15 December 2020
Group Internal Audit Director - Bank of Cyprus, President - ACFE Cyprus Chapter
George Zornas is the Group Internal Audit Director of BoC since January 2015. Mr. Zornas has more than 13 years of experience in internal audit and fraud investigations. He has also extensive experience in Assurance and Corporate Finance, having worked with PwC (Greece) for 10 years.
Mr. Zornas is a Fellow Chartered Certified Accountant (FCCA), a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (CFE) and he is currently serving as the president of the Cyprus Chapter of Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). Mr. Zornas also holds an MBA in Financial Studies and a BA (Hons) in Industrial Economics, both from the University of Nottingham.
Ph.D., CFE, Director, Forensic & Integrity Services, EY Cyprus
Aristodemos Yiannakas is a Director in the Forensic & Integrity Services of EY Cyprus. He holds a BA in Economics, an MBA, an MSc in Internal Auditing and Management and a PhD in Internal Auditing from City University Business School in London. He is also a Certified Fraud Examiner. During his professional career spanning more than 20 years, he has led numerous internal audit engagements in companies operating in a variety of industries, he has conducted investigations as well as Anti-Money Laundering program reviews, and has performed internal control assessments in a number of credit institutions. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of both the Cyprus Institute of Internal Auditors and the Cyprus Integrity Forum, as well as an independent member of the Economic Crime and Forensic Accounting Committee of the Institute of Certified Public Accountant of Cyprus.
Managing Director & Co-Head of Financial Investigations, Business Intelligence & Investigations, Kroll (a division of Duff & Phelps), UK
Zoe Newman is a Managing Director in the Business Intelligence and Investigations practice of Kroll and co-heads the Financial Investigations team across the EMEA region. She has extensive experience in leading complex, cross-border forensic investigations into matters of fraud, corruption and potential regulatory breaches, including those relating to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and UK Bribery Act. She also advises clients on how to best implement controls to mitigate these risks.
Managing Director & Co-Head of Financial Investigations, Business Intelligence & Investigations, Kroll (a division of Duff & Phelps), UK
Howard Cooper is a managing director in the Business Intelligence and Investigations practice and co-head of the Global Financial Investigations practice at Kroll. Howard is a qualified accountant with extensive experience in conducting investigations into fraud, money laundering, asset tracing, corruption, disputes and insolvencies across a wide range of sectors. He has broad experience working with regulators and prosecuting bodies, and specializes in conducting financial investigations in the banking and financial services sector.
Tax and Forensic Investigations Consultant, Integrated Dispute Resolution, UK
Kevin Humphreys joined HM Revenue & Customs in 1987 where he spent 20 years specialising in company, individual and partnership tax enquiries. In 2007, he joined the National Crime Agency (formerly the Serious Organised Crime Agency) and for 10 years led a team investigating acquisitive crime cases, including fraud, money laundering and drug trafficking, using civil recovery and tax powers under the UK’s Proceeds of Crime Act. Now in the private sector, Kevin specialises in forensic investigation of fraud, complex business disputes and HMRC tax enquiries. He is a member of The London Fraud Forum and Fraud Advisory Panel.
Former Head of Emerging Market FX Trading for RBC Europe, UK
John Banerjee spent over 25 years as an FX and Rates trader specialising in Emerging Markets. He was a Board Director for EBS, the world’s biggest electronic broker by volume. He has advised a number of Central Banks including the Bank of England and the Reserve Bank of South Africa and counted some of the world’s most successful macro hedge funds as clients. He was formerly the Head of Emerging Markets FX Trading for RBC Europe. His trading career came to a full stop after he was fired by RBC because he disclosed serious issues with its global compliance regime.
Emeritus Professor of Forensic Psychology - University of Leicester, Director - Professor Ray Bull and Associates Limited, UK
Professor Raymond Bull is Immediate Past-President of the European Association of Psychology and Law. He has authored/co-authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications, mostly on Investigative Interviewing. In 2012, he was awarded the first “Honorary Life-time Membership” of the 'International Investigative Interviewing Research Group' and in 2010 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the ‘British Psychological Society’ - this honour is restricted to no more than 40 living psychologists. He regularly acts as an ‘expert witness’ and trains interviewers in many countries. Currently, he is a member of the committee drafting world-wide guidance on non-coercive investigative interviewing for the United Nations.
