20th October, 2021 09:00 Webinar AIFMD Webinar

Gabriela Figueiredo Dias is the Chair of the CMVM Management Board since December 2016. She holds a Master’s in law from the University of Coimbra, where she also teaches.  She worked as a legal advisor and consultant in the private sector for over two decades. In 2007, she joined the CMVM as Senior Advisor on international affairs and regulatory policy. Gabriela later became Deputy Head of the International and Regulatory Policy Department, Director of the Department of Markets, Issuers and Financial Information and in 2015, she took office as Vice-Chair of the CMVM. In her current capacity of CMVM Chair, she is also a member of the National Council of Financial Regulators. Gabriela is a Member of the Board of the European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA) and of its Mediation Panel, former member of ESMA Management Board (2016-2020) and Chair of the ESMA Investment Management Standing Committee (January 2019 – June 2021). Gabriela is also a Board Member of the International Organization of Securities Commissions, Observer at the Monitoring Board of the IFRS Foundation and Vice-Chair of the OECD Corporate Governance Committee and of its Bureau (Executive Committee) since November 2016. She has been also serving as Co-Chair of the MENA/OECD Working Group on Corporate Governance. In February 2021 she was elected Presidente of the General Council of the University of Coimbra. Gabriela is a founding member of the Portuguese Corporate Governance Institute.

Dr George Theocharides is the new Chairman of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). Previously he served as CySEC’s Vice Chairman since July 2020. As an Associate Finance Professor at the Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM) and Director of the MSc in Financial Service Programme from September 2010 until July 2020, he has extensive work experience in the wider financial sector. Prior to joining CIIM, he worked as an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Sungkyunkwan University of South Korea from 2006 to 2010. In 2006, he has also worked as an International Faculty Fellow at the Sloan School of Management of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In the past, he served as a member of the Board of the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission a member of the Interim Board of Bank of Cyprus, Chairman of the Board of the Cyprus Blockchain Technologies Ltd, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus -Kuwait Business Association. He also served as the Chairman of the Board of Management of The English School, from July 2016 until July 2020, a member of the Training/HR Committee of the Cyprus Investment Funds Association (CIFA), as well as a non-executive member of the Board of Directors for a number of organisations and companies in the financial services sector. He is also an Associate member of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) and a Research Associate at the UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies (UCL CBT). Dr. Theocharides holds a degree of BΕng (Hons) in Electrical Engineering & Electronics from the University of Manchester (U.M.I.S.T.), an MBA from the University of San Diego and a PhD in Finance from the University of Arizona.

Dr Christopher P. Buttigieg is the Chief Officer Supervision and the Chief Executive Officer ad interim of the Malta Financial Services Authority. In his role as Chief Officer Supervision, he is responsible for the coordination and implementation of the supervisory and regulatory strategy across all the sectors under the MFSA’s remit. Prior to his appointment as Chief Officer Supervision, he held the position of Chief Officer Strategy, Policy and Innovation, and before that he was the Head of the Securities and Markets Supervision function. Dr Buttigieg joined the Authority in 2000 and has gained professional experience in different areas of financial regulation, supervision, and enforcement of market malpractice. He was also responsible for implementing various pieces of EU legislation and has led various regulatory and supervisory teams within the Authority. Dr Buttigieg sits on the Authority’s Executive Committee and is a member of the Board of Supervisors of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the European Banking Authority. He is also the Chair of the ESMA Data Standing Committee. He has a commerce degree (B.Com 1998), an accountancy degree (B.Accty. Hons. 2000) and a financial services law degree (M.A. Fin. Ser. 2003) from the University of Malta, as well as a European Union Law degree (M.A. EU Law and Soc 2005). He also obtained a doctoral degree in law (Ph.D 2014) from the University of Sussex (UK). His doctoral thesis deals with the governance of EU securities regulation and supervision. Dr Buttigieg is a senior lecturer in the Banking and Finance Department of the University of Malta and has published various papers in reputable journals, including the European Law Review, the European Company and Financial Law Review, the Columbia Journal of European Law, the Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance, the Journal of Business Law, and the Law and Financial Markets Review. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Academy of European Law in Trier and a visiting lecturer at the same institution.

Michael Xuereb was appointed as Chief Officer Strategy, Policy and Innovation in March 2020. He joined the MFSA in 2000, heading a number of functions throughout his years at the Authority, more recently occupying the position of Director – Regulatory Development and Financial Stability. In 2019 he was appointed as Senior Advisor to assist in the implementation of policy initiatives and regulatory reforms, as well as in the CEO’s engagement with national and international institutions and other stakeholders. Michael started his career as Counsel for the Republic at the Attorney General’s office, later joining the Malta Development Corporation, Malta’s inward investment agency, where he served as General Manager for a number of years. In the course of his career he sat on various boards, among them, the Lotteries and Gaming Authority, Finance Malta and Malta Industrial Parks Ltd, the Joint Financial Stability Board and was also an alternate member for the MFSA on the ESRB General Board. He has lectured in various institutions, including the University of Malta. Michael graduated as Doctor of Laws from the University of Malta in 1986 and holds a Master’s degree in Financial Services.

Clare Farrugia was appointed as Head of Strategy, Policy and Innovation in November 2019. Ms Farrugia joined the Authority in 2008, following a number of years working with operators in the financial services industry. Throughout her career, she has gained professional experience in financial services regulation and supervision, also occupying other positions at the MFSA prior to this appointment. Clare spent over 7 years working at Authorisations, during which time she was responsible for handling the entire licensing process of authorised firms. She was later appointed as Senior Manager at the Securities and Markets Supervision, where she was responsible for the development and implementation of the on-site inspection programme and leading the on-site team, whilst focusing on the supervision of various authorised entities. Throughout her career at the MFSA, Ms Farrugia was also responsible for transposing and implementing various pieces of European financial services legislation in the field of securities, and has participated in a number of internal working groups. Clare holds an M.Sc in Finance and Financial Law from the University of London and a B.Com (Hons.) in Banking and Finance. She has been invited as a speaker at various conferences and has also participated in international regulatory fora, including working groups of the European Securities and Markets Authority.

Carlos Aparicio started to work at the Spanish Regulator CNMV in 2002 as has been working on monitoring the markets with data as an economist. Since 2014 he as been working in ESMA in particular in the areas of data and statistics and since 2016 he leads the Data and Statistics Team

Giuseppe Giusti is the Managing Director of FSREG (www.fsreg.com). He is a corporate, investment funds and financial services lawyer based in London with more than 20 years of experience. He is admitted to practice in the United Kingdom, New York and Italy. His key areas of expertise are:

1. Establishing private equity, venture capital and real estate investment funds.
2. Advising on venture capital, IPO and M&A transactions.
3. Advising on UK and EU financial services regulation, including IFPR, MIFID and AIFMD.
4.  Assisting investment firms to become authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom.

Giulia Gaddari joined the MFSA almost four years ago as part of the Authorisations function, where she was involved in the authorisation process for investment funds, asset managers and investment firms. She then moved to the Strategy Policy & Innovation function and has inter alia worked extensively on the implementation of various projects impacting the local regulatory framework relating to Asset Management. Giulia holds a MSc in Economics from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan.