BörsenTalk 21

Head of Research, Bitcoin Suisse

Raffael Huber joined Bitcoin Suisse AG in June 2019. He is conducting research on a broad variety of topics ranging from blockchain data analytics to market opportunities, and is in charge of Bitcoin Suisse’s research publications, such as the bi-weekly Bitcoin Suisse Decrypt or the yearly Bitcoin Suisse Outlook report. Before Raffael started at Bitcoin Suisse AG, he completed his doctoral studies in chemistry at ETH Zurich.

Head of Trading, Goldenberg Hehmeyer

Stefan is the Head of Trading and Managing Partner of GHCO. GHCO is a registered market maker and one of the fastest-growing liquidity providers, specialising in ETFs and ETPs on and off all major European exchanges. Stefan started his career on the trading desk at GHCO, then held positions with Alpine Global and Merrill Lynch. Ever since returning to GHCO, he has been a driving force behind transforming the business into a fintech company through the best use of tech, systems and automated solutions. He is constantly on the lookout for emerging technology, partnerships and the latest in ETF innovation, including cryptocurrencies.

Head of Product, CoinShares

Townsend Lansing began his career as a corporate lawyer before moving into equity derivatives at Bank of America, where he built the bank's first European structured products platform.  He subsequently spent almost a decade at ETF Securities, where he served in a variety of roles, starting in Product Development and ultimately assuming management responsibility for the entire $18bn ETC business.  He spent two years working at start-up fintech companies, before joining CoinShares as Head of Product, where he is responsible  for developing and managing products for the asset management business.

Co-Founder & President, 21Shares

Ophelia Snyder is the co-founder and president of 21Shares/Amun, which creates easy, secure, and regulated ways to access the crypto asset class. 21Shares listed the world's first crypto index ETP on the SIX Swiss Exchange at end of 2018. The product suite has since been expanded to include 14 ETPs in multiple currencies traded on regulated markets across Europe.

Editor-in-Chief, The Market

Mark Dittli is a journalist and author, specializing in financial markets, global economics and economic history. He is co-founder and executive editor of The Market (themarket.ch), a digital media platform for investors that publishes in-depth analyses as well as interviews on global investment strategy, industries and macroeconomic issues. Prior to launching The Market in 2019, Mark was the executive editor of Finanz und Wirtschaft, Switzerland’s main business newspaper. From 2003 to 2008 he served as the U.S. bureau chief of the paper, based in New York. He is a CFA charterholder and lives in Zurich, Switzerland.

Head of Tailored Solutions & External Sales within Julius Baer’s Markets Division

Mauro Aversano is Head of Tailored Solutions & External Sales within Julius Baer’s Markets Division. He is a founding member of the bank’s global business in tailored solutions for UHNWI and Institutional clients across asset classes and is responsible for the distribution of structured products to external asset managers, banks and other institutional clients. Mauro joined the Julius Baer Group in 2004 where he worked in various functions within JB and GAM focusing on derivatives, structuring, trading and alternative investments. Mauro holds a BSc in computer science/business administration as well as a MSc in economics from the University of Zurich and is a CFA Charterholder.

CIO / Partner, Gamma Financials AG

Jamil Bahous is Corporate Investment Officer (CIO) at Gamma Financials AG and responsible for the entire Asset Management. Due to his many years of experience and his in-depth knowledge of equity derivatives, Jamil Bahous is a specialist when it comes to implementing and communicating theoretical know-how in practice. In his function he advises among others pension funds, family offices and asset managers who want to use derivative trading strategies in their daily business.

He began his career a good 25 years ago at Swiss Bank Corporation, where he successfully helped shape the origins of listed options and structured products for 10 years. Afterwards, he led the equity derivatives sales at Bank Julius Baer for 8 years.

Since 2017, Jamil Bahous is partner and CIO at Gamma Financials AG and operational portfolio manager.

Structured Solutions & Investments Specialist, Vontobel

Michael Haupt is Senior Advisor Thematic Investments at Vontobel. Michael holds a Master's degree in European Management (M.A.) and is a Certified International Investment Analyst (CIIA). He started his career in 2008 at Partners Group in Zug. Since 2010, Michael has worked for the client-centric investment house in Zurich and Hong Kong and has been responsible for the development of AMCs and, in particular, thematic certificates since 2019.