Principal, Kobre & Kim, UK
Polly Wilkins focuses on representing ultra-high-net-worth individuals and corporate clients in developing cross-border litigation and reputation management strategies aimed at mitigating reputational risks across global interests throughout EMEA, Asia, offshore jurisdictions and the Americas. She regularly coordinates a range of stakeholders including crisis communications and public relations firms, investigators, family offices, and transactional wealth advisors to formulate holistic strategies to preserve reputation and mitigate privacy concerns, as well as defend assets and liberty, when clients are engaged in litigation or the subject of an investigation. Before joining Kobre & Kim, Ms. Wilkins practiced at Schillings and Squire Patton Boggs.
Senior Consultant, Bivonas Law LLP, UK
Don Randall served with the City of London Police, leaving in 1996 as a Detective Superintendent specialising in fraud investigations, money laundering and counter terrorism. He was the International Director of Security for JPMorgan / Chase from 1996 - 2008, when he became the Director of Security at the Bank of England. In 2013, Don created the first ever Cyber Information Security Division at the Bank and launched the Threat Led Penetration initiative CBEST. Don is a senior advisor to Bivonas Law and has other advisory roles specialising in cyber crime, fraud investigations, counter terrorism, business continuity, resilience and recovery. Don was awarded the MBE in the January 2007 New Year’s honours for his initiative in partnerships between the public and private security worlds.
CEO, Block.co, Cyprus
Alexis Nicolaou is a professional with over 25 years’ experience in C-suite positions in Accountancy, Finance, Electronic Banking, Electronic Banking Software, Media and Electronic Content Production industries. He currently also serves on the board of Directors of Grant Thornton Cyprus’ Distributed Ledger Technologies business unit. Alexis is a Fellow member of the ICAEW and has a BA (Hons) degree from the University of Nottingham in Industrial Economics and Accountancy. He is also a member of UNIC’s MSc in the Digital Currencies program.
The Bank of Cyprus Group is the leading banking and financial services group in Cyprus, providing a wide range of financial products and services which include retail and commercial banking, finance, factoring, investment banking, brokerage, fund management, private banking, life and general insurance. The Bank of Cyprus Group operates through a total of 98 branches in Cyprus and has representative offices in Russia, Ukraine and China. The Bank of Cyprus Group comprises Bank of Cyprus Holdings Public Limited Company, its subsidiary Bank of Cyprus Public Company Limited and its subsidiaries.
Block.co, a pioneer in blockchain credentialing applications, transforms the way organizations leverage technology in the issuance, validation and revocation of digital records. By creating a digital fingerprint of a document and anchoring it to a blockchain, we can issue digital documents that are both tamper-proof and self-verifiable. Our vision is to eliminate document fraud in the industries we serve, while remaining at the forefront of technological developments in the sector.
EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transactions and advisory services with more than 280,000 people in over 150 countries around the world. It is the most globally integrated professional services organisation and is working with businesses,entrepreneurs and governments around the world to solve their most pressing challenges and to help them take advantage of emerging opportunities. EY distils everything it does down to a single, unified purpose: building a better working world. For over 80 years, the Cyprus practice has been a trusted business advisor and auditor to a broad range of clients, from private individuals and entrepreneurial businesses, to major public companies and large multinationals. Being part of EY’s EMEIA Area and one of the 31 countries that comprise the new Central, Eastern and South-eastern Europe & Central Asia (CESA) Region, EY Cyprus is ideally placed to exploit new opportunities in the area and cater to the needs of our clients in a wider geographic span.
IMH is the largest business knowledge and information transfer organisation in Cyprus. Its services include the coordination and running of conferences, seminars and commercial exhibitions, specialist business media publishing and human resources consulting. Every year, IMH organises more than 110 conferences related to every sector of the market, commercial exhibitions and training seminars, and undertakes the entire process of five business award ceremonies. IMH publishes the only dedicated business magazines in Cyprus: the Greek language monthly IN Business and the English-language monthly Gold, which are read by tens of thousands of Cypriot and non-Cypriot professionals, managers and entrepreneurs. It also operates the magazines’ accompanying news portals, the IN Business Portal (www.inbusinessnews.com), the GOLD Portal (www.goldnews.com.cy) and the REPORTER (www.reporter.com.cy). ΙΜΗ also delivers via e-mail the IN Business Daily Newsletter, the GOLD News Daily Newsletter and the REPORTER Newsletter. The IMH Business Development Department bids for tenders published by local public sector bodies, the European Union and other international organisations. Through its activities, ΙΜΗ gives businesses a chance to develop, to network, to find new clients and business associates, to communicate with new audiences and discover growth opportunities. www.imhbusiness.com
Being one of the 217 chapters of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), the Cyprus Chapter of the ACFE is an anti-fraud organization that serves professionals, students and communities in Cyprus. The objective of the Cyprus Chapter of ACFE is to promote improved fraud detection and deterrence. This is achieved through enhancement of knowledge, promotion of networking opportunities and support for its members and the business, academic and government community.
