The Centre of FinTech
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Who we are
UEL Centre of Fintech- Strategic Advisory Board
The Centre has been created with the aim of building a pipeline of FinTech talent that ultimately facilitates the global digital economy and will work in collaboration with a number of industry partners who are part of the Strategic Development Board of the Centre.
What we are doing
Five main streams of focus:
- Outstanding research in FinTech
- Projects with commercial relevance
- Engagement with FinTech industry
- Policy and regulatory work
- FinTech education
Objectives:
- To be a hub for expertise, research, and information on all aspects of Financial Technology in a globalised world.
- To be a dynamic research group generating outstanding research on FinTech that ultimately facilitates the digital economy - through collaborative research among finance, technology and regulatory experts.
- To engage with industry by providing technology solutions on FinTech related challenges and problems.
Our contribution:
- Current transitions - Examining the factors shaping the transition by individuals and businesses towards FinTech; highlighting the most supportive public policies.
- Future trends - Observing trending services and making predictions on the direction of the industry as well as the requisite regulatory and policy approaches for the direction of the industry.
- Bringing experts together - By engaging in projects which address key issues from different but complementary perspectives, drawing from our expertise in the three key areas of FinTech - finance, technology and law / regulation.
Centre Podcasts & Roundtables
UEL Centre of Fintech Hosts RoundTable Event on 'FinTech and Fraud' February 2022
The Centre of FinTech Podcast - Recent Developments in the Crypto Space and the Role of Regulation
UEL Centre of Fintech Hosts Podcast on Islamic Finance and Fintech
UEL Centre of Fintech Podcast | A Holistic Approach to running a FinTech in an Emerging Market
The Centre of Fintech Staff Members
The Centre of Fintech Strategic Board
Professor Mohammad Ali
Chair
Mohammad is a dynamic leader with over 20 years of expertise in the HE sector and in the automotive industry and is well versed in designing and developing relevant and forward-looking portfolio of programmes. Mohammad is currently the Head of the Royal Docks School of Business and Law. His previous roles in the HE sector include Head of the School of Strategy and Leadership in the Faculty of Business and Law at Coventry University and Head of the Business Management department at Buckinghamshire New University.
Before his life as an academic, Mohammad worked first as a Consultant Engineer and then as a Supply Chain Manager in the automotive industry. During his tenure in the industry Mohammad has worked on various projects including value analysis, demand planning, inventory control and ERP/MRP implementations.
Mohammad holds a doctorate from Brunel University. His thesis discussed various new collaborative forecasting approaches in Supply Chains. He has completed an MSc in Business Performance Management, an executive certificate in Leadership and Management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MiT) and a postgraduate diploma in Information Technology. Mohammad's first degree was in Mechanical Engineering.
Mohammad is active in research and his interests include quantitative analysis of forecast information sharing in supply chains, performance measurement of forecasting methods and development of supply chain forecasting strategies. His work has been published in journals such as European Journal of Operations Research, Omega, Journal of Operations Research Society and International Journal of Production Economics. He has worked with businesses in a variety of ways, including research projects, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, and training.
Dr Iwa Salami
Dr Iwa Salami is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Law at the Royal Docks School of Business and Law. She is the Interim Director of the Centre of FinTech; the Programme Leader for the LLM in FinTech Law and the Postgraduate Research Degrees in Law; and the Deputy Chair of the School's Research Degrees Sub-committee. She is a member of the Executive Board of the Centre for the Study of States, Markets and People and a member of the Governing Council of the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA). Prior to joining UEL, she was a research fellow at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary, University of London where she also lectured. She has previously worked in the UK and abroad, including at the Government Legal Service and the African Development Bank.
Dr Salami has published extensively in the field of financial regulation in emerging economies and financial technology (FinTech) regulation. Her publications include numerous articles in internationally refereed journals and a book: Financial Regulation in Africa (Ashgate, 2012). She is currently researching regulatory frameworks for mobile payments; crowd-funding; Web 3.0 application in finance including crypto-assets, stable coins, decentralised finance (DeFi), Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse; Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) - wholesale and retail; CBDCs and regional projects; and legal dimensions of DLT/ Blockchain Technology.
Dr Julie Wall
Dr Julie Wall is a Reader in Computer Science, leads the Intelligent Systems Research Group and is the Director of Impact and Innovation for the School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering. Her research focus on machine/deep learning architectures, algorithms and applications for audio, speech and natural language understanding; biologically inspired deep learning for sound localisation, speech recognition and enhancement; privacy preserving intelligent systems for audio processing; developing industrial applications of automated decision-making machine and natural language understanding; and applications of intelligent systems to immersive virtual, augmented and mixed environments. Julie maintains close collaborative research and development links with industry.
Professor Nazrul Islam
Professor Nazrul Islam is a Professor of Business at the Royal Docks School of Business and Law at UEL. Professor Islam holds a PhD in innovation management and his research specialisation drives him to work across disciplines and to make a significant theoretical, conceptual, and empirical contribution to different fields, particularly on technological transformation, business intelligence, and innovation themes—all of which are highly significant subjects beyond academia and likely to grow in importance given the current economic environment in the UK. His research is at the forefront of examining how digital innovation has revolutionised and accelerated business growth, from SMEs to large companies, and how organisations can harness the power of technological transformation.
