Speakers

Adam Kostyál has been with Nasdaq for the more than 20 years. He currently is the President of Nasdaq Stockholm and also manages the Listing franchise for Nasdaq in Europe. This includes the Nasdaq Stockholm, Nasdaq Copenhagen, and Nasdaq Helsinki and the Nasdaq Baltic and Icelandic listing offering. Prior to his current role Adam held various positions within Nasdaq and prior to this with Cell Network, Bloomberg and Enron. He holds a B.A in Economics and Marketing from Vrije Universiteit, Bruxelles, and speaks four languages including English, Swedish, Italian and French.

Aleksandra Mączyńska is Managing Director of BETTER FINANCE, the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users, where she leads research and advocacy to defend the interests of individual investors at EU level. She joined the organisation in 2016 and was appointed Acting Managing Director in 2023.

Previously, she served as Deputy Director at Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK). She holds degrees from Poznań University of Economics and the Warsaw School of Economics and participated in the Robert Bosch Foundation Programme in Germany.

She is active in several EU advisory bodies, including the EU Ecolabelling Board, EIOPA’s Occupational Pensions Stakeholder Group (Vice Chair), the European Commission’s Consumer Policy Advisory Group and ESMA’s Consultative Working Group on Sustainability.

Andreas Karlsson is Strategic Advisor at DNB, Norway’s largest financial services group, where he focuses on the intersection of technology, digital innovation, and long-term business strategy. Based in Oslo, he advises on high-level initiatives related to products, artificial intelligence, and digital assets.

He plays a central role in DNB’s digital transformation, exploring how data, emerging technologies, and innovation can enhance banking services, operational efficiency, and risk management. His work includes advancing AI integration, navigating developments in digital currencies and blockchain-based assets, and strengthening DNB’s position within the Nordic and European financial ecosystems.

In addition to his advisory role, he serves on the boards of various entities, contributing expertise in digital strategy and technological innovation.

Andy Mitchell is President and CEO of the Securities and Investment Management Association (SIMA), formerly the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC), a position he has held since January 2023. With more than 30 years of experience in the Canadian financial services industry, he is a recognized leader in investment distribution and industry advocacy.

In his role at SIMA, he represents the Canadian securities and investment management sector, leading regulatory engagement and public policy initiatives. He also serves as President and Board Chair of the IFSE Institute, SIMA’s education arm. Mitchell is a frequent commentator on key issues including cost transparency, cybersecurity, sustainable finance, and capital markets evolution.

Prior to joining SIMA, he held senior leadership roles at SEI Investments Canada, Worldsource Financial Management, Standard Life Canada, Guardian Capital Group Limited, and Bank of America Canada. He holds an MBA from Dalhousie University and is a Fellow of the Institute of Canadian Bankers (FICB) and a Responsible Investment Specialist (RIS).

Armi Taipale is Head of Capital Markets Supervision at the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA), a role she has held since August 2019. She is a recognized specialist in European financial regulation, investor protection, and the supervision of trading venues and market infrastructure.

As a member of the FIN-FSA management group, she reports directly to the Director General. She has been reappointed to the Management Board of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) for a second term starting in January 2026, and serves on ESMA’s Board of Supervisors as well as Chair of the Data Standing Committee. She also chairs the Executive Committee of the Finnish Financial Ombudsman Bureau (FINE).

Prior to joining the FIN-FSA, she held senior positions at the Finnish Ministry of Finance, including Head of Unit for Capital Markets and Market Infrastructure. She holds an LL.M. from the University of Helsinki and an M.Sc. in Economics from the Helsinki School of Economics (now Aalto University).

Daniel Andersson is Head of Handelsbanken Markets, the capital markets division of Handelsbanken, where he has led trading, investment banking, and market research activities since 2025. A veteran Swedish banking executive, he has played a central role in strengthening the bank’s savings, financing, and capital markets operations.

