European Anti-Financial Crime Summit 2025

BRUNA Szego was appointed Chair of the EU's new Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) by the European Council in January 2025.

She has been tasked with leading out Europe's mission to combat dirty money in the Union and beyond. Ms Szego was previously AML chief at Banca d'Italia.

AMLA based in Frankfurt will lead direct supervision of the Union's riskiest banks and oversee the operations of regulators and FIUs.

Originally from Savona on the outskirts of Genoa in northern Italy, Chair Szego studied law at the University of Rome.

She has served in a variety of prominent supervisory positions in the Bank of Italy, including in 2022 being appointed Head of the Anti-Money Laundering Supervision and Regulation Unit, reporting directly to the Governing Board.

In addition, Ms Szego has published articles and papers on her areas of interests, spoken at numerous conferences and appeared on behalf of the Bank at parliamentary hearings.

Ms Szego has been a member and President of Banca d'Italia's recruitment boards for new graduates.

Catherine De Bolle has been the Executive Director of Europol, the European Union agency responsible for coordinating law enforcement and combating cross-border crime, since 2018. In her role, she leads Europol in its mission to ensure the safety of EU citizens by promoting information exchange and cooperation between police forces in Member States.

Before taking up her position as Director of Europol in May 2018, Catherine De Bolle was Commissioner General of the Belgian Federal Police from 2012 to 2018. Before her appointment as Commissioner General, Mrs. De Bolle was Chief of Police of the local police zone Ninove. In January 2015 she received the title of Public Manager of the Year. From November 2015 to November 2018, she was a member of the Interpol Executive Committee.

Mrs. De Bolle studied law at Ghent University and subsequently graduated from the Royal Gendarmerie Academy in Belgium.

Paschal Donohoe is President of the Eurogroup and Minister for Finance, Ireland.

President Donohoe is one of the most-respected figures in global finance and is serving his second term as Minister for Finance in Ireland, being appointed on the formation of Ireland's new government earlier this year.

He was first elected President of the Eurogroup on 9 July 2020 and his two and a half year term was renewed in December 2022. It is reported he is seeking a third term as President of the group of Eurozone finance and economy ministers.

Up until January 2025, he served as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, responsible for delivering well-managed and well-targeted public spending, through modernised, effective and accountable public services.

His last term as Minister for Finance was June 2017 - December 2022.

From May 2016 - June 2020, he served as the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, and from July 2014 - May 2016, as the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. He also held the position of Minister for European Affairs at the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Foreign Affairs from July 2013 - July 2014.

Minister Donohoe was first elected as a TD in February 2011 for the Dublin Central constituency. Prior to this he was a member of Seanad Éireann, from 2007 - 2011. He also served as member of Dublin City Council from 2004 - 2007.

He was formerly the Chair of Ireland’s Future in Europe Oireachtas Sub-Committee, as well as a member of the Public Accounts Committee. He has also served as the Vice-Chair of the European Affairs Committee and, as a Senator, he served as a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport.

During his time as member of Dublin City Council, he served as Chair of the Environment & Engineering Strategic Policy Committee, as a member of the Corporate Policy Group and also as Chairman of the Central Area Committee.

Minister Donohoe is a graduate of the Trinity College Dublin, with a degree in Politics and Economics and he attended St. Declan’s CBS.

Avalon leads the APAC and MENA Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) Initiatives team at SWIFT, rejoining the organization in 2019.

With 12 years of experience in FCC, Avalon began her career at Dow Jones and now focuses on driving adoption of SWIFT’s value-added shared services in areas such as AML, CTF, and fraud prevention. She also facilitates community engagements and consultations designed to protect the financial system’s integrity against evolving financial crime threats.

During her time away from SWIFT, Avalon contributed to a RegTech startup specializing in AI and natural language processing, delivering a multi-source KYC platform for the banking sector. She also served on the board of the RegTech sub-committee of the Singapore FinTech Association (2020–2021) and is a frequent commentator at FCC industry events across the region.

Jaap is current the Head of the Detecting Financial Crime (DFC)  unit, which is ABN AMRO Bank’s 1LOD centre of excellence for financial crime risk management.

The DFC unit maintains and executes the standards, systems and operations for all financial crime risk management processes. Jaap joined ABN AMRO Bank as their Global Head, AML & Sanctions in April 2021.

Prior to that he was with Standard Chartered Bank for a over seven years where he worked in the Financial Crime Surveillance (screening & monitoring) unit based out of London, and prior to that as Head of Retail Financial Crime Compliance based in Singapore.

Prior to Standard Chartered, Jaap worked at ING Bank in various financial crime compliance capacities. All in all, Jaap has over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, of which over 15 years in the AML / CTF domain.

Alban Genais, 39, holds a degree in history from the University of Nantes, is a graduate of Sciences Po Paris and is a former student of ENA (Louise Weiss’ promotion, 2016-2017). 

Initially an administrator on the National Assembly's Law Committee (2008-2015), he was assigned to the General Inspectorate of Finance on leaving ENA in 2018. In June 2019, he was appointed policy officer to the head of the department. In January 2021, he became Inspector of Finance 1st class and joined the Treasury Department, where he was appointed Financial Adviser to the Permanent Representation of France to the European Union. 

In 2018, appointed rapporteur for the mission entrusted by the Minister for the Economy on crypto-currencies, he collaborated on the Landau report on crypto-currencies.  

He has also taught public finance, public law and economics at Paris I and Sciences Po (IEP Paris). 

