Speakers
AML & KYC APAC

Alexander R. Malaket, CITP, CTFP, GTP-E, is President of OPUS Advisory Services International Inc., Toronto, Canada, as well as Partner at ESG Validation Ltd., London, UK and Founding Partner, Prism Global Partners LLP, London, UK. Activities across the firms focus on trade, logistics and supply chain, trade-related financing and risk, as well as trade-related policy and international development, in addition to sustainability and ESG in trade, capital markets and policy. Alexander advises several FinTech start-ups around the world, and engages in top-level advocacy through the UN, the B20/G20 processes, the WTO and other organisations.

Alexander undertakes a range of advisory engagements from global strategy to technology, operating model and business case analysis to business process reviews, AML/CFT and financial crime compliance and related. Malaket has researched and authored thought leadership reports, program assessments and reviews, public and international policy reports and has participated in or chaired numerous international initiatives for industry bodies and other institutions.

Mr. Malaket is an internationally recognized expert, contributing regularly to industry publications. Alexander speaks and chairs panels at top-tier conferences and events around the world and is the author of “Financing Trade and International Supply Chains”, Gower/Ashgate Publishing, UK 2014 (now Taylor & Francis, UK).

Ammar Azizi joined Bank Muamalat Malaysia in 2020 in the role of Head of AML/CFT Audit and is responsible in developing and executing an integrated and long-term strategy to provide the Bank with an independent and objective AML/CFT assurance, ensuring that the Bank’s first and second lines of defense is meeting its internal policies, procedures, controls, and risk limits.

Prior to joining Bank Muamalat Malaysia, Ammar has worked with Hong Leong Bank Berhad, RHB Bank Berhad, Prudential Assurance Malaysia Berhad, and the Securities Commission Malaysia. In these organisations he ran and led Customer Due Diligence (CDD) operations, AML/CFT Transactions Monitoring and Financial Crime Compliance Investigation. Ammar’s breadth of experience in the AML/CFT field includes leading innovation such as initiating and heading a team in On-going Due Diligence (ODD) project, commencing post submission process of Suspicious Transactions Reports and the creation of a specialized team that connects financial intelligence gathered from various sources to investigate complex and unique AML/CFT cases.

Mr. Ammar Azizi earned his Bachelor in Finance (Hons) from MARA University of Technology Malaysia, Advanced Certification in AML/CFT from Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers and International Diploma in AML/CFT from University of Manchester (in association with International Compliance Association).

Former Chief Marketing & Digital Officer Commonwealth Bank, Advisor to leading financial institutions worldwide. Today Andy leads digital and marketing for Dubber, working with financial services institutions and regulators worldwide to drive continuous compliance through unified call recording and voice data. 

Athreya is a Vice President at OCBC focusing on Compliance Transformation. He supports the Group Regulatory Compliance function and business units to drive ecosystems strategy, build partnership, and champion the change. 

In his 15 years of experience he has worked for the likes of KPMG, Standard Chartered Bank, RBS, and Citi, leading numerous regulatory initiatives in the areas of FCC, CTF, AML, KYC, CDD, Sanctions, FATCA provisions, CRS, PDPA, Basel III, and Dodd Frank. 

Avalon is currently the Head of Financial Crime Compliance & Data Experts APAC & MEIASC having re-joined SWIFT in 2019. In this role she is responsible for the adoption of portfolio products across ASEAN as well as community enrichment through educational engagements. She has 7 years’ experience in financial crime compliance having started her career at Dow Jones providing AML, Sanctions and ABC solutions to sub-Saharan Africa. Avalon initially joined SWIFT in 2016 working in the UKI & Nordic markets.

In the years away from SWIFT, she joined a Regtech startup that focused on elements of AI and Natural Language Processing delivering a multisource KYC platform to the banking sector. Avalon also sits on the board of the Regtech sub-committee of the Singapore Fintech Association.

Brett is the Sales Director, Jumio Advanced Technology leading the Americas team helping Financial Institutions implement technology solutions to manage AML, Risk & Compliance. Prior to that he was Sr. Risk Specialist & Head of Sales for the East for Alessa by Tier1 and prior to that was Sr. Risk Specialist for Refinitiv formerly the Financial & Risk division of Thomson Reuters- specializing in KYC and AML. He joined Thomson Reuters in 2015 and has since helped some of the largest Financial Institutions in the world solve their AML, governance, risk & compliance challenges. He brings with him 15 years of experience in enterprise risk management solutions from the technical and software side of the equation. 

