Rūta is a Head of Digital Finance unit at the European Banking Authority (EBA) that is responsible for the EBA’s work on monitoring financial innovation and identifying areas where a regulatory and supervisory response might be needed. She is also leading work on digital operational resilience and crypto-assets with a focus on EC proposals for a regulation on Markets in Crypto-assets (MICA) and on Digital operational resilience for the financial sector (DORA). Previously she was Director of Financial Services and Markets Supervision Department at Bank of Lithuania, that was responsible for capital markets, prudential supervision of less significant financial institutions and financial services supervision. Rūta has professional legal qualification as an attorney-at-law and for the past 12 years has been working both in private sector and financial sector’s supervision in the areas that include AML, payments, lending, investment and FinTech industry.

Eimantas started his career in the police, and later worked at the Special Investigation Service, which focused on corruption crimes investigation. Before starting his journey at the Center of Excellence in Anti-Money Laundering, Eimantas was in charge of the Customer Risk Management unit in Luminor Lithuania, responsible for KYC, AML, sanctions, and fraud investigations. Eimantas has a law degree and is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (ACAMS).

Jeroen specialises in capital market transactions with a focus on asset-backed transactions such as securitisations, covered bonds and supply chain financing. He represents large financial institutions in their capacity as originator or arranger. He has also been involved in numerous loan portfolio sales, acting for both sellers and buyers.

Since 2017, Uldis Upenieks is responsible for the Compliance area in Citadele group – a modern banking platform for individuals and businesses in the Baltics. Uldis has more than 25 years’ experience in the financial sector, of which last 20 years he has worked in the banking sector. Since August 2017 Uldis is Co-chair of Compliance Committee at Finance Latvia Association, and since March 2018 – Co-chairman of the Management Board at ACAMS Baltic Chapter.

Monika has a 15-year track record as a Banking & Finance attorney. Monika also has valuable experience from a leading commercial bank in Estonia, operating as Head of Compliance and member of the Extended Management Board. Monika has also been in charge of keeping good working relationships with the financial regulators – as Head of Compliance she has served as a contact person to the European Central Bank and the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority. She has been a member of the Estonian Bar Association since 2004.

Audrius is a Head of Legal & Product Management for Private Equity of INVL Asset Management. He also leads the alternative investments selection team at the same organisation. Audrius is an expert on fund structuring and operations with deep practical knowledge of both local and EU wide legal and regulatory landscape.

Imants is a former Latvian diplomat with Governmental and Parliamentary experience. He left the Diplomatic Service in July 2020 after serving as Ambassador to France. He worked as a career diplomat since 1992, with Ambassadorial postings in Hungary, Spain, Belgium, NATO and the EU Political and Security Committee. Until 1992, he worked as a lawyer in England, where he was born and educated. From March 2009 until November 2010 Imants Lieģis served in Government as Minister of Defence (and Acting Minister of Justice from May 2010). Following that he was elected to Latvia’s Parliament for one year, working as Chairman of the European Affairs Committee and Head of Delegation to NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly. He is on the Advisory Board and is an active member of the European Leadership Network. He has published works on foreign affairs and defence and security matters and has cooperated closely with the Latvian Institute of International Affairs since 2011.

Virginia has over 15 years of experience (buy-side as well as sell-side) in the Structured Finance domain working with various asset classes, including ABS (cash and synthetic), Covered Bonds, Trades Receivables, and CLOs. Currently, she is in charge of origination, management and execution, as well as optimisation of structured finance solutions at EIB. She has structured the first capital relief transactions (synthetic securitisations) in Poland, Romania, and the Baltics.

Roger has 30 years of experience in Public Affairs and international finance focusing on banks’ compliance. He is a member of the Steering Group of the Europol Financial Intelligence Public Private Partnership (EFIPPP) and of the Tax Committee of Business at OECD. He is a frequent speaker and lecturer at public hearings and conferences hosted by International Organisations (OECD, IMF), EU Institutions and Academies (Lausanne, Cornell, Ghent, ERA, ACAMS). He is Co-founder of Revue Fiscalité des Placements. He has a Master of business engineering, a Master’s in taxation and a Postgraduate degree in European tax law. He is a Certified Tax Adviser and a Certified AML Specialist.

Matis is also a member of the MONEYVAL Bureau. Mäeker has been the evaluator and reviewer of many mutual evaluation reports conducted by MONEYVAL. He is also a member of the Estonian delegation to MONEYVAL and a member of the Heads of FIU of the Egmont Group. He has also been an alternative member of the European Banking Authority’s AML Standing Committee on anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing (AMLSC). Mäeker has extensive knowledge of anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) from both angles—the preventative and the criminal side. He is the author of the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority’s AML/CTF public and internal guidelines, the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority’s risk-based approach model, as well as the co-author of the book “The AML Compliance Book: 150 Golden Rules”.

Since 2015 Ieva Tetere is CEO of SEB bank – one of the leading universal banks in Latvia with assets over 4.0 billion euros. In Finance Latvia Association Ieva is holding the position of Chairwoman of Council. Before joining SEB in 2005 Ieva was a part of the PricewaterhouseCoopers team both in Latvia and for two years in London. Within SEB Ieva holds the responsibility for the Sustainable banking area of the Baltic Division, including both the regulatory requirements together with the development of new sustainable products and offerings for the customers.