Stefan’s career within the financial services industry spans over 25 years, with an emphasis on trading and structuring derivatives and derivative-based investment strategies. He started his career as a derivatives structurer at Bankers Trust in 1994 and established Citigroup’s European exotic options trading desk. He ran one of the most active and consistently profitable equity option trading teams globally and was credited with developing several innovations in the interbank options market. Latterly, Stefan ran Citi’s EMEA structured products business, where he developed a range of investment products and funds. Over $50 billion of these investments were successfully placed with high net worth and institutional clients. Stefan went on to establish Nalu Capital S.A., specializing in derivative and value investing arbitrage strategies before managing the global Delta One business at Vontobel Zurich. This included Actively Managed Certificates and themed investments. In addition to being an early-stage fintech investor, he is an investment committee member and advisor to a U.K. based multi-family office and asset managers located in the U.K. and Luxembourg. He joined vestr A.G. in 2019 as the Global Head of Business Development.

Editor-in-Chief, payoff Magazine

Serge Nussbaumer has been Editor-in-Chief of payoff magazine since September 2018. In 1994, he joined the former Schweizerische Kreditanstalt and held various positions before joining the product management team at St. Galler Kantonalbank in 2005. In 2009, he took over the buy-side of structured products at St. Galler Kantonalbank. Between 2011 and 2014 he was additionally managing director and trainer at the Swiss Derivative Institute (SDI). In 2010, he successfully completed the MAS Bank Management at the Institute of Financial Services IFZ in Zug. Before returning to the structured products industry, he worked at MoneyPark until August 2018, where he helped to build it up as Head of Partner Sales.

Head of ETF Product & Capital Markets, Goldman Sachs

Jürgen Blumberg is Head of ETF Product & Capital Markets EMEA at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He has an equity trading background followed by 12 years of experience in the ETF industry. Before joining Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Jürgen was responsible for the ETF Capital Markets Team at Invesco. He started his ETF career at iShares in Munich, focusing on the liquidity of the continental ETF platform. Jürgen has a diploma in economics from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich. In 2016 he was voted “top 40 under 40 asset management” by Financial News in London.

Head Institutional Sales & Trading, Jane Street

Slawomir Rzeszotko is Jane Street’s Head of Institutional Sales and Trading in Europe and Asia. In this role, Slawomir helps with institutional relationships and sales initiatives for ETFs, fixed income, and electronic equities on JX-EU, Jane Street’s Systematic Internaliser platform.

Slawomir joined the firm in 2014 with over a decade of experience with ETFs. Before Jane Street, he held a number of roles at global asset management firms. He was Head of ETF Capital Markets and Head of the Investment Product Specialist Group at Vanguard Asset Management, and he has also worked in various ETF-related positions at BGI and Blackrock. Through these roles, he has developed an in-depth understanding of ETF trading from both the trader and customer perspective.

Slawomir holds an MA degree from the University of Wroclaw, Poland, where he lectured on ethics and postmodern political philosophy while pursuing his PhD studies. He is a founding member of ETF Ambassadors in Switzerland, which aims to educate and raise awareness of ETFs with the Swiss private investor community.

Institutional Trader, Flow Traders

Jörg Sengfelder is working since 2013 as Institutional Trader at Flow Traders B.V. covering trading counterparties in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Prior to joining Flow Traders he spent 5 years at DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale where he help to build up the ETF provider ETFlab Investment GmbH and later headed the ETF Advisory & Trading team. Jörg stated his career in 2006 as ETF Product Manager at Indexchange Investment AG.

Head Multi-Asset Funds & Managing Director, Credit Suisse

Sacha Widin is heading the Multi-Asset Funds team of Credit Suisse Asset Management (Switzerland) Ltd. He has more than 20 years of experience in asset management and broad experience in managing mixed mandates and funds. Before beginning his current duties, Sacha ran the ETF-based investment solutions unit for two years, specializing in ETF- and index fund-based as well as risk-limiting portfolios. Prior to that, he worked in the analysis and fund management of Swiss equities for seven years.

