InvestOps Europe 2025
20 - 22 October, 2025
CNIT Forest, Paris
Conference Day One - Wednesday 18th September 2019
8:00 am - 8:50 am
Conference Registration and Networking Breakfast
8:50 am - 8:55 am
Welcome Address: Sonal Ghelani Editorial Director, InvestOps
8:55 am - 9:00 am
Chairperson’s Opening Remarks:
Virginie O'Shea -
Research Director, Institutional Securities and Investments,
Aite Group
LEADING THE WAY WITH INNOVATION
9:00 am - 9:20 am
Buy Side COO Keynote: Creating a culture for innovation - How to build a best-in-class operations division that eliminates silos and drives the required changes within your business
Marcel Prins -
Chief Operating Officer,
APG Asset Management
- How is APG Asset Management managing the journey to become a truly innovative InvestTech enterprise and to encourage top down and bottom up innovation?
- How areAPG Asset Management embracing change and innovation while creating a collaborative culture to ensure they are working towards strategic company’s goals and adding significant value to the business?
- What practical steps can you take to leverage an agile approach for IT development to supporting the innovation journey
9:20 am - 10:00 am
COO Keynote Panel: Assessing the top 3 transformational trends shaping investment operations - How are the leading European buy side firms adapting now to thrive in a technology driven landscape?
Ursula Schliessler -
Financial Service and Investment Management Executive,
.
John Marsland -
Chief Operating Officer,
Schroder Investment Management
Alain Mandy -
Chief Operating Officer Global Funds,
Wellington Management
Ersilia Molnar -
Chief Operating Officer,
Muzinich & Co
- Which types of technological innovation are going to transform investment operations and the way you work over the next 10 years?
- The convergence of technology and operations- Leveraging FinTech across multiple functions to create a flexible model for longevity
- Agile front to back consolidation- How can operations support any changes in trading strategies quickly and efficiently allowing for best investment decisions?
- How can you prepare your investment operations division toadapt to the ever-increasing expansion into cross asset products and instruments?
10:00 am - 10:20 am
Fireside Chat: Transforming operational business models - In the backdrop of fee pressures, passive investments and increasing demands for transparency, how can you adapt to generate increased alpha and grow your AUM?
Virginie O'Shea -
Research Director, Institutional Securities and Investments,
Aite Group
Martin Walker -
Head of product management for Broadridge's Securities Finance and Collateral Management,
Broadridge
- What practical steps can you take to create an agile operational business model that can react to technological advances and changes in market infrastructure?
- Leading through transformation - What are the best ways to get your team to embrace change initiatives to help your firm seize new opportunities?
- Which types of technological innovations are transforming investment operations and the way you work?
- How can digital tools help to cut costs whilst enhancing quality and flexibility within your operations division?
Martin Walker
Head of product management for Broadridge's Securities Finance and Collateral ManagementBroadridge
10:20 am - 11:00 am
Morning Boost Networking Break
ASSESSING BREXIT IMPLICATIONS
11:00 am - 11:20 am
Brexit Keynote: Preparing for no-deal: The Future of EU/UK Financial Regulation
Dr. Kay Swinburne -
MEP, Member of Economic and Monetary Affairs,
European Parliament
Ø How will the regulatory landscape evolve and will this have on MiFID, EMIR, AIMFD, Benchmark regulations
ACHIEVING FRONT-TO-BACK DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
11:20 am - 12:00 pm
Fireside Chat: Gaining an enterprise-wide view of your data– How can you implement a data management strategy that increases transparency across the business and aids accurate decision-making?
Sean Kennedy -
Head of Investment Operations - EMEA,
Vanguard
Rob Middleton -
Chief Data Officer,
Royal London Asset Management
Stephen Johns -
Head of Data GX, EMEA, Managing Director,
State Street Global Exchange
David Easthope -
Head of Capital Markets,
Celent
- Examining best-practice data management - How data is managed, regulated and structured across the firm so you can use it in a manageable way?
- Using data to take your operations division to the next level - How to create a data community to support the enterprise in every functional area what are the steps in investment operations, how we can use the data to take the operations to the next level?
- Embedding a data culture across the firm - How to use your data to enhance your business decisions and risk management
- The best practices of collecting and storing data for regulatory purposes - How can you manage your data in a way that you can easily extract exactly what you need at any point at time?
- Building a technologically driven data hub - What steps should you take to ensure you have the right technology in place to make the most of your data?