Laura Matukaitytė is responsible for the development of Ondato OS platform products. The new platform offers institutions an understanding of their exposure, with risk-based management of new and existing customers. Before joining Ondato, Laura was a leading FinTech sector lawyer at one of the biggest law firms in the Baltics. Laura is also recognised among the top FinTech advisors in Lithuania by Chambers and Partners.

BaltCap is the largest multi-strategy private equity fund manager in the Baltics. Maido has a long track record in the sector, having worked both on the institutional LP ( i.e. the fund investor) side as well as on the GP (i.e. fund manager) side. In the last 8 years, he has participated in over 20+ investments made in both local and global PE/VC funds covering various strategies and has helped to set up and close new funds for BaltCap. Maido has actively contributed and participated in the work of local industry representative organisations – EstVCA and FinanceEstonia.

Mervet leads the ESG practice at COBALT Estonia with particular focus on ESG-related regulatory compliance. She also assists clients with corporate sustainability reporting, disclosure requirements, ESG-focused due diligence, and drafting ESG-related policies and procedures. Previously she worked in several international law firms and in other public and private organisations such as Thomson Reuters, LexisNexis, the European Commission, the United Nations (UNFCCC), and in an ESG tech start-up Datamaran.

Irina leads the team driving strategic initiatives in sustainability area for the corporate segment in Swedbank Baltics: sustainability roadmap development and implementation, integration of ESG aspects in customer evaluation, scenario analysis work, growing sustainable financing volumes, KPIs and reporting, competence building, ensuring regulatory compliance. She is a Member of Swedbank Group Green Bonds Committee.

Claude started her professional career in the private sector before joining the European Commission in 2007. She moved to DG FISMA in 2009 where she has served in various positions and has been responsible for policy development in fields as asset management, insurance and pensions, corporate reporting, audit and credit rating agencies. She also worked for the international relations unit. 
Claude holds a PhD in Economics and Social Sciences from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. She is also qualified as a chartered accountant.

Santa has been Chairwoman of the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC) since 23 October 2019. She has more than 20 years of experience in the banking sector in various positions, including leadership of corporate customer segment, small and medium-sized businesses and retail segments. Prior to the FCMC, Santa held the position of Member of the Board of Citadele Banka, where she was responsible for planning and ensuring the development of Citadele Group's business and strategy in the Baltic region. Moreover, she has been Co-Chair of the Crediting Committee of the Finance Latvia Association.

Paulis has 5 years of experience in AML/CFT and sanctions compliance, having worked as a consultant at Deloitte and since 2019 – at the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Latvia. At FIU, Paulis leads Latvian public-private partnership (PPP) platform and strategic analysis projects. He is a member of the Steering Group of the Europol Financial Intelligence Public Private Partnership (EFIPPP). He has a Master’s degree in law and is currently pursuing a PhD in law with a focus on international sanctions. He is a Certified AML Specialist.

Dr. Schmidt has been involved in the crypto space since 2013 – as a researcher, as an investor and as a lawyer. In the latter capacity, he has been advising family offices, foundations, trustees, wealthy individuals and banks on various topics related to crypto assets. In addition, Dr. Schmidt has also published three books on crypto. He is the founder of the WT Crypto Academy, an educational initiative for non-crypto natives over 16 hours, where he has trained more than a thousand lawyers in the last few years. Dr. Schmidt has recently been included in Citywealth's worldwide list of top 100 crypto advisors.

Richard is a leading advocate and campaigner around mental health in the workplace. Formerly a senior law firm partner he experienced burnout and breakdown in 2011 and now focuses his work on workplace mental health. He leads the training and strategy work on the subject at leading workplace consultancy Byrne Dean and has recently been appointed to lead the Mindful Business Charter, a movement of major businesses around the world (including COBALT) looking to reduce the unnecessary stress in work and life. He has published a memoir of his experience of mental illness and recovery – This Too Will Pass. He is a mental health first aid instructor and a qualified business coach.

Akvilė has specialised in banking, finance, investment funds, project financing, restructuring of financing, securities and M&A for over fourteen years. Akvilė is a recommended expert in finance law by international law firm directories. She holds a Master’s degree in Law from Vilnius University and an LL.M. from Erasmus University, Rotterdam. During her legal practice, Akvilė Bosaitė has led a number of the largest financing, investment funds, capital markets and mergers and acquisitions projects both in Lithuania and foreign jurisdictions.

Former member of the Council of Latvijas Banka (2012–2018). Edvards Kušners started his career at Latvijas Banka in 2003 as the Deputy Head of the Legal Department. From 2005 to 2012, he was also Advisor to the Governor of Latvijas Banka. Before that he was the Director of the European Integration Office. From 2009 to 2012 Edvards Kušners was an external Adviser to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia in public administration matters. From 2008 to 2011, he was a member of the Strategic Analysis Commission of the President of the Republic of Latvia.

Mr. Liepa is recognised to be a noted practitioner in Banking and Finance, M&A, litigation and constitutional law. In the course of his legal practice extending over 20 years, Lauris has advised local and international corporate clients, managing major M&A (including sale and purchase of banks) and foreign investment deals as well as providing assistance in capital markets transactions.