Advisory Board - ASEAN

Grace has over a decade of experience in advising financial institutions and payments companies on regulatory matters in Southeast Asia, with a focus on Singapore and Hong Kong. A former in-house counsel at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Grace regularly interacts with key regulators, and is closely involved in regional regulatory reform initiatives.

Grace is a strong advocate for digital innovation, investments and critical infrastructural transformation. She is a payments specialist and has advised multinational technology companies, digital assets exchanges and brokers, , and other trade finance and e-commerce companies in relation to licensing and payments services regulations in Asia. Grace sits on the board of Singapore's key blockchain association, ACCESS, and is part of the AML Working Group of Global Digital Finance.

Grace is also an IAPP Fellow of Information Privacy, and sits on the IAPP Women Leading Privacy Board where she is the key representative for Asia.

Meghan Connolly joined American Express in November 2018 as SVP & GM, GNS Asia Pacific where she is responsible for our Global Network Partnerships where we partner with banks across the region for card issuing and acquiring.

Meghan joined from Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore where she has worked for the past 12 years in a variety of roles leading product, marketing, credit and operational functions in over 25 markets across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. She has been responsible for a wide range of financial retail products, from deposits and mortgages to personal loans and credit cards. She has overseen these portfolios creating customer communications strategies, implementing card acquisition and activation programs, and developing customer segmentation strategies.

Meghan has a proven track record of leading large and diverse teams to deliver strong business growth. She is a strategic thinker, a customer advocate, and a strong relationship manager. Prior to Standard Chartered Bank, Meghan spent 10 years at MBNA in roles of increasing responsibility in marketing, risk and credit card operations. She brings a global perspective having lived and worked in the U.S., Canada, the UK and Singapore.

Meghan frequently speaks on leadership and diversity. She received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Georgetown University and continued her executive education at Oxford University in the U.K. Meghan is married with two children and puppy named Chester. This year she is attempting to master golf (again).

As VP, Head of Partnerships, Gajia works with financial institution partners around the world to expand Airwallex's payment network and end-to-end financial services platform. She and her team also work with other global technology platforms on joint initiatives to provide businesses of all sizes with a truly borderless financial services experience.

Before joining Airwallex, Gajia was the Director of Strategic Partnerships - Financial Services & Ecosystem for Xero's business in Asia where she led a team responsible for partnerships with major banks and non-bank financial services providers across Asia, as well as growing Xero's ecosystem of API connected applications, creating a platform of integrated solutions for small businesses and their advisors.

Gajia has held various roles across financial services in London, Melbourne and Singapore and has worked directly with the private wealth, small businesses, institutional and retail sectors.

Danielle Sharpe is Chief of Staff to the Global Head of Transaction Banking for Standard Chartered Bank. She is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Global Transaction Banking business and the execution of strategic initiatives. She is a member of the Transaction Banking Management Team, based in Singapore.

Prior to this, Danielle was responsible for developing the risk framework strategy for Correspondent Banking and led Financial Crime Compliance Advisory across 22 Asia markets for clearing products and associated cross-border payment activity.

Danielle has held various roles across financial services and law enforcement, spanning both retail and wholesale banking. She moved to Singapore from the UK, where most recently she played a front-to-back role in the in-house technical development of Payments Clearing infrastructure and Banking-as-a-Service Products. She drove client strategy across FI and NBFI segments and led transformation projects to drive revenue opportunity whilst balancing risk management.

Danielle is a Results Trained NeuroLeadership Institute Coach with a passion for helping women visualise their goals and break through barriers. She graduated from Loughborough University with a Bachelor’s in Psychology.

Akita has over 19 years of diverse experience in retail financial services and payments, having worked with companies such as Elavon, Mastercard, Visa, Barclays, HSBC and Citi, across different roles in business transformation, propositions, strategy and business development. Having lived and worked in five different countries, she brings a rich understanding of markets at different stages of development, across Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa. She completed her Bachelors from Delhi University and MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur. Akita is passionate about people and building relationships, and was included in LinkedIn’s first set of Power Profiles for Singapore in 2013.

Kanika Thakur is Managing Director and the Regional Head of Trade for Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions in Asia Pacific. Based in Hong Kong, she is responsible for the continued growth of Citi’s trade business, as well as the business’ digitization priorities and progress.

Kanika joined Citi in 2001 as a management associate in India, and has since worked in Singapore and Hong Kong, holding a number of different roles within trade at the bank, including sales and structuring, product management, and distribution. Most recently, she served as Asia Pacific head of trade finance.

Rebekah Wong joined J.P. Morgan in 2013 and is now heading Singapore Wholesale Payments, responsible for franchise strategy, product development, service delivery and implementation across three lines of businesses - Treasury Services, Trade Finance and Merchant Services.

Rebekah also oversees Market Management and strategic initiatives for the APAC Wholesale Payments business, responsible for developing market positioning strategies, delivering insights and thought leadership, and executing business transformation initiatives.

Prior to her current role, Rebekah was the Senior Business Manager for APAC Wholesale Payments providing strategic support, financial insights, and decision-making guidance to the business. Her diverse experience also includes stints in product management with APAC Treasury Services and a decade-long career with Citibank N.A. Singapore where she headed the operations transformation and re-engineering efforts for APAC Trade & Treasury Solutions.

Rebekah is born and raised in Singapore; apart from a love for travel, she has a passion for strength training and is looking forward to completing a pilates instructor course.