Basak Aktay is European DataWarehouse's (EDW’s) Head of Sales and Customer Relations. Prior to joining EDW in 2013, she worked at DZ Bank as a product manager with a focus on German capital markets. In addition to her current role at EDW, Basak also teaches at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management. She has also held various management roles in technology and ecommerce departments at Commerzbank and Isnet and has an MBA from Manchester Business School as well as a MSc degree in Computer Engineering from Universität Duisburg-Essen.
Dr Arne Klüwer works as a Partner for Dentons Europe LLP. He heads the German banking and finance practice and the structured finance practice in continental Europe. He specialises in structured finance and restructurings with a special focus on securitisation and factoring, asset-based lending, innovative financings as well as loan trading transactions. In addition he has a strong focus on advising lenders and creditors in workout situations and in the context of restructuring distressed debt. His doctorate focusses on a comparative legal analysis of the legal framework for securitisations in the USA and in Germany and is one of the first academic writings on the subject of securitisation in Germany.

Tom Oelrich has been working for DZ BANK AG in Frankfurt am Main in the securitisation department since 2003. As a senior structurer, he has been advising DZ BANK’s clients in all aspects relating to term-ABS capital market transactions since 2015 with a focus on auto-ABS, consumer and SME loans as well as leasing transactions. Previously, Mr. Oelrich arranged ABCP transactions for corporate clients of DZ BANK.
Since entering into the securitisation business, he has structured a large number of customer transactions and has successfully accompanied numerous transactions as placement agent and swap counterparty. Mr. Oelrich has graduated from Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and holds a degree in Business Administration.
Tomasz Osipowicz is heading the securitization group at Santander Consumer Bank AG (“SCB”), based in Monchengladbach. He has joined the bank on 1st May 2019 and is responsible for all SCB securitisation activities. Prior to joining the bank Tomasz was in charge of Public Securitisations in Europe for Opel Vauxhall Finance formerly known as General Motors Financial (“GM Financial”). During his eight years at GM Financial he has gained experience in public and private transactions across the different jurisdictions.
Before joining GM Financial Tomasz held various positions at JP Morgan Chase and BNY Mellon Corporate Trust focused on collateral debt obligations.
He holds Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Gdansk and a Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Services, Securitisation from the Dublin Institute of Technology.
Marco Pause has been a Director of STS Verification International GmbH since December 2019. He joined the STS Verification International GmbH in September 2019 as an Associate Director. Mr. Pause has many years of securitisation experience which he gained at the auditing company Deloitte in the Credit & Securitisation Advisory Team in Düsseldorf since 2005.
In his position as Senior Manager he was primarily responsible for the execution of numerous due diligences at German automotive and consumer banks as well as banks with mortgage portfolios in the context of securitisation and portfolio transactions. In the context of a multi-year project Mr. Pause directed the organisation and implementation of the project management of a state guarantee for a German Landesbank in connection with credit and solvency checks of individual exposures in the Shipping, Corporate Clients and Aviation segments.
Mr. Pause holds a degree in Business Administration from the Georg-August-University in Göttingen.
Sandra Wittinghofer is a partner in Baker McKenzie‘s Banking & Finance Practice Group in Frankfurt. Sandra‘s transactional practice focuses on securitisations and other structured finance transactions. She advises arrangers, lead managers trustees and rating agencies on structured finance, securitisation and supply chain transactions, in numerous asset classes and often involving multiple jurisdictions. Her securitization practice covers a wide range of asset classes and often involve multiple jurisdictions. As part of her financial services and regulatory practice she helps financial institutions and other regulated corporates navigate regulatory issues when acting as investor, arranger or sponsor in structured finance transactions.
Jonas Böhmer, CFA, has been working in the division for Strategic Issues in the Bundesbank’s Directorate General Markets since 2018. This involves implementing the collateral framework and the asset-backed securities purchase programme (ABSPP). Prior to this, he had already worked for several years at the Bundesbank’s Risk Control division.
After completing his studies in Bonn as a graduate in economics, he initially worked in product and sales management at NRW.BANK. He then moved to the field of risk control at Santander Consumer Bank AG, where he was responsible, among other things, for monitoring car loan and consumer loan securitisation in the market risk department. He has been a CFA charterholder since 2016.
Alfonso Candelas joined the rating agency DBRS Ratings Limited in London in December 2011. After almost 7 years, he transferred to the Frankfurt Entity DBRS Ratings GmbH in October 2018. Initially working as a Surveillance analyst in the Structured Credit team, Alfonso became the Head of Surveillance for Structured Finance in Europe in January of 2017.
Previously, he had worked for almost 7 years in the securitisation Management Company Europea de Titulización SA SGFT (Madrid), where he started as part of the back office team before moving to the Structuring team after approximately 3 years.
He holds a degree in Economics as well as another in Market Research, both from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He also has a Master‘s degree in Stock Markets at the Fundación Universidad Empresa (Madrid).


Tino Gallert is a German Public Auditor and works in the Financial Services department of KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft in Frankfurt/Main. As a Senior Manager he provides assurance services as well as accounting related consulting services in the structured finance area (esp. factoring, ABS-transactions, supply chain finance and leasing). He is very experienced in the audit of statutory and group financial statements under German GAAP and IFRS of banks, leasing and factoring companies, commercial clients as well as real estate companies. Tino Gallert studied business administration at the University of Bayreuth and is an author of various accounting related publications.
Dr Benjamin Mohr is Chief Economist and Head of Economic Research at Creditreform Rating AG. Prior to that, he held a number of positions in the Creditreform Group. In his current function he is responsible for the analysis and monitoring of capital markets and economic development in Germany, Europe, and the US. Since 2016, he has also been heading the Sovereign Ratings division.
Mr. Mohr holds a Masters in Economics (Diplom Volkswirt) from the University in Frankfurt and a doctorate degree in Economics (Dr. rer. pol.) from the University of Hagen, where he also worked as a research assistant prior to joining the Creditreform Group. He has authored and co-authored a series of research articles on various economic topics as well as a book on institutional arrangements and regulatory frameworks for safeguarding financial stability.
Stefan Rolf, born in 1972, is Global Head of Balance Sheet Distribution at ING Wholesale Banking, based in Frankfurt am Main. He joined ING on 1st January 2019, bringing thirteen years of global securitisation experience.
Prior to ING, Stefan was Head of Asset Back Securitisation and Treasury for the Asia Pacific Region at Volkswagen Financial Services, based in Germany. In that role, he had global responsibility for the securitisation business of the Volkswagen Group. Beforehand, Stefan was General Manager Treasury for Volkswagen Financial Services Asia-Pacific, based in Singapore.
He graduated in 1996 with dual studies in Banking at Savings Bank in Hannover and an MBA from finance Academy in Hannover.
Stefan is married, with one daughter.
Bernhard Zahel is a Senior Portfolio Manager with DWS Investment GmbH in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He is focusing on investments into structured products like Asset Backed Securities as well as illiquid investments such as loans guaranteed by export credit agencies. In addition to the management of portfolios his role includes the coverage of certain markets in the respective sectors.In 2014 and 2015 he was responsible within Deutsche Asset Management for the advisory of the European Central Bank within the ABS Purchase program. After graduating with a masters degree in economics (Diplom Volkswirt) at University of Bonn, Bernhard started his career in 2001 as a workout analyst for corporate clients with Deutsche Bank AG. From there he joined DWS Investments GmbH in 2004 to become a portfolio manager where he stayed with different responsibilities in various asset classes until today.