professional experience in EU affairs for the financial sector. Prior to joining FESE, show worked at the Italian Consulate in Brussels and the Assemblée nationale in Paris.

Sara is an Italian national and holds a Master’s degree in European Studies from the University of Turin and the Institut d'études politiques de Paris, and a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies from the University of Turin. She also holds an Executive Master in International Association Management from the Solvay Brussels School. She speaks English, French, Spanish and Italian.

15:25 - 15:40

Keynote speech

Jean-Paul Servais

Chair, Financial Services and Market Authority (FSMA)

biography

Jean-Paul Servais is the Chairman of the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA). He is also Vice chairman of IOSCO Board, as well as Chairman of the IOSCO European Regional Committee, the IOSCO SPACS Network, the Audit Committee of IOSCO and the IFRS Foundation Monitoring Board. He is also co-Chair of the Monitoring Group and a board member of several international supervisory bodies for the financial sector: IOSCO, ESMA and ESRB.

He teaches at ULB where he is also the deputy director of its special Master in Tax Law and Professor of LL.M. « International Business Law ». He is author or co-author of numerous contributions in particular in areas of relevance to the FSMA's activities and the academic and scientific activities undertaken at the ULB.

15:40 - 16:40

Panel | CMU - creating momentum to empower European companies and retail investors

These are momentous times for Europe, geopolitically, environmentally, and economically. If we are to secure Europe’s competitiveness, through sustainable and inclusive growth, we must pick up the pace and strengthen the Capital Markets Union (CMU). What is the best way to contribute to the listing of European companies, from large caps to SMEs? What will best provide investment opportunities to all investors? How can Europe incentivise and increase retail participation in particular?

Sponsored by

Panellists

Anthony Attia

Vice President, FESE; Global Head of Primary Markets and Post Trade, Euronext

biography

Anthony Attia is Global Head of Primary Markets and Post Trade. In this capacity, he oversees Euronext’s Equity, Debt and Fund listing franchise and the Corporate Services business, as well as Clearing, Custody and Settlement activities at Group level. This includes direct responsibility for Euronext Securities regrouping four European CSDs and Euronext Clearing, the Italian Clearing House. Prior to that, Mr Attia also served as Chairman and CEO of Euronext Paris from 2014 to 2021.

In 2016, he was appointed Global Head of Listing, in charge of IPOs as well as the development of business with Euronext listed companies across Europe. Key successful initiatives include the launch of a European Tech Leaders initiative focusing on technology companies and the creation of a Corporate Services business. In addition, he has led the successful development of Euronext’s Optiq® trading platform from 2017 to 2019. From 2009 to 2013, based in New York, he served as Senior Vice-President and Chief of Staff at NYSE Euronext. Areas of responsibilities included strategy, technology and integration. In 2004, he was appointed as Executive Director, Head of Operations for Euronext. At the creation of Euronext in 2000, he was the Program Director for the integration of the French, Belgian and Dutch exchanges. Mr Attia began his career in the Paris stock Exchange in 1997.

Mr Attia is a member of the Board of Euronext Dublin and serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Elite Spa and Liquidshare SA. He is also the Vice-President of FESE, the Federation of European Securities Exchanges. He also served on the Boards of Euroclear Holding and LCH SA.

In 2020, he was recognised by Business Insider as one of 100 people transforming business, driving change and innovation in their companies and across industries. He holds an Engineering degree in computer science, applied mathematics and finance.

Ondřej Kovařík

Member of the European Parliament, ECON Committee

biography

Ondřej Kovařík is a Czech Member of the European Parliament sitting in the Renew Europe Political Group. He is a member of the ECON Committee, and in that capacity is the Chairman of the Working Group for Access to Finance for SMEs. He also sits on two further committees - the TRAN committee and the LIBE committee. His portfolio extends from transport and tourism, to border management, research and the practical use of new technologies, for example those based on artificial intelligence, and broader access and use of digital finance for businesses and consumers.

Ondřej is the Renew Europe spokesperson and the Group’s lead negotiator in the ECON Committee on the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation. He was also a Rapporteur on Digital Markets Act in the LIBE committee. He is currently working on several files across his committees on energy taxation as well as the Social Climate Fund.

In terms of legislation, his current principal area of focus is the digital world, particularly the increasing digitalisation of the economy, as it recovers from the Covid pandemic. In 2020 he was Rapporteur on the Parliament’s legislative initiative report giving Recommendations to the Commission on ‘Digital Finance: emerging risks in crypto-assets - regulatory and supervisory challenges in the area of financial services, institutions and markets’.

He has also been negotiated a number of pieces of legislation as part of building up Europe’s Capital Markets and moving towards a Capital Markets Union. Finally, he led the Parliament's work on a number of tax-related files, including elements of the new EU VAT regime, such as modernising e-Commerce rules that are part of a package of new VAT measures now coming into force across the EU.