Cengiz joined Fenergo in August 2021 to head up its Strategy Division. He brings with him a wealth of subject matter expertise across Commercial, Corporate, and Institutional banking in addition to Digital Strategy and Innovation experience across the Financial Services industry. He joins us from Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore, where he spent five years, most recently as Executive Director and Head of Product Management in the CCIB COO office. Prior to this Cengiz spent over six years across Hong Kong and London with HSBC holding several roles during his tenure, Including Business Management, and Global Product Manager for the GBM Client Management Group. Cengiz holds a BSc in Economics from the University of East Anglia.

Che Sidanius is the Global Head of Financial Crime & Industry Affairs at Refinitiv, an LSEG business. His role is to identify regulatory changes and lead programs of action with the sole purpose of enhancing the fight against financial crime more effective and delivering the best possible outcome for the industry. Together with the World Economic Forum and Europol, he’s the founder of the Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime.

Prior to joining Refinitiv, his work experiences include being a Senior Advisor to the Bank of England’s Financial Stability Directorate and previously a Senior Bank Examiner at the Federal Reserve Bank of NY. His most notable awards included receiving the Presidential Award for managing the 2007-09 Financial Crisis and a driving force behind Refinitiv’s Impact Company of the year award in 2019.

Che received his Master’s in International Affairs from the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University and undergraduate degree in Political Science from UC Berkeley in California.

Chon Yoong has joined Ant Group as an AML & Sanctions Expert in 2021, focusing on international AML and Sanctions business governance.

He used to be working in Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) over ten years for several units including business finance, global digital alliances and global personal & preferred segment. He has been focusing on performance management, retail product value propositions, mobile payment initiative partnered with listed telecommunication company and cost optimisation initiatives throughout Retail Bank, Private Banking and SME Segment. The last role was to lead project, process and governance team for various risk exposures including AML, Sanctions, FATCA, CRS, Tax Compliance, Fraud Risk, Cyber Security, Data Privacy and Operational Risk. His main objective is to ensure mentioned risk exposures are mitigated with automated systems and better monitoring processes.

Prior to joining SCB, Chon Yoong has worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) over four years as an external auditor covering several listed groups of companies in oil & gas, pipe lining, construction and property development industries.

Choon is the APAC and Middle East Head of subject matter expert team for Compliance Solutions in Moody’s Analytics. He is responsible for driving compliance related initiatives across Asia Pacific and Middle East. Choon is active in the compliance community in the public sectors, banking and corporate space and understands the emerging trends in combating financial crimes through these interactions.  

Choon acts as a consultant in helping fortune 500 clients in understanding the risk based approach to Anti-Money Laundering, and assist in data mapping workshops to operationise the use of MA information through the AML processes. His exerience helps client in building a holistic compliance risk framework to navigate through complex regulatory environments. 

Choon comes with over 15 years of experience in the enterprise software solution space and he has spent the last few years advising major financial institutions across Asia Pacific in AML, fraud and trade compliance. He is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and participates actively in leading financial crime conferences. 

Mr. Dante Fuentes is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Fraud Examiner, and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist with over 40 years banking experience and consultant of 3 banks and 1 fintech company. 

Dante is an Accredited Trainer on Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) and Terrorist Financing Prevention and Suppression Act (TFPSA) and other issuances of the Anti-Money Laundering Council holding a Certificate of Accreditation CRN AT-0007 and has lectured and acted as resource person in the countries of Bhutan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, and Thailand. 

He is the president of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners – Philippine Chapter since 2014 and a Senior Adviser of the Good Governance Advocates and Practitioners of the Philippines since 2013. Dante served as president of the Association of Bank Compliance Officers, Inc. (ABCOMP) from 2006 to 2018. He currently serves as one of the advisers to the Board of ABCOMP.  

Dante is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) based in Houston, Texas, USA; Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) based in Miami, Florida, USA; and Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. 

Dr Adrienne Heinrich received her M.Sc. degree in Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at the ETH in Zurich, Switzerland, and subsequently joined Philips Research in 2006. She obtained her PhD degree at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands in 2015. 

From 2012 to 2020, Adrienne has been leading AI and Machine Learning use cases for personal health and connected care products and services at Royal Philips. In 2020, she was appointed head of the AI Center of Excellence at UnionBank of the Philippines and is supporting UnionBank’s digital transformation journey. 

