Speaker Bios

Michael Cyrus, Head of Collateral Trading and FX, DekaBank

Michael Cyrus is Head of Collateral Trading and FX at DekaBank. Collateral Trading at DekaBank encompasses Fixed Income Repo, Securities Lending, Equity Finance, Structured Collateralised Solutions and FX. He joined DekaBank from RBS London, where he was global Co-Head of Short Term Markets and Financing responsible for Repo, collateralised Funding, FX and Interest Rate Prime and ETD. Before RBS, Michael was Head of Credit Financing and Collateral Trading (CFCT) at Dresdner Bank in London focusing on Emerging Market Repo, Equity Finance, Tri-Party Repo and synthetic financing in fixed income and credit markets. He started his career at Dresdner Bank in Frankfurt as a Business Manager. Michael has a wealth of experience in the short term money-, repo- and securities lending and financing markets as well as in treasury operations. He holds a degree in economics from the University of Hamburg.

Nicola Danese, Co-Head of International Developed Markets, Tradeweb

Nicola Danese is Co-Head of International Developed Markets at Tradeweb, focused on helping drive product growth and development across the firm’s fixed income business in Europe. Nicola brings to his role a rare combination of in-depth knowledge of fixed income, money markets and Central Bank operations, as well as a detailed understanding of accounting, regulatory, operational, legal, credit and risk management aspects of the securities business. Before Tradeweb, Nicola worked at J.P. Morgan for over 24 years; in his most recent role he headed the EMEA Fixed Income Financing business and was also a member of the European Management Committee. Nicola’s team provided secured financing solutions to the bank’s clients, and the management of funding and liquidity of the EMEA CIB Fixed Income trading inventory. In previous positions, Nicola headed both the government bond repo desk and the credit financing desk, and contributed to the development of a number of technology solutions for the automation and electronification of the institutional and interdealer financing markets in Europe. Nicola holds a degree in Business and Economics from Università Cattolica in Milan.

James Day, Senior Consultant, Finadium

James was a Managing Director and Global Head of Securities Finance Product Development & Head of Securities Finance – UK for State Street. James held the responsibility for providing development of the business globally and responsible for providing strategic direction of the business in the UK. James has 25 years of experience in the securities financing industry and was a board member of; The International Securities Lending Association (ISLA), Bank of England Securities Lending Committee, and the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) Securities Trading Committee. Prior to joining State Street James was a Managing Director and Head of Securities Finance EMEA for BNY Mellon. Previously James progressed through a series of leadership roles with Barclays Capital where he was head of equity financing, and head of execution in EMEA and Asia.

Olivier Grimonpont, Managing Director, Head of Product Management, Market Liquidity, Euroclear

Olivier Grimonpont is Managing Director, Head of Product Management,  Market Liquidity, for Euroclear Group. He is responsible for the strategy and development of Euroclear’s Market Liquidity Services, which includes collateral management, securities lending, banking and settlement services for financial markets, worldwide. Olivier is chairman of Euroclear Global Collateral, where he was previously  Chief Executive Officer for 4 years. Olivier is also a member of the Board of Director of Acadia. Olivier has over 30 years’ experience in the international financial markets. Previously, he was Chief Executive Officer of Euroclear’s Hong Kong branch and Regional Head for Asia, overseeing Euroclear’s offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo, with responsibility for all of Euroclear’s business activities and clients in the Asia-Pacific region. Prior to that, he headed up Euroclear’s Collateral Services, Fixed-Income, Loan Servicing and Securities Lending & Borrowing Product Management teams in Brussels. His financial career started in 1990 with JP Morgan Brussels, where he worked, first as liquidity manager, and later as a government bond trader. He has also held positions for JP Morgan in London and Moscow. Olivier holds degrees in Corporate Management and in Physics from the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium), and has also completed the Accelerated Development Program (ADB63) from the London Business School.

Oliver Harkness, Head of FCT London Sales, BNP Paribas

Oliver is Head of FCT (financing and collateral transformation) London Sales at BNP Paribas. He has been with the team for 18 years focused on money markets and fixed income repo financing (both rates and credit). His client base consists of hedge funds, security lenders, corporate treasury desks etc. Initially his focus was on Scandinavia and Iberian banks/pension funds/asset managers but now primarily speaks with hedge funds.

