Who We Are.

James Zorab has been CEO of The Ascent Group (TAG) since it became established as a VC-backed technology incubator in 2000 and was co-founder with Mike Jacobs of the Codel digital notary which has the longest running immutable hash chain globally since 2005. TAG has spun out a series of other products and services for anti-counterfeiting, data immutability, identity enrolment, GDPR data consent, Immutable rates and benchmarks and now Instant Actions. The latest Codel v 2.0 blockchain patent describes a hash-chain entanglement and public hash chain that addresses the problems of distributed ledger trust, latency, and synchronisation and has just been awarded patents in both the EU, HK, Australia and imminently the US. Following the successful SWIFT ‘Dragonfly’ project, James pioneered the establishment of Instant Actions for solving the problem of corporate actions, more recently extending IA’s remit to address tokenisation and become the UKs first Bank of England regulated Central Securities Depository for 30 years.

Mark is a seasoned senior executive with a distinguished career across leading global and regional banks. In his most recent role, he was Head of Investor Services at Standard Bank and a member of the Transactional Products and Services Executive Team. Earlier in his career, Mark was a Director of The WM Company and launched the Bankers Trust Global and Master Custody services in Europe. He also led the Global Master Custody business for JP Morgan based initially in London and then New York. Immediately prior to joining Standard Bank, Mark filled a variety of executive roles at BNY Mellon including Executive Vice President & Head of Fund Manager Services.

Bob’s focus is in Product and Project Management in the post-trade space, with a particular interest in making processes safer and more efficient. He has over 30 years’ experience in international securities and capital markets, which includes being part of the team that developed and implemented the BNY Mellon Central Securities Depository in Belgium. Bob went on to become the Head of Product Management at the CSD. Prior to that, he was the UK-based product manager for JPMorgan’s Transfer Agency business. As a result, Bob has a genuine interest in the funds markets and the development of processes for that asset class. Bob started his career in financial services as a data systems auditor for The Chase Manhattan Bank.

Hardeep Tamana has over twenty-five years of financial markets experience, working with a number of the largest banking and stockbroking firms. Holding a PhD in geochemistry from Manchester University, Hardeep has also developed a number of next-generation tools for financial services, including proprietary share screening software. Hardeep speaks four languages, served for eight years as CEO of a UK stockbroking firm and with Instant Actions’ partnership with Avenir Registrars Ltd, brings a wide range of leadership, technical and markets expertise.

Henry is an experienced director in financial regulatory impact and change. He has a deep knowledge of the regulators and their priorities and requirements for regulatory compliance implementation. Henry has overseen the implementation of bank compliance regimes for MiFID, T2S, key post-2008 financial crisis EU laws, and Brexit UK/EU law onshoring. Henry is a regular contributor of articles and other communications for the trade press, speaking at industry conferences, to industry networks and associations. He is also a chartered accountant with experience of corporate reconstruction and resolution.

Nat started his career working for Prudential Registrars before pivoting into the world of market data provision, joining Interactive Data Corporation. Through the disciplines of managing client account management, project and product management teams, he developed a wealth of experience in running asset servicing data products and product delivery platforms across Europe. As well as roles managing the reference data business in EMEA and running the firm’s Managed Solutions business in the UK, Nat also conducted strategic analysis of the Hong Kong market whilst embedded there. His most recent appointments were Head of Strategic Alliances and Director of Product Management – EMEA. Nat is a strong supporter of open standards and has served on numerous industry working group.