Eric is a Financial Crime Compliance expert and a Certified Public Accountant with the professional qualifications of CAMS, CAMLP and HKICPA in Hong Kong.  He has been working in the compliance and audit industry for more than 15 years, and taking various roles in country and regional roles in local and international banks.  Currently, he is the Head of FCC Controls at MOX Bank Limited, striving for an efficient and smart way to fight financial crimes through Regtech.

Grace Ho is currently overseeing the AML and Sanctions Program implementation within South East Asia region, and has Singapore Country MLRO oversight responsibility across multiple lines of businesses in Corporate and Investment Banking, Commercial Banking, Wealth Management, Asset Management and Trust.

Grace has close to 20 years of experience in Operations, Middle Office and Financial Crime Compliance with global financial institutions. Within Financial Crime Compliance, her experience spans across the full spectrum of AML/Sanctions/ABC framework, and has held regional leadership roles including Head of AML Monitoring and Investigations; Head of AML Advisory and APAC MLRO for Corporate Investment Banking and Wealth businesses.  

She is a current JPM representative with Singapore Association of Banks (ABS), and a working group member of 2015 MAS-ABS AML regulation revision and Singapore AML/CFT Industry Partnership (ACIP) – Trade Based Money Laundering. She is also actively engaged as a working member on the Asia Development Bank’s Trade Finance AML workgroup (SAR Feedback loop) in partnership with global regulators/financial institutions/international players.  

She holds a Bachelor of Business (Hons), and ICA Diploma in AML Compliance.

Henry Roxas is Head of Trade Finance at R3, responsible for business development, product and strategy. Over the last five years, Henry has played a key role in developing R3’s ecosystem of over 85 trade and supply chain business networks on Corda, R3’s enterprise blockchain platform. Henry currently chairs the Asia Pacific Financial Forum (APFF) TBML taskforce, a group responsible for researching and putting forth policy recommendations to the APEC Finance Ministers on areas to improve the effectiveness of combating TBML, in collaboration with UNESCAP, BAFT, ICC and others. 

Prior to R3, Henry has over 8 years of transaction banking and wealth management experience from several leading financial institutions, including ANZ and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. 

Hiroshi Ozaki, CAMS, Director, AML/CFT Policy Office, Strategy Development and Management Financial Services Agency, Japan Mr. Ozaki joined Financial Services Agency, Japan (“JFSA”) on February 1, 2018 as a Director of AML/CFT Policy Office which was newly established in the JFSA in February 2018 in order to enhance the control of risk of money laundering and terrorist financing (“ML/FT”) and establish a more effective regime to combat ML/FT in the Japanese financial industry. Prior to joining the FSA, Mr. Ozaki had been working for thirty years in private financial sector and public sectors in Japan and overseas. He was a General Manager of Financial Crime Prevention Department of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (“SMBC”) and began his career at the Mitsui Bank, currently SMBC, in 1988, where he served in various sections in domestic and overseas offices like New York, London and Dubai, in planning, marketing and compliance.

Mr. Ozaki earned his Master of Business Administration from Stern School of Business, New York University and Bachelor of Economics from the University of Tokyo, and he is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (“CAMS”). He is also the member of Japan Association of International Security and Trade, Chartered Member of the Securities Analysts Association of Japan, and Certified International Investment Analyst. 

Lee joined HSBC in the UK in 1997 and has since held several IT roles in the UK, Brazil, India and Hong Kong. Lee has been based in Hong Kong since June 2010 where his most recent role has been as the Head of Financial Crime Risk IT for Asia Pacific, the largest and most important region for HSBC Group. In this role, Lee was responsible for rolling out the compliance systems that helped HSBC meet its Deferred Prosecution Agreement commitments. Lee was also appointed as the Global Head of Anti-Money Laundering Technology for HSBC at the beginning of January 2018, in addition to his regional role.

Atty. Mel Georgie Racela is the Executive Director and head of the operational arm of the AMLC, executing the AMLC’s vision and ensuring sustainable reforms for the Secretariat, since 2017. Prior to this, he has been with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for 21 years, holding various positions in the areas of banking supervision, legal counselling, and litigation as well as financial investigation.

Atty. Racela contributed largely to legislative and regulatory framework developments, which filled critical gaps in the country’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) defense, such as Republic Act (RA) No.10927, known in local parlance as the casino law, and its Implementing Rules and Regulations; and RA No. 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, to name a few.