Prof Islam publishes consistently in the leading international journals and has secured research grants from the UK, EU, and Japan. His research received international awards, including the Brad Hosler Award for Outstanding Paper from the USA and the Pratt & Whitney Best Paper Award from Canada. This has subsequently led him to various invited keynote talks across the globe. Prof Islam serves on the Board of Directors for the Business and Applied Sciences Academy of North America (BAASANA), USA. He is currently the Department Editor for IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Associate Editor (Lead Bureau Editor for Emerging Technologies) for Technological Forecasting and Social Change, and Editor-in-Chief for the International Journal of Technology Intelligence and Planning.
Centre Staff
Dr Amin Karami
Dr Amin Karami is a senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Digital Technologies, leads the MSc Big Data Technologies programme at UEL, and is a Big Data Consular in several organisations. His research interests include Big Data Technologies, Computational Intelligence and Optimisation techniques. His research profile includes 750+ citations, h-index: 12 and i10-index: 14 since 2014. He has carried out several international research collaborations, such as at the Uppsala University, University of Skövde Sweden and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain, several internal and external grants, such as Erasmus+ fund, UEL Research Internship Scheme and the award by Fondazione Rosselli for AIC workshop at Turin, Italy supported by projects TIN2013-47272- C2-2 and SGR-2014-881 from Barcelona, and several invited talks and presentations such as at Hangzhou Dianzi University China and IoT Technologies Conference (AIOTT) Hong Kong.
Dr Baoying Lai
Dr Baoying Lai is a senior lecturer in finance and her expertise is in finance and banking. She has published several papers in the European Journal of Finance (3*), Applied Financial Economics (2*), International journal of Strategic Decision Sciences (2*) and so on. She is currently researching in the area of green/sustainable finance.
Dr Eric Boahen
Dr Eric Boahen is a senior lecturer and programme leader. Eric is a Chartered Accountant and a Member of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA, UK). He completed his PhD at the University of Sussex. Prior to his doctoral studies, he obtained MBA and MSc degrees from the University of Hull and Henley Business School, respectively. Eric also holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) from the University of Greenwich. He obtained his BSc in Accounting from the University of Ghana Business School. He is a Fellow Member of Higher Education Authority (HEA) in the UK. Prior to coming to academia, Eric worked as a risk manager in a reputable financial institution and as Audit Senior with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Eric has several years of working in the banking industry: specifically; in risk management, regulation and compliance roles.
Dr Fahimeh Jafari
Dr Fahimeh Jafari is a senior lecturer in Computer Science and postgraduate research lead for the Department of Computer Science and Digital Technologies. Her research interests and expertise include AI-assisted Road Safety, Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Interconnection Networks, Performance Evaluation, Analytical Modelling, Optimisation Theory. Fahimeh has more than 15 years of experience in teaching, research, supervision of students and collaboration with research groups, projects, and companies such as Techbuyer, Intel, DPFE, and Ericsson. She has published papers in international conferences and prestigious journals like IEEE Transactions and ACM Transactions. She has been an Editorial Board member, TPC member, and active reviewer of various international conferences/journals such as JPDC and Recent Patents on Computer Science.
Dr Hammad Hussain
Dr Hammad Hussain is a senior lecturer in finance and has six years industry experience working in the fintech payments industry. He worked at senior management level and understands how to run and manage a small and medium sized fintech organisation. He was involved in managing compliance and operations including getting international licences to prepare for Brexit. His areas of interest in fintech are risk, compliance and operations, AML regulations, international licensing, internal compliance audits and quality.
Dr Hisham AbouGrad
Dr Hisham AbouGrad is a lecturer in Computer Science and Digital Technologies. He holds a DBA in Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Workflow Systems Performance Using Business Process Management (BPM) Values from London South Bank University and has more than 20 years of experience in the IT industry and Higher Education. He holds an MSc in Software Engineering from the University of Bradford and an MBA in Management from the University of Lincoln. He is recognised as a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and qualified as a project management professional (PMP) in IT. His research interests and activities include BPM, Decision Support System (DSS), Workflow Systems Performance, Information Systems Measurement and Performance, ECM Systems, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Machine Learning (ML), Data Science, User Experience (UX) and Ecommerce Design and Development.
Prof Kirk Chang
Professor Kirk Chang is a university professor, consultant, and researcher in the field of OB-HRM (Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource Management). Prof. Chang received a PhD in Occupational Psychology (Manchester) and has been working in both academic and consultancy fields for nearly three decades. He is a media commentator and has published book chapters, commissioned reports and peer-reviewed journal articles. He has presented research papers at conferences in 15 countries.