Alban Genais's work at the Ministry of the Economy and Finance - first at the General Inspection of Finance, then at the Treasury Department- has involved him in all aspects of AML/FT policy, from preparing the evaluation of the French system by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to negotiating the legislative package proposed by the European Commission under the French Presidency of the European Union (PFUE). 

Appointed deputy director of Tracfin by the order of 16 May 2022 (published in the JORF of 17 May 2022), Alban Genais has been acting director since 29 February 2024 (order of 28 February 2024 published in the JORF of 29 February 2024). 

Jenna is a policy officer at the German Federal Ministry of Finance, specializing in the prevention and combating of terrorist financing.

Most recently, she led Germany’s national risk analysis on terrorist financing in close cooperation with ministries, security and supervisory authorities, intelligence services, and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).

As part of this work, she developed proposals to improve the legal framework and strengthen the national defence system. Jenna shares her expertise as a speaker at specialist conferences and industry events.

She is also trained as an assessor for country evaluations by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and was in charge of Germany's follow-up procedure as part of Germany’s mutual evaluations.

Jenna is a trained journalist and a fully qualified lawyer with a focus on criminal law.

Dr. Marcus Pleyer of Germany assumed the position of President of the FATF on 1 July 2020. He succeeded Xiangmin Liu of the People's Republic of China.

Dr. Marcus Pleyer serves as Deputy Director General in Germany’s Federal Ministry of Finance with responsibilities for policy development and international engagement pertaining International Financial Markets (including FSB, G7, G20 matters), Anti- Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CFT), Financial Sanctions Policy, Digital Finance including Payment Services and Cyber Security and national and international development banks. As representative of the Federal Republic, he is currently a member of the board of governors of the Development Bank for Agribusiness and of the Foundation for Financing the Disposal of Nuclear Waste. He is regularly invited as an expert on AML/CFT and took part in a number of international AML/CFT-missions. Before he assumed the position of President on 1 July 2020, he served as Vice-President of the FATF (July 2019–June 2020), and as the Head of the German delegation (2016–July 2019). Dr. Pleyer has also been serving in the Steering Committee of that same organisation since 2016.

Prior to his current position, Dr. Pleyer headed the Division for International Financial Markets from 2014 to 2015. From 2011 to 2014, he served as Head of Cabinet of Federal Finance Minister Schaeuble. From 2006 to 2011, he worked in the Federal Chancellery as senior adviser for Economic Law, International Financial Markets, Eurozone and G8/G20-Affairs and was part of a special team of Chancellor Merkel for the stabilization of the financial sector in 2009. Prior to that, he held positions as adviser in the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) after he had worked as a researcher in the field of public and capital markets law at the University of Dresden and as lecturer in criminal law at the University of Heidelberg.

With support of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation, Marcus studied law at the National University of Singapore and the University of Heidelberg from which he graduated in law in 1995 before he qualified for the position of a judge in 1997. He holds a Master of Laws degree from the University of Edinburgh, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Wales and a Ph.D. from the University of Dresden. He has also passed the admission exam as a stockbroker.

Assistant Commissioner Angela Willis has thirty years of policing experience having served in a variety of operational roles including frontline and specialist policing in Dublin and the Northwestern Region throughout her career.

Angela has held specialist roles as superintendent and detective superintendent at Operational Support Services, the Garda National Immigration Bureau, and Serious Crime Review Team prior to being promoted to Chief Superintendent where she held the role of detective chief superintendent and head bureau at the Garda National Technical Bureau, the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, prior to taking up her current role in the Dublin Region.

Angela represented Ireland on the Executive Board of the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre – Narcotics (MACO-N), Lisbon and was awarded the MAOC-N Medal in recognition of her professionalism, expertise, dedication and collaboration in tackling international drug trafficking in the Atlantic and Mediterranean maritime domain.

Suzanne Gunn is the Head of Economic, Transnational, and Organised Crime Policy at the Department of Justice, Ireland where she leads the development and implementation of criminal justice policies and strategies to combat all forms of economic and organised crime that threaten the public interest and the rule of law.

Suzanne is a a member of Ireland’s Advisory Council Against Economic Crime and Corruption and Anti Money Laundering Steering Committee, and Irish Head of Delegation for the Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO), the OECD Working Group on Bribery, the EU Network Against Corruption, and the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA).

Suzanne has over 15 years of experience in criminal justice, as a practising barrister and subsequently as Director of Criminal Enforcement at the Corporate Enforcement Authority heading up a multi-disciplinary team incorporating national police detectives and forensic accountants investigating complex cases of corporate and economic crime.

Rory is currently the Directorate Coordinator for INTERPOL’s Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre (IFCACC), where he performs a supporting role to the current Director.

Previously he was seconded from the Irish Police (An Garda Sìochàna) to INTERPOL from 2018 to 2023, where he held a number of senior management positions including, Director of INTERPOL’s Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre and Assistant Director of INTERPOL’s Organized and Emerging Crime Directorate, where he led INTERPOL’s Environmental Security and Global Health Crime Programme’s. He has also held the lead role for INTERPOL’s Global Financial Crime Task Force (IGFCTF).

With over 35 years’ experience in Law Enforcement, he served the majority of his career in the Garda Counter Terrorism Unit and most recently as a Detective Inspector in charge of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau.

He holds a Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution and a Post Graduate Degree in Legal Studies. He also holds academic qualifications in Cyber Crime, Financial Crime Investigations, Environmental Law and Corporate Risk and Governance, from University College Dublin, Ireland.

Adv Xolisile Khanyile is a career prosecutor having served different roles for a period of 23 years. Xolisile served in the Asset Forfeiture Unit for a period of more than 5 years and was appointed by the President of South Africa as a Director of Public Prosecutions for a period of 8 years.

