Vietnam's robust initiatives towards post-pandemic economic recovery

Gunneet Singh
Head of Products, Payments and Customer Engagement, Ubank

Gunneet Singh is a retail banking business head with over 20 years of experience in diverse economies spanning the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Asia Pacific regions. He has developed a strategic roadmap throughout his career and implemented short and long-term strategies to achieve business growth and economic progress. He joined Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) in July 2013 as head of consumer lending. In 2015 he was the head of cards business. In 2020 he held the position head of products, payments, and customer engagement at Ubank, a new digital bank powered by FECredit and VPBank. He was the head of direct sales and marketing at Vietnam Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MSB) and business head of consumer cards in American Express Banking Corporation (AMEX).

Bryan Carroll
Founder and CEO TNEX Digital Bank

Bryan Carroll has extensive banking and digital experience in Europe, Russia, Middle East, US and Asia. He held senior roles at Rabobank International, Alfa-Bank Russia, Bank of Ireland, Royal Bank of Scotland, MSB Bank Vietnam, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and Ernst & Young, among others. He began his digital career in 1994 and over the years has received industry recognition for the expansion of digital only banking, digital transformation, data science, digital marketing, infosec, and enterprise architecture. He has helped co-found three fintechs and currently sits on the board of two fintech firms, namely Xtremepush, based in Ireland, and adprov.io based in the US.

Augustine Wong Kok Seng
Chief Information Officer (CIO) Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VPBank)

Augustine Wong Kok Seng has a wealth of experience in information technology in both applications and infrastructure spanning some more than 30 years in the banking and retail industry. In 2014, he was vice president global technology services at DFS. He has worked for some of Asia’s leading banks and organisations, namely Standard Chartered Bank, DBS Bank (Singapore), and IBM. In 2019, he was appointed chief information officer of Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VPBank). He leads efforts to develop a comprehensive digital transformation strategy and architectural roadmap for the bank. He is focused on guiding VPBank to achieve its digitalisation goals. Under his leadership, VPBank enhanced its system capabilities, stability, and security in the last two years. This set a strong core foundation platform to onboard a number of key digital initiatives including open banking API, e-wallets, digital customer journey experience (for retail and corporate customers), digital cards, and new mobile app VPO for customers, to name a few.

Pham Duc An
Chairman, Vietnam Banks Association (VNBA) and Chairman, Board of Directors, Agribank

Pham Duc An was elected chairman of the Vietnam Banks Association (VNBA) at the 7th Vietnam Banks Association Conference in December 2020. An has more than 25 years of extensive experience in the banking sector. He held key positions in different banks in Vietnam. He started his banking career in 1994 as an officer in the legal department of Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV). He worked 20 years at BIDV and served in diverse senior management positions such as chief of legal department, director in BIDV branch, and deputy chief executive officer in 2011 until mid-2014. He was also appointed as the general director of the Vietnam-Russian Joint Venture Bank in 2012. In mid-2014, An was appointed vice chairman of the board of directors of Agribank, the position he held until end of 2018. He is currently chairman of the board of directors of Agribank. An held the position of director general of the State Bank of Vietnam (central bank of Vietnam) from early 2019 until he was appointed chairman of Agribank.

Hu Jie, Professor of Practice, Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Hu Jie has been invited to share his view on the impact of digital currency on cross-border trade and the foreign exchange market. He is currently the professor of practice at the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF). His research interests coverfintech, financial institutions and financial markets. He is leading a project on the application of blockchain technology on supply chain finance. Professor Hu formerly worked at the US Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta as a senior financial economist, responsible for research into finance and economics as well as monetary policy analysis and recommendations. Thereafter, he worked in senior management roles in various FIs and technology companies, including Bankers Trust (Hong Kong), BankBoston, Precom and f Xunlei.

Robert Koopman，Chief Economist and Director, Economic Research and Statistics Division, World Trade Organization

Robert Koopman has been invited to give the keynote speech on the international trade and global economic outlook as well as the realignment of globalisation in a post-pandemic world. He is the chief economist and director of the economic research and statistics division at the World Trade Organization. In this post, he provides the secretariat and member countries with analysis and information to deeply understand trade and trade policy's role in economic growth and development.Prior to this, Koopman served as the chief operating officer of the United States International Trade Commission (USITC), overseeing the Commission’s trade policy research and negotiation assistance to the President, the US Trade Representative and Congress.

Cliff Wu, Chief Executive Officer, Suoxinda

Cliff Wu has been invited to speak on how artificial intelligence can drive the financial services industry and would it become a new normal. He is the CEO of Souxinda Holdings Limited (Souxinda). With over 20 years of experience in big data management and applications, he leads the team to help customers create higher value from massive data. Prior to joining Suoxinda in 2019, Wu served as head of Greater China for three global technology companies, including SAS, FICO and Teradata.

Yao Huiya, Head, Fintech Innovation, WeBank

Yao Huiya has been invited to speak on how to build an open financial system with blockchain. He is currently the head of fintech innovation at WeBank and deputy secretary general of Financial Blockchain Shenzhen Consortium (FISCO).Yao is a veteran of fintech and digital banking, with extensive experience in banking transformation following a proliferation of newdigital technologies.Prior to joining WeBank, he held senior positions at a number of financial institutions, including the head of channels and cards technology at Citibank China, the head of technology and operation service management at UOB China as well as the deputy general manager and director of operation and technology at a financial holding group.