Dr Michael Harrison
Dr Michael Harrison is a lecturer in finance and fintech. His research evaluates the role High Frequency Traders play in financial markets which require non-cooperative interaction between multiple trader types. He is also researching around the UK Challenger banks and the opportunities they present to the retail banking sector. He holds a certificate in FinTech validated by the University of Hong Kong and is recognised as a Certified FinTech Professional by the Global Academy of Finance and Management.
Dr Mimoza Shabani
Dr Mimoza Shabani is a senior lecturer in economics and her research interests include include international banking, financial markets, financial regulation and financialisation. In particular, her research lies in understanding the role of banking and finance and their impact on the real economy. In an ever-changing banking environment where financial technology has increased significantly and plays a crucial role, there is a need to continue research capturing the new and innovative way of banking and finance.
Dr Mitra Saeedi
Dr Mitra Saeedi is a lecturer in financial management at the Royal Docks School of Business and Law. She has designed courses and modules in the fintech field at both postgraduate and undergraduate level and has supervised numerous Master and PhD dissertations in this area. Her key areas of research expertise are fintech, financial risk management, corporate finance, financial management, econometrics and financial innovation. Her research focuses on crowdfunding investment, bitcoin price volatility, financial fraud detection and prevention, and short-term dynamics in stock markets.
Dr Mohammad Amirhosseini
Dr Mohammad Amirhosseini is a lecturer in computer science and digital technologies. His research interests and expertise include, but are not limited to, applications of AI and machine learning techniques in different areas such as psychology, cognitive processing, personality type prediction, personality development, Human-Computer Interaction, Natural Language Processing, organisational performance, cyber security, identity resolution, fraud detection, phishing attacks, and social network analysis.
Dr Nadeem Qazi
Dr Nadeem Qazi is a senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Science Digital Technologies. He earned his PhD in Machine Learning (ANN) from Cranfield University. His research interests and expertise include, but are not limited to, applications of AI , machine learning, NLP, big data analytics and visualisation techniques in different areas such crime analysis, smart homes, crypto currency, assisted living, text mining, computer vision, human activity recognition, fraud detection, time series prediction, and social network analysis. He has completed multiple EU funded projects and is a member of IEEE.
Dr Saeed Sharif
Dr Saeed Sharif is the leader of the Intelligent Technologies Research Group, course leader for MSc Computer Science and course leader for MSc Computer Science with Industrial Placement.. He has a PhD in artificial intelligence. His research interests and expertise include Artificial Intelligence, innovative tele-health, medical technology, digital health care and medical assistive technology, medical image analysis and visualisation, intelligent diagnosis systems, Smart Biomedical Image and Bio Signal Acquisition (MRI, PET, EEG), nanotechnology, medical biotechnology, and big data analysis. He is working closely with clinicians and policy makers nationally and internationally to improve the clinical settings and the healthcare systems. He has led the research development of different research projects associated with many industries and NHS trusts. He has developed his research with the goal of improving the effectiveness, efficiency of medical and health care systems. Dr Saeed has published more than 56 articles in highly reputable journals, international conferences and book chapters, such as Elsevier Applied Soft Computing, Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine, IEEE Access etc. He is a member of the technical committee of several international conferences, he has participated in many national and international conferences e.g., ICIP. He has served as a reviewer for many journals e.g., IET IPJ, Elsevier CBMJ. He is guest editor at an international journal. He has received many academic and research awards. He is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy, and a member of the British Computer Society.
Dr S. Ali Ghorashi
Dr S. Ali Ghorashi received his PhD in Telecommunications from King's College London in 2003 and has more than 20 years of experience in industry and academia on optimization and the applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning on Cellular and Ad-hoc Communication Networks, self-drive cars, Internet of Things (IoT), Human Activity Recognition (HAR), and indoor positioning. He is a senior member of IEEE, has published more than 120 journal and conference papers and has experience in several national and European projects.
Dr Shampa Roy-Mukherjee
Dr Shampa Roy-Mukherjee is a senior lecturer in economics and the director of impact and innovation at the Royal Docks School of Business and Law. She is the co-director of the Centre for the Study of States, Markets and People and co-director (academic) of the Institute of Government & Public Policy. Her research includes the economic implications of financial and banking reform (including micro-finance, green and sustainable finance) in the MENA region and other emerging markets. Her publications are in the areas of applied macro and monetary economics, applied econometrics, development economics and political economy.
Dr Bilyaminu Auwal
Dr Bilyaminu Auwal is a lecturer in computer science & digital technology at the Department of Computing and Engineering. Bilyaminu attained a PhD in Computer Science (Software Engineering) from Brunel University London, with experience in the industry and academia in empirical software engineering.
Dr Md Atiqur Rahman Ahad
Dr Md Atiqur is an associate professor of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning.
Dr Mustansar Ghazanfar
Dr Mustansar is a senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Digital Technologies (CS&DT). He is the course leader for MSc Artificial Intelligence. His main area of research includes recommender systems, predicting modelling, machine learning, deep learning, and data science.
He has published in more than 60 international conferences and journals. His research receives more than one citation per day, as per Google Scholar.
