Building bridges with South Korea

Emilie Allaert is the Luxembourg Blockchain Lab Lead and Head of Operations and Projects at the LHoFT –  The Luxembourg House of Financial Technology.

She has an in-depth knowledge of the industry challenges and is convinced technology and innovation are the paths to follow to ensure Luxembourg’s competitivity. Prior to joining the LHoFT, she worked for KPMG, JP Morgan AM and Alpha FMC.

Next to Fintech, she has built an expertise in DLT technology, digital assets and STO, areas where she published various reports and is part of numerous working groups. Notably, she is the co-chair of the ALFI working group on Blockchain and Crypto-Assets.

She believes dissemination of knowledge is key to adoption and gives lectures on digital innovation and DLT technology.

Emilie holds a BSc in Economics and Management from the University of Luxembourg; a MA in Financial Management from the University of Durham Business School and a Certificate in Climate & Renewable Energy Finance from the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.

Emilie’s contribution to the industry has been widely recognised, including by a nomination in the Women in Fintech Powerlist 2017 and in the 50 Who’s Who in Tech in Luxembourg in 2021.

Hongrae CHO is the Vice Chairman of the Korea Investment Management (‘KIM’) Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the Korea Investment Holdings (‘KIH’: 071050 KS) since February 2022. He had been the CEO and President of the same company from January 2015 to January 2022.

Before this position, he was the Head of Global Strategy of KIH. His mission was to provide the top management with independent opinions regarding global macroeconomic issues, principal investment and the future direction of strategic involvement of KIH’s member companies in a variety of investment activities. Also, he was jointly appointed to the position of Head of Corporate Management. In this capacity, he was to oversee overall management of asset management companies of the KIH Group including KIM. Prior to these positions, he has served as the Head of Research for more than six years and the Head of Institutional Sales for two years at Korea Investment & Securities, a member company of the KIH.

Before joining the KIH Group in 2002, he had been a managing director at Hyundai Research Institute (HRI), a think-tank of Korea’s leading business conglomerate, Hyundai Business Group. He worked as an economist and an industrial analyst for numerous industry sectors during his ten year term at HRI.

Beside his position at the KIM, he was a non-standing Vice Chairman of Korea Financial Investment Association (KOFIA), the trade association in Korea’s capital market, from Feb 2018 to Feb 2020. Also, he was a board member of Korea Capital Market Institute (KCMI), a research institution on capital market, from Feb 2018 to Feb 2020.

He holds a BA in economics from Seoul National University and an MA in economics from Yale University. He holds the FRM (Financial Risk Manager: GARP) and CAIA (Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst) designation.

Jin Y. CHOI is the Managing Director of Genii Capital Korea (f.k.a. Ikogest Asia) since 2005.  He worked also as a Director of IKO AM Luxembourg and numerous companies within the Genii Capital group affiliates.

Jin Y. CHOI is the Founding Partner in SLI AMC, developers of the iconic Center Field buildings in Gangnam.

He has a Bachelor of Laws, Faculty of Law, Queen’s University in Canada and a Bachelor of Arts degree, University of Toronto in Canada.

Chris Hollifield is head of business development at Luxembourg for Finance, where his work involves advising FinTech and financial companies looking to develop cross-border activity through Luxembourg-based platforms. He also advises on the development of the ecosystem in Luxembourg and on synergy creation with other key financial centres, with a focus on East Asia.

Prior to working at Luxembourg for Finance, Chris worked in the strategy department of Clearstream Banking SA, an International Central Securities Depository that facilitates the settlement of interbank transactions in over 50 markets worldwide. Here, his work focused particularly on strategic projects concerning distributed ledger technology and other FinTech topics.

Seoungho Jin has been Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of the Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) since May of 2021. He was also appointed Korea’s Ambassador for Financial Cooperation in 2022.

Prior to joining KIC, Mr. Jin led Korea’s Presidential Committee on Balanced National Development. He was previously an executive consultant on the Policy Committee for the Democratic Party of Korea.

Mr. Jin is an economist with more than 30 years of experience in the Korean government, mostly at the Ministry of Economy and Finance. He has served in positions including Director General of International Economic Affairs and Director General of International Financial Cooperation. He was also previously Director of the Strategy and Finance Committee at the National Assembly.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Jin served in the Office of the President, overseeing issues related to education and culture.

Mr. Jin has a Ph.D. and an M.A. in economics from the University of Manchester and a B.A. in economics from Seoul National University

Xavier Le Sourne is a Partner of Elvinger Hoss Prussen and is based in Hong Kong since 2015.

