Financial Markets

Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at Allianz Popular Asset Management (Allianz Group). He is responsible for managing investment funds and pension plans with total assets under management exceeding €15 billion. His team consists of 20 specialist managers covering different asset classes (fixed income, equities, derivatives, etc.).

Rafael joined Popular Gestión (Banco Popular Group) in 1998. Prior to his position as CIO, he was Head of Multimanagement at Banco Popular Group, where he was responsible for investments in third-party products, including traditional funds (equities and fixed income) and alternative investments (commodities, hedge funds, venture capital).
Doctorate in Economics from San Pablo-CEU University, Executive MBA, IESE, Spain, Bachelor's Degree in Economics from the Autonomous University of Madrid and Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from San Pablo-CEU University

Julián Romero is currently President of the Spanish Observatory for Sustainable Finance. His career has spanned various institutions and different investment banking activities. After working in the investment banking departments of Dresdner Bank and Banco Exterior de España, he joined BBVA's Trading department. In 2005, he became Head of Bond Syndication for Europe. In 2017, he created the Sustainable Bonds group at BBVA. Having witnessed the birth and evolution of green bond markets, he has been his institution's representative in the Green Bond Principles since 2014.

He holds a degree in Economics from the Complutense University of Madrid. He has a master's degree in Responsible Banking from the IEB and a course in Sustainable Development from Columbia University.

Fernando holds a degree in Economics and Business Studies from the Complutense University of Madrid, a Master's degree from the Instituto de Empresa, and a graduate degree in Senior Management (PADE) from the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa (IESE). He has studied the economic environment and education and technology at Harvard University and has been a member of the European Parliament's Committee of Experts on International Payment Systems.

He has held positions of responsibility in various financial institutions, in the areas of business, strategy, finance, risk and investment.

He is currently a senior advisor in investment banking, a member of the board of directors of JB Capital Markets, and an independent director of Sociedad de Tasación, S.A.

He is a university professor at renowned academic institutions, a tenured professor and regular speaker at executive training programmes on strategy, negotiation, finance, mergers and acquisitions, commercial management and leadership skills.

Francisco Javier has over 23 years of experience in financial markets. He has spent his entire career at BBVA, where he began as an interest rate trader and rose to become Global Head of FX. He is currently Managing Director and Global FX Product Manager – Chief Operating Officer (COO).

He holds a degree in Business Administration from the Autonomous University of Madrid, where he also completed his doctoral studies in exchange with the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. He also holds an MBA from IESE at the University of Navarra and the IASE Certificate in Sustainable Finance.

He has taught at renowned business schools and volunteers his time to social institutions.

Francisco holds a degree in Law and Business Administration with a specialisation in Financial Management (E·) from ICADE at the University of Comillas. He is a PDD graduate from IESE at the University of Navarra and is currently studying for a degree in Psychology at the UNED.

He has more than 26 years of experience in the financial sector. He has developed his professional career mainly at Banco Santander Group, where he has held positions of responsibility in the Risk areas and, in recent years, as Director of Methodologies and Big Data. He currently chairs the Innovation and Good Governance Council and combines his professional activity with teaching and consulting, particularly in innovation projects related to Big Data management.

From an academic perspective, Francisco has experience teaching at various prestigious business schools and has participated in specialised tailor-made training programmes.

David has over 12 years of experience in the financial sector, with various responsibilities in the areas of Risk Management, Financial Planning and Investment Banking at BBVA.

David holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from ETSI-ICAI (Comillas Pontifical University), has studied Economics, holds a Master's degree in Quantitative Finance from AFI, and is FRM® certified by GARP (Global Association of Risk Professionals).

As a lecturer, he has designed and delivered financial training at institutions such as IEB, CIFF and the University of Alcalá.

Desiree is part of the Fidentiis Gestión team as Director of Investor Relations, a professional with over 25 years of experience in the financial sector.

She began her professional career in the capital markets area as sales director at BBVA and later at Crédit Agricole. Between 2000 and 2008, she was part of the Fidelity International team as director of the distribution channel and later the institutional channel. She worked in private banking between 2009 and 2011 at Banco Madrid and in financial planning in the insurance sector at firms such as Everis, CNP Partners and NN Life Luxembourg (Nationale Nederlanden Group).

Desirée holds a degree in Law from CEU San Pablo University and a Master's degree in Stock Exchange and Financial Markets from the IEB.

Alfonso Ayuso holds a degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and a Master's degree in Business Administration from the Instituto de Empresa. He is also certified as a coach in Exponential Organisations by OpenExo and in Good Corporate Governance by the IC-A.

He has been teaching innovation and financial markets since 2004 at various prestigious institutions, such as ICADE itself and the IEB.

He has extensive professional experience in financial services in the areas of innovation, private banking, capital markets and regulation, having worked in various management positions at institutions such as Banco Santander and Banco Sabadell. He currently serves as Senior Advisor on innovation and new financial business models.

Itziar has more than 17 years of experience in the Banking sector and 15 in the field of Capital Markets, Fixed Income, Origination and Syndication, Credit Analysis and Portfolio Management. She has worked in both in the private corporations in the public sector. She has worked for ICO, Caja España, Banesto, and the European Bank of Finance. She is currently the Director for debt solutions at Ahorro Corporación.

She has Ph.D. in Economics and Finance from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas. She combines her professional activities with financial training at ICADE and the ICADE Graduate Business School in the area of financial markets, portfolio management and international finance.

Fernando is a highly esteemed executive with more than 39 years of financial experience at large multinational corporations. He is started his professional career at the audit firm, Arthur Andersen and he became the financial director of Dragados Servicios y Concesiones (ACS Group) for 10 years. He then moved to become the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Sacyr for 7 years before becoming the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Testa. He is currently the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Merlin Properties.

Fernando has a degree in Economics and Business Administration and a Law Degree from ICADE (Specialty E-3) in Madrid and he is a guest lecturer at several prestigious business schools.

Luigi has had a long career in the international financial sector, where he has been part of the senior management of institutions such as Grupo Generali in Trieste and AllfundsBanc in Madrid, where he held the position of CFO in both cases, and Mapfre in Madrid, where, in addition to CRO, he was Deputy Managing Director and Head of Investor Relations. Previously, he was Vice President of Credit and Rating at Morgan Stanley and Vice President of Rating at CITI in London and at Banco Exterior de España in New York, where he began his professional career in 1992. He is currently involved in training and consulting in the financial sector.

Luigi holds a degree in Economics from Luigi Bocconi University in Italy, and has obtained FRM certification from GARP and GREA certification in Risk Management for Insurance Companies. He has also published specialist articles on Solvency II for the insurance industry.

Manuel is the Senior Manager of Data Science projects in Grant Thornton Spain. Portfolio & Program Manager for a large backlog of projects for BIM implementation and Business Intelligence, Big Data and Machine Learning applications on the Construction Sector. He previously held positions of responsibility in the management and control of the business in OHL Construction and FCC, where he began his career as a PMP.

He is a Civil Engineering Engineer with Specialization in Structures and Numerical Calculation from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. It has the PMP Certification of the Project Management Institute. He combines his professional activity with specialized training in Big Data and Artificial Intelligence.