The Centre of Fintech Strategic Board
Professor Mohammad Ali
Chair
Professor Mohammad Ali
Mohammad is a dynamic leader with over 20 years of expertise in the HE sector and in the automotive industry and is well versed in designing and developing relevant and forward-looking portfolio of programmes. Mohammad is currently the Head of the Royal Docks School of Business and Law. His previous roles in the HE sector include Head of the School of Strategy and Leadership in the Faculty of Business and Law at Coventry University and Head of the Business Management department at Buckinghamshire New University.
Before his life as an academic, Mohammad worked first as a Consultant Engineer and then as a Supply Chain Manager in the automotive industry. During his tenure in the industry Mohammad has worked on various projects including value analysis, demand planning, inventory control and ERP/MRP implementations.
Mohammad holds a doctorate from Brunel University. His thesis discussed various new collaborative forecasting approaches in Supply Chains. He has completed a MSc in Business Performance Management, an executive certificate in Leadership and Management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MiT) and a postgraduate diploma in Information Technology. Mohammad's first degree was in Mechanical Engineering.
Mohammad is active in research and his interests include quantitative analysis of forecast information sharing in supply chains, performance measurement of forecasting methods and development of supply chain forecasting strategies. His work has been published in journals such as European Journal of Operations Research, Omega, Journal of Operations Research Society and International Journal of Production Economics. He has worked with businesses in a variety of ways, including research projects, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, and training.
Dr Iwa Salami
Dr Iwa Salami
Dr Iwa Salami is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Law at the Royal Docks School of Business and Law. She is the Interim Director of the Centre of FinTech; the Programme Leader for the LLM in FinTech Law and the Postgraduate Research Degrees in Law; and the Deputy Chair of the School's Research Degrees Sub-committee. She is a member of the Executive Board of the Centre for the Study of States, Markets and People and a member of the Governing Council of the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA). Prior to joining UEL, she was a research fellow at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary, University of London where she also lectured. She has previously worked in the UK and abroad, including at the Government Legal Service and the African Development Bank.
Dr Salami has published extensively in the field of financial regulation in emerging economies and financial technology (FinTech) regulation. Her publications include numerous articles in internationally refereed journals and a book: Financial Regulation in Africa (Ashgate, 2012). She is currently researching regulatory frameworks for mobile payments; crowd-funding; Web 3.0 application in finance including crypto-assets, stable coins, decentralised finance (DeFi), Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse; Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) - wholesale and retail; CBDCs and regional projects; and legal dimensions of DLT/ Blockchain Technology.
Dr Julie Wall
Dr Julie Wall
Dr Julie Wall is a Reader in Computer Science, leads the Intelligent Systems Research Group and is the Director of Impact and Innovation for the School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering. Her research focus on machine/deep learning architectures, algorithms and applications for audio, speech and natural language understanding; biologically inspired deep learning for sound localisation, speech recognition and enhancement; privacy preserving intelligent systems for audio processing; developing industrial applications of automated decision-making machine and natural language understanding; and applications of intelligent systems to immersive virtual, augmented and mixed environments. Julie maintains close collaborative research and development links with industry.
Professor Nazrul Islam
Professor Nazrul Islam
Professor Nazrul Islam is a Professor of Business at the Royal Docks School of Business and Law at UEL. Professor Islam holds a PhD in innovation management and his research specialisation drives him to work across disciplines and to make a significant theoretical, conceptual, and empirical contribution to different fields, particularly on technological transformation, business intelligence, and innovation themes—all of which are highly significant subjects beyond academia and likely to grow in importance given the current economic environment in the UK. His research is at the forefront of examining how digital innovation has revolutionised and accelerated business growth, from SMEs to large companies, and how organisations can harness the power of technological transformation.
Prof Islam publishes consistently in the leading international journals and has secured research grants from the UK, EU, and Japan. His research received international awards, including the Brad Hosler Award for Outstanding Paper from the USA and the Pratt & Whitney Best Paper Award from Canada. This has subsequently led him to various invited keynote talks across the globe. Prof Islam serves on the Board of Directors for the Business and Applied Sciences Academy of North America (BAASANA), USA. He is currently the Department Editor for IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Associate Editor (Lead Bureau Editor for Emerging Technologies) for Technological Forecasting and Social Change, and Editor-in-Chief for the International Journal of Technology Intelligence and Planning.
Centre Researchers
Clinton Esosa Osemwengie
PhD title - Legal and Regulatory Requirements for the Adoption of Blockchain Technology In the Nigerian Financial Market.
Blockchain technology has been touted as a revolutionary technology that can make financial markets more efficient. With financial markets across the globe exploring its adoption, there is the proposition that such technology is likely to thrive in markets with sound regulatory framework. The research focuses on the prospect of the Nigerian financial market adopting blockchain technology viz-a-viz the myriad of problems bedevilling the quality of its regulatory framework. Using a comparative study of the United Kingdom's regulatory framework and its recent drive to adopt blockchain technology in its financial market, it develops recommendations that will assist policy makers in retooling its legal and regulatory architecture to enable it transit to an on-chain market.