Harley Seyedin, President, Allelon Energy Partners; President, American Chamber of Commerce in South China

Harley Seyedin has been invited to speak on cross-border trade, investment and supply chains in a post-pandemic world and how the world will work together to tackle the challenges. As thepresident of American Chamber of Commerce in South China,he has led the growth of the Chamber from 211 members to over 2,300. Seyedin is also the president of Allelon Energy Partners.Prior to this position, hewas thepresident of Sithe Global Pacific and served as vice chairman for US-China economic and trade policy of the Asia Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce.

Tu Guangshao, Executive Director, Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Former Vice Chairman and President, China Investment Corporation

Tu Guangshao has been invited to give the keynote speech on the comprehensively deepening reform of the Chinese financialsector for an open global economy. He is currently the executive director of Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance and the adjunct professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Prior to this,professor Tu has served successively as the deputy director of the national financial market's quotation and trading information system centre of People's Bank of China, general manager of Shanghai Stock Exchange, secretary general and vice chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission, vice mayor and executive vice mayor of Shanghaiand vice chairman and general manager of China Investment Corporation.

Qamar Saleem, Regional Manager, Advisory Services, Financial Institutions Group for Asia and Pacific; and Global Lead for SME and Supply Chain Finance Practice, International Finance Corporation (IFC)

Qamar Saleem has been invited to share his perspectives on how fintech can become a driving force to solve SMEs’ financing problems.In his current role, Saleem heads IFC’s Financial Institutions Group’s advisory services business, spanning across nearly 40 countries, covering over 200 financial sector clients and providing technical support across 10 thematic areas. He is also a micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) banking and supply chain finance (SCF) expert and has played leadership roles in driving up these businesses for financial institutions globally. Qamar has over 27 years of experience in diverse commercial banking and business transformation initiatives globally. Prior to joining IFC, he was associated with international organizations like HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank and Deutsche Bank.

Yang Yanqing, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, China Business News

Yang Yanqing is the deputy editor-in-chief of China Business News, managing director of Yicai Think Tank and host and commentator at Yicai TV. For decades, she has been writing in columns as well as hosting in-depth programmesand interviews with top global statesmen, economists, policy makers and business leaders.As a media leader, she attends and moderates sessions in prominent global and domestic events, including the World Economic Forum, International Monetary Fund annual meetings, Lujiazui Forum, China Development Forum and Boao Forum among others.She also leads research projects, including the China Financial Risk & Stability Report,China’s Financial Cycle,Regulation on Fintech and Digital Currency, Impact of COVID-19 on global and China’s economy and financial marketsand many others.

Hu Qinghua, Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer, China Minsheng Bank

Hu Qinghua has been invited to share his view on how to manage risk for the healthy development of financial institutions. He is currently the executive vice president and chief risk officer of China Minsheng Bank.Hehas been with the bankfor over 20 yearsand has successively served as the vice president of Nanjing Branch and Fuzhou Branchas well as the president of Chengdu Branch, Nanjing Branch, Shanghai Branch and Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone Branch. Prior to joining China Minsheng Bank, he workedat Jiangsu Branch of the People’s Bank of China and Huaxia Bank.

Xin Zhiyunhas, Chief Risk Officer and Chief Information Officer,
GF Securities

Xin Zhiyunhas been invited to share his view on the identification,control and management of risks in fintech. He is currently the chief risk officer and chief information officer at GF Securities. Prior to joining the securities company, Xin wasaboard memberat Essence Capital. He was also the vice president, chief risk officer, chief compliance officer and head of finance at Essence Securities. He successively served various posts at China Securities Regulatory Commission, including the deputy director of the information centreas well as deputy director of the general office and the director of the audit office of the institutional supervision department.

Edmond Lau, Senior Executive Director,
Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA)

Edmond Lau has been invited to give a keynote speech onthe Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s (HKMA) effort in stabilising the market since the outbreak of COVID-19 and the consistent support to the development of fintech. He is currently responsible for the external affairs, financial infrastructure and research at HKMA. He joined the organisation in 1997 as the head of the banking development division and has been involved in banking reform and the establishment of thedeposit protection scheme. He servedas the administrative assistant to the chief executive of HKMA after aone-year secondment to the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau. Later, he was promoted toexecutive director in charge of strategy, risk and monetary management. He has also been the chief executive of HKMC Annuity.

ZhouZhihan, General Manager, Kaixin Financial

Zhou Zhihan has been invited to share his view on the critical importance of supply chain financing to SME expansion. He is currently the general manager and leading founder of Kaixin Financial. Zhou also serves as the vice chairperson of the Jiangsu Internet Finance Association and theexecutive director of the Internet Society of Jiangsu Province. Prior to this, hewas the director of the planning and development department of Jiangsu Branch of China Development Bank. He has been engaged in innovation in small and micro financial services for a long period of time and has published more than 10 research papers in top academic journals,including China Finance and China Industrial Economics.

Jay Xiao CEO, LexinFintech

Jay Xiao has been invited to share his view on how fintech is transforming consumer behaviour and consumption patterns. He is the founder, chairman and CEO of LexinFintech,anonline consumption and consumer finance platform for educated young professionals in China. Xiao has accumulated over 10 years of experience in the online finance industry. Prior to founding LexinFintech, he served as the director of the infrastructure platform department at Tenpay, an online payment platform owned by Tencent, and was responsible for product development and operations.

Chris Georgiou, Editor, The Asian Banker