Andy Hill, Senior Director, Deputy Head of Market Practice and Regulatory Policy, ICMA

Andy Hill is a Senior Director and Deputy Head of ICMA’s Market Practice and Regulatory Policy team, where he oversees globally the association’s work on fixed income secondary markets, as well as repo and collateral markets. Andy has authored numerous reports on bond and repo market structure and development, with a particular focus on regulatory, technological, and economic impacts on market liquidity and resilience. Prior to joining ICMA in 2014, Andy was a repo and money market trader for seventeen years, for ten years of which he was an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs. He has also worked as a consultant in the Aid and Development sector, primarily based in Cambodia, and previously served on the Board of the Cambodian NGO Education Partnership in Phnom Penh while on a Goldman Sachs Public Service Fellowship. Andy holds a BSc (Hons) in Business Studies from Bayes Business School, an MSc in Poverty Reduction and Development Management from the University of Birmingham, and in 2023 successfully completed an Applied Data Science Program with MIT.

Cassandra Jones, Managing Director, EMEA Head of Financing Solutions Client Management, State Street

Cassandra Jones is a Managing Director serving as EMEA Head of Financing Solutions Client Management. Her role includes oversight of the EMEA business development team, aiding product development and originating new business for State Street’s repo and collateral products. Cassandra is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charterholder. Cassandra has been with the Funding and Collateral team at State Street for over 6 years where she has helped establish the analytics team, supported balance sheet optimization efforts and led business development to establish new client relationships. Cassandra earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance from Hofstra University.

Corentine Poilvet-Clédière, Chief Executive Officer, LCH SA, LSEG Post Trade

Corentine Poilvet-Clédière is Chief Executive Officer of LCH SA. Prior to this, Corentine acted as Head of Repo clearing, Collateral and Liquidity management at LCH SA and as such headed the global pool of Euro denominated cleared repos, offering 13 government debts and supporting a network of more than lore than 100 banks across the globe. She has been with the London Stock Exchange Group since 2012 and has held various positions including Global Head of Regulatory Strategy for LSEG and supported the creation of the Credit Default Swaps clearing business for LCH. Prior to this, Corentine worked in investment banking in New York City. Corentine holds three Masters degrees: Political Sciences in France (Science Po); Macro economy and monetary policy in the UK (Bristol University) and Finance in the US (Harvard Business School and Fordham University).

Olivier Nin, Interim Head of RepoClear and Collateral and Liquidity Management LCH SA, LSEG Post Trade

Olivier Nin is Interim Head of RepoClear and Collateral and Liquidity Management (CaLM) LCH SA at LSEG Post Trade, where he is responsible for managing the euro-denominated debt and repo clearing service, which provides members with access to the world’s largest pool of euro liquidity. Gaining expertise in a range of trading and clearing roles, Olivier has over 19 years’ experience across the repo and credit market landscape. Before joining LCH in 2013, he was a trader at Cohen & Company, focusing on asset-backed securities (ABSs), collateralized synthetic obligations (CSOs) and collateral loan obligations (CLOs). Prior to this, he was a trader in the credit derivatives market at Natixis. Olivier holds a master’s degree in engineering mathematics from Grenoble ENSIMAG.

Katja Renner, Fixed Income Sales – Derivatives, Funding and Financing, Eurex

Katja joined the Eurex FIC Derivatives & Repo Sales team at the beginning of 2019 with focus on Repo. She has more than 20 years of experience in the finance industry where she started life as a FI repo trader before moving into the Equity finance & funding world at Citigroup London. With joining Eurex she has played an important role in developing market share in UK, Spain and Portugal. Most recently she has taken over the lead to build out the buy side business.

Zorawar Singh, Global Head of Agency Securities Lending, Deutsche Bank

Zorawar Singh has been part of the ASL senior management team for 5 years.  In his prior role, he had responsibility for the growth of the ASL Structuring business globally and has a proven track record of successfully driving innovation within the product. He started his career with Deutsche Bank more than 14 years ago in treasury and rose to become the EMEA ex Germany head of Asset Liability Management of the Transaction Banking business During this time, he was involved in the integration of the ASL business into Deutsche Bank when it was acquired from Commerzbank in 2009. Based on his skillset in liquidity and interest rate risk, Zorawar has worked with clients across the globe to deliver securities lending financing solutions across fixed income and equities for varying client demands across cash management, collateral management, repo and securities lending. Zorawar graduated with a BA in Economics from the University of Durham