From January 2018 to August 2023, she held the position of Director of the Financial Intelligence Centre. During her tenure she also served as the Vice Chair of the Egmont Group and then was promoted to the position of Chair. Xolisile led the South African delegation at the FATF meetings and at the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group meetings during her tenure in the FIC.

Xolisile has conducted numerous training sessions, both nationally and internationally, to prosecutors, law enforcement, civil society, regulators, and the financial sector, amongst many others. Amongst the numerous training opportunities she has led, Xolisile has also provided training on financial crimes, sexual offences, asset forfeiture, corruption, human trafficking, transnational organized crime, combatting money laundering and terrorist financing, FATF standards, and environmental matters to several African countries as well as globally. Xolisile has been a guest speaker and a speaker at several international conferences such as the Interpol 90 General Assembly, Wolfsberg Annual Conference, United for Wildlife Global Summit hosted by Lord Hague.

Xolisile led the establishment of the Fusion Centre in South Africa and the first Public Private Partnership in Africa, the SAMLIT. Xolisile was awarded the Financial Crime Fighter of the year for 2022 by the Global Coalition To Fight Financial Crime. On the 30th of August 2023 she was appointed as the Chair of the African Chapter of the Coalition. On the 5th of December 2023 the Compliance Institute of Southern Africa awarded her the INKANYEZI award in recognition of her commitment to the fight against financial crimes. Early February 2024 Xolisile was appointed as the Chair of the United for Wildlife Financial Taskforce of the Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Xolisile holds a B Juris, LLB, LLM and MDP from the Business School of the University of Free State. She attended the Duke University African Women Charted Accountants course in 2015 and graduated in 2016.

Currently Xolisile is the Director of Langelihle Consultants that does training on AML\CFT, and any other financial crime matters as well as ethics. In this capacity Xolisile has spoken at several regional and international forums such as the Women in Financial Crime Conference hosted by AML Intelligence, the London Stock Exchange FICA Conference, the Qatar Compliance Conference, the Namibian Standard Bank Anti-Financial Conference amongst others.

Xolisile is currently also registered as a Senior Expert with the European Union AML\CFT Global Facility where she facilitates and gives training on Immediate Outcome 6 to Financial Intelligence Units and Law Enforcement Agencies. On 31 October 2024 the South African Minister of Finance appointed Xolisile to be a member of the Financial Services Tribunal and the Financial Intelligence Centre Appeal Board.

J. Edward 'Ned' Conway is the Executive Secretary of the Wolfsberg Group, an association of 12 global banks which aims to develop frameworks and guidance for the management of financial crime risks.

Prior to his appointment at Wolfsberg, Mr. Conway was the Group Head of Financial Crime Compliance Framework and Policies at Banco Santander, based in Madrid. Mr. Conway is on the advisory board of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS), and he chairs the UN’s Private Sector Dialogue on the disruption of financial crimes related to environmental crime.

He collaborates regularly with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, training financial intelligence units and related government agencies in the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. He is the co-editor of the volume Counterterrorism and Threat Finance Analysis During Wartime (2015), and prior to working in the private sector, he was a threat finance analyst for the US Department of Defense.

He has a PhD in International Relations from the University of St Andrews (Scotland) and a degree in Psychology from Davidson College (North Carolina, USA).

Sarah Beth Felix has over 20 years of experience in anti-financial crimes with operational, audit and consulting roles, working with banks, payment firms, and global Fintechs. Operationalizing AML/sanctions threats is one of her most well-known attributes, providing actionable solutions. Beyond traditional banking, she has specialized years of work in Fintechs, Lendtechs, cannabis banking, crypto, correspondent banking, and trade finance.

While managing a thriving AML/sanctions advisory firm for over 12 years, Palmera Consulting, she is also co-founder and CAMLO for a de novo digital correspondent bank – Acceleron Bank, in formation – based in Vermont, U.S. She has a 360-degree view of banking and how money flows throughout the world. Sarah Beth and her team are building a highly compliant digital bank focused on providing cost-effective solutions to US banks.

With global speaking engagements and her years spent on the operational AFC front, she focuses on impactful takeaways that move listeners to ‘take action’ in improving their AML/sanctions programs. Sarah Beth is also a guest lecturer at the National War College in Washington, D.C. and is frequently asked to train various US federal law enforcement agencies on private sector data availability that impacts subpoenas and unregulated payment ecosystems.

Patricia Dunne is the Director of Horizontal Supervision in the Central Bank of Ireland. Patricia is responsible for the leadership and oversight of the supervision of cross-sectoral and system-wide risks including financial crime, conduct, behaviour and culture, financial resilience, operational resilience and technology risks.

Prior to this she was Director of Securities and Markets Supervision, responsible for the supervision of primary and secondary securities markets; market integrity; wholesale market conduct supervision and the supervision of investments funds, fund service providers and trading venues.

Patricia has more than three decades of regulatory, supervisory and policy expertise in the asset management, investment funds and banking sectors which she has used to positively influence the leadership and strategic direction of financial regulation and the wider Central Bank.

She has enhanced the Central Bank’s effectiveness in the area of European and international policy development and contributed to the formulation of European regulatory policy and legislation on asset management and investment funds, representing the Central Bank on the Investment Management Standing Committee of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and chairing several ESMA working groups.

Ilze Znotiņa is the former Director of FIU Latvia. Prior to joining FIU Latvia she has had a career as a sworn attorney-at-law specializing in dispute resolution. Her main areas of expertise included regulatory issues, insolvency, anti-bribery and anti-money laundering, fraud and white-collar crime.

