Moody's is excited to present its first in-person event on Digital Finance and Digital Asset innovation in New York.
Agenda
08.30
- 09.00
EDT
Breakfast and registration
09.15
- 09.40
EDT
Navigating the digital finance landscape in the US
- What is the outlook for digital cash and how are regulatory developments shaping the landscape of digital finance?
- What are the current and emerging regulations within the industry and why is technology assessment significant in this context?
- Could digital finance potentially trigger a fundamental shift in the traditional financial ecosystem?
- Analyzing the interplay between security and commodity classifications of digital assets, what implications might these distinctions have on regulatory frameworks?
09.40
- 10.15
EDT
2024 and beyond, expected growth and headwinds in the digital finance ecosystem
- What are the anticipated developments in asset tokenization, including within private markets?
- Analyze the emergence, adoption and market impact of crypto ETPs
- What strategies can be employed to leverage asset tokenization to access emerging investment opportunities?
- Strategic insights on navigating the volatile market, optimizing investment strategies, and associated risks
- Assess regulatory landscape, key challenges and opportunities surrounding tokenization of alternative assets
10.15
- 10.30
EDT
Coffee break
10.30
- 11.05
EDT
Charting the future of digital economy
- Is there strategic development underway for digital economic infrastructure to establish a robust foundation for innovation and growth over the next several years, supporting the increasing demand for digital asset transactions and services?
- Is the ecosystem identifying critical risks within the digital economy ecosystem and exploring mitigation strategies ensuring resilience and security?
- How is the evolving digital economy reshaping traditional financial mechanisms and fostering innovation?
- Are we uncovering future synergies by delving into the intersection of DLT, AI, Cyber, other emerging tech and global macroeconomics?
11.05
- 11.15
EDT
Closing remarks
11.15
- 11.45
EDT
Refreshments and networking
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Fabian Astic serves on Moody’s Ratings Senior Leadership Team as Managing
Director and Global Head of Decentralized Finance & Digital Assets, Cyber Credit Risk,
and AI Analytics. He leads the group responsible for the rating agency’s preparedness
for the digitalization of the global economy, driven by transformative technologies
like AI and blockchain. Specific areas of focus for the group include analytics and
research, market and policy development, and process, data, and technology.
Fabian is widely recognized for his expertise in both traditional finance and digital
finance, often speaking at high-profile industry conferences and contributing to
leading trade association events and podcasts. He serves on the Digital Asset Markets
Subcommittee of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Global Markets
Advisory Committee, which focuses on digital finance and asset tokenization, and on
the board of QuantCube Technology, an AI company providing predictive analytics
and economic forecasts from alternative data. Additionally, he is the Secretary of the
board of the Hetrick-Martin Institute, a Moody’s partner, which supports LGBTQ
youth. In 2018, Fabian was named as one of Business Equality Magazine’s “40 LGBTQ
Leaders Under 40.”
Prior to his current role, Fabian established and led the group responsible for
developing quantitative models and analytical tools used in Moody’s rating process, as
well as innovation activities, including advanced capabilities in machine learning and
artificial intelligence.
Since joining Moody’s in 2006, Fabian has held roles in Credit Policy Research and the
Structured Finance Group, analyzing various structured credit products and
contributing to rating methodologies.
Fabian holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics with a focus on Mathematical Finance,
as well as a Master’s Degree in Mathematics Applied to Economic Sciences and a
Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Mathematics and Social Sciences from Université Paris
Dauphine. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Science and Executive Engineering from
the Ecole des Mines de Paris, where he specialized in Quantitative Finance
Sandra is a proponent for ‘human-centric tech’. From investment banking and currency markets to blockchain technology, she is an early angel investor and advocate of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. She currently serves as the CEO of Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC), the world’s largest leading Swiss-based non-for-profit association with more than 500 institutional members, 301 ambassadors, across 117 jurisdictions and disciplines.
