UK Securitisation Summit

Dr. Christian Thun joined European DataWarehouse in 2016 as Chief Operating Officer and one year later, was appointed as CEO. Dr Thun worked previously at Moody’s Analytics for 14 years in various senior positions, most recently as senior director with inter alia responsibility for the DACH region.

In the early stage of his career, Mr. Thun was a team leader at the risk consulting firm Baetge & Partner (an OliverWyman affiliate) and worked in structured finance for Dresdner Bank in Frankfurt and London.

Misha (Mikhail) Shefter is Head of Research within the Analytics and AI division at the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). He joined LSEG in 2018 from MSCI, where he served as Head of Portfolio Analytics. Misha and his team maintain and develop quantitative and data-driven models, predominantly in the space of Securitized Products that support the flagship Yield Book product line. In addition, they are engaged in active research program that includes client outreach and extensive publication schedule.

Over the last 20 years Misha has worked in several sell- and buy-side firms, most notably Lehman Brothers Inc., Citadel Investment Group, and GETCO/KCG in various quantitative development, modeling, research, and management capacities, with the emphasis on Fixed Income.

Misha holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an MS in Applied Mathematics and Mechanics from Moscow State University, Russia.

Alexander Batchvarov currently heads International Structured Finance Research at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research, encompassing securitisation, residential and commercial real estate financing, property derivatives, covered bonds, CDOs and consumer credit in EMEA, APAC and Lat Am. He has held this position since Oct 1998, and has also served as a Head and a Co-Head of Global Mortgages and other Structured Finance between 2007 and 2010. Mr. Batchvarov joined Merrill Lynch in 1998, he initiated and built up the research coverage for mortgages and other structured finance consecutively in Europe, Australia, Japan and the emerging markets in Asia, Middle East and Latin America.

Before joining Merrill Lynch, Mr. Batchvarov worked at Citibank, New York, as a Structured Finance analyst at Moody’s Securitisation team and as a Sovereign Analyst at Moody’s Sovereign Team in New York. Mr. Batchvarov earned a MSc degree in Economics and International Economic Relations from the National Institute of Economics in Sofia, Bulgaria, a PhD in Economics from the National Academy of Sciences in Sofia, Bulgaria, and an MBA from the University of Alberta Business School, in Edmonton, Canada. He is a CFA Charterholder and a Member of AIMR and NYSSA

Robin was educated at Oxford University, achieving a 1st Class Honours degree in PPE, and an M.Phil in Economics. After lecturing at the University of London in Economics, he worked for the Financial Times publication, The Banker, as Assistant Editor.

He then spent 18 years at JPMorgan Chase, becoming Chief Economist, for Europe, Africa and the Middle East and Managing Director for Economic, and Policy Research.

He has worked on both the buy side, and sell side, of the investment industry, becoming a partner and Director of Fixed Income, at Smith and Williamson Investment Management, London. Robin joined FTSE Russell as Director of Fixed Income Research in 2019 and became Director of Fixed Income and Multi-Asset Research in 2022. 

Jake leads the Non-Agency RMBS research and modeling group for Yield Book as well as data science and ESG research for securitized products initiatives globally. He is a residential mortgage performance modeling expert with over 20 years of experience. Jake is responsible for collateral performance models including Subprime, Alt-A, Legacy Jumbo, Re-performing, CRT, MI-CRT, Jumbo near Prime, Non-QM, and UK RMBS sectors among others.

Prior to joining Yield Book, Jake was the Head of Analytics at Laurel Road where 

he directed collateral performance modeling for ABS loans and quantitative 

investment strategy for the firm.

Jake has worked in modeling and trading roles in Non-Agency RMBS and other fixed income products at AIG, Brevan Howard US Asset Management, and Lehman Brothers.Jake holds a Master’s degree in Statistics from Yale University and a BS (Hons) in Statistics from the University of Chicago

Plamen leads European MBS and ABS research for LSEG and supports US Non-agency RMBS behavioral modelling. He established core analytics for European mortgage-backed assets and developed the payment behavioral models for UK mortgages.

Prior to joining LSEG in 2021, Plamen established the quantitative analytics for Vida Home loans and the Tower Bridge Funding securitization program. Moreover, Plamen has held various data science and quantitative analytics roles in startups, consultancies, and a credit risk bureau.

Gordon Kerr is Head of European Research at Kroll Bond Rating Agency Europe Limited (KBRA), where he actively engages with investors and market participants on various aspects of European fixed income markets. Gordon is based in our London office and regularly publishes commentary and insight on various topics and issues facing the European capital markets.

Prior to joining KBRA, Gordon was head of European structured finance and covered bond research at DBRS Morningstar for eight years, publishing topical research on structured finance and covered bonds. His other responsibilities included taking the lead in global ESG research and outreach, as well as heading a team of data analysts responsible for developing tools, models, and market information analysis.

Prior to DBRS, Gordon spent nine years in research and trading at Citigroup, where he covered securitized products, covered bonds, and corporate credit.

Gordon holds a science degree from Acadia University in Canada and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business.

Senior Vice President - Head of European Structured Finance Research - European Structured Finance and Covered Bonds

Aritra Banerjee leads Citi Research coverage of European Securitized Products, based in London

He has worked in financial services for more than 15 years, at Tier 1 banks and hedge funds, and has a strong interest in using machine learning at the enterprise scale.

Joana is a lawyer at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in London, specialising in securitisation. She has experience advising on a broad range of financing transactions across multiple jurisdictions, with a focus on securitisation transactions involving residential mortgage loans, SME and consumer loans, auto loans and leases and trade receivables. She also regularly provides advice on regulatory aspects of securitisation transactions.

Lawrence is the CRO at fintech mortgage lender MPowered. MPowered uses its in-house developed platform, leveraging AI and ML, to reshape and improve the mortgage experience. Lawrence is deeply involved in the fintech and mortgage community, and is at the centre of driving automation and new technologies into credit assessment and risk management. 

Maria is a Knowledge Counsel in A&O’s Securitisation team, focusing primarily on regulatory matters including tracking new developments relevant to structured finance. In particular, Maria is involved in advising clients on, and general advocacy work related the Securitisation Regulation regimes in the EU and the UK, covered bond reforms in the EU and the UK, EU NPL reforms, sustainability-related reforms and developments relating to central bank (the Eurosystem and the Bank of England) liquidity operations and eligible collateral requirements and regulation of credit rating agencies.

Markus Schaber is the Managing Director of European DataWarehouse Limited, a Securitisation Repository registered by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK.

He is also a Managing Partner at Integer Advisors LLP, an investment advisory and research firm he co-founded in 2017.

Markus played a key role in establishing European DataWarehouse GmbH as Europe’s first centralised repository, initiated by the ECB, serving as its CEO until 2017.  He also previously held various senior management roles with the European Investment Fund, Deutsche Bank AG London, and Fitch Ratings Ltd. Markus’ 25+ years of experience are backed by Masters Degrees in Banking and Accounting (Diplom-Kaufmann) from Philipps-University Marburg and in Business Analytics and Big Data from IE University Madrid.

Julia is a Partner in the London office of Clifford Chance. She specialises in structured finance and derivatives, including fund finance private securitisations, CLOs, complex structured products and repackagings, representing a wide range of asset managers, originators and investors.  She also advises on regulatory matters impacting the securitisation and banking industries, including the EU Securitisation Regulation and UK Securitisation Regulation, as well on ESG matters relating to CLOs and structured products.

Steve is a Director within the Debt Capital Markets team at specialist mortgage lender Together. He has almost 20 years of financial markets experience and before joining Together was an investor in European securitised products market

Taher is an Associate Director in the Capital Markets team at LendInvest, a non-bank property lender. Taher joined LendInvest in November 2018 and oversees the various funding facilities across warehousing, securitisation and forward flows across their lending products in Bridging, Development, BTL and Owner-occupied.

Prior to LendInvest, Taher worked at Deloitte and IHS Markit (now S&P)

Meghan Kelleher is lead strategist for the International Securitisation and UK Housing Association research teams within J.P. Morgan’s European Credit Research.

The team is ranked #3 for Developed Europe: Asset-Backed Securities Strategy in Institutional Investor’s Global Fixed Income Research Team Survey, and was voted as Securitization Research House of the Year in the 2023 Global Capital European Securitization Awards.

Before assuming her current role in 2016, she led J.P. Morgan’s US CMBS strategy team. Meghan holds a BS in Applied and Computational Mathematics and Business, Economics and Management from the California Institute of Technology..

Panellist: Implications for AI on Predictive Analytics & Models