Sayantan Choudhury leads the Financial Services Technology & Digital Consulting business for Grant Thornton India and is based out of Bangalore. 

Apart from his experience in North America, he has significant experience working in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Sout East Asia, especially focused on Financial Sector development projects, and the usage of Technology for greater financial inclusion, SME Lending, women in finance and sustainable finance. He has also worked significantly in the Fintech Ecosystem development for several countries in Southeast Asia, and prepared strategies for establishing International Fintech Hubs, developing Fintech Sandboxes and helping draft numerous Fintech enablement policies. 

He has worked for numerous projects for several developmental organizations like the Asian development Bank, The World Bank and Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office. 

Sayantan has a MBA from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, USA and a Bachelor in Engineering from Bangalore University, India.

Abhishek Rathi brings over 15 years of experience spanning management consulting, private equity, venture capital, and financial infrastructure innovation. 

 

He began his career as an entrepreneur in the management consulting industry, spending a decade advising global organizations such as UNDP, UN Women, the World Bank, leading investment banks, think tanks, and PE funds. His work also involved supporting MDs and CEOs of start-ups, listed firms, and growth-stage SMEs in designing and executing their growth strategies. 

 

Following this, Abhishek spent six years with private equity and venture capital firms, where he led investments and drove the scaling of portfolio companies across multiple sectors. 

 

Currently, he is associated with Finternet, an initiative dedicated to architecting a universal financial infrastructure that is interoperable, unifies multiple asset classes, and enables diverse use cases. Finternet aims to usher in a future of low-cost, high-volume, and high-trust financial transactions, empowering institutions, businesses, and individuals globally. 

Financial Attaché, ASEAN-ROK Financial Cooperation Centre Ms. Haesul Kim has been serving as Financial Attaché at the ASEAN-ROK Financial Cooperation Centre, which is in the Mission of the ROK to ASEAN, since 26 August 2024. In this capacity, she carries out initiatives to develop regional financial infrastructure and foster financial cooperation between Korea and ASEAN, with particular expertise in the field of payment systems. With over 17 years of experience at the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute (KFTC), she has been involved in diverse areas, including the planning of fast payment systems and foreign exchange settlement, as well as making extensive contributions to international cooperation and research on financial trends.Ms. Kim is currently focusing on financial integration projects, with a particular emphasis on supporting cross-border payments between ASEAN and Korea.

Sara Venturina is Chief Data Officer at GCash, guiding the ethical and innovative use of data to enhance digital financial services. She leads data strategy for AI-powered personalization, consumer insights, and product optimization in the Philippines’ leading mobile wallet platform. Sarah also teaches data science as a professorial lecturer, mentors data practitioners, and inspires women in tech as both a leader and advocate for responsible data-driven innovation.

Alex Panican is Deputy CEO at the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology (LHoFT), where he advances digital finance innovation and partnerships. He brings over 15 years of expertise in business strategy, digital transformation, and entrepreneurship. Prior to LHoFT, Alex worked in strategy and marketing consultancy and co-founded consumer insights platform Malinshopper.com. He is also involved in education, teaching digital marketing and business strategy. As an entrepreneur and connector at heart, Alex drives ecosystem-building initiatives that foster collaboration between fintech startups, regulators, and financial institutions in Luxembourg and beyond.