Stephen Johns
Head of Data GX, EMEA, Managing DirectorState Street Global Exchange
12:00 pm - 12:40 pm
All Star Panel: Striking the balance between the human and digital - How can you balance headcount and technology to run an efficient streamlined investment operations division?
Jacob Elsborg -
Director, Director of Pension and Investment Operations,
ATP
Jordan O'Neill -
Head of Operations and Treasury,
Aspect Capital
David Easthope -
Head of Capital Markets,
Celent
- What does the ideal digitalised investment operations division look like and how can this be achieved?
- Assessing the remaining manual functions – What should you be looking to automate next to reduce the human touch and bring scalability and speed to your division?
- How technology is changing the nature of functions within operations - What skills should you now be looking for when hiring for the future?
- What roles are being hit by digitalisation and efficiency demands and which areas are seeing growth with new talent?
12:40 pm - 1:20 pm
All Star Panel: Outsourcing vs. keeping operational functions in-house -What makes the optimal mix for a streamlined, cost-efficient operations division?
Alan Copping -
Senior Market Specialist,
SimCorp
Christian Brønd Måhrbeck -
Head of Derivatives Operations,
Nordea Asset Management
David Weaire -
Head of Operations,
Investec Asset Management
Nabil Fejjal -
Head of Middle Office Control, France,
AXA Investment Managers
Ø The pros and cons of electing a third party - What steps are buy side heads taking to outsource different aspects of their investment operations?
Ø Pre-outsourcing assessment - How can you establish if your organisation ready to embrace new operating model that will result from the outsourcing?
Ø To outsource or not to outsource - How can you establish what operational processes should be retained?
Ø Vendor management vs. building internally - Where should you allocate resources and what factors should be considered?
In an era of increased regulatory scrutiny does outsourcing your investment operations give you enough effective oversight and supervision?
1:20 pm - 2:40 pm
Lunch Break
1:20 pm - 2:30 pm
Buy Side Only Think Tank Lunch: How can the buy side investment operations better collaborate to drive mutually beneficial initiatives forward?
Nigel Hill -
COO,
RWC Partners
Chaired by: John Lund, Buy Side Derivatives and Collateral Management Specialist
Optimising Your Derivatives Workflow
2:40 pm - 3:20 pm Fireside Chat: Maximising your STP rate - What aspects of OTC derivatives should be fully automated to help you focus on building business value while keeping risks under control? John Lund - Director, JXL Consulting Ltd Jarno Bostelaar - Head of Operations Cardano Group, Cardano David Weaire - Head of Operations, Investec Asset Management- Practical applications of improving automation and moving processes: What steps can be taken to ensure your internal processes are sufficient before you automate them and move from the basics to machine learning and robotics?
- How to develop operational capacity to prepare your IT systems to support for multiple IM and VM credit support annexes and collateral call issuance/reconciliation processes?
- Is the need for automation accelerating market structure changes such as trading electronification or clearing?
- Why the need for a “joined up” front to back flow has never been more important with the execution model being the primary root cause of downstream operational risk (e.g. regulatory reporting)
Optimising Your Derivatives Workflow
3:20 pm - 4:00 pm Case Study Revolution: Meeting the 2019 OTC derivatives requirements - Which new innovations should you incorporate to enable collateral optimisation? Matthew Scott - Head of Operations, G-Research- Where to place your collateral team within the firm to bring the most value?
- How can technology enable collateral optimisation and streamline your operational processes?
- How to use securities lending to receive additional collateral and boost revenue?
- What new infrastructure is required for securities lending?
- How replicating the prime brokerage margin methodology can help to create more capital
Chaired by Paul Sinthunont, Analyst, Institutional Securities and Investments, Aite Group
Balancing Tech With The Human Touch
2:40 pm - 3:20 pm 360 Perspective: How can you digitise client onboarding and lifecycle management to reduce the strain on your teams? Paul Sinthunont - Analyst, Institutional Securities and Investments, Aite Group Andrea Clark - Head of EMEA Client Engagement, State Street Global Advisors Brittany Garland - Director, Operational Risk and Regulatory Compliance, IHS Markit- What do buy side firms see as the top challenges in the onboarding process and how are these being addressed?
- What technology solutions are available to overcome the manual nature of client onboarding?
- How can the industry reach consistency in the onboarding process and establish common practices?
- What is the future of online client reporting and how will technology drive efficiencies in this space?
