Efthimia Kefalea

Dr. Efthimia Kefalea is Executive Director and Head of Derivatives Clearing Development & Digital Innovation at Eurex Clearing AG, leading the strategic evolution of clearing services for listed and OTC derivatives. She was named a WFE Women Leader 2026. In 2025, she led the initiative that made Eurex Clearing the first central counterparty worldwide to enable collateral mobilisation using distributed ledger technology, driving the project from concept to implementation in coordination with internal teams, market participants, and regulators. She also led Eurex's participation in the BIS Agorá initiative on international FX payments using DLT, making Eurex Clearing the only CCP globally involved in that project. She has authored articles on financial innovation, introduced the first European clearing model for the securities lending market, and contributed to the application of DLT in collateral mobilisation. She engages with regulators and policymakers across Europe on the digital transformation of clearing.

Kefalea joined Eurex Clearing in October 2014, initially as Vice President in Collateral Repo Clearing Design, a position she held for nearly a decade before being promoted to Director in that function in July 2024. She assumed her current role in April 2025. Prior to Eurex Clearing, she spent nearly 14 years at Deutsche Börse in project management roles. She holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics from Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn and a Master of Engineering in Computer Engineering from the University of Patras.