Alexandre Deschâtres

Geoff Kendrick is Global Head of Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered, based in London, a position he has held since September 2024. Prior to this role, he served as Head of Crypto Research and EM FX West at Standard Chartered from September 2021 to September 2024, and before that as Global Head of Emerging Markets FX Research at the same institution from January 2016 to September 2021.

Earlier in his career, Kendrick was Head of Asia FX Rates Strategy at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong from 2013 to 2016, where he achieved a number one ranking in the Institutional Investor Poll in 2015. From 2010 to 2013, he served as Head of European FX Strategy at Nomura in London, receiving a number two ranking in the Institutional Investor Poll in both 2012 and 2013, and co-authored a chapter in the Handbook of Exchange Rates. He also held a role at UBS as a strategist. Concurrently with his time at Nomura, he served as a lecturer in Global Macro Strategy at Cass Business School from 2010 to 2013. His total professional experience spans approximately 27 years. His educational background includes studies at AGSM @ UNSW Business School and Monash University.

Geoffrey Kendrick is Global Head of Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered, where he initiated digital asset research coverage in 2020. His notable research calls include a forecast made in April 2023, when Bitcoin was trading at $25,000, that the crypto winter was over and that Bitcoin would reach $100,000 by end of 2024. In April 2025 he forecast the stablecoin industry would grow to $2 trillion by end of 2028, a projection that subsequently formed the basis of the US Treasury's forecast for the stablecoin industry.

Prior to his digital assets focus, Kendrick held several senior roles within Standard Chartered, including Head of EM FX West and Global Head of Emerging Markets FX Research. Earlier in his career he headed Asia FX and Rates Strategy at Morgan Stanley, European FX Strategy at Nomura, and London FX Strategy at UBS Investment Bank. Outside industry roles, he has lectured in Global Macro Strategy at Cass Business School. He studied at AGSM at UNSW Business School and Monash University.

Jennifer B. Lassiter is Managing Director, Head of Digital Assets, Americas, UK, and Europe at Standard Chartered, a position she has held since May 2025. In this role, her mandate covers digital assets across the Americas, UK, and European regions within the bank's General Management function.

Alongside her role at Standard Chartered, Lassiter serves as a Member of the Board of Directors at The Digital Dollar Project, a non-profit forum focused on digital money innovation and the role of the US Dollar in digital currency networks, a position she has held since January 2023. She previously served as Executive Director at the same organization. She has also been a Global Financial Fellow at Salzburg Global Seminar since June 2023, and served as a Member of the Board of Advisors at Global Digital Finance, an industry body promoting standards for the digital asset industry, from October 2024 to April 2025. Her total professional experience spans approximately 22 years.

Laurent Marochini is CEO of Standard Chartered Luxembourg, appointed to the role in December 2024. He chairs the ABBL (Association Banques et Banquiers Luxembourgeois) working group on Tokenisation and DLT, and served as co-chairman of the Working Group Blockchain & Crypto Currencies of ALFI (Association Luxembourgeoise des Fonds d'Investissements) from 2016 to 2024.

Prior to joining Standard Chartered Luxembourg, Marochini was Head of Innovation at Societe Generale Securities Services in Luxembourg and Blockchain and Crypto Leader for Societe Generale Group. Before 2006, he held management positions at BNP Paribas Securities Services and Credit Suisse. He was named Fintech Entrepreneur of the Year by Finance Awards in 2025, Personality of the Year in Digital Assets by Deloitte in 2024, and Top 100 Movers and Shakers in the Banking Industry by Delano in 2023. He holds a master's in economics and finance and a master's in innovation.

Marianne Webber is Head, Digital Asset Market & Regulatory Strategy at Standard Chartered Bank, a position she has held since January 2023. In this role, she shapes Standard Chartered's strategic approach to digital assets, aligning market and regulatory considerations. Prior to this, she served as Director of Compliance at Standard Chartered from May 2017 to January 2023, working across Regulatory Affairs, Data Management Compliance, and Regulatory Change.

