Marina Antoniou

Global Capital Markets – Risk Management & Innovation

Marina is from Cyprus.

Marina specializes in risk management and innovation with a focus on Market Abuse, Artificial Intelligence and digital transformation. She has extensive experience in global capital markets non-financial risks including market abuse, conduct risk, rogue trading, fraud, financial crime, trade and comms surveillance. She also has experience in risks and controls relating to Artificial Intelligence, Large Language Models and Data Privacy.

Over the years, Marina has held positions as an executive committee and board member at various institutions and co-founded Global Capital Market Innovation forums.

Marina has extensive experience working with regulators globally. She acted as lead validator, at Top Tier banks, on regulatory conduct risk programmes sanctioned by the US Federal Reserve Bank and the US Department of Justice. Marina also acted as the Global Markets Head of Risk & Control Assessment at BNP Paribas. She was the Citigroup Head of Audit for several countries, received the Global recognition award for her performance and served as the Chair of the London Citigroup 'Charity of The Year Fundraising' Committee. Previously, she worked on quantitative research, corporate restructuring and due diligence projects during M&A banking transactions and IPOs.

Marina is a qualified chartered accountant and member of the ICAEW. She completed a Technology Entrepreneurship course at Harvard as well as AI and ESG courses at Wharton, University of Pennsylvania. She also studied FinTech at the University of Oxford Said Business School. During her studies, she collaborated with a Venture Capital to develop a FinTech innovation idea aiming at fundraising for people impacted by natural disasters. Marina studied Investment Management at the London Business School and has an MSc in Economics & Finance from Warwick Business School.

Marina is very interested in technology. She focuses on digital transformation and driving innovation in risk management by using data analytics, LLMs and AI.  She is a member of the ICAEW Financial Services Faculty Board and ICAEW Digital Assets Steering Group. She is a co-founder and vice-chair of the ExCo of the Hellenic Tech Network, participated in global consultations around the implementation of digital currencies and AI assurance and reviewed the AI Governance of a leading FinTech academic centre in the UK.

She is a Warwick University Ambassador and an Executive Committee Member of the Warwick Finance Professional Network. She is a trustee of the ‘Olive Branch Aid’, a foodbank and support charity. She is also a committee member of ‘Alkionides UK’, a charity helping families facing severe financial and medical hardship. Currently, she is co-leading the ‘Alkionides student grant’ initiative offering financial support to UK based students.

Marina acts as guest lecturer at Executive MBA courses and speaker at conferences globally covering conduct risk, digital transformation, digital assets, AI, FinTech and ESG. She is also a guest contributor on these topics writing in industry journals.

In the past, Marina acted as a mentor and a member of the 'Audit & Risk' Committee at the University of Warwick. She was a 'Hellenic Bankers Association' ambassador and drove the 'HBA – UK Student Award' for students who wish to pursue a finance career in the UK.

Marina speaks four languages and enjoys travelling around the world. She is a multiple award-winning photographer and exhibited globally in London, New York, France, Holland and Spain.  In 2018, her work was included in the Biennale of 'Fine Art & Photography' in Barcelona. Marina published five photography books and proceeds were donated to children hospices in London. Her books are included in University libraries and her photos form part of permanent collections in financial institutions, universities, embassies and museums. She held solo photo exhibitions on climate risk at the London Hellenic Centre and at the Cyprus High Commission in central London and collaborated with the 'Institute of Natural Resources in Greenland' to support their research through her photography work on whales. She obtained special permit to access and photograph some of the world's 'disaster exclusion zones' to capture the state of the uninhabited areas.