CFA Society Cyprus is a local society of the CFA Institute, which is based in Virginia, USA. With more than 150,000 members worldwide, the CFA Institute offers the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation; the most respected and recognized professional qualification in the world of finance and investments, after a stringent examination process. The Society was founded in 2003 and currently numbers 147 members who have all acquired the CFA certification and represent all the major banks and investment firms in Cyprus. As Chartered Financial Analysts certified by the CFA Institute, they are best-trained at both a theoretical and practical level, for financial and investment analysis.
The Cyprus Fiduciary Association was established in November 2011 by the initiative of leading firms in Cyprus providing fiduciary, management and administration services to companies and other vehicles engaged in international business activities or involved in international business structures. The objective of the Association is to serve the Administrative Services Providers (ASPs) by promoting their interests, supporting their operations and educating their staff. The aim is to assist in creating a solid and strong fiduciary and a wider international business sector in Cyprus, operating on high professional standards and integrity. The Association is recognised as a representative body of ASPs in Cyprus before public and regulatory authorities, other associations and the business community in Cyprus and abroad.
The Cyprus Institute of Internal Auditors was founded in 1998. Today it has more than 550 members and is governed by an elected Management Board of 10 members, which is supported by four sub-committees. The vision of the Cyprus Institute of Internal Auditors is to be the fundamental institution that represents, promotes and upgrades the Internal Audit profession in Cyprus. Its mission is the continuous promotion and recognition of the profession, as well as the enrichment of its members’ knowledge and skills by providing relevant educational and training courses.
The Cyprus Integrity Forum (CIF) was established in 2011, and is today the leading institution in Cyprus for the fight against corruption and promotion of transparency. It is an independent, non-governmental, non-politically partisan and non-profit organization. CIF collaborates with various organizations in Cyprus, in Europe and in the USA to effectively raise public awareness in all layers of society for combating corruption in our everyday lives, enhance the content and quality of public and corporate governance in all forms of business and ensure that the State and all Governmental Bodies act and behave in a manner that promotes transparency and ethics in all respects. www.cyprusintegrityforum.org
The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Cyprus (ICPAC) is the relevant authority for the accountancy profession in Cyprus. Established in 1961, ICPAC currently has more than 4.300 professional accountants as members and another 4,000 students and graduates. Its principal objectives include the provision of an organisational framework for all professional accountants, the support and the promotion of the activities and interests of the accountancy profession, safeguarding the reputation of the profession and adherence to the Code of Ethics by all its members, as well as the continuous professional development and updating of members on issues relevant to accounting, auditing and other business matters. In addition to the above, ICPAC has been delegated the task to regulate the audit profession and is also a competent authority under the Anti-Money Laundering laws, the Laws on the regulation of enterprises providing administrative services and the Insolvency Practitioners Law. The Institute is a key stakeholder in the economy of the country, playing a vital role to establish and maintain Cyprus as an international business centre of repute. It provides assistance to the Government and its departments, as well as cooperates harmoniously with other bodies in the private sector. Furthermore, ICPAC cooperates via a network of international accountancy and other professional bodies.
GOLD magazine was founded in 2011 as the first English-language business monthly in Cyprus. Today, it is not only synonymous with the promotion of good business practices but it has a unique and valuable readership of High Net Worth Individuals, international company executives, English-speaking Cypriot and non-Cypriot businessmen and women. GOLD provides a comprehensive and informed overview of the local business scene, the economy and the market and has gained a reputation for its in-depth articles and revealing interviews with key local and international personalities. www.goldnews.com.cy
IN Business magazine has a monthly readership of over 89,000. It is the only monthly business magazine in Cyprus that provides a comprehensive overview of all segments of the economy, from retail to services, as well as reporting on new deals, presenting new faces and, generally, looking at everything that’s happening on the local business scene. IN Business has always been a pioneer in local business journalism, thanks to its in-depth analysis and research, often backed by previously unpublished facts and figures. www.inbusinessnews.com
