Business Banking Battles – Big Value in the Face of Bank Industry Turmoil

Vladimir Lounegov is co-founder and CEO of Mbanq, a Silicon Valley-based FinTech. In three short years Mbanq developed and brought to market the next generation digital banking core and became one of the fastest growing and most comprehensive Banking Service (BaaS) providers in the world.

Vladimir is an expert at the intersection of financial services and technology. He gained deep leadership experience through diverse projects involving FinTech startups, investment, consulting, and M&A due diligence. His key skills are the ability to assemble and inspire top FinTech teams and to build ecosystems of investors, partners, developers and advisors.

Previously, Vladimir had a senior role at PwC’s FinTech practice, where he led a research and analysis team that evaluated over 1,600 FinTech startups worldwide. He also held consulting roles at EY and KPMG in which he worked to optimize the inner workings of banks.

Throughout his career, Vladimir collaborated closely with the most influential financial institutions in the world such as Citigroup and Barclays, as well as FinTech leaders like LendingClub and cutting edge innovators including Google.

Vladimir is adept at spotting and cultivating star-potential new talent. He is founder and co-founder of several other FinTechs and helps to mentor FinTech startups through Mbanq’s FinTech accelerator program.

Vladimir gained international recognition in this capacity and served as a judge at the Citigroup Citi Mobile Challenge program.

As a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science, holding a BSc in International Relations, Vladimir keeps up-to-date with global affairs and markets. In his spare time he also enjoys travel, skiing, good food, spending time with his family and the occasional trip to the gym.

Tomas Milar is a seasoned entrepreneur, having personally founded several startups and helped founders to incorporate thousands of companies over the years. One of his prime acquisitions is IncParadise, one of the largest RA (Registered Agents) in Nevada. Tomas has also built and sold two telecom companies operating in the APAC region.

Tomas’ extensive knowledge of the nature of startups and the corporate structure and equity management has led him to found Eqvista to help others manage their company equity efficiently. He also managed to bootstrap Eqvista from $0 to $22.1B AUA (Assets under Administration) in just 24 months. Tomas is also a founder of Cheqly – Noebank operating in the US and Hong Kong. His group of companies serves 20,000+ corporate clients.

Tomas current companies among many are:

Cheqly; a Neobank for startups; that can onboard any US-based company within 24 hours, all online. It also helps with any company documents missing since it has been in the incorporation business since 2002. For the record, the Cheqly team has extensive knowledge of all 50 states’ incorporation (C corp, S corp, LLC) formalities. The company also assists with 409a Valuation and CapTable as it has internally developed its own CapTable. Cheqly’s next goal is to make money easily accessible to all needy entrepreneurs.

Eqvista (as of 2022) is one of the FASTEST growing stock management platforms on the market today:

Platform is adding 400 New Companies every month
$25.6 BILLION in AUA (Assets under Administration)
Trusted by over 9,000 companies

Sybel Pietersz Parker, RIMS-CRMP, is the Head of Strategy at Mbanq, a pioneering global banking technology provider. Based in the USA, Mbanq is renowned for creating and operating traditional banks, neo banks, credit unions, and FinTech platforms globally. Today, Mbanq stands as one of the fastest-growing FinTechs worldwide.

With over 12 years of distinguished experience in banking and FinTech, Sybel has cultivated a stellar reputation as a risk management and compliance luminary. Her career trajectory includes pivotal roles such as Chief Risk Officer and Head of Enterprise Risk, and positions at esteemed companies like JP Morgan and Citibank.

Sybel is celebrated for her strategic prowess in establishing sustainable enterprise risk and compliance management frameworks. Her approach embodies a fusion of innovation and pragmatism, enabling her to navigate complex regulatory landscapes with finesse.

Sybel’s expertise spans a multitude of domains within risk management and compliance, including risk identification, operational risk management, compliance testing, and regulatory change management.

Moreover, Sybel’s leadership style is characterized by a profound focus on people and excellence. She inspires commitment to action, creativity, and champions professional development initiatives. Through her emphasis on self-motivation, delegation, and coaching, she promotes a culture of empowerment and growth within her teams.

In essence, Sybel Pietersz Parker epitomizes the quintessential modern leader – a strategic thinker, a collaborative partner, and an agent of change in the realms of banking and FinTech

Stephen’s career spans 35 years in the financial services industry, encompassing futures and options trading, fixed-income derivatives, equities, private funds, alternative assets, and direct private equity with firms such as Dean Witter Morgan Stanley, Tullett Prebon, Geni Capital, Meyler Capital and Tradetech Alpha Limited (Finalto Financial Services). Other industry experience includes spells in the technology, media, and telecoms (TMT) sector with industry2industry, Inc, Portum AG and CMG Plc, as well as in the energy sector (within oil and gas), as a Director of the Managing Partner entity of US-based Saxon Group.

A seasoned professional, leadership highlights include several CEO roles in FCA-authorized investment firms, where he oversaw four company sales and two acquisitions.

Stephen is currently Co-CEO at HTFX Limited, a UK-based authorized investment firm offering derivative products, and CEO at Qorbis, an innovative Fintech firm leading the way in seamlessly integrating embedded financial products and services for corporate customers and their end-users.

Qorbis’s comprehensive money management platform delivers high-levels of control as well as time and cost savings for corporate financial controllers and their employees. Its solutions also include a highly functional white label payment card solution and app that can be entirely branded as a business’s own, as well as readily accessible and relevant embedded financial products that can be delivered to an underlying client and membership base. Qorbis clients include those in the sporting, media, and entertainment industries, among others.

Ziad Abelnour is Founder, President & CEO of Blackhawk Partners, Inc. a private “family office” in the business of originating, structuring & acting as equity investor in strategic corporate investments Founder & Chairman of the Board of the Financial Policy Council ; a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization designed to give its select group of supporters the opportunity to have direct face-to-face dialogue with the nation’s quintessential power brokers and policymakers

Author of the bestselling book “Economic Warfare: Secrets of Wealth Creation in the Age of Welfare Politics” and of the upcoming book ” Startup Saboteurs: How Incompetence, Ego, and Small Thinking Prevent True Wealth Creation” to be published in Summer 2019.

Mr. Abdelnour has over 30 year experience on Wall Street backing over 125 companies & serial entrepreneurs worth in aggregate over 20 billion dollars in the private equity, high yield bond and distressed debt markets.

He holds a MBA in Finance Summa Cum Laude from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania & BS in Economics, Summa Cum Laude, from the American University of Beirut

Today, Mr. Abdelnour continues to be featured in hundreds of media channels and publications every year and is widely seen as one of the top business leaders by millions around the world.

He was just recently been featured as one of the 500 Most Influential CEOs in the World.  Source: Top 500 Most Influential CEOs Powerlist (2015)”. Richtopia. 24 December 2015 along with one of the Top 10 Disruptors to Watch Out for in 2023 by LA Weekly.