Dr. Ruth Wandhöfer
Head European Markets,
Blackwired
Dr. Ruth Wandhöfer has been instrumental in shaping the future of finance and money over more than 2 decades. She operates at the nexus of technology, cyber security, identity, finance and regulation and advises and speaks to international audiences on the evolution of the digital economy.
As a sought-after keynote speaker, author and recognised global authority on banking, technology, cyber security and regulation she is a very influential female leader, promoting the understanding, development and deployment of new business models and technologies for our digital future across payments, financial markets and processes.
After a distinguished career of over 11 years with Citi, Ruth has also advised the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, the White House, the Singapore MAS, the EBRD and the OECD.
Since 2018 Ruth is an independent Non-Executive Director on various boards ranging from regulated banks and stock exchanges to Fintechs in addition to being an active Angel and VC investor for years. She currently sits on the board of Permanent TSB Bank in Ireland. She is also the Head of European Markets at Blackwired, a cyber security innovator.
In the past she has been the Chair of the Statutory Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) Panel in the UK and board member of the London Stock Exchange Group, Gresham Technologies, Digital Identity Net and Aquis Exchange Group.
Furthermore, she is a member of the Bank of England CBDC Engagement Forum and chairs the CBDC Privacy Working Group. She also advises the City of London Corporation, the British Standards Institute and the European Third Party Provider Association (ETPPA).
She is a Visiting Professor at CASS Business School (now Bayes), where she gained her PhD, teaching Fintech in Banking and Finance and Digital Money as well as providing Executive Training on topics such as Financial Market Infrastructures, Payments and the Future of Finance.
Ruth was named as one of 2010s ‘Rising Stars’ by Financial News; named in Management Today’s 2011 ‘35 Women under 35’ list of women to watch and identified as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Finance 2012 by the Treasury Risk Magazine. She received the ‘Women in Banking and Finance Award for Achievement’ in 2015 and in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022 she was named on the global ‘Women in Fintech Powerlist’ of Innovate Finance (Senior Leader in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, Standout 45 in 2024).
So far, she published three books: “EU Payments Integration” (2010), “Transaction Banking and the Impact of Regulatory Change” (2014) and “Redecentralisation: Building the Digital Financial Ecosystem” (2023), all Palgrave MacMillan. Ruth is a champion in support of transforming the UK into a Digital Economy and in 2024 has published the “From Fintech to Ubiquitech Report”, which you can find on her website.
She balances this extraordinary career while raising her two children and championing for a better work life balance for single parents and more support for women entrepreneurs.