Toshiyasu Ohashi joined Daiwa Institute of Research in 1996 after graduating from University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. Credit analyst since transferring to Daiwa Securities SMBC in 2002. Assumed current role as Senior Fellow of FICC Research Dept. in May 2020 after stint as head of the department from October 2011.

Research covers electric power, air transportation, telecom, trading company, major bank, and life/non-life insurance sectors, as well as credit investment strategy. Since April 2017, he has been providing daily reports regarding credit topics. He was awarded second place in the 2023 Nikkei Veritas Popular Analyst Survey (credit analyst category).

Karoliina Kajova works as a Senior Funding Manager at Municipality Finance plc (MuniFin), a credit institution that finances Finland's municipal sector, wellbeing services counties sector and affordable social housing. Karoliina joined MuniFin's funding team in 2013. Karoliina works with MuniFin's global wholesale funding focusing on both benchmark bond issuance including green and social bonds as well as other public market and private placement issuance (annual volumes EUR 7-10 billion). Karoliina also takes part in managing MuniFin's investor relations. Karoliina holds a Master of Science (Econ) degree from Aalto University School of Business, where her major was finance.

Isabelle Laurent spent 14 years in London and Hong Kong in treasury, fixed income origination, and swaps trading and marketing with Swiss Bank Corporation International, Nomura International and NatWest Markets where she became Director of Debt and Derivatives Marketing in 1996.
She joined EBRD in 1997 as Deputy Head of the Treasury Funding team, and was promoted to Deputy Treasurer and Head of Funding in 2003. In addition to overseeing EBRD's issuance in the capital markets, Isabelle also focuses on capital markets' development in EBRD's countries of operations.
Isabelle studied Russian and French at Oxford and the Sorbonne.

Masahiro Ito is a director at Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), heading the team responsible for overall funding activities including bond issuance at Treasury Department.
After assuming his current position in May 2022, Masahiro led numerous deals to issue Japanese government guaranteed bonds in various currencies and tenors, both green and non-labeled (the most recent transaction being USD500m Green Bond in October 2023).
In addition to bond issuance, his responsibility includes investor relations, disclosure, government borrowings and derivative transactions.

Since joining JBIC in 2001, Masahiro has over 22 years of career, during which he served at the Treasury Department for total of over 6 years.
He also has wide experience in financing, particularly limited recourse loans for infrastructure and oil & gas related projects globally, as well as corporate loans.
Prior to the current position, Masahiro was leading the team in charge of financing renewable energy projects in the ASEAN countries.
He worked at JBIC New York office from 2008 to 2011, where he was responsible for relationship management with clients in the US, Canada and Latin America (particularly Colombia, Venezuela, Peru etc.)
Masahiro holds a degree in economics from the University of Tokyo.

Having ample background in the ODA field, including project management in various Asian countries, namely India, Nepal, Bhutan, the Philippines, and Vietnam, she currently heads the division responsible for overall fund management of the Finance & Investment Account (the account for ODA loans & Private Sector Investment and Finance projects).

Novi Puspita Wardani is responsible for managing the government debt securities portfolio, including the planning, execution, and oversight of government debt securities and derivatives issuances.
Novi has more than 26 years of professional experience in public policy at the Ministry of Finance. 1997 marked the beginning of Novi's career at the Center for Government Budget Information and Data Processing. From 2000 to 2007, Novi was assigned to the Directorate of Loans and Grants. She has been a member of the Directorate of Government Debt Securities since 2007. Before becoming the deputy director, she held positions such as manager for investor relations and manager for Government Debt Securities and Derivatives Transactions.
The University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom is where Novi completed her Master of Business Administration degree back in 2003. She graduated from the State College of Accountancy (STAN) with a Bachelor of Accounting in 1997.

Charles L. Evans is a 31-year veteran of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. As an advisor and policymaker attending FOMC meetings since 1995, his policy experiences span a broad set of episodes unique in post-war economic history. He became President and CEO in September 2007 and served for 15 years. During this time, Charlie was recognized as a significant strategic thought leader on the Federal Open Market Committee. His continued advocacy for transparent communications and forward guidance facilitated the Committee’s adoption of the Evans rule in December 2012, more explicit Committee projections for future policy rates, and enhancements to the long-run strategy of the Committee for making monetary policy.