A former Partner of law firm Deloitte Legal, Ms. Znotina has represented a wide range of local and international clients in courts as well as performed an anti-fraud reviews at many international and local companies where she led investigation of corruption, false accounting, fraud, theft, asset recovery, tax evasion, money laundering and obstruction of justice cases.

Her recent activities before the appointment related to leading the preparation of Latvian National AML/CFT Risk assessment and several sectoral assessments.

Ms. Znotina has submitted her doctoral thesis in the Faculty of Law, University of Latvia. She holds a Master degree in International and European Law from Riga Graduate School of Law and a Bachelor degree in Law from the University of Latvia. She is an author of a number of publications related to law, fraud and corruption as well as a frequent speaker on these topics.

Olha Vasylevska-Smahliuk is an MP representing the 96th single-mandate constituency (Bucha, Borodyanka) as part of the Servants of the People faction. She is a member of the Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy and works to support Ukraine's economic development and financial transparency.

With a background in journalism and accounting, Vasylevska-Smahliuk has contributed to several important legislative efforts. She played a key role in drafting the Law "On Payment Services", which created conditions for payment innovation, the law establishing Ukraine's first state system of verification of ultimate beneficial owners, and numerous initiatives to increase economic transparency.

She was instrumental in drafting legislation that transformed economic oversight, including the establishment of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine and a law providing clear regulations for debt collection companies. She also drafted a resolution addressing international security concerns to prevent terrorist financing and promote global security.

Brian is the Head of Financial Crime Compliance and MLRO for AIB.

Prior to re-joining AIB in the summer of 2022, he was Head of Financial Crime and MLRO for Barclays Europe, based in Frankfurt. Before that he held a number of senior Risk & Compliance roles.

He originally trained as an  Aviation Finance lawyer in Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London and subsequently developed a wide legal practice which encompassed Banking Law, Structured Finance, Litigation (both Criminal and Commercial), Regulatory Compliance, Data Protection and Commercial law. Brian spent 8 years practicing as a criminal defence lawyer before courts of all jurisdiction in Ireland and is an experienced courtroom advocate.

Frances Fitzgerald is a Fine Gael MEP for Dublin City and County. She is a member of the ECON (Economic & Monetary Affairs) Committee, FEMM (Women’s Rights & Gender Equality) Committee and DEVE (Development) Committee. Frances also serves as the lead coordinator for the European People’s Party on FEMM.

Prior to her election to the European Parliament in the 2019 European Elections, Frances served as a Fine Gael Parliamentarian for over 20 years. She served as a Senator and T.D. in Dublin Mid-West (2007-2019) and has previously served as a Fine Gael T.D. in Dublin South East (1992-2002).

She most recently served as Tánaiste (2016-17), one of only four women to have ever held this position. She has also served as Minister for Business, Enterprise & Innovation (2017); Minister for Justice & Equality (2014-17) and was the State’s first Minister for Children & Youth Affairs (2011-14).

Frances has a clear record of delivering change and reform in Ireland stemming back to her education and early career.

Raised in Stillorgan, she was educated in Dominican College Sion Hill, Blackrock and the London School of Economics.  She worked as a social worker and family therapist for ten years in Ballymun Child & Family Centre and in St. Ultan’s Children’s Hospital, St. James’ Hospital and the Mater Hospital. She has also worked in inner city communities in both Dublin and London.

​Prior to her election to the Dáil, Frances served as Chair of the National Women’s Council of Ireland (1988-92) and Vice President of the European Women’s Lobby. She was also a founding member of the Women’s Environment Network – as it was known then.

Before Fine Gael entered Government in 2011, she served as Leader of the Opposition in Seanad Éireann (2007-11).

Mark is an experienced law enforcement officer with 17 years of expertise in policing in An Garda Síochána (Irish Police). He joined INTERPOL in 2024 as a Criminal Intelligence Officer in INTERPOL’s Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre (IFCACC) as is attached to the Anti-Corruption Unit.

Mark is a specialist Financial Crime Investigator having trained at the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB), where he gained an array of experience through investigations that he coordinated as the Incident Room Coordinator (IRC) or that he participated in. Mark now serves as a financial crime expert, focusing on Grand Corruption and Sports Corruption cases and their associated financial crimes at INTERPOL. He also serves on working groups related to Bribery and Corruption with OECD, Council of Europe and International Anti-Corruption Co-ordination Centre (IACCC).

Mark holds a variety of accreditation in Financial Crime investigations such as an Advanced Diploma in Fraud and E Crime Investigations at University College Dublin and an advanced Diploma in Corporate, White Collar and Regulatory Crime at the Honourable Society of Kings Inns. Mark has also received specialised training with advanced training institutes such as the International School of Caserta in Italy, Cepol and with the Guardia di Finanza in Italy where he focused on Fight Against Corruption, Economic and Organised Crime.

Vivienne Artz OBE FCSI (Hon) CMgr CCMI AIGP

Vivienne is the CEO of the FTSE Women Leaders Review, the UK’s business-led voluntary framework, supported by Government to improve the representation of women on the Boards and Leadership teams of the FTSE 350 and 50 of the UK’s largest private companies.

Vivienne is also a NED and holds a number of expert advisory roles supporting businesses in their data, privacy and digital strategies, with a focus on AI and new technologies, anti-financial crime and equality & diversity. Vivienne has over twenty five years experience in global financial and professional services sectors, including at the London Stock Exchange Group, Refinitiv, Thomson Reuters and Citibank. Vivienne is the AI and Data Lead at the International Business & Diplomatic Exchange, was co-chair of the Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime Data Privacy expert working group, chapter co-lead of the City of London “Vision for Economic Growth” report, and has advised UK government on international data transfer strategies.

