Edoardo Calandro is a member of Moody’s EMEA Banking Team based in London, with lead responsibilities for a portfolio of banks headquartered in the UK.

Since joining Moody’s in 2008, Edoardo worked on banks’ ratings and research; prior to his current focus on UK banks, he held lead responsibilities for Italian and Turkish bank ratings.

Edoardo holds a bachelor’s degree in management and a master’s degree in finance and accounting from Bocconi University in Milan.

Simon Ainsworth, who is based in London, is an Associate Managing Director responsible for the analytical teams maintaining ratings on Nordic and Baltic banks and on a range of European insurance companies.

Simon previously served as a Group Credit Officer. In that role he carried responsibility for monitoring ratings quality as well as assisting in the development and implementation of rating methodologies and practices applied to rated financial institutions within the EMEA region.

Simon joined Moody’s in March 2014 following sixteen years at the Bank of England.

At the Bank, he worked in a variety of roles primarily in its financial markets and banking operation divisions; as well as working on a variety of financial risk and crisis related issues. This included the resolution of failed banks, as well as responsibility for the risk management framework applied to collateral accepted in the Bank’s sterling market operations.Simon graduated from the University of Durham in 1998, having studied Economics and Politics. He is based in London.

Stephen is a Managing Director and Global Co-Head of banking. He is co-responsible for global bank ratings and is based in London where he primarily focuses on banks in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

From 2022-2025 he was the Managing Director and Regional Head of EMEA, Stephen also served as the Country Manager for the United Kingdom for Moody’s Ratings. He was responsible for core business strategy, governance and oversight in the EMEA region.

Before relocating to London, Stephen held the position as Global Co-Head of Banking from 2010 to 2022, based in Hong Kong. In this role, he was responsible for global bank ratings with a primary focus on banks across the Asia-Pacific region.

Prior to joining Moody’s, Stephen worked at J.P. Morgan in London, Tokyo and Hong Kong in various senior credit, research and rating advisory positions. From 1990-1996 he was a bank analyst at S&P Global in London and Paris.

Stephen began his career as a banking regulator at the Bank of England. He is a graduate of the University of Oxford, where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Vanessa is a Vice President – Senior Credit Officer in the Funds & Asset Management group, based in Paris. She joined Moody’s in 1998. She is Team Leader in EMEA and Asia Pacific, responsible for ratings and research in the asset management industry and fund finance. Vanessa holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance from University Laval of Quebec, Canada and is also graduate from EDHEC (Ecole de Hautes Etudes Commerciales du Nord), a French Business School. She holds a SFAF diploma (i.e. the French equivalent to the CFA).

Nitish Bhojnagarwala is an Associate Managing Director with Moody’s Financial Institutions Group. Based in Dubai, Nitish covers a portfolio of large conventional as well as Islamic financial institutions in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey.

Nitish joined Moody’s in 2011, and has led sukuk roundtables and conducted workshops on Banking and Islamic finance at various conferences in the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Nitish has also authored several research pieces, with a focus on regional banking, credit issues and issuer-in-depths for conventional as well as Islamic banks.

Prior to joining Moody’s, Nitish spent five years at Tamweel in the Treasury function. He has also worked for KPMG in the UAE, where he covered financial institutions. Nitish holds an MBA from S P Jain Institute of Management & Research, with a major in Finance (Investment Banking).

Antonello Aquino is Managing Director, global co-head for Insurance, Funds and Asset Management, and EMEA Private Credit at Moody’s Ratings. He leads Moody’s analytical team responsible for maintaining credit ratings on insurers, funds, and asset managers in EMEA and North America, as well as private credit entities.

Antonello joined Moody’s in 2008 as a Senior Insurance Analyst, covering major European (re)insurers. Prior to Moody’s, he led the Financial Institutions Group (FIG) rating advisory practice at Credit Suisse in Europe. His earlier experience includes roles as a Senior Analyst in Standard & Poor’s insurance sector, and positions within the FIG M&A teams at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) and ABN AMRO.

He holds an MBA from HEC Paris and is an alumnus of London Business School. He graduated cum laude in Business Administration from Bocconi University in Italy. Antonello is fluent in English, Italian, and French.

Helena is the lead analyst for various primary insurance and reinsurance groups based in the UK.

Prior to joining Moody’s in 2011, she worked as an auditor within the insurance department of Mazars. 

Helena holds a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics and philosophy from King’s College London, is a chartered accountant and ICAEW Fellow.

Alexandra serves as a lead analyst for financial institutions in EMEA, including asset managers, insurance brokers, insurance companies and funds. She joined Moody's in 2013 after two years of experience in the banking sector. 

Alexandra holds a Master of Science in Finance from the Manchester Business School, and BSc in Accounting and Finance from the University of Macedonia, Greece.