Evans is an accomplished economic researcher, with publications in top-ranked peer-reviewed journals. His empirical research has focused on measuring the effects of monetary policy on U.S. economic activity, inflation and financial market prices. His contributions on dynamic modeling are widely cited and have been incorporated in central bank models around the world to assess policy effectiveness.

As a long-time Federal Reserve executive, he chaired Federal Reserve System committees that oversaw strategic assessments of Federal Reserve Bank operations during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as investment activities to fund both defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans for over 20,000 employees.

Evans has taught at the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, and the University of South Carolina. He received a bachelor's degree with high honors in economics from the University of Virginia and a doctorate in economics from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Seiichi Shimizu has been Executive Director at the Bank of Japan (BOJ) since May 2022. From May 2022 to March 2023, he was in charge of the Financial System and Bank Examination Department, Currency Issue Department, and Public Relations Department. He has been in charge of the Monetary Affairs Department, Payment and Settlement Systems Department (Payment and Settlement Systems Division), and Financial Markets Department since March 2023.

Mr. Shimizu has served in various capacities since joining the BOJ in 1988. In 2006, he was seconded to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as Senior Economist where he dealt with monetary policy issues and foreign exchange regimes. After returning to the BOJ in 2009, he served as Head of Financial Institutions Surveillance Division at the Financial System and Bank Examination Department (2009-2011), followed by General Manager at Akita Branch (2011-2013). He served as Senior Secretary to Governor Kuroda (2013-2015), Deputy Director-General at the International Department (2015-2016) in charge of international affairs such as G7/G20 meetings, and Director-General of the Financial Markets Department (2016-2020) where he was responsible for daily market operations and analysis of financial market developments. He was also Director-General of the Monetary Affairs Department (2020-2022), and was responsible for monetary policy strategies, instruments, and policy communication.

Mr. Shimizu holds a Bachelor of Arts in Law from the University of Tokyo. He also holds a Master of Laws from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Izuru Kobayashi was appointed to his current role in July 2023. He has rich experience in international cooperation, particularly in Southeast Asia, energy cooperation, climate change and in novation policy. Before assuming the current position, he was a Deputy Commissioner for International Affairs, Agency for Natural Resources and Energy and leading various bilateral and multilateral energy cooperation framework including the Asia Zero Emission Community Initiative. He also served as an Executive Director of New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), where he was managing NEDO's international operations as well as overseeing its key domestic R&D programs such as
ammonia - based power generation and CCS demonstration. He spent four years in Jakarta (2015 - 2019) as a COO of Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia and four years in Bangkok (2005 - 2009) as a Chief Representative of Japan Overseas Development Corporation, where he deeply engaged with ASEAN Secretariat and various ASEAN and ASEAN - plus Ministerial frameworks to support their cooperation activities.

Chris Scicluna is Managing Director and Head of Research Division at Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Ltd.
Chris heads Daiwa Group’s research capability on Europe’s economies and financial markets. Prior to joining Daiwa in 2005, he spent more than a decade as an economist advising Ministers at the UK Treasury including subsequent Prime Minister Gordon Brown, on European economies, fiscal policy, G7 and IMF issues, and financial crisis management.
Chris also worked for three years at the European Commission on policies relating to the functioning of the euro, bond markets and the financial sector, in close cooperation with the ECB and Europe’s Ministries of Finance.
Chris is a regular contributor on the global economy to conferences and in the media. He has been commended in the Sunday Times for regular strong performance in its annual league table of UK economic forecasters.

Lawrence A. Werther is the chief U.S. economist at Daiwa Capital Markets America. He prepares the firm’s U.S. economic forecast and interest rate outlook, and writes weekly economic commentary. Mr. Werther briefs management and colleagues on economic developments and interprets high-frequency market data and monetary policy releases for traders and salespeople. He also meets regularly with clients of Daiwa Capital Markets and is quoted in the financial press. Mr. Werther holds an M.B.A. from the Zicklin School of Business at CUNY Baruch College and a B.S. in finance and international business from New York University’s Stern School of Business. He has been with Daiwa since 2005.

William Hahn leads the credit research on EMEA based FIGs and SSAs and regularly publishes research on European ESG bond markets and regulatory developments in the field. Prior to joining DCME, William was senior credit analyst at Standard Chartered Bank where he led the analytical coverage of European financial institutions as well as conducting sector research.
William also worked at Fitch Ratings where he focused on ABS and RMBS securitisations. He holds a MSc in Finance from the International University of Monaco.