Harry Maltby
PhD title - Deep Learning-Based Identification of Deep fake Synthesised Voice Content in Fintech
Deep fake identity fraud is being used for notable acts of identity theft, such as in March 2019 when the voice of a UK energy firm higher up was stolen and used to make the CEO hand over £200,000 to fraudsters. This proposed research aims to investigate and contribute towards thwarting deep fake synthesised voice content misuse within the context of financial tech by investigating the recent development of technologies that allow for natural-sounding fake speech. Financial tech is a domain with the potential for a lot of monetary damage, demonstrated by multiple high-profile successful fraud attempts.
The Centre of Fintech Advisory Board
Andrew Elphick, Business Advisor and Innovation Director
Andrew Elphick is a business advisor and innovation director within the banking sector. He is responsible for leading banks' implementation of the fintech pledge, innovation challenges, running hackathons and internal workshops to generate ideas for business; where appropriate linking them to our Rise ecosystem, which operates in London and New York City.
Barry James, British Blockchain & Frontier Technologies Association (BBFTA)
Barry chairs the British Blockchain & Frontier Technologies Association (BBFTA). In 2013 he founded The Crowdfunding Centre, in 2020 Humane Economics and in 2021 The Remaking Money Project.
A writer and fintech activist championing civil society and the public good, in 2012 he conceived and proposed the creation of an innovation unit within the UK financial regulator, launched by the chancellor two years later. Meanwhile he established the Westminster Crowdfunding Forum and the APPG for Crowdfunding and Non-bank Finance in support of this, for which he provided the secretariat. In addition to this he created and chaired the Crowdfunding Deep Impact national conference series.
Ben King, Finder
Ben King is the Global Head of CSR & Public Affairs at Finder - a high-growth international fintech that runs Australia's most visited comparison website. In his role, he is focused on increasing the positive social and environmental impact of the business and working with policy makers around the world on regulation that puts the consumer first.
Prior to Finder he worked for Insurance Australia Group in Sydney and London-based social impact consultancy Good Business. He holds a bachelor's in Business Management from the University of Nottingham.
Elizabeth Uwaifo, Radix
Elizabeth Uwaifo is an English qualified solicitor and the managing partner of the London office of Radix. She has over 30 years' experience advising banks, financial institutions and corporates on a wide variety of finance, regulatory, corporate and commercial arrangements. Recently, Elizabeth's practice has focused on Africa, using her extensive experience and contacts to support her clients in structuring robust, creative and sustainable investment arrangements. Her clients include corporate and financial institutions investing in Africa and Africa-based institutions accessing international markets.
She is active in supporting African regulatory institutions in creating an enabling environment for the fintech industry as well as structuring and documenting transactions in the fintech space.
Prior to her present position she was owner of Radix Legal & Consulting Limited, partner at Sidley Austin LLP and vice president at Union Bank of Switzerland.
George Coxon, Nano Foundation
George Coxon is director of the Nano Foundation, director of Appia and advisor to the Global Blockchain Initiative. Nano is the world's only truly global currency, designed to democratise the global economy and bring financial inclusion to the world over.
A degree in evolutionary anthropology amplified George's natural fascination in social behaviours and what makes people 'tick', giving her a wider understanding of how efficient, decentralised digital money can empower and elevate the underbanked, and begin to replace a world founded on credit with a sustainable and fairer solution based on instant settled-value anywhere on the planet.
George is clear that an economy that is open to all and empowers those that are marginalised, not only financially but also socially and politically, will be more robust and resilient. To achieve this goal requires non-archetypal leadership to be at the forefront of the challenge which is the future of money.
Ina Alogwu, ARM HoldCo
Ina is a distinguished professional with over 18 years' experience in the digital commerce and mobile payment space, providing thought leadership in identifying key innovation and technology trends, initiating and driving the execution of new digital product initiatives. He is contributing to the next wave of growth in digital business by leading the change and culture transformation to unlock new business models leveraging digital technology.
He is currently the group director of digital transformation at ARM Holding Company where he is responsible for overseeing the development, execution, continuous monitoring of the company's digital strategy and facilitating open innovation for the group by managing and running the Labs by ARM Start-up Accelerator Programme.
Daan Terpstra, Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Alliance
Daan Terpstra is Executive Chairman of the Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Alliance (SDIA). With a background as a political scientist and experience in the energy sector, Daan brings his experience to the transformation of the digital economy, making it future- proof and sustainable. Throughout his career, he has dedicated himself to the well-being of people and the planet, and Daan is committed to creating a positive future for the next generation.
Daan is Executive Chairman of the SDIA since January 2022. At the SDIA Daan is combining his leadership skills, knowledge of the energy industry and renewable sector to drive the sustainable development of the digital infrastructure. After his study of International Relations at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen and Political Science at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Daan started his career in the energy sector. From 2009 until 2014 he fulfilled a number of managerial and analytical roles in the energy consultancy sector. From 2014 until 2021 he worked at Vattenfall in different capacities with increasingly senior roles focussing on the integration of renewable energy in the energy system. Aiming to deliver tangible impact, Daan switched to the every growing digital infrastructure which is fuelled almost exclusively by electricity.