Managing Partner & Founder, ETFGI, Partner & founder ETF TV, Board member & founder - Women in ETFs , Board member, founder, co-president - Women in ETFs EMEA

Deborah Fuhr is the owner, managing partner and founder of ETFGI, an independent research events and consultancy firm launched in 2012 in London. The firm offers paid for subscription research, consulting and events. She is a partner and founder of ETF TV a show to provide a monthly insight into the ETF ecosystem across Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific markets for ETFs professionals and investors. Ms Fuhr is a founder and board member of Women in ETFs a non-profit in the United States. She is a founder, board member and co-president of Women in ETFs EMEA a limited company in England.

Previously, she served as global head of ETF research and implementation strategy and as a managing director at BlackRock/Barclays Global Investors from 2008 – 2011. Fuhr also worked as a managing director and head of the investment strategy team at Morgan Stanley in London from 1997 – 2008, and as an associate at Greenwich Associates.

Portfoliomanager Multinationals & ESG, Credit Suisse Asset Management

Dimitri Bellas is currently Head Client Portfolio Management for Romandie & Multinational within Credit Suisse Index Solutions, covering a large portfolio of both swiss and international institutional clients. In addition, he is in charge of the competence center for ESG related topics within the Index Solutions team.

Before joining Index Solutions in 2014, Dimitri Bellas has previously worked as an investment specialist at Bank Julius Baer, where he was responsible for a weekly assessment of all asset classes for the Investment Committee. Before working for Julius Baer, Dimitri Bellas also had several roles in various organizations, including the IMF, the OECD and the French Central Bank.

Dimitri Bellas holds a M.Sc. in Financial Economics from HEC Paris, a M.Sc. in Quantitative Economics from ENSAE Paris, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Statistics from the University Paris XI. He is fluent in English, French, German and Greek.

Portfolio Manager, Syz Asset Management

Sacha Bernasconi joined Syz Asset Management in 2015. In this role, he became the first portfolio manager of a Swiss Green Bond fund. Sacha Bernasconi held a number of portfolio management positions and treasury functions for Pictet Asset Management, UBS and Eurofima. He holds a Master of Science in Economics from HEC Lausanne, where he was also awarded with the prix LaSuisse for the best diploma thesis.

Senior Product Manager, SIX

Andreas Henke is a Senior Product Manager at SIX and has been in charge of developing and launching new bond indices since 2017. He also works on regulatory matters regarding the index business. In collaboration with the Bond Index Commission and market participants, he drafts proposals for rule adjustments for the Swiss Bond Index and implements them together with his team colleagues. Andreas has a total of 20 years’ experience in finance, ten of which with index providers and a further ten in asset management.

Head of Investments, Pension Fund City of Zurich

Dr. Jürg Tobler is Head of Investments at the Pension Fund City of Zurich since 2011. He joined the investment department in 2006. Before this, he was with Cantonal Bank of Zurich as Head of Fixed Income Research and in the Asset Management. Jürg Tobler is member of the "Kommission für Anlagefragen" of ASIP.

Editor-in-Chief, Schweizer Personalvorsorge

Kaspar Hohler is editor-in-chief of the journal "Schweizer Personalvorsorge". He is also responsible for all journalistic content and the pension symposium of the specialist publisher vps-epas. Within the editorial team, he is particularly responsible for the topics of capital investments and real estate. Hohler studied general history and comparative religious studies at the University of Zurich (lic. phil I.) and completed various journalistic and pension fund-related further training courses.

Head Global Sales & Relationship Management, SIX Swiss Exchange

As Global Head Sales & Relationship Manager, André Buck is responsible for the distribution of various services and products within the Swiss Stock Exchange, which is part of the Markets division. In addition, he is responsible for the relationship management and acquisition of exchange participants. Furthermore, André Buck is also manages the distribution and further development of the Connexor reference data as well as the data business of the exchange. In mid-2009, he joined the exchange for structured products (formerly Scoach) as Head of Sales & Marketing. Since 2016, he has applied his professional knowledge as Chairman of the Structured Products Commission and since 2017 as a jury member of the Swiss Derivatives Awards. His experience has also brought him to Hong Kong, where he has been a member of the board of directors of an international structured products company since 2018.

He underwent various training programs, among them the International Bank Management Program of the Swiss Finance Institute SFRI in autumn 2014 and the SIX Executive Development Program in 2015/6. He is married and has two adult children.