He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Handelsbanken Fonder AB, the bank’s asset management arm. From 2024 to early 2025, he headed the Savings and Financing business area, overseeing asset management, pensions, and the broader retail and institutional product suite.

Over nearly two decades at Handelsbanken, he has held senior leadership roles including Head of Savings and Pensions, Head of Asset Management, and regional leadership positions in Stockholm, following earlier experience as a branch manager. He holds a Master of Science in Business and Economics (Civilekonom) from Linköping University, specializing in accounting and finance.

Eun Ah Choi is Senior Vice President and Global Head of Regulatory Operations at Nasdaq. With more than 25 years of experience in capital markets and securities regulation, she oversees listing qualifications and trading surveillance across Nasdaq’s U.S. and European markets.

She leads multidisciplinary teams responsible for assessing issuer eligibility, monitoring ongoing compliance with listing standards, and supervising equities and options markets to ensure fair and orderly trading. Under her leadership, Nasdaq has advanced AI-driven regulatory operations and strengthened surveillance frameworks for emerging products, including spot-bitcoin ETFs. She also serves as a certifying officer for Nasdaq in SEC filings related to new securities registrations.

Previously, she held senior roles at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Hogan Lovells, Willis Towers Watson, Northrop Grumman, and began her career at Goldman Sachs. She holds a J.D. and a B.S. in International Economics from Georgetown University and studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University.

Iliana Lani is Head of the Conduct Supervision and Convergence Department at the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), based in Paris. In this role, she leads initiatives aimed at strengthening supervisory convergence across the European Union and fostering consistent application of financial regulation among the 27 Member States.

She oversees key strategic projects, including the Supervisory Convergence Heatmap and multiannual peer review work plans, with a focus on preventing regulatory arbitrage, enhancing investor protection, and promoting market integrity. Her work contributes to building a strong, outcome-focused EU supervisory culture.

Lani has held several leadership and advisory positions within ESMA, including roles in supervisory convergence and senior selection boards. She holds a degree in Econometrics, Statistics, and Economics from the University of Sheffield and is a native Greek speaker, fluent in English, with additional knowledge of French and German.

Markus Ferber is a German engineer and Member of the European Parliament since 1994. Over three decades in office, he has held several senior positions, including Chairman of the CSU delegation in the European Parliament and Co-Chairman of the CDU/CSU delegation within the EPP Group.

He currently serves as the European People’s Party (EPP) Coordinator in the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON). As rapporteur for the Market Integration and Supervision Package, he acts as the Parliament’s lead negotiator on one of the key financial markets regulatory files of the current legislative term.

Since January 2020, he has been Chairman of the Hanns Seidel Foundation, and in July 2021 he was elected Vice-President of the Union of European Federalists (UEF).

Marko Niemi is a Finnish financial executive and Chair of the Nordic Securities Association (NSA), where he represents securities dealers from Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden in their engagement with EU regulatory authorities. He also chairs the Securities Dealing Executive Committee in Finland.

Professionally, he serves as Head of Market Making and Execution at OP Corporate Bank plc, one of Finland’s leading financial institutions. His expertise includes risk and liquidity management, EU capital markets regulation, and the development of digital finance and financial instrument tokenization.

He holds a Master of Science in Economics from the University of Jyväskylä (2010).

Mattias Levin is the Deputy Head of Unit of the Digital Finance unit of the European Commission’s Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union DG (“FISMA”). At FISMA, he has previously worked on regulation related to banks, investment firms, conglomerates and financial market infrastructures. Before joining DG FISMA, he was a member of the Bureau of European Policy Advisers (BEPA), a think tank attached to the President of the European Commission. Prior to joining the Commission, Mattias was a Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). Mattias studied at the London School of Economics, Lund University and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques of Strasbourg.

Phil Mackintosh is Chief Economist and Senior Vice President at Nasdaq, where he leads the Economic Research team. With more than 30 years of experience in global financial markets, he is widely recognized for his expertise in market structure, ETF trading, and microeconomic analysis.

