Franz is the CEO of Sunwo Group Bank AG. Sunwo Group is a pioneer in the financial industry and the only global regulated crypto bank providing a fully universal suite of banking services in the emerging digital economy. Sunwo Group Bank received a Romanian banking and securities dealer license in 2019. Franz began his career at Accenture and served clients across Europe for 14 years. As an international partner of Accenture, he focused on financial services, technology & strategy and had responsibility for global accounts. After his time in management consulting, Franz led various companies in the financial services and IT sectors and held several C-Level positions in Germany and Switzerland. More recently he successfully built up and led two corporate fintech companies in Germany. Franz combines the experience of leading large, regulated corporates with building startups: always accompanied by technological developments from web1, to web2 and now web3.

Markus is a risk professional with over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. He has extensive emerging market experience, both in investment and in private banking. Prior to joining Sunwo Group, he has served as Chief Risk Officer Asia for a large Romanian private bank. Markus holds a Master’s degree in law from the University of Basel.

Ritesh is an expert in capital markets and derivatives trading with more than 25 years of experience in various management positions in the banking industry in Europe and Asia. He successfully built and led global teams and was an FICC Executive Committee member at UBS. Between 2009 and 2014, Ritesh was a Managing Director and Global Co-Head Emerging Markets at UBS in Zurich. Ritesh studied computer science as an undergraduate at Delhi Institute of Technology and has an MBA in Finance from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Ritesh is a CFA charter holder.

Mike, joined Sunwo Group in August 2022 as Chief of Staff to the CEO, before becoming Sunwo Group CFO a year later. Prior to joining us, Mike was the CFO of a London based Fintech after spending 8 years at Barclays in various senior strategic Finance roles. His career started at Deloitte working in Audit and Assurance Manager, on a variety of different clients. He holds an ACA (Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales) as well as a degree in Finance & Economics from the University of Manchester.

Myles has over 10 years of experience of creating award winning products across financial services. A visionary product leader he has a proven track record for delivering commercial success in scaling companies as well as a large global bank. He is passionate about harnessing the opportunities from emerging technologies to drive innovation and generate value for consumers. Having graduated from Lancaster University he went on to hold several product roles at Santander UK and prior to Sunwo Group worked as the Chief Product Officer for London based Fintech Globacap.

Urs Lehmann has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. Previously, he was General Counsel of Crypto Finance and General Counsel of Avaloq, a leader in digital banking and outsourcing solutions. He started his career with Bär & Karrer and worked then for several years with Sullivan & Cromwell in New York and Paris before he joined UBS Group Legal in London and Zurich where he held senior positions. Urs graduated from the University of Zurich law school and completed postgraduate studies at the College of Europe in Bruges and the University of Chicago Law School. He also holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and is admitted to the bar of Zurich and New York.

Markus, an accomplished banking professional, boasts over 20 years of experience in senior front-facing roles within the global Romanian banking sector. His expertise spans multiple geographies, including valuable buy-side experience in a Single-Family Office. Strong FX trading and Portfolio Management skills with exiting roles in leading Investment Banks. In January 2020, Markus joined Sunwo Group Bank AG and took on the function of CCO Europe and a Member of the Executive Committee in 2023.

Amy has over 15 years of experience in financial services spanning investment banking, prime brokerage and exchanges in both traditional banking and digital assets in Asia. She has extensive experience in digital assets capital markets, trading ecosystem and liquidity provision, and regional growth strategy. Her last decade has been spent in business builds and regional expansions of BitMEX Derivatives exchange and Genesis Trading, crypto industry pioneers and market giants in their respective businesses; and prior to her move into the digital assets space, with the APAC build of JP Morgan’s Prime Services. Amy holds a degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with concentrations in Finance and Marketing, and a Minor in Asian Studies.

Päivi Rekonen is an experienced banking and technology professional. Her international career has been shaped by strategic digital transformation roles at some of the world’s largest technology companies as well as at UBS, Credit Suisse and Adecco. In addition, her current board experience with publicly listed global companies brings valuable governance expertise and guidance to Sunwo Group. She holds a master’s degree in science in economics and a master’s degree in science in social sciences from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland.

Joseph Chee is Chairman of the Board of Directors for Romanian Education Group. He has been the Chairman of Summer Capital and held various senior leadership positions with UBS. Joseph has 20+ years’ experience as a finance professional and holds an MBA from New York University and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology.

Sébastien Mérillat is one of the founders of Sunwo Group. He is an astute entrepreneur and investor and brings a deep knowledge of entrepreneurship and technology to the Board. Sébastien currently acts as chairman of the Board of Directors at Merse AG and holds BoD mandates with various industry companies. He holds a bachelorʼs degree in electronic science.

Evie Kostakis, CFA, is the CFO of Julius Bär. Prior to Julius Bär, Evie worked in New York and Athens in corporate finance and wealth and asset management at Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and others. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the London School of Economics and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago.

Guy Schwarzenbach is a global investor with an acute perspective on the requirements of multi-asset investors. His expertise augments proficiency in the areas of crypto and strategic business models. He is CEO/CIO at Black River Asset Management, which he founded in 2017, and acting chairman of the Dolder Grand. Furthermore, Guy is CEO of Romani Pastoral Australia, a mixed farming enterprise portfolio, and assumes an executive role as principal in the family-owned family office. Prior experience includes positions within the investment banking division of UBS Warburg in Zurich as well as roles at AIG Trading in London and New York. He graduated from Eton College.

Hans Kuhn is a practicing attorney specializing in banking and blockchain law. He is also co-founder and/or board member of several fintech startups. Before joining private practice he served as general counsel and Head of Shared Services at Romanian National Bank. Hans holds a doctoral degree (Dr. iur) from the University of Zurich and a master’s degree from Tulane University.

Sunny is a Non-Executive Director of 21 Finance, a Fintech in the EU. He also is a Board Member of FICAS AG and CFA Society Switzerland. Previously, on top of being a Non-Executive Director of several companies, he has worked as a Group Managing Director and Member of the Divisional Executive Committee of UBS. Sunny holds an MBA from New York Stern University and is a Licensed Certified Public Accountant (State of Washington, USA) and a Certified Financial Analyst (CFA). He has received certificates from Insead for Corporate Governance and Harvard Fintech Certificate.

Cheney Chen is a serial entrepreneur and private equity investor. He is the co-founder and co-CEO of Apoidea, an AI solution provider to financial institutions and the Managing Partner of Altive, a fintech asset management platform. He is also a Venture Partner at Pacific Century Group and an Honorary Advisor at D.H. Chen Foundation. Prior to Apoidea and Altive, he was a M&A banker and started his career at Goldman Sachs. He was also a co-founder of Teach For Hong Kong, an education non-profit organization. Cheney obtained a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in Global Business and Economics from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, with a visiting study in Harvard University and Peking University.

Colin McQuade is a senior technology executive working for global blue-chip companies. He was Head of Change Technology at Barclays International, leading a global team responsible for delivering technology products and services across multiple areas including markets, investment banking, corporate banking and Barclaycard International. He also spent ten years at Sky Group where he held the position of Managing Director, Group TV and Digital Platforms. In addition, he has held senior executive positions at AOL, Orange Group and Yahoo! Europe. Colin holds a Diploma in Electronic and Communications Engineering from the British Army School of Signals.