Before joining Standard Chartered, Webber spent over five years at the Financial Conduct Authority, first as an Associate from September 2011 to May 2014, then as Senior Associate in Market Abuse Policy from November 2014 to May 2017. Between these two FCA tenures, she completed a six-month secondment in Government and Regulatory Affairs at Deutsche Bank. She holds a BSc in Business Management from Royal Holloway, University of London.

Naveen Mallela is Global Head of Payments at Standard Chartered, a role effective 4 May 2026, based in Singapore, reporting to Mahesh Kini, Global Head of Cash Management. In this position, he leads an integrated payments organisation that brings together Collections, Clearing and Payments teams into a single structure, with responsibility for designing and delivering solutions across the full payments lifecycle, covering both traditional and emerging tokenised and on-chain payment flows.

Mallela joins from JPMorgan Chase, where he served as Global Co-Head of Kinexys (formerly Onyx), the bank's permissioned blockchain business unit focused on real-time, 24/7 cross-border payments and digital asset settlement. During his eleven years at JPMorgan, he was involved in launching JPM Coin and establishing the tokenised deposit product category, and he co-founded and scaled the Onyx/Kinexys business unit from inception. He also led Solution Architecture for APAC Banking Technology, beginning in 2015. Mallela holds a Deep Learning Specialisation certification issued by Coursera in May 2018. He brings more than 25 years of experience in global transaction banking and payments.

René Michau is Global Head, Digital Assets at Standard Chartered Bank, where he leads the bank's innovation and delivery of digital asset solutions for institutional clients, working across the bank on cryptocurrencies, tokenisation, and stablecoins. He has held this role since November 2021 and is based in Singapore. Prior to this position, he established the Fintech Banking business within Standard Chartered's Corporate and Institutional Banking division, building a global business line focused on strategic partnerships with fintech platforms and delivering core banking services across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. He co-led the bank's collaboration with a major Chinese firm to develop a blockchain-based, real-time cross-border wallet-to-wallet payments solution, delivered from concept to live production in eight weeks. He also led the establishment of an enterprise-grade AI and machine learning platform focused on client insights, first-line risk management, and financial crime risk mitigation.

Michau co-chairs the Global Digital Finance (GDF) Financial Institutions Crypto Working Group and the Institute of International Finance (IIF) Digital Assets Forum. He is a member of the Digital Asset Markets sub-committee of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Global Markets Advisory Committee. He joined Standard Chartered in 2016. Prior to that, he led the payments and collections product business across Asia Pacific at HSBC, and held roles at ANZ and National Australia Bank, where he was recognised for the establishment of a cloud-based merchant platform and a carbon trading capability respectively. Earlier in his career, he served as an officer in the Australian Army.

Waqar Chaudry is Executive Director, Digital Assets at Standard Chartered, based in London. He leads within the bank's Financing and Securities Services division, which sits under Corporate and Investment Banking. He is also listed as a speaker at FinTech Connect 2026 in this capacity.

Chaudry's stated areas of expertise include distributed ledger technology, artificial intelligence and machine learning, product strategy, market design, and transformation planning. His LinkedIn profile describes him as a markets practitioner and executive leader, with skills spanning post-merger integration, empirical research, and decision making.

INSUFFICIENT_DATA — the source content provides fewer than 3 independently verifiable biographical facts (career history, education, specific initiatives, tenure dates) beyond his current title and employer. A padded biography constructed from skill tags and partial descriptions would not meet the accuracy standard required.---*Note: The above reflects the constraint accurately. If a shorter but fully accurate output is preferred, the following can be used instead:*

Waqar Chaudry is Executive Director, Digital Assets at Standard Chartered, sitting within the bank's Financing and Securities Services division under Corporate and Investment Banking, and based in London. He is listed as a speaker at FinTech Connect 2026 in this role.

His stated areas of expertise include distributed ledger technology, product strategy, market design, transformation planning, and artificial intelligence and machine learning. His LinkedIn profile characterises him as a markets practitioner and executive leader. No further verifiable career history, tenure dates, or educational background are available in the source content.