In 2023, she was appointed onto the CFTC Commissioner Caroline Pham’s Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC), Digital Asset Market Subcommittee (DAMS) and cochairs the Taxonomy and Tokenization Infrastructure workstreams within the subcommittee. She was previously appointed as the Senate representative of the New York State Digital Currency Task Force, and serves on the AIFC Fintech Council (Kazakhstan), World Economic Forum’s Digital Currencies Governance Consortium, International Securities Services Association’s DLT & ISO Standards, GI Trust FATF Travel Rule Standards Task Force (South Korea), GBBC’s Global Standards Mapping Initiative, Blockchain for Climate (BxC) Board, Salesforce’s AI Advisory Board, Filecoin Foundation Advisory Board, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Innovation Accelerator Advisory Council, and several government Convergence AI working groups and councils as well as Board director of several fintech start-ups.
Sandra was a founding member of many of the earliest blockchain associations including Hyperledger Foundation, The Linux Foundation, the Post Trade Distributed Ledger Group (PTDL) and the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA).
She is a frequent guest lecturer and hackathon judge at universities discussing topics from fintech to data privacy and harnessing emerging technologies to solve real world problems and has testified and presented in front of governments including the U.S. Senate Committee - Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry, UK House of Lords, Economic Affairs Committee, European Parliament, South Korea’s National Assembly, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, in both closed door and public forums.
Whilst at CME Group, she headed FX & Metals Research & Product Development and founded a new business unit, Digitization. Sandra and her team created the CME CF Bitcoin pricing index and reference rate, CME Bitcoin Futures, and post trade, clearing and settlement solutions.
She and her team filed the first set of crypto derivatives patents with the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). Sandra was one of the corporate digital asset pioneers to recognize the potential of this technology and its many applications; she presented at one of the first CFTC Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) on the potential of blockchain technology on February 23, 2016. Previously, she was a London-based derivatives banker at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank in the foreign exchange and interest rate markets.
Sandra holds a M.B.A. in Finance and Accounting from London Business School, studied Computer Science at Columbia University, School of Continuing Studies and earned a double B.A. degree from Yale University in History (Military) and Studies in the Environment.
Paloma San Valentin is Head of the Corporate Finance Group (CFG) in North America for Moody’s Ratings, based in New York, overseeing the development of rating opinions and research on corporates in the region. Paloma previously served as Co-Head for US and Americas CFG. From 2010 to 2014, she was a Managing Director in CFG in London, where she was in charge of the analytical teams covering a diverse portfolio of mostly consumer-facing industries including telecom, media, airlines, food processors, real estate, packaged goods, or business services. Paloma joined Moody’s in the summer of 2008, bringing 15 years of international corporate credit and banking experience. Prior to joining Moody’s, Paloma was Country Credit Risk Officer for Bank of America in Spain and responsible for the bank’s Iberian corporate credit portfolio and French general industrial clients. During her career, Paloma also spent three years at Credit Suisse, in different credit risk and investment banking capacities. Ms. San Valentin holds an MBA from Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa (IESE), Barcelona, Spain, and a BA in Business and Economics from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium.
Will Peck serves as Head of Digital Assets at WisdomTree. In this role, he oversees WisdomTree’s digital asset, crypto and blockchain initiatives. These initiatives include crypto asset management products, tokenization and WisdomTree’s digital wallet offering, WisdomTree Prime. Previously, he served as Head of Strategy and Emerging Technologies for WisdomTree. Prior to WisdomTree, he worked in investment banking for Bank of America Merrill Lynch covering a range of financial services companies. He graduated cum laude from Harvard University.
Robert Mitchnick serves as the Head of Digital Assets for BlackRock. He is a member of the Corp Exec-COO Executive team. Rob is responsible for driving BlackRock's digital assets strategy, including working with internal business units to develop and execute on strategic initiatives around digital assets.
Prior to joining BlackRock, Robbie spent time at CPP Investment Board in Public Markets and Private Investments, and at Ripple. During his time at Ripple, Robbie co-authored 'A Fundamental Valuation Framework for Cryptoassets' along with John Bates Clark medal winner Susan Athey.
Robbie has BA & BCOM degrees from Queen's University and an MBA from Stanford, where he graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar and the Robichek Award winner in Finance. He holds a Blockchain Technologies Certification from MIT Sloan, and is a CFA Charterholder.
Puneet and his team lead enterprise-wide Blockchain and Digital Asset initiatives globally for Citi, including efforts to develop digital asset solutions across the firm using unified technology capabilities and strategic approach. His team provides subject matter expertise, drives product development and defines distinct strategy on digital asset opportunities including new products, new clients, and new investments. Puneet also leads institutional engagement with stakeholders such as clients, fintechs and central banks, on digital asset opportunities.