Further, under his supervision were the approval of the Second National Risk Assessment Report, which evaluated the overall threat and effectiveness of the Philippines’ AML/CTF mechanisms; and the approval of Executive Order No. 68 series of 2018 by the President, which embodies the country’s National AML/CTF Strategy (NACS).

He obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree from San Beda College and his Accounting degree from De La Salle University. He also holds a Master of Laws degree in International Legal Studies from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC, USA, where he graduated as a Dean’s Lister.  

Imran is a member of the Financial CrimesUnit under INTERPOL’s Criminal Networks Sub-directorate. He is responsible for coordinating cases relating to financial crime investigations and asset recovery matters with INTERPOL’s member countries. He speaks at various international fora and collaborates closely with other international partners for projects in the field of financial crime.

Prior to his stint at INTERPOL, Imranhadmore than 10years’experiencewith the Singapore Police Force (SPF), particularly in the field of financial investigation and financial intelligence at the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD). He has taken on various postings at CAD, including with the Suspicious Transaction Reporting Office (the FinancialIntelligence Unit of Singapore), the International Cooperation Branch and the Inter-Agency Committee for the Financial Action Task Force’s Mutual Evaluation of Singapore. He was also appointed as a trainer with the Home Team School of Criminal Investigation.

Imran currently holds a bachelor’s degree of Business from the Nanyang Technological University and a Postgraduate Diploma in Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Financing Terrorism (AML/CFT) from the International Compliance Association(ICA).

Neeraj is a Financial Crime Consultant working in OCBC for the Group functions focusing on Group Legal & Regulatory Compliance. He is responsible for providing solutions and assurance related to the AML ecosystem in the bank. 

In his 16 years of experience, he has worked with Bank of America, Citi, Discover Financial Services, Credit Agricole, leading various regulatory initiatives in the areas of FCC, CTF, AML, KYC CDD, Sanctions, FATCA, CRS & Fraud detection. 

He is a Certified Anti Money Laundering Specialist & Certified Product Owner.  

Noah has spent the last five years deploying graph technology & analytics at the core of an event-driven financial intelligence platform. He has more than a decade of experience in applied mathematics, data science, and technology in financial applications and worked for several years as a high-frequency trader, quant, and consultant in those fields where he delivered solutions to many Financial Services enterprises. He specialises in bringing multi-disciplinary and innovative technology-based solutions to challenging problematics, focusing on Analytics & Complex Systems in Financial Institutions and FinTech. 

Noah holds an MSc in Financial Markets from EDHEC Business School, an MBA and BBA from ESLSCA Business School and the equivalent to an MPS Software Architecture at the RNCP. He also passed more than 20 Certifications in AI/ML, Graph, data science, and technology. 

Olivia is currently the Director of Compliance & AML/CTF at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation based in Sydney. She is a seasoned compliance practitioner in the banking & finance industry holding professional qualifications: Dual-Qualified Lawyer (admitted in Australia, Hong Kong), Chartered Secretary, Chartered Governance Professional (FGIA FCG), LLM (European & Comparative Law), CAMS, CGSS, CFE, ACSI, IOC (UK).

She has a proven track record of proactive engagement with key financial services regulators and familiarity with cross-border regulations in the Asia-Pacific region: Australia (APRA, ASIC, AUSTRAC); Hong Kong (HKMA, SFC); Singapore (MAS).

Olivia is an advocate of global mindset with career footprint spanning international financial centres in Asia, Europe and Oceania including London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, Sydney, Amsterdam, Brussels.

Oonagh is an industry award-winning Compliance Officer based in Hong Kong, with over 19 years of experience in law and regulation, and a mother of two. 

She is recognised as a global compliance industry leader in promoting innovation, improved culture and providing access to affordable thought-provoking compliance training opportunities. 

She is the founder of RAW Compliance, a global compliance social enterprise, which provides free webinars, masterclasses, training and mentoring programmes to the compliance community. She is also the Managing Director of the global compliance consultancy firm Virtual Risk Solutions VRS, which supports FinTech and Crypto firms with regulatory licensing and the development of innovative, streamlined, agile and automated compliance risk frameworks. 

Passionate about improving risk typology detection on socially imperative issues such as Human Trafficking, Modern Day Slavery and Illegal Wildlife Trading, she is also involved in various industry working groups and public-private partnerships.