Since joining Nasdaq in 2018, he has overseen research initiatives in the U.S. and Europe aimed at enhancing capital formation and improving trading efficiency. He authors the widely read Market Makers newsletter, followed by more than 66,000 subscribers, and is a frequent media commentator and keynote speaker on topics including IPO activity, retail investor trends, AI in trading, and macroeconomic developments.

Prior to Nasdaq, he held senior roles at Virtu Financial/KCG, Credit Suisse, and County Investment Management, and began his career at KPMG as a Chartered Accountant. He holds a Master of Science in Quantitative Finance from the University of Technology, Sydney, and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

Roland Chai is EVP and President of European Market Services, responsible for Nasdaq’s multi-asset trading, clearing, listings, and market services businesses across Europe, including Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania stock exchanges.

Prior to leading European Market Services, Roland was the head of Nasdaq’s Marketplace Technology business, which comprises purpose-built products to meet the technology needs of marketplace infrastructure clients. He also previously served as Nasdaq’s first Global Chief Risk Officer, responsible for developing, reviewing and maintaining Nasdaq’s global risk program while overseeing risk functions of Nasdaq Clearing and Nasdaq Fixed Income.

Before joining Nasdaq, Roland served as Head of Post-Trade at the Hong Kong Exchange, where he oversaw clearing and risk management functions across equities and fixed income, currencies and commodities, as well as the exchange’s market surveillance. He previously served as Group Risk Officer at Hong Kong Exchange. During his tenure, Roland re-established risk frameworks across Exchange, Listings, Mainland Commodities, Trading, and Clearing departments. Roland also served on the Board of LME Clear. Prior to joining the Hong Kong Exchange, Roland served as Head of Equities at LCH.Clearnet Ltd and as Product Development Manager at Australian Securities Exchange.

Sandrine Ménard is Deputy Director of Corporate Financing and Financial Markets at the French Treasury (Direction générale du Trésor), a position she has held since September 2023. In this capacity, she oversees policy and regulation related to financial market stability, corporate financing, and the competitiveness of the Paris financial centre. She also represents the French State on the boards of major institutions, including Bpifrance and the IFCIC, and is a member of the plenary committee of the Institut de la Finance Durable.

Previously, she served at the French Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels as Deputy Head of the Economic, Financial and Trade Department, where she coordinated financial services during the French Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2022. She also led the Treasury’s unit for European coordination and strategy and contributed to international climate negotiations, including COP21.

A graduate of ENA (“Émile Zola” promotion), she studied at the École Normale Supérieure (Ulm) and holds degrees from Sciences Po Paris and La Sorbonne.

Tatyana Panova is the Head of the Capital Markets Union Unit in DG FISMA. Prior to this, Tatyana headed another unit in DG FISMA and served in the private office of Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis where she was responsible for Capital Markets Union, securities markets, asset management, insurance, free movement of capital and competition. Before joining the Cabinet, Tatyana was a Deputy Head of the Securities Unit in DG FISMA. In her previous jobs, Tatyana coordinated the preparation of ECOFIN, COREPER II and Economic and Financial Committee in DG MARKT and managed aviation anti-trust cases in DG COMP. Tatyana is a trained economist with specialisation in financial services.

Urban Funered is the CEO of the Swedish Securities Markets Association since 2019. He has 30+ years of experience from the private financial services and legal sector, having held senior positions in leading law firms, investment banks, and asset managers in Stockholm, New York, Vienna, and London.

Urban Funered has also held senior positions in the public sector, as State Secretary and Senior Advisor to the Swedish Minster for Financial Markets, and as Minister and Financial Services Attaché at the Swedish Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels.

Urban Funered hold LL.M. and Post-Graduate Degrees in Civil, Banking and Financial law from Lund University in Sweden and Queen Mary & Westfield College of London University, and a BSc in Business Administration and Economics from the School of Economics and Management at Lund University in Sweden.