Previously, Puneet led the Digital Assets team for Citi’s institutional businesses. Puneet has worked at Citi across the developed and emerging markets in various management roles within Citi’s Markets, Securities Services and Trade & Transaction Services businesses. His roles have included leading the Citi Financial Markets Infrastructure Team, Citi Global Clearing Payments Product, Citi Foreign Exchange Prime & Derivative Clearing Product Management, Trade Finance and Asset Backed Finance.
Puneet Singhvi has been serving on the boards of LCH ForexClear and DTCC DerivServ.
He has a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering from Jai Narain Vyas University. He completed his Master’s in business management from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.
Patrick serves as the North American Vice President on Northern Trust's Digital Asset & Financial Markets team and is responsible for the execution and investment in the bank’s digital asset strategy.
Based in Chicago, Patrick has over a decade of experience in financial services and helps lead the bank’s efforts through the identification and development of new innovation initiatives – defending the franchise from disintermediation, driving profitable business growth, and increasing operational efficiency. Additionally, Patrick is responsible for managing the team’s global opportunity set and developing unique partnerships with other market participants, including incumbent financial institutions and early-stage fintech companies, bringing a synergistic approach to the innovation model. Lastly, leveraging market intelligence on new industry developments and shifting market dynamics, Patrick informs the bank’s go-forward strategy and is regularly called upon as an expert on DLT, digital assets, tokenization, data & analytics, and quantum computing.
A graduate of The University of Dayton, Patrick began his career at a large U.S. based insurer and wealth management firm and was most recently the CEO/Founder of 3/AXIS, an early-stage fintech startup based in Chicago.
Vincent Gusdorf is a Associate Managing Director in the DeFi and Digital Assets team (DFDA), leading Moody’s blockchain technology research. Before joining the DFDA team, Vincent worked for the Innovation and Data Science team, managing several machine learning projects and defining the innovation roadmap.
Vincent worked as a credit analyst for 16 years and covered investment grade and high-yield corporates. He also contributed to developing Moody’s cyber risk expertise in Europe. Before joining Moody’s, Vincent worked at Standard & Poor’s, Exane BNP Paribas, and Ernst and Young.
Vincent is a CFA charter holder and holds a Master of Finance from Sciences Po Paris and a Master of Law from Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas. He is a self-trained programmer and developed his blockchain and machine learning expertise by completing multiple online data science and cloud certifications. Vincent is also a Certified ScrumMaster and a PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP).
Cynthia Lo Bessette is head of Fidelity’s Digital Asset Management division where she has oversight and responsibility for setting the strategy and priorities for the division in building digital asset investment capabilities and solutions for Fidelity clients and investors across our platforms, offering investment products and advisory services designed to meet the growing needs of Fidelity’s retail customers and intermediary and institutional clients.
Ms. Lo Bessette leads the teams responsible for the development of the digital asset research and data platforms and research agenda, including evaluation of blockchain protocols, infrastructure, and financial applications. In addition, she leads the teams responsible for the establishment of the digital asset operating platform, the expansion of the strategic product roadmap for digital assets and the expansion of the business development function.
Ms. Lo Bessette has extensive experience working with asset management firms investing globally across asset classes and serving a worldwide investor base, including retail and institutional investors. She has broad experience working with global asset managers on strategic transactions and on start-up and establishment of new businesses in global markets, investment product development and distribution, and portfolio management matters involving US and foreign regulations and local market practices. She has been in the financial industry since 1995.
Previously, Ms. Lo Bessette was head of Asset Management and Digital Assets Legal.
Prior to joining Fidelity in August 2019, Ms. Lo Bessette was Executive Vice President and General Counsel of OppenheimerFunds, and was also a director of OFI International, Ltd, the UK affiliate of OppenheimerFunds, and OppenheimerFunds ICAV, a family of UCITS offered globally.