Michalis Sotiropoulos, Head of Government Relations, Europe, DTCC

Michalis Sotiropoulos heads Government Relations in Europe for DTCC. He is responsible for DTCC’s policy and regulatory strategy in EMEA and has been running the DTCC’s Brussels office since 2011. Michalis represents the firm before policymakers, supervisors and industry, having the oversight of DTCC’s overall policy and regulatory activity on capital markets, clearing and settlement, trade reporting, operational resilience and data flows. He is a thought leader in European capital markets and a recognized expert on clearing and new financial technologies. Michalis is an occasional Visiting Lecturer in several European Universities and is fluent in English, French and Greek. Prior to this, Michalis has worked for a top tier policy advisory in Brussels, a couple of political think tanks and the European Commission. A Greek and Belgian national, Michalis has academic degrees in international politics and political economy from UK and Greek universities.

James Tabacchi, President & Chief Executive Officer, South Street Securities Holdings Inc.

As president and CEO of South Street Securities Holdings Inc., Mr. Tabacchi directly oversees all aspects of the business, including strategy, credit, market and liquidity risk, infrastructure, technology and clearing, compliance, finance, accounting, and controls. In 2000, he raised the venture capital and founded South Street as an independent repo broker dealer and began building and expanding the franchise of products. Today, South Street remains one of the largest independent repo dealers and has added asset management of an Agency Mortgage REIT, an MBS TBA derivative dealer franchise, a fintech fixed income processing company, and last year, an equity sec lending business. In 2018, he also invested in and continues to mentor a Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (DVOSB) and minority owned broker dealer called AmeriVet, which underwrites and distributes corporate debt and equity. He continues to look for opportunities to expand the South Street franchise in the mid-market dealer community. Prior to founding South Street, Mr. Tabacchi joined Citicorp/Citibank in 1980. Over a period of 20 years he worked in various customer interface and business head positions within the Investment, Corporate, and Consumer Banking Divisions. In 1987 Mr. Tabacchi became the regional business manager for the Northeast Division of Citicorp Mortgage, Inc. In 1989 he was a Division Financial controller in Citicorp’s North American Investment Bank. During 1990, Mr. Tabacchi was asked to manage the day-to-day operations of Citibank’s Municipal Trust business. He revamped the product lines and packaged the business for sale, which was completed in 1992. He then joined the Finance Desk and was named Treasurer of Citicorp Securities in 1995, adding co-head responsibilities of the Primary Dealer Desk a short time later. In addition to his Board responsibilities at South Street, Kayenta, Digital Prime and AmeriVet, Mr. Tabacchi is Chairman of the Board of the Independent Dealer and Trader Association (IDTA) and is a member of BNYM’s GSS Industry Advisory Council. In 2021, Mr. Tabacchi was elected to the DTCC Board of Directors. Outside the office, he is Vice Chair of the Borough of Demarest Planning Board, and a Trustee of the St. Joseph’s Catholic School Endowment Fund, as well as a youth hockey coach for the Englewood Field Club’s ‘Learn to Play Hockey’ program. Mr. Tabacchi graduated from Iona College with a BBA in Accounting in 1977, and the John G. Hagen School of Business with an MBA in 1981. Mr. Tabacchi’s FINRA certifications include Series 7, 63, 27 and 24.

Nate Wuerffel, Head of Market Structure, BNY Mellon

Nate Wuerffel is the Head of Market Structure at BNY Mellon. In this role, he is responsible for BNY Mellon’s continued leadership in all aspects of market structure, including public-private efforts to improve financial market resiliency, navigating market structure changes, and working with central counterparty clearinghouses. Nate was previously the Head of Domestic Markets at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York where he was responsible for carrying out monetary policy operations in the Treasury, agency MBS and money markets, including the implementation of a range of large-scale asset purchase programs, repo operations and balance sheet actions aimed at fostering U.S. economic growth and financial market functioning. Mr. Wuerffel has led a variety of efforts to strengthen the U.S. Treasury market, developed the NY Fed’s annual conference on the evolution of the market, and oversaw the Treasury Market Practices Group (TMPG). Mr. Wuerffel led the New York Fed’s efforts to support the transition away from USD LIBOR and was responsible for the Alternative Reference Rate Committee (ARRC), sponsored by the Federal Reserve. His public remarks cover topics such as government securities market structure and the LIBOR transition. Mr. Wuerffel holds a bachelor’s degree from Valparaiso University and a master’s degree from University of Chicago.