Mr Philippe Paillart,

Professor Brett King, CEO - International, American Academy of Financial Management

Professor King is an internationally acknowledged expert on wealth management and private banking, with an emphasis on the Middle East and Asia Pacific. In addition to sitting on the Global Board of Standards for the American Academy of Financial Management, Prof. King also sits on the Board of Standards for the Institute of Certified E-Commerce Consultants. In 1998 Prof. King was a national finalist in the Achaeus Institute entrepreneurship programme. Prof. King is also a Chartered Wealth Manager, Master Financial Professional, and registered business analyst.

Mr Philip Strause, Retired Principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and International Resource Director, The Asian Banker

Mr Strause has over 38 years' experience working with commercial banks, insurance companies and other specialised financial institutions on strategy, risk management, operations improvement and technology implementation. From 1997-2003, he was practice director for Deloitte's Asia Pacific Financial Institutions Practice based in Hong Kong, heading Deloitte's consulting practice to financial services firms in the Asia Pacific.

Mr Varun Sabhlok, former Regional Audit Director, Citibank Global Consumer Banking Division (Asia Pacific)

Mr Sabhlok has spent 11 years with Citibank in its global consumer banking division in Asia as South Asia regional audit director, country credit director in Thailand, and as CFO of the Singapore business. He is currently helping banks to align their operations to their strategies by setting up a banking consultancy in the Asia Pacific region, focusing primarily in the areas of risk assessment and credit risk management, wealth management, relationship management and CRM, strategic business planning, equity investment, and financial restructuring.

Mr Chris Skinner, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, BALATRO

Mr Skinner shares his vision on the future strategies for banks at the world’s leading financial conferences including the BAI in the US, EFMA in Europe, and Financial Times in the UK. Prior to creating Balatro, Mr. Skinner was vice president of marketing and strategy for Unisys Global Financial Services from 1998 to 2002, and was previously strategy director with NCR Financial Services from 1995 to 1998. Mr. Skinner is also an associate director of TowerGroup Research; a contributing editor to The Banker; a member of the executive team for TWIST; a non-executive director of Original Solutions in Eire; and is one of the four founders of Shaping Tomorrow, the Internet portal for strategists and futurists.


Mr Christian Kapfer, Head, The Asian Banker Excellence in Retail Financial Services Programme

Mr Christian Kapfer is the Head of Consumer Banking Research at The Asian Banker and leads the firm’s prestigious Excellence in Retail Financial Services Programme. He monitors key tactical and business issues concerning retail banking and develops the benchmarking practice of The Asian Banker. Christian routinely presents to senior banking industry insiders in the Asia Pacific and is quoted regularly in various media such as BBC, CNBC and regional media.