Tatyana Panova

Head of Unit - Capital Markets Union, DG FISMA, European Commission

biography

Tatyana Panova is the Head of the Capital Markets Union Unit in DG FISMA. Prior to this, Tatyana headed another unit in DG FISMA and served in the private office of Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis where she was responsible for Capital Markets Union, securities markets, asset management, insurance, free movement of capital and competition. Before joining the Cabinet, Tatyana was a Deputy Head of the Securities Unit in DG FISMA.

In her previous jobs, Tatyana coordinated the preparation of ECOFIN, COREPER II and Economic and Financial Committee in DG MARKT and managed aviation anti-trust cases in DG COMP.

Tatyana is a trained economist with specialisation in financial services.

Guillaume Prache

Managing Director, BETTER FINANCE

biography

Guillaume Prache is the Managing Director of BETTER FINANCE, the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users. He is also one of the experts representing financial services users at the European Commission (lately as member of the High Level Forum on the CMU), at ESMA (Securities & Markets Stakeholder Group), at EIOPA (Insurance and Reinsurance Stakeholder Group), and at the French financial regulator AMF. He has been the first chair of the ESMA Stakeholder Group, and former vice chair of the European Commission’s FSUG (Financial Services User Group) and member of the EIOPA Pensions and EBA Banking Stakeholder Groups.

He started as a magistrate at the French Court of Auditors, and has an extended and international experience in financial matters, most recently as Chief Financial Officer of Rhône-Poulenc Rorer, Inc., a “Fortune 500” publicly-listed pharmaceutical company (today Sanofi) from 1997 to 2000, and then as Managing Director of the European affiliate of the Vanguard Group, Inc., a global leader in asset management, from 2000 to 2006.

He has taught asset management for the CIWM (Certified International Wealth Manager) program and wrote two books (Politique économique contemporaine in 1989, Les Scandales de l’épargne retraite in 2008) and various articles on economics and finance.

Moderator

David Wright

Chair, Eurofi

biography

After graduating from Worcester College, Oxford in 1974 in politics, economics and philosophy (PPE), David worked for nearly 34 years in the European Commission. He held a variety of posts including responsibility for oil and gas data in the Statistical Office, Luxembourg (1977-1981) during the second oil crisis; energy policy coordination and modelling in the Directorate General for Energy, Brussels (1982-1987); and industrial trade policy negotiations during the Uruguay multilateral trade round (1987-1989).
From 1989-1992 he was a member of President Delors' "Think Tank" where he worked on industrial policy and wrote the first Commission document on sustainable development. In this period he co-authored a book with Professor Alexis Jacquemin on the post-1992 EU political and economic agenda called "Shaping factors, shaping actors".

From 1993-1994 he was a member of Sir Leon Brittan’s Cabinet and worked on various aspects of trade and industrial policy, including completion of the Uruguay Round in 1994. In 1995 he became an Adviser to President Jacques Santer in his Cabinet – covering a wide range of financial, industrial, trade and foreign policy briefs. Subsequently he became first Director, then Deputy Director-General for securities and financial markets, then for all financial services policy in DG Internal Market and Services. He helped design and drive forward the Financial Services Action Plans to integrate the EU's capital and financial services markets. He was the rapporteur for both the Lamfalussy (2000/1) and De LaRosière Committees (2008/9), chaired the Securities and Banking Committees and represented the Commission in the Financial Services Committee and in various FSB/G20 fora.

He was the EU Visiting Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford until July 2011 and was a Member of the European Commission's Task force on Greece until the end of January 2012. After a four-year term as Secretary General of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), David is now the Chairman of Eurofi and a partner at Flint-Global in London.

16:40 - 17:00

Fireside chat | Digital transformation

Challenging established structures and thinking, the digital transformation is having profound consequences for the financial services industry, with policymakers striving to ensure Europe’s competitiveness on digital assets. How can we build the bridge between the traditional financial services and a rapidly evolving digital asset ecosystem? How to bring light to a crypto market that has traditionally run unregulated and OTC? What are the pros and cons of using regulated financial infrastructures for digital assets? Which regulatory gaps still need to be filled by policymakers?

Speakers

Jan Ceyssens

Head of Unit - Digital Finance, DG FISMA, European Commission

biography

Jan Ceyssens is Head of the “Digital Finance” Unit in the Directorate General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union at the European Commission. He was previously Member and Deputy Head of the Cabinet of Vice President Dombrovskis and Member of the Cabinet of Vice-President Barnier, and Team Leader for Financial Supervision at the European Commission's Internal Markets and Services Directorate General.

He graduated in law from Humboldt University in Berlin and holds a Masters degree in European Law from King's College London.

He has been working at the European Commission since 2006, initially in the Directorate General for Competition's Cartels enforcement Directorate and since 2009 in the Internal Markets and Services Directorate General.

David Newns

Head - SIX Digital Exchange, SIX Group

biography

David Newns was made Head SIX Digital Exchange in October 2021 with a mandate to lead SDX in building the next generation fully regulated digital market infrastructure and establish SDX as a leader in global institutional Digital Assets and Cryptocurrency services.