Jasmine is COO/CRO of Coinbase Asset Management. In March 2020 Jasmine lead the spin out of Brevan Howard’s infrastructure in the United States, Coremont, a SaaS and services company supporting full FTB operations for multiple asset managers and hedge Funds. Jasmine built the US team covering all roles and designing and managing the build needed to support varied digitally focused clients. Jasmine joined Coremont from Brevan Howard, where she sat on multiple Global Committees and Chaired the US Executive Committee from her role as Head of Risk of the New York office, a position held since August 2016. Prior to joining Brevan Howard, Burgess was Chief Risk Officer at Prologue Capital, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based hedge fund (April 2013 to July 2016). Prior to this buy-side focus, Jasmine held several roles at Macquarie Bank from August 2006 to March 2013, starting as a Senior Manager leading the Market Risk Team in Sydney, Australia, then being transferred in 2009 to New York as an Associate Director on a small team to build the Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities trading floor. Whilst in her role as Head of FICC Risk, Jasmine started and lead Macquarie’s first quantitative strategy team with initial focuses on Vol arbitrage, FX and commodity futures trading strategies. Jasmine started her career at Citibank in 1999 before joining JP Morgan as an Analyst within the Debt Capital Markets team in 2002. Jasmine graduated from University of New South Wales, Australia with a Bachelors of Commerce in Finance (hons) and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics (2002).
Renée Berman is a Managing Director at DTCC Digital Assets. In this capacity, she focuses on exploring opportunities to leverage digital asset technology to create new and additional value for DTCC and its clients by reimagining the capital markets post-trade ecosystem. In her role, Renée collaborates with Clearing & Securities Services (CSS) and global peers to develop use cases to accelerate adoption of digital assets.
Prior to joining DTCC, Renée led Capital Markets Strategy at Broadridge where she drove strategy, corporate development, and strategic initiatives. Before that, she served as COO of Equity Derivatives Americas at Credit Suisse and as a Program Officer at the Credit Suisse Foundation and The Goldman Sachs Foundation.
Renée’s background in organizational strategy spans more than 10 years and includes roles and consulting experience at Bain and The Bridgespan Group, Bain’s affiliate which provides consulting to non-profit organizations.
Renée has an MBA from the University of Chicago, where she graduated with High Honors, and an undergraduate degree from Wharton.
Rajeev Bamra serves as the Associate Managing Director and Head of Strategy for Digital Economy at Moody's Rating. A seasoned executive and thought leader, he plays a pivotal role in shaping the intersection of traditional finance and digital finance within the rating agency. In his current position, Rajeev leads the strategy and operations group, driving key decisions at Executive and Senior Leadership levels, and ensuring Moody's readiness for the digitalization of the global economy.
Rajeev has been a key influencer in instilling the concept of digital finance, encompassing digital currencies, decentralized technologies, and innovative product design, into the fabric of Moody's ecosystem. His visionary leadership extracts the maximum potential from the evolving digital economy, steering the innovation agenda and operational planning for the organization.
As a recognized thought leader, Rajeev has authored research papers and thought leadership documents on digital finance infrastructure development, leveraging transformative technologies such as blockchain and AI across various sectors. Actively representing Moody's at events, panels, webinars, and podcasts, he helps optimize stakeholder relations to underscore Moody's commitment to digital finance and innovation. His visionary leadership and strategic acumen continue to propel Moody's into the forefront of the evolving digital economy.
Sandra is a proponent for ‘human-centric tech’. From investment banking and currency markets to blockchain technology, she is an early angel investor and advocate of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. She currently serves as the CEO of Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC), the world’s largest leading Swiss-based non-for-profit association with more than 500 institutional members, 301 ambassadors, across 117 jurisdictions and disciplines.
In 2023, she was appointed onto the CFTC Commissioner Caroline Pham’s Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC), Digital Asset Market Subcommittee (DAMS) and cochairs the Taxonomy and Tokenization Infrastructure workstreams within the subcommittee. She was previously appointed as the Senate representative of the New York State Digital Currency Task Force, and serves on the AIFC Fintech Council (Kazakhstan), World Economic Forum’s Digital Currencies Governance Consortium, International Securities Services Association’s DLT & ISO Standards, GI Trust FATF Travel Rule Standards Task Force (South Korea), GBBC’s Global Standards Mapping Initiative, Blockchain for Climate (BxC) Board, Salesforce’s AI Advisory Board, Filecoin Foundation Advisory Board, United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Innovation Accelerator Advisory Council, and several government Convergence AI working groups and councils as well as Board director of several fintech start-ups.
