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Biographies

Niyi Ajao Deputy Managing Director, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) Niyi Ajao is the Deputy Managing Director at Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS), where he had overseen Business Development, and Technology &Operations Directorates in the past. At NIBSS, he has played leading roles in the development and subsequent operations of the Nigeria Automated Clearing System, Nigeria Central Switch, NIBSS Instant Payments and other shared-service initiatives of the financial services industry. ‘Niyi specializes in Financial Technology; Clearing, Switching and Settlement systems; and Digital Financial Services. He actively participates in, and speaks at, local and international industry fora on payments system practices and policies, and payments innovation. Niyi has played leading roles in the modernization of the Nigeria payment system, being a member of the Payment Systems Vision 2020 (PSV2020) project sponsored by the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2006 todate. He also serves as the Financial Inclusion Thematic Group Lead of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) Financial Inclusion & Financial Management Policy Commission. He was an active participant in the ITU FG DFS and is presently cooperating with FIGI and ongoing countries collaboration to stamp out Unlicensed Digital Investment Schemes.
Mercy Buku Certified Antimoney Laundering Specialist, & Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, Commissioner for Oaths and Notary Public, Kenya Mercy Buku is a Certified Antimoney Laundering Specialist and an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, Commissioner for Oaths and Notary Public, and was admitted to the Kenyan Bar in December 1989. Mercy is currently practising as an AML/CFT Legal Consultant in the Mobile payments and Banking Sector and was previously the Senior Manager, Money Laundering Reporting Office in Safaricom Limited (Kenya) where she was charged with the responsibility for overseeing the Anti- money Laundering Function for M-pesa and related financial services offered by Safaricom Limited. Mercy has a Bachelor of Laws Honors Degree from the University of Nairobi and a Master’s Degree in Banking and Financial Law from the University of London, and is also an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (UK). She started her career as a State Counsel in the Attorney General’s Chambers (State Law Office) in Kenya, prior to joining the private sector and has also served as Legal Officer, and Head of Legal and Compliance in CFC Bank Limited, the Eastern and Southern African Development (PTA) Bank and Co-operative Bank of Kenya Limited. Mercy has extensive experience as a trainer and consultant in Compliance and Anti-money Laundering in the Digital Financial Services and Banking Sector and has made presentations at various local and international AML Workshops and Conferences and has also published various articles and reports in the same field. Mercy has also consulted on various financial inclusion and regulatory projects undertaken by international organizations such as the World Bank (CGAP), Financial Services Volunteer Corps (FSVC), GIZ, GSMA, Bankable Frontier Associates (BFA) Toronto Centre, and Global Centre for Corporative Security (GCCS). In 2019, Mercy was tasked with drafting the AML/CFT Guidelines for the legal profession in Kenya, and was also privileged to be invited to address the UN Security Council in March 2019, on the topic Financial Inclusion and Financial Integrity.
Muhammad Imran Criminal Intelligence Officer, Financial Crimes Unit, INTERPOL Imran is a member of the Financial Crimes Unit under INTERPOL’s Criminal Networks Sub-directorate. He is responsible for providing operational support and access to technical databases to serve all members of the INTERPOL community on financial crime investigations and asset recovery matters. Prior to his stint at INTERPOL, Imran had more than 10 years’ experience with the Singapore Police Force (SPF), particularly in the field of financial investigation and financial intelligence at the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD). He has taken on various postings at CAD, including with the Suspicious Transaction Reporting Office (the Financial Intelligence Unit of Singapore), the International Cooperation Branch and the Inter-Agency Committee for the Financial Action Task Force’s Mutual Evaluation of Singapore. He was also appointed as a trainer with the Home Team School of Criminal Investigation. Imran currently holds a bachelor’s degree of Business from the Nanyang Technological University, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Financing Terrorism (AML/CFT) from the International Compliance Association (ICA).
Bilel Jamoussi Chief of Study Group Department, TSB, ITU Tunisian born, Dr. Bilel Jamoussi is Chief of the Study Groups Department of ITU Standardization Bureau in Geneva Switzerland. Since 2010, he has been leading the bureau’s standards making activities into a new era characterized by rapid convergence and the need for increased collaboration with vertical sectors and partnership between developed and developing countries. Prior to 2010, Jamoussi worked for a Telecommunication equipment and solutions provider for 15 years in Canada and then in the United States where he held several leadership positions and was granted 22 US patents in diverse areas including packet, optical, wireless, and quality of service. He holds a BSc, MSc and PhD degrees in Computer Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University, USA. He is fluent in Arabic, French, and English and speaks some Spanish and German.
Jami Hubbard Solli Commercial Litigation Lawyer, GALA Jami Hubbard Solli was a commercial litigation lawyer in New York, following which she worked for an Italian law firm, Studio Legale Carnelutti assisting their international corporate clients. In 2005 (the UN's Year of Microcredit), she joined the International Development Law Organization in Rome and focused on financial sector regulation and financial consumer protection in developing countries. Since 2011, she has consulted for an array of clients on financial consumer protection, financial literacy and access to redress; including Consumers International, UK, a global federation of consumer organizations, various UN bodies, and the Asian Development Bank. She has a particular interest in fraud prevention, applying the principles of experiential learning to financial education and assisting consumers to obtain debt relief; and has established a public interest advocacy organization called the Global Alliance for Legal Aid which works on these issues.