Hakan Binbasgil joined Akbank as the Executive Vice President in charge of Change Management in October 2002. He initiated the Bank’s “Restructuring Programme” which has transformed Akbank into one of Turkey’s most customer-focused, modern and innovative financial institutions. Throughout his tenure at Akbank, he was appointed Executive Vice President in charge of Retail Banking in November 2003, Deputy CEO in May 2008, and Board Member and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank in January 2012. 

Prior to joining Akbank, Binbasgil worked as a Management Consultant in the London and Istanbul offices of Accenture, and as Executive Vice President in charge of Retail Banking at Pamukbank. He also served on the boards of directors of numerous local and foreign companies.

Currently, in addition to his position at Akbank, Binbasgil is also the Chairman of Ak Asset Management, Ak Investment, AkLease, Akbank N.V., Akbank AG and Akbank (Dubai) Ltd.

Hakan Binbasgil graduated from Robert College and Bosphorus University, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Binbasgil also holds MBA and MS in Finance degrees from Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge, USA.

Joel Biswas is the Director of Brand Strategy at Uffindell and leads consulting projects for the Uffindell branding practice. His experience spans FMCG, corporate and public sector clients,having worked with clients such RBS, Natwest, Barclays, HTC, Nokia and the Foreign Office. 

He began his career as a bank analyst with American Express before completing his MBA and working in a strategic capacity in a variety of agency settings.

Brian Caplen has been editor of The Banker since 2003. He joined the Financial Times Group from Euromoney in 2000 where he had been executive editor of Euromoney magazine for five years. He also worked as a business editor and journalist in Hong Kong and the Middle East for 10 years. He has travelled extensively and done numerous high level interviews with prime ministers, finance ministers, central bank governors and senior executives. He has a first class honours degree In Development Studies from the University of East Anglia.

In February 2001, Chris Clark joined HSBC Holdings plc as Head of E-Marketing, with responsibility for the development of global e-marketing programmes and personal internet banking, in addition to this he was assigned a role in Group Marketing looking at a future brand strategy for the bank. In Oct 2002 he formally moved into Group Marketing as Head of Market Planning and Brand Strategy. He was one of the team responsible for the original work that found ‘the world’s local bank’ positioning. In November 2006 he was appointed as Head of Marketing HSBC Group. In March 2009 he was appointed as Group Head of Customer Experience and in December 2010 he assumed the role as Group Head of Marketing and Customer Experience.

The bulk of his career prior to HSBC was in the advertising business in the UK and USA, having spent 10 years at Saatchi and Saatchi in the 80’s and 90’s with a focus on marketing and brand strategy.

Ian is head of Products, Services and Marketing at Coutts. He joined in March 2011 and leads the Marketing and Communications function and spearheads all aspects of sales and the client experience; he has overall responsibility for Products & Services.

He is a member of the Executive Committee of Coutts and also a member of the RBS Group Communications Board.

Prior to joining Coutts, Ian held the position of Head of International Marketing at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. His career has been in strategy and marketing in international private banking and asset management. He has held a number of senior marketing positions, notably at Barclays, HSBC and Paribas.

Claire Mai Fulda began her professional career at BNP Paribas as an banker specializing in international trade finance. Subsquently, she joined the Brand, Communication and Quality Department where she was last Head of Advertising, Sponsoring, Brand Identity and Events. She is currently Head of Prospective and Brand Innovations. As part of her current responsibilities, she is also in charge of brand integration for acquisitions made by the Group where she has many years of experience (Ukrsibbank, BNL, Fortis, BGL, Bank of the West, TEB).

Richard graduated from Cambridge University with an Honours degree in English, He has had a career in Marketing and Management with Blue Chip companies, ending up at Allied Domecq where he was President of Global Brand Development.  He now has his own consultancy business focusing on helping businesses get more out of their Marketing and has worked with clients such as De Beers, Durex and M&S and NCR.

Richard has worked with Brand Finance as a client and also as a consultant managing a number of value based marketing projects for Brand Finance including the  Brand Architecture and transition strategy review for AXA PPP

David is the CEO and founder of Brand Finance plc, the leading independent brand valuation consultancy. David qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse in London. He has worked in the area of branded business, brand and intangible asset valuation since 1991 and since January 1995 has specialised entirely in this area. David has represented the British Standards institute on the International Standards Committee working party on the standardisation of brand valuation methods and practices, whose standard (ISO 10668) is due to be published in early 2010.

David is a passionate writer and has written many articles for the marketing and financial press on branded businesses and brand valuation and is the author of numerous publications. He also lectures on the subject of branded business, brand and intangible asset valuation at many of the leading business schools around the world.

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Adam has 12 years experience of global visual identity management projects in more than 30+ countries for clients including 3M, Ashurst, Caterpillar, Nordea, Shell, Tata Steel, TNT, Vodafone. Recent projects include brand and visual identity transition strategy, process development for brand compliance and governance, and development of training and engagement programmes to improve VI performance. Founded VI360 in 2003, previously Director NykampNyboer London Office, Client Account Team Leader Shell International, Account Manager HTM Design. Author of ‘Visual Identity Management best practice 2008’.