Sandra was a founding member of many of the earliest blockchain associations including Hyperledger Foundation, The Linux Foundation, the Post Trade Distributed Ledger Group (PTDL) and the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA).
She is a frequent guest lecturer and hackathon judge at universities discussing topics from fintech to data privacy and harnessing emerging technologies to solve real world problems and has testified and presented in front of governments including the U.S. Senate Committee - Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry, UK House of Lords, Economic Affairs Committee, European Parliament, South Korea’s National Assembly, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, in both closed door and public forums.
Whilst at CME Group, she headed FX & Metals Research & Product Development and founded a new business unit, Digitization. Sandra and her team created the CME CF Bitcoin pricing index and reference rate, CME Bitcoin Futures, and post trade, clearing and settlement solutions.
She and her team filed the first set of crypto derivatives patents with the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). Sandra was one of the corporate digital asset pioneers to recognize the potential of this technology and its many applications; she presented at one of the first CFTC Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) on the potential of blockchain technology on February 23, 2016. Previously, she was a London-based derivatives banker at Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank in the foreign exchange and interest rate markets.
Sandra holds a M.B.A. in Finance and Accounting from London Business School, studied Computer Science at Columbia University, School of Continuing Studies and earned a double B.A. degree from Yale University in History (Military) and Studies in the Environment.
Cynthia Lo Bessette is head of Fidelity’s Digital Asset Management division where she has oversight and responsibility for setting the strategy and priorities for the division in building digital asset investment capabilities and solutions for Fidelity clients and investors across our platforms, offering investment products and advisory services designed to meet the growing needs of Fidelity’s retail customers and intermediary and institutional clients.
Ms. Lo Bessette leads the teams responsible for the development of the digital asset research and data platforms and research agenda, including evaluation of blockchain protocols, infrastructure, and financial applications. In addition, she leads the teams responsible for the establishment of the digital asset operating platform, the expansion of the strategic product roadmap for digital assets and the expansion of the business development function.
Ms. Lo Bessette has extensive experience working with asset management firms investing globally across asset classes and serving a worldwide investor base, including retail and institutional investors. She has broad experience working with global asset managers on strategic transactions and on start-up and establishment of new businesses in global markets, investment product development and distribution, and portfolio management matters involving US and foreign regulations and local market practices. She has been in the financial industry since 1995.
Previously, Ms. Lo Bessette was head of Asset Management and Digital Assets Legal.
Prior to joining Fidelity in August 2019, Ms. Lo Bessette was Executive Vice President and General Counsel of OppenheimerFunds, and was also a director of OFI International, Ltd, the UK affiliate of OppenheimerFunds, and OppenheimerFunds ICAV, a family of UCITS offered globally.
Jasmine is COO/CRO of Coinbase Asset Management. In March 2020 Jasmine lead the spin out of Brevan Howard’s infrastructure in the United States, Coremont, a SaaS and services company supporting full FTB operations for multiple asset managers and hedge Funds. Jasmine built the US team covering all roles and designing and managing the build needed to support varied digitally focused clients. Jasmine joined Coremont from Brevan Howard, where she sat on multiple Global Committees and Chaired the US Executive Committee from her role as Head of Risk of the New York office, a position held since August 2016. Prior to joining Brevan Howard, Burgess was Chief Risk Officer at Prologue Capital, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based hedge fund (April 2013 to July 2016). Prior to this buy-side focus, Jasmine held several roles at Macquarie Bank from August 2006 to March 2013, starting as a Senior Manager leading the Market Risk Team in Sydney, Australia, then being transferred in 2009 to New York as an Associate Director on a small team to build the Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities trading floor. Whilst in her role as Head of FICC Risk, Jasmine started and lead Macquarie’s first quantitative strategy team with initial focuses on Vol arbitrage, FX and commodity futures trading strategies. Jasmine started her career at Citibank in 1999 before joining JP Morgan as an Analyst within the Debt Capital Markets team in 2002. Jasmine graduated from University of New South Wales, Australia with a Bachelors of Commerce in Finance (hons) and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics (2002).
Will Peck serves as Head of Digital Assets at WisdomTree. In this role, he oversees WisdomTree’s digital asset, crypto and blockchain initiatives. These initiatives include crypto asset management products, tokenization and WisdomTree’s digital wallet offering, WisdomTree Prime. Previously, he served as Head of Strategy and Emerging Technologies for WisdomTree. Prior to WisdomTree, he worked in investment banking for Bank of America Merrill Lynch covering a range of financial services companies. He graduated cum laude from Harvard University.