Vivienne is an exceptional advocate for gender balance in business, is a Patron of Women in Finance Rwanda, and is the former CEO of Women in Banking and Finance. She was awarded an OBE for services to Financial Services and Gender Diversity in 2021.

With over 20 years of experience, Liliya has worked across the financial crime space in different roles and capacity and across different business segments. She has managed teams, due diligence projects in challenging environments, and led major investigations and litigation support cases. In the late 1990s she joined Bulgaria’s Financial Intelligence Unit where she headed the International Contacts and Legal Coordination department.

Her experience also includes Transparency International in Berlin, several London-based investigative consultancy firms and the Royal Bank of Canada in London. In 2016 she joined Commerzbank London where she managed the AML Advisory and EDD Team until her appointment as head of Transactions Monitoring and Investigations/UK FIU and deputy MLRO.

In 2020 she joined CACIB as Head of UK Financial Security; she is also the MLRO. She holds a doctorate in AML policies from Tilburg University in the Netherlands and gives lectures at the University of Manchester. A speaker at industry events, Liliya has delivered presentations on behalf of Stop the Traffik, a London-based non-profit organisation that fights human trafficking and slavery.

Karen Bissett is a senior Financial Crime Compliance and risk leader with over 20 years of legal and banking experience. After 12 years in private practice, Karen spent 7 years with the Bank of Ireland Group. Starting as a senior legal adviser in consumer banking she began to specialise in financial services regulatory projects and acted for a time as chairperson of the Bank’s Mortgage Appeals Board. Karen then took on the role of the Head of Sanctions and Counter-Terrorist Financing and Deputy Group Money Laundering Reporting Officer.

To gain a deeper knowledge of Financial Crime Compliance and risk from an international banking perspective, Karen spent 3 years as a Global Financial Crimes Director and Deputy Money Laundering Reporting Officer for Bank of America’s EU headquartered entity, Bank of America Europe. Karen returned to the Bank of Ireland as Head of Financial Crime and Group Money Laundering Reporting Officer in late 2022. Karen is a member of the Law Society of Ireland and maintains a current practising certificate.

Stephen is Co Founder and Chair at AML Intelligence based between our Brussels and Dublin offices. Stephen is former Group Editor-in-Chief at INM, Ireland’s largest media group, where he ran the newspaper and online operations, driving digital audiences to 15 million per month.

A member of the Supervisory Board of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), he has also served on the board of the World Editors Forum (WEF) and on the European Commission's High Level Expert Group (HLEG) on Disinformation.

Stephen is Principal at Kobn, a specialist European leadership advisory, with an emphasis on strategic risk and cybersecurity.

Andrea is a highly accomplished C-level leader and former commercial litigator with a rewarding career spanning over 25 years. She has spent the last 18 years in the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), including 14 years in FCA Enforcement, advancing to influential positions, including Chief of Staff to the CEO, Nikhil Rathi, and more recently, Director of Specialist Directorate, Supervision, Policy and Competition, which includes Financial Crime Market Intervention, Fraud & Financial Crime Policy and Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS).  She co-leads the FCA’s current three-year strategy commitment to reducing and preventing financial crime, contributing to the UK’s national Economic Crime Plan and Fraud Strategy.

As a change enabler, Andrea co-lead the FCA’s ambitious transformation programme, revolutionising how the regulator operates and strengthening its ability to achieve its core objectives.

She is Chair of the International Organisation of Securities Commission’s (E)MMoU Monitoring Group and Monitoring Steering Committee, responsible for monitoring the operation of, and compliance with, the (E)MMoU, including decision making on disputes and matters of non-compliance.

A respected mentor, coach and sponsor, Andrea actively supports multiple Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives and co-sponsors the FCA’s Elevate Network, empowering multi-ethnic women across the business.

Aaron leads Wise’s first line risk and compliance teams responsible for supporting the launch and growth of Wise products in a safe, risk-managed and customer-centric way. Prior to Wise Aaron was Head of Financial Crime and Fraud at Revolut, leading product, data science and operations teams to better detect and prevent illicit activity. Aaron has also previously specialised in financial crime and compliance technology matters for financial services and fintech clients at Ernst & Young and led KYC and AML product development at UK regtech vendor Quantexa.

Jackie leads Brussels-based Ibec Global, Europe's leading English-speaking, globally networked business organisation, and the international business division of Ibec - Ireland’s largest and most influential business advocacy and representative organisation.

Ibec Global’s engagement spans across Irish and global stakeholders to shape the conditions for international businesses to thrive, and to advance practical and scalable solutions that economies and societies need to prosper. Her previous roles include Chief Operating Officer at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Ottawa, Canada office of a leading international public affairs and strategic communications consulting firm.

Jackie has over two decades of experience as an international business leader, building high-performing teams and transforming organisations for the future. She is recognised as an expert in managing risk for organizations with international exposure, and has worked with executives, their boards, and public-sector officials in every sector of the global economy to protect and enhance reputation and deliver results for business and communities.

James is the Managing Director at AMLi. James is also CEO at StubbsGazette, one of the oldest continuous credit bureaus in the world. He is one of the founders of the International Fraud Prevention Conference (IFPC).

James acquired the Stubbs brand from Dun & Bradstreet in 2008 and built the company’s reach. He was founder and chairman of the Irish Fraud Bureau.

Mary Kirwan is Irish and a lawyer on three continents. She is an ex-Canadian Federal money laundering/narcotics prosecutor & obtained one of the only convictions in Canada for conspiracy to commit money laundering.