David is an entrepreneur and financial services professional with over 20 years of experience in capital markets. Prior to SDX, he was Senior Managing director at State Street and Global Head of GlobalLink Execution Services. In this role he was responsible for the award winning Currenex and FX Connect independent multi-asset class trading platform businesses.

Previously, David was Global Head of Currenex and SwapEx. Before that, he held the roles of Chief Operating Officer for State Street Global Exchange Trading & Clearing and State Street eExchange EMEA.

In 2001 David joined Currenex as a founding member of Currenex's London operation. Before joining Currenex, David held several positions in technical services at MicroStrategy, a leading global provider of enterprise software platforms for business intelligence.

Moderator

Rainer Riess

Director General, FESE

biography

Rainer Riess is Director General of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE) and an independent advisor to exchanges and financial services companies with more than 30 years of experience in the global exchange industry. He is also Vice Chair of the Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group (SMSG) which provides ESMA with opinions and advice on its policy work.

For many years, he served as Vice Chairman of the Board of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and was responsible for the cash market business of Deutsche Börse AG. During his career at Deutsche Börse, he created and managed markets, drove changes in European corporate governance and accounting practice, financial market regulation and supervision of market player. Major initiatives include running the cash market in a competitive MiFiD environment and financial market crises, the creation of DTB Deutsche Terminbörse / Eurex, developing European primary markets (Neuer Markt, indices, corporate governance and regulation), the launch of the Xetra electronic trading system and the CCP as well as the creation of the European ETF and structured products markets.

He is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the English Theatre Frankfurt and several charitable organisations. He holds a Master in Economics from Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt and an MBA from the University of Miami (Fulbright Scholar).

17:00 - 17:15

FESE De la Vega Prize giving

Each year since 2000, the FESE De la Vega Prize has been awarded to a young scholar for an outstanding research paper on financial markets. The Prize particularly values papers about current developments in European financial markets which promote public markets. The author(s) of the best paper, as decided by an impartial jury, will be awarded the Prize for 2022 - with attendant winnings of 5,000 EUR - and given the opportunity briefly to present their paper.

Winners

Samuel Hartzmark

Associate Professor of Finance, University of Chicago Booth School of Business

biography

Samuel M. Hartzmark studies asset pricing and behavioral finance. His research has appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, the Journal of Financial Economics, the Quarterly Journal of Finance, and the Review of Asset Pricing Studies. He has received a number of awards including the DFA prize for best asset pricing paper published in the Journal of Finance, the Exeter prize (the first finance paper to win), the AQR Insight Award, best paper Utah Winter Finance Conference, the Jack Treynor prize, the Research Affiliates Best Paper Award, the Moskowitz Prize, the BNP Paribas Best Paper Award, the Charles Brandes Prize, Best Paper in the Review of Asset Pricing Studies, 2nd prize Fama-DFA award for best paper in asset pricing research in the Journal of Financial Economics, the Hillcrest Behavioral Finance Award in 2015 and 2018, the UBS Global Asset Management Award, the Michael J. Barclay young scholar award, the SIX Best Paper Award Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, and he was a finalist for the 2014 AQR Insight award. His work has been covered by a variety of media outlets including CNBC, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg among others.

Hartzmark holds a PhD from Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, a MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA in mathematics/economics (summa cum laude) with a double major in religion from Emory University.

David Solomon

Associate Professor of Finance, Boston College Carroll School of Management

biography

David Solomon is an Associate Professor of Finance and David. J. Mastracola Faculty Fellow at the Boston College Carroll School of Management. He previously taught at the University of Southern California. Prior to that he did his PhD at the University of Chicago, and his undergraduate and honors studies at the University of Western Australia, where he was Valedictorian. His research has been published in a number of top finance and economics journals, including the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, and Review of Financial Studies. It focuses primarily on behavioral finance, at the intersection of psychology and financial markets. His recent work has studied how people think about their investment performance, and the impact of this on trading and asset prices. In his spare time, he enjoys lifting weights, squash, playing the banjo, and reading old books.

17:15 - 17:20

Session 1 wrap-up

Rainer Riess

Director General, FESE

biography

Rainer Riess is Director General of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE) and an independent advisor to exchanges and financial services companies with more than 30 years of experience in the global exchange industry. He is also Vice Chair of the Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group (SMSG) which provides ESMA with opinions and advice on its policy work.

For many years, he served as Vice Chairman of the Board of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and was responsible for the cash market business of Deutsche Börse AG. During his career at Deutsche Börse, he created and managed markets, drove changes in European corporate governance and accounting practice, financial market regulation and supervision of market player. Major initiatives include running the cash market in a competitive MiFiD environment and financial market crises, the creation of DTB Deutsche Terminbörse / Eurex, developing European primary markets (Neuer Markt, indices, corporate governance and regulation), the launch of the Xetra electronic trading system and the CCP as well as the creation of the European ETF and structured products markets.

He is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the English Theatre Frankfurt and several charitable organisations. He holds a Master in Economics from Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt and an MBA from the University of Miami (Fulbright Scholar).