Robert Mitchnick serves as the Head of Digital Assets for BlackRock. He is a member of the Corp Exec-COO Executive team. Rob is responsible for driving BlackRock's digital assets strategy, including working with internal business units to develop and execute on strategic initiatives around digital assets.
Prior to joining BlackRock, Robbie spent time at CPP Investment Board in Public Markets and Private Investments, and at Ripple. During his time at Ripple, Robbie co-authored 'A Fundamental Valuation Framework for Cryptoassets' along with John Bates Clark medal winner Susan Athey.
Robbie has BA & BCOM degrees from Queen's University and an MBA from Stanford, where he graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar and the Robichek Award winner in Finance. He holds a Blockchain Technologies Certification from MIT Sloan, and is a CFA Charterholder.
Puneet and his team lead enterprise-wide Blockchain and Digital Asset initiatives globally for Citi, including efforts to develop digital asset solutions across the firm using unified technology capabilities and strategic approach. His team provides subject matter expertise, drives product development and defines distinct strategy on digital asset opportunities including new products, new clients, and new investments. Puneet also leads institutional engagement with stakeholders such as clients, fintechs and central banks, on digital asset opportunities.
Previously, Puneet led the Digital Assets team for Citi’s institutional businesses. Puneet has worked at Citi across the developed and emerging markets in various management roles within Citi’s Markets, Securities Services and Trade & Transaction Services businesses. His roles have included leading the Citi Financial Markets Infrastructure Team, Citi Global Clearing Payments Product, Citi Foreign Exchange Prime & Derivative Clearing Product Management, Trade Finance and Asset Backed Finance.
Puneet Singhvi has been serving on the boards of LCH ForexClear and DTCC DerivServ.
He has a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering from Jai Narain Vyas University. He completed his Master’s in business management from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.
Renée Berman is a Managing Director at DTCC Digital Assets. In this capacity, she focuses on exploring opportunities to leverage digital asset technology to create new and additional value for DTCC and its clients by reimagining the capital markets post-trade ecosystem. In her role, Renée collaborates with Clearing & Securities Services (CSS) and global peers to develop use cases to accelerate adoption of digital assets.
Prior to joining DTCC, Renée led Capital Markets Strategy at Broadridge where she drove strategy, corporate development, and strategic initiatives. Before that, she served as COO of Equity Derivatives Americas at Credit Suisse and as a Program Officer at the Credit Suisse Foundation and The Goldman Sachs Foundation.
Renée’s background in organizational strategy spans more than 10 years and includes roles and consulting experience at Bain and The Bridgespan Group, Bain’s affiliate which provides consulting to non-profit organizations.
Renée has an MBA from the University of Chicago, where she graduated with High Honors, and an undergraduate degree from Wharton.
Patrick serves as the North American Vice President on Northern Trust's Digital Asset & Financial Markets team and is responsible for the execution and investment in the bank’s digital asset strategy.
Based in Chicago, Patrick has over a decade of experience in financial services and helps lead the bank’s efforts through the identification and development of new innovation initiatives – defending the franchise from disintermediation, driving profitable business growth, and increasing operational efficiency. Additionally, Patrick is responsible for managing the team’s global opportunity set and developing unique partnerships with other market participants, including incumbent financial institutions and early-stage fintech companies, bringing a synergistic approach to the innovation model. Lastly, leveraging market intelligence on new industry developments and shifting market dynamics, Patrick informs the bank’s go-forward strategy and is regularly called upon as an expert on DLT, digital assets, tokenization, data & analytics, and quantum computing.
A graduate of The University of Dayton, Patrick began his career at a large U.S. based insurer and wealth management firm and was most recently the CEO/Founder of 3/AXIS, an early-stage fintech startup based in Chicago.
Fabian Astic serves on Moody’s Ratings Senior Leadership Team as Managing
Director and Global Head of Decentralized Finance & Digital Assets, Cyber Credit Risk,
and AI Analytics. He leads the group responsible for the rating agency’s preparedness
for the digitalization of the global economy, driven by transformative technologies
like AI and blockchain. Specific areas of focus for the group include analytics and
research, market and policy development, and process, data, and technology.