She also has extensive experience as an MD in charge of Anti- Financial Crime/’AFC’ in blue chip financial institutions with special emphasis on large scale/cross border remediation exercises.

She has a strong cyber security & encryption background, having worked in early-days implementations (and policy/legal debates (including tech standards setting) in Europe/US/Canada in Public Key Encryption/’PKI’, which underpins blockchain & crypto-currency architecture. Mary has multiple degrees & qualifications in Law, Business/MIS (Management Information Systems). cyber-security, data protection and Ethics.

Oonagh is an award winning Compliance Officer and recognised as one of the leading voices and trainers globally in compliance risk management, with over 20+ years’ experience. She has built and led various compliance risk framework developments and teams across the industry for a diverse range of financial entities, including traditional banks, Fintech, and Crypto firms, and is known for her proven expertise in management of complex compliance remediation challenges. She is an advocate for ethical compliance leadership and framework development, with increased automation, including AI and Machine Learning integration.

Linda started her career as a commercial litigator in an international law firm in Edinburgh.  Since joining the civil service, she has had a range of interesting and challenging roles, including Private Secretary to the First Minister of Scotland; Head of Civil Asset Forfeiture for Scotland; Deputy Director of Defence, Security and Cyber Resilience; and Senior Responsible Officer for EU Exit in the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland.

Linda joined the Fraud Investigation Service in HMRC in April 2021 and originally led Offshore, Corporate and Wealthy, managing white collar civil and criminal investigations into wealthy individuals and large corporates.

Since September 2022, Linda has been Head of Organised Crime, leading complex international investigations to disrupt and dismantle Organised Crime Groups. Linda leads a team of 1500 civil and criminal investigators across 15 sites and 3 legal jurisdictions in the UK. She specialises in all elements of economic crime, including money laundering, bribery and corruption and fraud and has concluded a number of Deferred Prosecution Agreements. Linda is committed to  collaborating with domestic and international partners to maximise impact against financial crime.

Marisol leads the evolution of Moody’s value proposition across Financial & Professional Services Europe with a focus on Entity Verification, KYC/CDD & AML Policy alignment.

Marisol also works with current and prospective customers, strategic partners, and product development teams to identify strategic opportunities to enhance the potential of the solutions. Previously, she worked at S&P where she was the Global Head of KYC services and Entity Insights. During her career in Financial Crime, Marisol has built Managed Services and designed AML programs for financial institutions in the U.S. and Europe.

She has also benchmarked and advised on more than 60 global KYC policies with a deep focus on data requirements and the use of technology to streamline, automate and keep up to date the data gathering process. Marisol has an extensive legal and compliance background, having commenced her career as a dual qualified lawyer, she made the transition to business development. In her 15 plus years, she has helped organizations develop and implement their compliance, anti-corruption and third-party due diligence programmes. Marisol is a dual qualified lawyer (Spain & UK) and holds two Masters in Law (LLM); International Corporate Governance, Financial Regulation, Economic Law and Comparative Business Law. She also holds an ICA international diploma in anti-money laundering.

Steve is the Co-founder and Director of AML Analytics and is recognised as one of the UK’s leading industry experts on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing issues, legislation and regulation.

He has worked in the financial services industry since 1988 and in financial crime compliance since the inception of the UK Money Laundering Regulations in 1994.

He has previously held roles as the Director of Regulatory and Financial Crime Programmes at Wolters Kluwer Financial Services in London and as Global Head of Money Laundering Prevention for Prudential plc., where for fifteen years he had responsibility across the Group for the development and delivery of the corporate money laundering, counter terrorism and sanctions policy, together with providing advice and guidance on AML/CTF prevention. During this time he worked in the UK, USA, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Whilst with Prudential he spent time on secondment to NCIS (now the National Crime Agency) and at the UK National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit at Scotland Yard.

In 2001 Steve created the UK Institute of Money Laundering Prevention Officers where he was Chairman for seven years and then President until 2012.

Steve holds an ICA Diploma in Anti-Money Laundering with distinction and is a Fellow of the International Compliance Association.

He is an experienced speaker on financial crime issues and has lectured at conferences throughout the UK, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, Australia and the USA.

Dr. Shlomit Wagman was the Director-General of the Israel Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Prohibition Authority (IMPA), a financial regulator and law enforcement agency, from 2016 to 2022, and the Acting Director-General of the Israel Privacy Protection Authority from 2019 to 2021.

She is an expert in the fields of financial regulation, digital assets and crypto-currencies, money laundering and terrorism financing, privacy and data protection, financial intelligence and data analytics.

She holds both JSD and LLM degrees from Yale Law School (2007, 2005) and a joint LLB and BA degree (magna cum laude) in law and business management from the Hebrew University (2001). She clerked for the Chief Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court, Prof. Aharon Barak.

Dr. Wagman worked in the private sector with leading law firms, including Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz in NYC and Gross-Hodak in Israel. She is the co-editor of the book "Cybercrime" (NYU Press, 2007), with Prof. Jack Balkin et al. She served as an adjunct lecturer at Tel Aviv University and Raichman University (2007–2012) and was a fellow at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School (2003–2007).

Dr. Wagman was the Head of the Israeli delegation to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing watchdog from 2016 to 2022, and also served as a Co-Chair of the FATF operational working group, a member of the Steering Group, and was a nominee for Presidency.