Balancing Tech With The Human Touch
3:20 pm - 4:30 pm Case Study: Shaping up your Operating Models Jacob Elsborg - Director, Director of Pension and Investment Operations, ATPØ Free creativity and energizes the whole business operation
Ø Changing Operations form cost center into a profit center
Ø Increase the business value and efromnable successful utilization of new business opportunities
Ø Align your Operating Model strategy and implementation with your business strategy
Buy Side AUM Roundtables - Open to a maximum of 12 delegates
2:40 pm - 3:40 pm AUM Roundtables: How can you establish when is the right time to start outsourcing operational functions and which outsourcing models are best suited for your business? Ismail Larbi Meziane - Head of Middle Office France, Candriam Investors Kurt Hangaard - Chief Operating Officer, BankInvest Paul Chung - SVP, Electra Information SystemsWith the increased acceleration of outsourcing, to outsource non-core processes or not is no longer a debate and now the focus has shifted to minimising disruption. In these working groups we will review the key factors for an asset manager to outsource and together create a check-list of main steps to ensure that aligning the organisation for outsourcing is not more time-consuming than executing the outsourcing process itself.
Ø Assessing the trade off between cost and time - Does outsourcing always remove the burden?
Ø What operational functions are best suited for outsourcing and which key processes are coming back in-house?
Ø What is the impact of outsourcing moving into dealing and other specialist functions?
Ø How can you best establish the middle ground between outsourcing and keeping technology in-house?
Roundtable 1: Large Scale Asset Managers and Hedge Funds
Hosted by: Ismail Larbi Meziane, Head of Middle Office, Candriam Investors Group
Roundtable 2: Small – Mid Tier Asset Mangers and Hedge Funds
Hosted by: Kurt Hangaard, COO, BankInvest
Roundtable: Open to all
How Effective Is Your Reconciliation Processing? Exploring the Pros and Cons of Outsourcing
Paul Chung, Vice President, Client Services, Electra Information Systems
4:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Traditional Afternoon Tea Networking Break
Optimising Your Derivatives Workflow
4:30 pm - 5:10 pm 360 Perspective: UMR and SIMM: Meeting the final phases of initial margin for non-cleared derivatives - How to embed these new processes into your investment operations Marc Knaap - MD and Head of Business Development, Cassini Systems Nosheen Amir-Ebrahimi - Product Head of Derivatives Data and Valuation Services, IHS Markit John Lund - Director, JXL Consulting Ltd- Building your UMR roadmap - What are the key milestones and how can you ensure you are remaining compliant under the latest guidelines?
- Standard Initial Margin Model (SIMM) - What are the product areas defined under SIMM and how can you calculate these?
- Initial Margin Calculations and the value beyond UMR compliance - How can analytics help a firm turn UMR from regulatory challenge to opportunity and gain a competitive advantage?
- UMR and SIMM: staying under the $50mm threshold limit - What monitoring processes do you need in place to avoid posting Initial Margin under UMR?
Balancing Tech With The Human Touch
4:30 pm - 5:10 pm Case Study: Best practice investment reconciliation - How to deliver reconciled accounts quicker, with minimal effort and higher accuracy Hugh Burden - Head of Banking Sector, AutoRek- How to harness the latest automation technologies to streamline processes
- How to replace manual intervention and spreadsheet reliance
- How real data control can help your cost saving power
Buy Side only Workshops - Open to a maximum of 20 delegates
4:30 pm - 5:00 pm Workshop Re-Positioning the Client Reporting Function to Enable Growth? Iain Smith - Marketing Principal, Simcorp Coric- Why are organizations looking to re-position the function?
- Where are firms looking to rationalise and consolidate?
- What are the benefits in taking a consolidated approach?
- What role will digitisation and client experience play moving forward?
Iain Smith
Marketing PrincipalSimcorp Coric
SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER
5:10 pm - 5:40 pm
Future of Work: Institutionalising LEAN transformation and an agile culture in your organization to achieve operational excellence
Anu George -
Chief Quality and Transformation Officer,
Morningstar
Anu is responsible for providing strategic direction to Morningstar’s transformation and operational excellence initiatives. She works at the intersection of emerging technologies, strategy, leadership and operational excellence. She is also charged with helping Morningstar to adopt concepts related to the “future of work”. She has successfully led the LEAN and Agile transformation at Morningstar and now Anu is focused on mastering design thinking and driving a digital transformation in the organisation. Anu has more than 20 years of experience in reputable organizations such as Unilever, GE, and Morningstar. She has global experience through her extensive work in Asia, North America, and Europe.