Matthew Cheung, ipushpull
Matthew is CEO of ipushpull, a real-time data sharing and workflow platform, and co-founder of Work in Fintech, an edtech inspiring young people to build careers and companies in fintech and web3. Previously, Matthew co-founded RANsquawk, a ground-breaking real-time audio news service for institutional traders. Matthew has nearly 20 years of fintech experience and is an alumnus of Imperial College London and City, University of London.
Nadia Edwards-Dashti, HarringtonStarr
Nadia Edwards-Dashti co-founded the Harrington Starr Group in 2010, which has grown into the leading fintech recruiter based in London with offices in New York. In 17 years in the FST sector, she has been responsible for helping over 2000 people find jobs and has grown from a trainee to a managing director and now chief customer officer of a global technology recruitment business. She runs her own successful 'Women of Fintech' podcast series where she has interviewed over 150 women in leadership within the fintech community to celebrate and showcase their successes. She created a ground-breaking podcast series exploring the 'Maternity and Paternity of Fintech Stories', 'The Humans of FinTech' and 'The Talent Surgery' podcasts and has brought together these four podcast series under the banner of 'FinTech with Nadia: The DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) Discussions.'
She has launched a hugely successful campaign called the '17% list' which drives real change fast, to affect the gender imbalance in the technology space by giving better visibility and therefore career options to women in technology. The '17% List' campaign has created numerous roles for women within fintech and has challenged growing companies to change the way they recruit for the future success of their business. Ultimately Nadia believes in people and businesses becoming the best they can be and knows awareness, acknowledgement and action is needed to drive this forward. Accolades include: Winner of Investing in Talent 2019 Awards - Most Inspirational Recruitment Leader, on the Innovate Finance Women in FinTech power list twice, and Brummell 2019 Top 30 Inspirational Women in the City.
Nigel Cannings, Intelligent Voice
Nigel Cannings is the CTO at Intelligent Voice. He has over 25 years' experience in both law and technology, is the founder of Intelligent Voice Ltd and a pioneer in all things voice. Nigel is also a regular speaker at industry events not limited to NVIDIA, IBM, HPE and AI Financial Summits.
Payal Raina, Fintech B2B Marketing
Payal is founder of a fintech marketing community. She is a pioneer in founding the very first B2B fintech marketing community which is built for and by fintech marketers breaking the silos between financial services firms and technology providers. She is also global head of marketing at Torstone Technology, a leading fintech company, provider of cloud-based post-trade technology to financial institutions.
Ritesh Jain, Infynit
Ritesh is an entrepreneurial technology leader, board advisor, start-up founder and has a PhD in Payments Innovation, Open Banking and Open Finance. After leaving HSBC as COO Digital, Ritesh co-founded Infynit, harnessing his knowledge of and penchant for digital payments.
Over the last 20 years, Ritesh has been at the forefront of the digital and payments industry, leading the future of VISA payments and introducing Apple Pay in Europe / UK. He has led transformation across many global organisations. Ritesh's vast experience and expertise in the payments industry is now seeing him play crucial advisory roles to many organisations, such as the G20 Initiative for Financial Inclusion (Member); Open Banking in EU and Africa; Harvard Business Review; payment regulators and government bodies for their initiative in digital payments, social and financial inclusion; MIT Global in Tech Panel (Member).
He has also been a mentor to the UK Parliament Digital Initiative and many other start-ups. Ritesh is also an advisor and visiting lecturer to leading business schools and universities globally, apart from being a regular speaker, author and a strong advocate of diversity and inclusion.
Sharjil Ahmed, Cykube
Sharjil Ahmed is a tech entrepreneur and spent early part of his career as a seasoned investment banker. He is the co-founder of Cykube, a UK headquartered blockchain and fintech advisory and solutions provider. He is working on promoting fintech and blockchain solutions in the areas of finance, government, healthcare, Shariah compliant investments, Halal economy, SDGs and financial inclusion.
Sharjil has gained training and certification from Oxford University in fintech and blockchain post completing his MBA degree in International Business from Anglia Ruskin University . Sharjil is also an industry associate at University College London, Centre for Blockchain Technologies (UCL CBT). He has 15 years' experience in Islamic investment banking and been involved as founding team member of BLME, Al Rayan (Islamic bank of Britain) & Dux Capital, DIFC to name a few.
Sharjil is one of the early starters in the UK Islamic finance scene and worked with the UK Government to make London the leading Western hub for Islamic finance. For this he has worked closely with UK government bodies like UKTI, HM Treasury and Lord Mayor's trade delegations including writing a report on the History of Islamic Finance in the UK commissioned by the UK Government Islamic finance task force. He is an alumni of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) on special invitation from the US State Department representing the UK.
The Centre Of Fintech Strategic Board Events
Previous events
- RoundTable - Fintech and Fraud with Industry Experts Nigel Cannings - CTO Intelligent Voice, and Colin LeMahieu, Director at Nano. Watch the video.