As the head of Israel’s anti-money laundering authority, she led major national reforms, including regulating cryptocurrencies, and the historic accession of Israel to the FATF as a member country after an evaluation process in which Israel was placed among the top three most effective countries in the world. Under her leadership, IMPA exposed hundreds of money laundering and terrorism financing cases, leading to the crackdown on major criminal organizations and the seizure of billions of illicit funds. IMPA further received various international awards, including the Best Financial Investigation Worldwide by the Egmont (2016, 2021) and recognition by the FATF as one of the three most effective FIUs worldwide.

As the head of Israel’s Privacy Protection Authority, she produced an unprecedented number of regulatory opinions, led innovative enforcement actions, and handled mega national data-leaks and cybersecurity attacks. The Supreme Court adopted her positions in two fundamental national cases: in limiting the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Beit) from monitoring citizens during COVID 19, and in striking down the transfer of citizens’ health data to local municipalities.

In addition to her current affiliation with the BKC, she serves as a Research Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government (M-RCBG) at Kennedy School of Government and as an Affiliated Fellow at the ISP at Yale Law School.

Kevin McGuinness is the Global Head of Client Solutions at Napier AI, bringing over 20 years of experience in financial services. With a focus on combating anti-money laundering (AML) and financial crime, he leads a global team of experts in technology and regulation.

Kevin's track record includes senior roles in delivery, transformation, and commercial leadership, notably at First Derivative, where he built and managed a global consulting team. Renowned for his innovative approach, Kevin integrates agile technologies, strategic partnerships, and best-in-class operating models to ensure compliance and drive commercial advantage for institutions worldwide.

Pat who is originally from Drimoleague, West Cork, joined An Garda Síochána in 1986 and has served mainly in the Dublin Region but also worked in the South Eastern and Eastern Garda Regions. Pat has worked in Community Policing, Drugs, Prostitution Investigations, Serious Crime Investigations, Fraud and Financial Investigations, Financial Intelligence and Cybercrime. He has held the position of Detective in all ranks and has been at the forefront of the investigation of serious crime for many years. Pat is a Senior Investigating Officer (S.I.O.) and holds a B.Sc in Management Law from Trinity College Dublin.

In 2015, Pat took up his current position as Head of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau. The Garda National Economic Crime Bureau is involved in many high profile investigations and is supported by Gardaí throughout the country trained in Fraud Investigation. Pat and his team have developed a Post Graduate Certificate in Fraud and E-Crime Investigation in association with University College Dublin. Pat was also the lead representative from An Garda Síochána in the 2017 Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Review of Ireland. Pat sees education and crime prevention as being the most beneficial ways of reducing fraud into the future.

Jenny joined EY in 2021 and brings more than 22 years experience in the Financial Services industry. In EY, she leads Financial Services Risk Consulting in Ireland with a focus on Risk & Regulatory-driven transformation and Financial Crime.

Prior to joining EY, Jenny was a Partner in another big 4 firm in Singapore specialising in Risk Management, Regulatory Advisory and Data & Analytics in Financial Services.

Before her time as a consultant, Jenny spent several years in banking, working across multiple functions and lines of defence in London, Dubai and New York. A current social focus for Jenny is in helping to drive industry efforts in combatting modern slavery through awareness, collaboration and technology.”

Tarana Baghirova leads the OSCE’s portfolio on financial investigations into human trafficking as well as policy work on trafficking nexus with drugs and terrorism. Until 2023, she also led OSCE Special Representatives political mandate of country visits and evaluated over 20 States’ anti-trafficking efforts. Tarana possesses over 15 years of international experience in coordinated policy planning and program management in a range of areas including security affairs, transnational threats and criminal justice reform.

Prior to joining the Office the Special Representative in 2015, she led Anti-Trafficking programme in the OSCE Office in Baku and also consulted other international organizations, such International Organization for Migration and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development in assessing the state’s anti-trafficking responses.

Moyara "Mo" Ruehsen is a Professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) in Monterey, CA and serves as the Director of the Financial Crime Management Program.

After receiving three graduate degrees from Johns Hopkins University, Professor Ruehsen spent a post-doc year at the University of California, Berkeley, to study international organized crime. Since then, she has been teaching courses on money laundering, corruption, trade-based financial crime, sanctions compliance, terrorism financing, proliferation financing and cyber-enabled financial crime.

Professor Ruehsen is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and a Certified Financial Crime Specialist (CFCS). She served for several years on the Editorial Advisory Board of Money Laundering Alert, and has published many articles and book chapters on topics related to threat finance. Professor Ruehsen conducts training domestically and overseas for the US government, the United Nations, and the private sector.

Manuel has over 24 years of experience in professional services, delivering large-scale transformation programs.

He leads multidisciplinary international teams by building trusted relationships with senior client stakeholders.

Manuel holds a degree in Computer Sciences and Engineering from the University of Granada and is passionate about applying technology and innovation to solve present and future clients’ and social needs.

Fabio Antonacchio is an Italian Colonel in the Guardia di Finanza, the Italian Economic-Financial Law Enforcement Agency, currently serving at the International Cooperation Office of the General Headquarters in Rome. He graduated from the Military Academy in 2004, where he began his military career, and holds two degrees, in Law and in Economics. In 2024, representing the GdF, he was appointed Co-lead (jointly with a U.S. Department of Justice magistrate) of the FATF/GAFI Working Group tasked with drafting the new Guidance on Asset Recovery; moreover, he assumed the co-leadership of the Italian delegation in the OECD's Task Force on Tax Crimes. Apart from his role in the military, Col. Antonacchio is also an accomplished author, contributing to more than 100 articles on the leading Italian business and tax Law reviews; the main areas of interest are International Taxation, Tax Law, AML/CFT and Asset Recovery. He is also the author of six books on Tax Governance within Financial Institutions and MNEs, Copyright Protection online, AML/CFT profiles related to Crypto-Art and Decentralized Finance and the Transfer Pricing legislation impact on MNEs. From 2014, he lectures at the Military Academy of the GdF, the Economic and Financial Police School, the Italian National School of Administration (SNA) and the School of the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (SSEF), the Catholic University of Milan and the College of European Police (CEPOL); he lectures in Italian and in English on AML/CFT and Financial Investigations techniques, the detection of Aggressive Tax Planning schemes used by MNEs and the protection of IPRS on the internet.

