During her extensive career, Minouche Shafik has worked in senior positions at the World Bank, the IMF and the UK’s Department for International Development, before becoming Deputy Governor of the Bank of England in 2014. In this role, she was responsible for a balance sheet of over £475 billion, sat on all of the Bank’s major policy committees and led the Fair and Effective Markets Review. She was appointed Director of LSE in September 2017.

An economist by training, with a career spanning the worlds of public policy and academia, Shafik currently serves as a trustee of the British Museum and is Honorary Fellow of St. Antony's College Oxford and a member of the Council of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in the Queen's New Year's Honours list in 2015.

Having conducted extensive research on the determinants of investment, the environment, economic growth and globalisation, Shafik is ideally placed to open a Sibos conference focused on the central theme of ‘Thriving in a hyper-connected world’.

Chantal Van Es, Head of Sibos at SWIFT, said: “We’re excited Dame Shafik will take the stage at the Opening plenary this year to welcome the financial community to a much anticipated edition of Sibos in London.

“We can expect to hear valuable insights into the forces impacting our industry including the changing competitive landscape, unpredictable geo-political pressures, and increasing regulation and technological change.”

Sibos 2019 will take place at the ExCeL London between 23 and 26 September.