- Design Competition for MBA Digital Design & Fintech Students - Redesign The Concept of The Nano Paper Wallet.
- The Centre of Fintech Launch at the Houses of Parliament with honoured guests Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP and leading FinTech entrepreneur Ron Kalifa OBE, who gave a keynote speech. Read about the event.
- Dr Iwa Salami, spoke at the Point Zero Forum on Innovations in Digital Finance: An invite-only conference, Zurich, Switzerland 21 - 23 June 2022
Our Partners
- British Blockchain & Frontier Technologies Association (BBFTA)
- Radix
- Nano Foundation
- ARM HoldCo
- Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Alliance (SDIA)
- iPushPull
- Harrington Starr
- Intelligent Voice
- Fintech B2B Marketing
- Infynit
- Cykube
- Finder
Centre Newsletters
The Centre of FinTech Newsletter I
pdf, 634.86 KB
The Centre of FinTech Newsletter II
pdf, 743.32 KB
Recent Public Engagement and Media
Appearances of Centre staff
- Dr Iwa Salami hosted Centre of FinTech Podcast Series, with guest Dr Ritesh Jain, Founder of Infynit, discussing, 'FinTech Start-ups: Opportunities and Risks' on 24 January 2023.
- Dr Iwa Salami, featured on Swiss Radio, SRF, discussing Central Africa Republic’s adoption of Bitcoin as Legal Tender with Samuel Burri on 18 January 2023.
- Dr Iwa Salami, featured on BBC World Service - BBC World Business Report on 'Crypto in Africa' with Devina Gupta, broadcast on 28 December 2022.
- Dr Iwa Salami hosted Centre of FinTech Podcast Series, interviewing Ina Alogwu, Group Director, Digital Transformation at Asset & Resource Management Holding Company discussing, 'A Holistic Approach to Running a FinTech Business in an Emerging Market' on 8 December 2022.
- Dr Iwa Salami appeared on MBC South Korean TV, interviewed by Seon-Ju, for a Special TV programme, 'For the Better Future, Blockchain Technology' broadcast on 18 December 2022.
- Dr Iwa Salami, featured on News Central TV - Business Edge with Tolulope Adeleru-Balogun, discussing 'South Africa to Regulate Crypto Assets' on 21 October 2022.
- Dr Iwa Salami hosted Centre of FinTech Podcast Series, with guests Katie Mitchell (SVP, Global Head of Policy and Engagement, Crypto.com) and John Bertrand (Director, On Demand Payment Technologies) discussing, 'Recent Developments in the Crypto Space and the Role of Regulation' on 22 July 2022.
- Dr Iwa Salami featured on NPR with Eva Tesfaye, contributing to the discussion on whether 'Cryptocurrency is an Energy Drain' on 25 April 2022.
- Dr Iwa Salami featured in a Quartz article 'Why Ethiopia has moved from banning crypto to regulating it,' on 29 August 2022.
- Dr Iwa Salami featured as the Woman Crush Wednesday personality in Pride Magazine Nigeria on 10 August 2022, discussing her work in FinTech and her career journey.
- Dr Iwa Salami, featured on News Central TV - Business Edge with Tolulope Adeleru-Balogun on 2 August 2022 discussing 'The Future of Cryptocurrencies in Africa'.
- Dr Iwa Salami's article featured in The Conversation on 25 July 2022 on 'Cryptocurrencies are gaining ground across Africa. That's both good news and bad'.
- Dr Iwa Salami, spoke at the Point Zero Forum on Innovations in Digital Finance: An invite-only
conference, Zurich, Switzerland 21 - 23 June 2022. The forum was a gathering of industry players in the digital assets space, regulators, policy makers and thought leaders. - Dr Iwa Salami, was invited to participate in the first ever UK FCA CryptoSprint between 10-11 May 2022 and was interviewed to comment on the event.
- Dr Julie Wall was featured on Intelligent Voice Podcast: Advice for students going into AI. Dr Julie Wall participated in Intelligent Voice's podcast series, speaking about her career in tech and what the industry can do to encourage more women to the tech industry. She also discussed the importance of academic and commercial relationships and how students can make the most of their experience in tech.
- Dr Julie Wall was nominated for three Women in Tech Excellence Awards 2022 - Innovator of the Year, Woman of the Year and Rising Star of the Year.
- Dr Iwa Salami joins 34 other specialists giving their predictions on the price of Bitcoin over the next decade in the April 2022 Finder Cryptocurrency Report.
- Dr Iwa Salami, comments in the Nigerian Vanguard article 'Africa's first digital currency eNaira pushes through a difficult environment', on 4 April 2022.
- Dr Julie Wall was an invited speaker at RE•WORK AI in Insurance Summit on March 18 2022, speaking about Conversational AI Solutions for Combatting Insurance Fraud.
- Dr Iwa Salami featured in an interview with Tech monitor on 'How the eNaira is turning CBDC theory into reality' on 3 March 2022.