Fabian is widely recognized for his expertise in both traditional finance and digital
finance, often speaking at high-profile industry conferences and contributing to
leading trade association events and podcasts. He serves on the Digital Asset Markets
Subcommittee of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Global Markets
Advisory Committee, which focuses on digital finance and asset tokenization, and on
the board of QuantCube Technology, an AI company providing predictive analytics
and economic forecasts from alternative data. Additionally, he is the Secretary of the
board of the Hetrick-Martin Institute, a Moody’s partner, which supports LGBTQ
youth. In 2018, Fabian was named as one of Business Equality Magazine’s “40 LGBTQ
Leaders Under 40.”
Prior to his current role, Fabian established and led the group responsible for
developing quantitative models and analytical tools used in Moody’s rating process, as
well as innovation activities, including advanced capabilities in machine learning and
artificial intelligence.
Since joining Moody’s in 2006, Fabian has held roles in Credit Policy Research and the
Structured Finance Group, analyzing various structured credit products and
contributing to rating methodologies.
Fabian holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics with a focus on Mathematical Finance,
as well as a Master’s Degree in Mathematics Applied to Economic Sciences and a
Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Mathematics and Social Sciences from Université Paris
Dauphine. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Science and Executive Engineering from
the Ecole des Mines de Paris, where he specialized in Quantitative Finance
Paloma San Valentin is Head of the Corporate Finance Group (CFG) in North America for Moody’s Ratings, based in New York, overseeing the development of rating opinions and research on corporates in the region. Paloma previously served as Co-Head for US and Americas CFG. From 2010 to 2014, she was a Managing Director in CFG in London, where she was in charge of the analytical teams covering a diverse portfolio of mostly consumer-facing industries including telecom, media, airlines, food processors, real estate, packaged goods, or business services. Paloma joined Moody’s in the summer of 2008, bringing 15 years of international corporate credit and banking experience. Prior to joining Moody’s, Paloma was Country Credit Risk Officer for Bank of America in Spain and responsible for the bank’s Iberian corporate credit portfolio and French general industrial clients. During her career, Paloma also spent three years at Credit Suisse, in different credit risk and investment banking capacities. Ms. San Valentin holds an MBA from Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa (IESE), Barcelona, Spain, and a BA in Business and Economics from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium.
Vincent Gusdorf is a Associate Managing Director in the DeFi and Digital Assets team (DFDA), leading Moody’s blockchain technology research. Before joining the DFDA team, Vincent worked for the Innovation and Data Science team, managing several machine learning projects and defining the innovation roadmap.
Vincent worked as a credit analyst for 16 years and covered investment grade and high-yield corporates. He also contributed to developing Moody’s cyber risk expertise in Europe. Before joining Moody’s, Vincent worked at Standard & Poor’s, Exane BNP Paribas, and Ernst and Young.
Vincent is a CFA charter holder and holds a Master of Finance from Sciences Po Paris and a Master of Law from Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas. He is a self-trained programmer and developed his blockchain and machine learning expertise by completing multiple online data science and cloud certifications. Vincent is also a Certified ScrumMaster and a PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP).
Rajeev Bamra serves as the Associate Managing Director and Head of Strategy for Digital Economy at Moody's Rating. A seasoned executive and thought leader, he plays a pivotal role in shaping the intersection of traditional finance and digital finance within the rating agency. In his current position, Rajeev leads the strategy and operations group, driving key decisions at Executive and Senior Leadership levels, and ensuring Moody's readiness for the digitalization of the global economy.
Rajeev has been a key influencer in instilling the concept of digital finance, encompassing digital currencies, decentralized technologies, and innovative product design, into the fabric of Moody's ecosystem. His visionary leadership extracts the maximum potential from the evolving digital economy, steering the innovation agenda and operational planning for the organization.
As a recognized thought leader, Rajeev has authored research papers and thought leadership documents on digital finance infrastructure development, leveraging transformative technologies such as blockchain and AI across various sectors. Actively representing Moody's at events, panels, webinars, and podcasts, he helps optimize stakeholder relations to underscore Moody's commitment to digital finance and innovation. His visionary leadership and strategic acumen continue to propel Moody's into the forefront of the evolving digital economy.