Serena Sebastiani | SpeakerHub

Personal Details

Current position (3)

Senior Director - FS - Virtual Assets Leader

PwC Middle East

Supervisor - Investment Management Supervision and

Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (QFCRA)

Manager - Financial Services Advisory

PwC Italy

Achievements (2)

Regional Ambassador, Middle East, Women in Crypto

Global Association for Women in Cryptocurrency

Corporate Advisory Board Member

Rome Business School

Degrees (3)

FINTECH PROGRAM, EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

INSEAD

2022

MASTER'S DEGREE, CORPORATE MANAGEMENT

FUDAN UNIVERSITY

2009 to 2011

INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT, FINANCE

LUISS GUIDO CARLI

2009 to 2011

Bio

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Digital Assets Leader

Serena Sebastiani is a Senior Director in the Financial Services Advisory arm of PwC Middle East, and Consulting Virtual Assets Leader.

As an ex-Regulator, Serena supports Regulatory Authorities in the Region to design their future-looking strategies and policies in the Fintech and Virtual Assets space, works with Banks and other TradFi institutions to enter the Virtual Assets space, and advises VASPs on their strategies, operations, compliance issues.

Serena supports the growth of the Fintech and Web3 ecosystem in the Region by contributing to the active community of players across the value chain.

She is also a mentor in acceleration programs and speaker at major industry events.

Fintech, sustainability

Serena Sebastiani is a Senior Director in the Financial Services Advisory arm of PwC Middle East, and Consulting Virtual Assets Leader.

Building a digital, innovative, open economy is a priority for most of the GCC Nations, to support the sustainability of their growth strategies, diversify from legacy oil-based economies, and improve financial inclusion.

Serena has 13+ years of experience in supporting Regulators, Governments and the Private Sector to achieve these objectives, through designing strategies, policies and implementation actions that will define the Future of Banking and Finance.

Presentations

Presentations (16)

iFX Expo - Dubai Jan 2024

Dubai as a Fintech Hub: A Rising Star:
The MENA region opens huge opportunities for fintechs thanks to the scale of the market attracting notice as a leading crypto hub in the making. Government support and fintech-friendly regulations are also fostering homegrown entrepreneurship in the region and attracting global players. At the same time open banking creates an opportunity, for either traditional financial institutions or fintechs, to build applications ranging from payments to lending on top of its API infrastructure. This panel will discuss about:
- The main pillars for fintech growth in the region
- Free zones as fundamental tool to foster the ecosystem
- The unsurprisingly booming local Startup Scene

WebSummit - Qatar Feb 2024

All Digital Assets Roundtable

LEAP - Riyadh Mar 2024

Bridging Traditions to Tomorrow: revolutionizing Banking with Web3 innovation - Firechat between Serena Sebastiani (Virtual Assets Leader @ PwC ME) and Mo Ali Yusuf (Founder and CEO @ Fuze Finance)

SC Ventures Roundtable - Dubai March 2024

As the world becomes digital, money is also undergoing a digital transformation. The future of money will be digital, but what kind of digital will it be? Will it be through Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), stablecoins, or tokenised deposits? Are these digital money formats in competition, or do they serve complementary roles? What are interesting approaches to thinking about the future of money?

BrokersView Expo Dubai Spring 2024 - Dubai April 2024

Exploring Opportunities and Challenges in Emerging Financial Markets

The UAE’s Climate Tech Ecosystem -Incentives, Innovation, and Impact - Abu Dhabi April 2024

Panel| The UAE’s Climate Tech Ecosystem - Incentives, Innovation, and Impact

The UAE is well on its way to establishing itself as one of the leading global climate tech hubs. What unique incentives and support mechanisms does the UAE provide that make it a favorable base for climate tech startups? How is the UAE leveraging its global partnerships to drive growth in the
climate tech sector?
Suggested speakers:
• Mohamed Al Dhaheri, Acting Executive Director, ADIO (invited –TBC)
• Ahmad Ali Alwan, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Hub71 (invited –TBC)
• Startup (TBC)
• Steve Severance, Director of Growth, Masdar City (Confirmed)
• Moderator: Serena Sebastiani, Director - Financial Services Advisory, PwC Middle East (Confirmed)

Institutional Digital Assets Summit - Dubai April 2024

Role of custody in driving institutional adoption (past and future)

Dubai Fintech Summit - Keynote for the AMF

KeyNote at the AMF - Redesigning the Financial Scene (Digital infrastructure, Tokenisation, Digital Money)

Dubai Fintech Summit - Roundtable for Mena Fintech Association

Chairing the roundtable
Digital Assets solving real problems

Crypto Expo Dubai 2024

Shaping the Future of Decentralized Technologies and Beyond

API Days - Dubai June 2022

Open Finance and Embedded Finance in MENA

Forex Expo - Dubai Dec 2022

Virtual Assets in the GCC