Prabhakar is an experienced financial crime leader, and a Chartered Accountant with 20 years of experience in financial crime, fraud investigations and fraud risk management. In his current role at ANZ Bank, he is a Lead Advisor to the KYC Centre of Expertise and advises on all matters KYC related including remediation projects, transformation projects, technology changes and major initiatives across the Australian Retail and Commercial (AR&C) Division for ANZ Bank. He also leads a team that manages KYC escalations and is responsible for building workforce capability across the AR&C Portfolio.  

He has significant experience and a keen focus in harnessing the power of big data and technology in preventing, detecting and responding to the scourge of financial crime and fraud. Previously in his role as a Director at KPMG Forensic, he has led large teams in managing several complex and sensitive fraud / financial crime engagements subject to media and regulatory scrutiny. 

Pradeep Kochar has 18+ years of experience in banking and financial services, spanning across FCC compliance, AML operations, Quality Assurance and client experience. Currently working with Citi as ISG – Global Head of Quality Assurance & Cross border clearances.

He manages 7 key functions across 100+ countries and covers the work of ~9000 employees. Pradeep is an expert on FCC control frameworks and successfully led implementation & validation of various regulatory projects.

Ravin Gill is the Senior Policy Advisor at Regulatory Body in Malaysia with several years of experience working on issues of anti-money laundering, terrorist financing, corporate policy, serious crime investigation, regulatory governance, and anti-corruption. Presently, she is member of the taskforce group focusing on the revision of FATF’s Recommendation 24 on beneficial ownership. She participated in the FATF’s PGD meetings on the revision to Recommendation 24 and its Interpretative Notes.

In 2010, she became the Head of AML/CFT policy group and Sub- Committee on Non-Profit Organisations. She was appointed for two terms as Co-Chair of APG Typologies Working Group and in 2011 was appointed as a Co-chair for Joint FATF/APG Typologies Workshop. She worked closely with APG Secretariat in developing the APG’s Typologies report on NPO Vulnerability. She has also worked closely with many other international organisations such as UNCTED, APEC and Global Center on Cooperative Security in various projects on Non-Profit Organisations Sector and Counter Terrorism Financing.

A lawyer by profession, Ms. Gill has nearly 20 years of experience in various capacity-building projects and has delivered hundreds of trainings in areas of corporate regulation (anti-money laundering, corporate governance, anti-corruption and ESG) policy and practice. Her prior work includes her involvement in developing legislation on beneficial ownership for the legal persons in Malaysia, assessing and evaluating the robustness of the policies. In her recent projects, she is conducting research on ESG and its impact on legal persons.

Richard is based in Sydney and leads the Refinitiv Risk Solutions Sales team in the Pacific region. He joined the firm in November 2014 and is responsible for all buyside, sellside and Corporate client engagements for our risk data, managed services and workflow solutions offerings.

Richard joined Thomson Reuters after spending many years in structured product, private equity and consulting. His experience included the development and implementation of KYC, AML & CTF processes and policies – as well as responsibility for managing his firms’ responses to banks’ and other counterparties’ requests for KYC data.

This inside view of the buyside and sell-side issues of KYC/AML/CTF regulations gives him a very practical approach to product and business development with Refinitiv.

Richard is a graduate of Macquarie University (BA Mass Comm) and has Diplomas in Financial Services and Export Management, and is a CAMS certified AML Specialist.

Sheetal Bhardwaj is a seasoned Risk & Compliance professional with over 19 years of hands-on experience managing successful Compliance Programs in the MENAT region. She is presently working with one of the largest banks in the New Zealand.  

She was an approved Compliance Officer & MLRO by the Central Bank of the UAE and Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). As a Subject-Matter Expert, she has served in leadership roles covering various aspects of Regulatory Compliance & Financial Crime Risk, including regulatory audits & thematic reviews. She is an Executive Board Member and Communication Director of ACFCS (Association of Certified Financial Crime Specialists, US), MENA Chapter. 

She is an MBA in Finance & a mathematical science graduate in statistics from the University of Delhi. She is a Certified Anti Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS), Certified Global Sanctions Specialist (CGSS), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), Certified Compliance Officer (CCO), along with certifications in Compliance & AML from CISI, UK & ICA Manchester Business School, Henley Business School. 

Sheetal is a well-known speaker and has delivered several speaking & training assignments in various forums, including at the University of Bradford and the University of Dubai. 

 She has also volunteered in the Government of India initiative, “Mentor of Change,” to educate children in rural areas of India.