- Dr Iwa Salami delivered the Keynote speech on the 'Future of Finance in Africa' on 24 February 2022 at the African Digital Finance Summit 2022.
- Dr Julie Wall was the organiser and moderator of a roundtable on the topic of 'How AI is enhancing Personal Development', IORMA - The Global Consumer Commerce Centre, 24 February 2022.
- Dr Julie Wall was an invited speaker at Advancing AI in the Public Sector: Increasing Resilience, Productivity, Growth and Innovation, on February 19 2022, speaking about 'A Conversational AI Approach to Detecting Deception and Tackling Insurance Fraud'.
- Dr Iwa Salami's article featured in The Conversation on 8 February 2022 on 'Cryptocurrency, NFTs and the metaverse threaten an environmental nightmare - here's how to avoid it' .
- Dr Julie Wall was an invited speaker at the Blackheath Scientific Society, speaking about 'Conversational AI', 28 January 2022.
- Dr Iwa Salami featured on ABC - RN Breakfast with Patricia Karvelas Show on 20 Jan 2022 discussing, 'Spain cracks down on cryptocurrency advertising'.
- Dr Iwa Salami featured on The Conversation Weekly podcast on 13 January 2022 discussing 'Crypto countries: Nigeria and El Salvador's opposing journeys into digital currencies'.
- Dr Iwa Salami appeared with Fred Schebesta, and Will Harbone at the Independent's free cryptocurrency expert panel event, 'Crypto experts predict which bitcoin rivals to look out for in 2022' with Anthony Cuthbertson on 8 December 2021
- Dr Julie Wall was keynote speaker at the Tenth IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Information Systems (ICICIS), Egypt, 5 December 2021, speaking about 'A Conversational AI Approach to Detecting Deception and Tackling Insurance Fraud'.
- Professor Kirk Chang wrote an article for CIPD 'How AI could affect employee management' , 26 November 2021.
- Dr Iwa Salami's article featured in The Conversation on 10 November 2021 on 'Nigeria's digital currency: what the eNaira is for and why it's not perfect'.
- Dr Iwa Salami gave an interview to ScDev.Net Africa Science Focus podcast with Fiona Broom on 19 July 2021 on the subject 'AgriAfrica: Blockchain for farming'.
- Dr Iwa Salami, featured on ITV news with Kevin Ashford on 20 August 2021 discussing 'Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) and their future in the music and arts industry'.
- Dr Iwa Salami, appeared with Fred Schebesta on The Independent's Ask An Expert on ' Cryptocurrency Experts Discuss Market Lull and Meme Coins' with Anthony Cuthbertson on 8 July 2021.
- Dr Iwa Salami gave an interview to Umwe Africa on 12 June 2021 on 'Cryptocurrency and Blockchain and African government policies on Regulation'.
- Dr Iwa Salami appeared with Fred Schebesta on The Independent's Ask An Expert with Anthony Cuthbertson on 20 May 2021 on 'Crypto Market Turmoil: Two Experts Unpick Chaotic Week for Bitcoin, Ethereum and other Cryptocurrencies'.
- Dr Iwa Salami's article featured in The Conversation on 20 May 2021 on 'Ethiopia's blockchain deal is a watershed moment - for the technology, and for Africa'.
- Dr Julie Wall was an invited speaker at RE.WORK AI Applications Virtual Summit, AI in Insurance Virtual Stage, April 14 2021, speaking about, 'Detecting Deception and Tackling Insurance Fraud using Conversational AI'.
- Dr Julie Wall was a roundtable panel member at the RE.WORK AI Applications Virtual Summit, AI in Insurance Virtual Stage, April 142021, speaking about 'AI & Speech Recognition in Financial Services'.
- Dr Iwa Salami appeared on The Agenda with Stephen Cole on 21 March 2021 discussing 'The Future of Cryptocurrency'.
- Dr Julie Wall was organiser and moderator of the Chatbots, Virtual Humans and Consumers roundtable, IORMA - The Global Consumer Commerce Centre, March 18 2021.
- Dr Julie Wall was a panel member of the In-Conversation: Growing the Data Economy roundtable, University of East London, March 17 2021.
- Dr Iwa Salami's article featured in The Conversation on 11 December 2020 on 'Decentralised finance calls into question whether the crypto industry can ever be regulated'.
- Research by Professor Kirk Chang was featured in Workplace Insight article 'Workplace gossip can be good for people - sometimes', 6 January 2020.
- Research by Professor Kirk Chang was featured in CCR Magazine article 'Insecure managers damage business', 9 April 2019.
- Professor Kirk Chang wrote an article for Employee Benefits 'Professor Kirk Chang: Are incentives outdated?', 5 October 2018.
- Research by Professor Kirk Chang was featured in Aerospace Manufacturing magazine article 'Understaffing causes stress but managers can help', 24 September 2018.
- Research by Professor Kirk Chang was featured in The Times article 'Gossip about staff to boost morale, bosses told', 4 May 2018.
- Research by Professor Kirk Chang was featured in People Management article 'The latest big ideas from the best business thinkers'.