Dr Steven Meighan has extensive national and international experience in the investigation of money laundering and organised crime. He was part of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) team that undertook Indonesia’s membership evaluation, with responsibility for the evaluation of their money laundering investigation and asset recovery systems. He was previously a senior manager in the Irish Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and served as a United Nations peacekeeper in Cyprus.

His work with Europol, Interpol, and the European Commission has taken him around the world working with numerous international law enforcement and government agencies. He is a member of An Garda Síochána, was called to the Irish Bar in 2015, and holds a PhD in Anti-money Laundering.

Itxaso Madina is a fintech expert in financial crimes and compliance, currently serving as a Financial Crimes Advisor in Stripe. In this role, she develops and implements tailored Financial Crimes policies, controls and frameworks to address the unique risks and regulatory requirements in the EU market, ensuring that Stripe's operations comply with both existing and emerging regulations.

With over 15 years of experience in the fintech arena, Itxaso has cultivated a robust understanding of compliance and risk management. Prior to joining Stripe, she held multiple roles at PayPal where she led the Global Financial Crimes Governance function overseeing the execution of critical projects related to licensing, regulatory changes, mergers & acquisitions and product expansions. Her ability to foster relationships across various domains and her commitment to driving initiatives were integral to the success of the team.

Earlier in her career at PayPal, Itxaso served as the AML Operational Excellence Manager, where she led the Suspicious Transaction Reporting (STR), Customer Identification Programs (CIP), and Brand Risk Management (BRM) programs. She designed operational frameworks to ensure adherence to local and global regulations while optimizing processes for efficiency and improving operational effectiveness.

Itxaso holds an MBA and a Bachelor's degree in Business from Universidad de Deusto (Spain). She is passionate about sharing her expertise and insights on financial crime prevention and compliance, and she looks forward to contributing to discussions at the AML Intelligence conference.

Michael Shearer is a seasoned expert in financial crime risk management, compliance product management, and data analytics. He currently serves as Chief Solution Officer at Hawk where he leads the global design and implementation of financial crime solutions for Tier 1 financial institutions.

Previously, Shearer spent nearly a decade at HSBC as Managing Director and Group Head of Compliance Product Management where he developed award-winning analytics applications and led the launch of a cloud-based machine learning platform for financial crime detection.

Prior to HSBC, Shearer dedicated 20 years to government intelligence and counter-terrorism, managing strategic industry relationships essential to national security.

He is also a published author: Hands-On Entity Resolution details how to scale up data matching processes and improve the accuracy of reconciliations.

With a proven track record in delivering innovative solutions and managing complex projects, Shearer’s contributions have left a lasting impact on the financial and security sectors.

Francisco Mainez is the former Head of Data and Analytics for Wealth and Personal Banking Financial Crime Risk at HSBC. Francisco is now the Product Manager for Actor Intelligence at Lucinity, where he is using his experience in Financial Crime and Intelligence to integrate different capabilities into solutions that can improve prevention, detection and investigation of Financial Crimes. Throughout his career, Francisco has specialized in activities related to data extraction, analysis and insight reporting, covering Money Laundering, Financial Crime Typologies, Operations, Customer Due Diligence and Tax Evasion, among other areas.  His team is also involved in rolling out initiatives related to Advanced Analytics solutions for Financial Crime.

While in HSBC, Francisco worked in other Financial Crime Teams, such as the Financial Intelligence Unit and Compliance Reporting. Prior to HSBC, Francisco fulfilled roles in Standard Chartered Bank in London and Singapore after completing several tours of operations in Military Intelligence for NATO and the European Union in different geographical locations. 

Francisco holds a MSc in Information and Knowledge Management and a BSc in Politics and International Relations from the University of London-LSE, along with several professional certifications: CAMS, CISI Investment Operations, CFCI (Certified Financial Crimes Investigator) and SAFe (Scalable Agile Framework). In his spare time, Francisco likes to read history books or ride his motorcycle. 

Tony joined Nasdaq Verafin in 2013, serving in a variety of roles across the Sales and Product teams. As a Senior Enterprise Product Expert, he is focused on helping customers identify the broad and specific challenges faced by financial institutions in the fight against financial crime. With deep industry expertise and insights into the evolving nature of fraud and money laundering, Tony’s collective experience and knowledge is helping lead the development of new and innovative financial crime management solutions.    

Detective Superintendent in the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau since 2019. Prior to that was the Superintendent in the Crumlin District in the DMR and the Claremorris District in Co Mayo. Has 36 years service in An Garda Siochana, serving in both DMR and Mayo, in both local and national units and in crime investigative roles as a Detective Garda, Detective Sergeant, Detective Inspector and now Detective Superintendent.

In his present role, leads out the investigation targeting the OCGs involved in online cyber enabled crimes and has delivered presentations on best practices to International Law Enforcement through Europol, Interpol and Eurojust. This GNECB investigation has expanded through collaboration with Interpol to over 30 different countries targeting this same OCG. D/Supt Cryan and GNECB were shortlisted for an award in the Tackling Economic Crime Awards (TECAs) in the UK in the category ‘Outstanding Partnerships’.