His practice concentrates on investment fund structuring and collective asset management. He advises a number of regulated or non-regulated financial institutions in relation to the set-up of their Luxembourg investment funds or acquisition structures.

More particularly, Xavier advises private equity and venture capital firms, including debt financing or real estate sponsors following core, value add or opportunistic strategies.

Xavier Le Sourne holds an LLM in corporate law from the Universität Bayreuth (Germany) and an LLB (maîtrise en droit) from the Université of Bordeaux (France).

Xavier is listed in Who’s Who Legal, Legal 500, Chambers & Partners Global and in IFLR1000.

Junhaeng LEE is Co-founder and CEO of Streami, a blockchain company which he grew from a mere 2 people startup to a full-fledged company with earnings over $ 20 million. Streami operates GOPAX, one of the 5 licensed exchanges in Korea with the highest rating in the country with loyal customer base of 860k, and GOFi, Korea’s largest crypto-first wealth manager.

As a thought leader in Korea’s blockchain industry, Junhaeng has constantly advocated for operational transparency and regulatory compliance in the blockchain industry. While serving as vice-chair of the Korean Fintech Industry Association (KORFIN) and head of its blockchain committee, Junhaeng has advised numerous legislators and regulators on policy initiatives. Junhaeng is also a founding member of the Global Blockchain Policy Council (GBPC), which held its inaugural conference at the Korean National Assembly in October 2018. The GBPC is focused on bringing legislators and industry members togethers to develop industry standards and policy initiatives that help facilitate more sound blockchain ecosystem.

Prior to founding Streami, Junhaeng was an Associate Director at Headland Capital Partners and a consultant at McKinsey & Company.

Junhaeng holds a bachelor’s degree in History from Harvard University.

Anna Lindner is Lawyer, Senior Associate at GSK Stockmann.

She focuses on Capital Markets, Banking & Finance, Corporate, Restructuring and Sustainable Finance.  She is admitted to the Bar in Germany (2015) and Luxembourg (2017) and holds qualifications from Julius-Maximilians University in Würzburg and Humboldt University in Berlin.

Anna undertook traineeships at two major international law firms in Berlin in the areas of insolvency administration and antitrust, and was employed at a major international law firm in Frankfurt am Main with a focus on corporate and finance litigation.

She speaks English, French and German, and is a member of the Luxembourg Banking Law Lawyers Association (ALJB).

Roberto Machado is a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in the financial technology and digital payments industry.

He graduated in Telecommunications Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC).

Robert has spent more than a decade in Asia, where he has been involved in the Fintech and cybersecurity industries, in companies like Toro, dedicated to mobile payments technology and Qihoo 360, one of the largest cybersecurity firms in Asia, and in close contact with the startup ecosystems in Taiwan and Singapore.

In 2018, Roberto joined the crypto custody firm CYBAVO and he has recently returned to Europe to lead the global expansion of the company from its office in Luxembourg.

Alessandro Silvestro is Lemanik Managing Director for Asia Pacific since 2018.

Based in Hong Kong, he is a member of the company’s Global Strategic Committee. Graduated with a Master degree in Law (LLM), Alessandro brings more than two decades of international experience in the investment fund industry. Over the course of his career, he has developed Operational, Distribution and Relationship Management expertise in both Europe and Asia.

Before joining Lemanik, Alessandro lead the Insurance Sales team in Asia for Standard Chartered Hong Kong and held various senior positions with RBC Investor Services in Luxembourg, Milan and Hong Kong where he was a Member of the Management Committee.

Alessandro is a regular speaker in international funds conferences, an active member in several key funds associations and Board member in several investment funds.

Chunhe Zhang was appointed Managing Director of PingPong Europe S.A. in 2018. He is responsible for financial reporting, payment & IT operation, European business development.

As a professional in banking and payment industry, he has over a decade of experiences in cash management, corporate financing and big data marketing. Prior to joining PingPong, he worked for an international banking group and received vast experience in digital marketing, product management and client relation management. As the first Head of the bank’s European Cash Management Center, Chunhe Zhang was one of the pioneers to adapt European banking vision practice to Asian companies’ investments and trades activities in Europe and helped many companies from Asia successfully manage their financial management in Europe.

Chunhe Zhang holds a Bachelor degree in Economics from Tsinghua University and a Master degree in Applied Economics from the University of Pantheon Assas Paris II.