Horst Becker has been supporting banks, captives and leasing companies in the financial services industry with complex IT implementation projects for more than 10 years. With his expertise at the interface between finance and IT, he is responsible for end-to-end programmes – from project initiation, requirements engineering, testing and go-live scenarios to stabilisation and optimisation in the specialist areas.

As a bridge builder who enjoys human interaction, he connects financial institutions and leading software providers to successfully match requirements with technological solutions. As an AI enthusiast, he develops practical use cases for financial institutions that enable sustainable value creation in the context of IT transformation projects.

In addition, Horst Becker regularly contributes his experience as a source of inspiration at national and international conferences.

Michael Bickers is Managing Director of BCR Publishing Ltd, a specialist publisher focused on providing market intelligence on receivables finance, including factoring and supply chain finance, through books, online (trfnews.com) and global conferences and seminars on receivables finance. He is the author of numerous publications on factoring and supply chain finance in an international context.

Michael’s views, opinions and insights have been published in leading newspapers and magazines, including The Financial Times, The Sunday Times, The Times, The Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Director Magazine, Accountancy Age, Business Age, Chartered Banker, Investors Chronicle and Export Today.

Vinai George Biju is a data scientist with experience in academia and industry. He received his PhD in Computer Science from Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) in India in 2021 and earned a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the National Institute of Technology in Rourkela, India, in 2010. In 2023, he completed a second master’s degree in artificial intelligence at the Technical University of Würzburg-Schweinfurt (THWS) in Germany.

Vinai has over 10 years of experience as an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at CHRIST University in Bangalore, India, where he specialises in artificial intelligence and data science. He has also worked as a software engineer at Accenture in Bangalore, India.

Federico Avellán Borgmeyer is a consultant and entrepreneur in the FinTech ecosystem. After studying engineering in Berlin, he was a visiting scholar at the University of Illinois, where he researched the first artificial intelligence applications. Further positions included Managing Director for Southern Europe at DataCard Corporation (Madrid), Member of the Board at FidelioNetworks S.A. (Madrid) and Managing Director at Postbank POSTransact (Rhine-Main area).

For 20 years, Mr Avellán Borgmeyer has been working as a partner at the management consultancy Amontis AG for clients in Europe, the Middle East, South America and China. As an entrepreneur, he is the founder of Factoring Blockchain Solutions and Tech4Fin Germany in Kronberg.

Markus Bienek has been part of the efcom team since 2008. He is responsible for the ef3 web service and manages the further development of its functionalities. He also performs tasks in the area of customer support and consulting and provides support in setting up ef3, ef3 web service and efOnline.

Abdelrahman El-Beltagy has been breathing Islamic Finance for his entire life. Born in Ryad and growing up in Cairo in a family of Islamic Finance scholars, he has a Bachelor Degree in Finance and Investment from Cairo University. During his young professional life, he has had stations at Contact Financial Holding, First Abu Dhabi Bank Egypt and is now a member of efcom’s team with focus on Islamic Factoring and Sales in MENA Region.

Christian Faber advises banks, factoring companies and fintech platforms on the development and international implementation of financial products (factoring, supply chain, cross-border business), on compliance with all financial supervisory law and on cross-border receivables transactions (asset-backed securitisations). He represents clients before BAFIN and the Bundesbank as well as in disputes with customers, borrowers and debtors.

The Finance Monthly M&A Awards 2022 named Christian Faber Banking and Capital Markets Law Adviser of the Year 2022. He is a member of the management board of Bette Westenberger Brink (managing partner).

Before joining the FCI as Secretary General at the end of 2023, Neal Harm spent over 30 years working in trade and receivables finance. He held various senior positions at financial institutions in the United States, including President of BB&T’s (now Truist Bank) international banking division and Bank of America’s Business Finance Corporation.

Most recently, Neal was Managing Director of Strategy at CIT Commercial Services, where he was responsible for factoring, ABL and supply chain finance. Neal lives in Amsterdam with his wife Bren.

Tom Hofmann is the founder and CEO of wicked.design and has over 20 years of experience in cybersecurity. His international expertise includes projects in Japan, China and the Finnish Arctic Circle. As a former CISO, he was responsible for the security of critical infrastructure and Swiss government institutions.

wicked.design specialises in cybersecurity for SMEs – from technical cyber defence platforms to fractional CISO services. Tom enables SMEs to access enterprise-level security and creates solutions that strengthen digital sovereignty. Tom is a lecturer at the University of Zurich, the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland and the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. His specialist book on cybersecurity was published by Springer-Verlag in 2024.

Tom supports NGOs and governments in crisis areas, including on the ground in Ukraine and Lebanon. He makes his expertise available where it is most urgently needed.

Daniel Huszár supports companies in effectively integrating artificial intelligence into their day-to-day work. In doing so, he combines technical expertise with go-to-market strategies, tool design and practical frameworks that embed AI precisely into existing processes.

His experience in international B2B sales of working capital software – with implementations in over ten countries – forms the foundation of his current work.

F. Kammering has over 15 years of experience in the financial services industry with various positions in banking, consulting and FinTech. He specialises in the digitalisation of onboarding and financing processes in the corporate client and SME business, particularly in the factoring, leasing and lending business. In his current role, he manages platform, process and product solutions across the entire spectrum from standardised software-as-a-service to individual development.

Bastian Kurz is Senior Cloud Solutions Executive at Adacor and has been supporting medium-sized companies in the development and implementation of secure cloud strategies – both in the private and public cloud – for almost ten years. His focus is on the integration of sovereign AI applications and customised IT solutions that enable companies to shape their digital transformation securely and efficiently.

Michael Petrovic has been working at efcom since 2007. He is primarily responsible for the further development, functionality and design of efOnline. His responsibilities also include customer support, consulting and initial installation.

Oliver Rölle has been part of the efcom team since 2004 and previously worked as a consultant for many years. He leads all internal and external product training courses, from standard to specialised training. Oliver Rölle has a very broad knowledge of ef3.

Mutual trust – for Arnulf Romann, one of the four founders of efcom, this is one of the key factors for the rapid development of professional solutions. He also believes that efficiency is crucial to the success of factoring software. At efcom, he contributes his extensive experience as head of business analysis, ensuring the smooth integration of our software into the respective customer IT systems.