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Helena Forest
Executive Vice President, Global Product & Commercial, Real Time Payments
Mastercard
View LinkedIn profileHelena is an experienced executive in the digital transformation and product management space within the payments industry, known for her strategic vision and innovative approach.
Her career highlights include significant roles at global institutions like J.P. Morgan Chase and Deutsche Bank AG. As J.P. Morgan's Global Head of Solution Design for payments, she has driven customer-focused digital initiatives, notably in e-commerce and marketplace expansion.
Her tenure at Deutsche Bank was marked by the launch of critical digital platforms and regional expansion, reflecting her deep expertise in managing complex technology and business transformations and driving significant business growth.
Helena holds degrees in International Business Management from universities in Germany and the Netherlands, and has obtained various certifications in the payments industry, and completed the Executive Women Global Leaders program at the London School of Economics. Her approach incorporates client-centric design into product strategy and successful delivery of innovative solutions at scale and boosting client satisfaction and fostering loyalty in a competitive field.
Speaking At
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11:00am–12:30pmMon 16 NovPublic-Private RoundtableRoundtable Room 1Invite-Only
Global Frameworks, Interoperability & Shared Best Practices
From Convergence to Connectivity: Shared Rails & Shared Responsibility
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Helena ForestExecutive Vice President, Global Product & Commercial, Real Time PaymentsMastercard
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Lawrence ChanGroup Chief Executive OfficerNetwork for Electronic Transfers (Singapore)
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Qaiser AnwarudinDirector, Payment Services Policy DepartmentBank Negara Malaysia
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Serene GaySenior Vice President & Head of Value-Added Services, Asia PacificVisa
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Tingli BongDirector - Market Engagement, ASEANSwift
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Jo YeoDirectorMonetary Authority of SingaporeModerator
About this session
As payment networks become increasingly interconnected, the challenge is no longer whether they can connect, but how they coordinate. At the Point Zero Forum 2026 roundtable, leaders from payment networks, central banks and regulators converged on a common principle: compete at the customer experience layer, collaborate on the standards and infrastructure beneath it.
But connectivity creates new questions. As instant payment systems, card networks, wallets and emerging digital money platforms become part of a growing "network of networks", who manages shared risks, aligns incentives and coordinates the rules that keep the ecosystem open, resilient and innovative?
This roundtable will bring together global payments leaders to explore the governance, economics and architecture of the next generation of integrated payment networks, and what it will take to build a truly connected global payments landscape.
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1:45–3:15pmTue 17 NovPublic-Private RoundtableRoundtable Room 4Invite-Only
Enabling The Next Wave Of Innovation
Built for Enterprise, Priced Out for SMEs: Closing the Emerging Tech Access Gap
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Amira KarimHead of International Public Policy, Payments & Financial ServicesAmazon
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Helena ForestExecutive Vice President, Global Product & Commercial, Real Time PaymentsMastercard
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Jiang FangfangAsia Lead for Digital Financial ServiceInternational Finance Corporation
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Aparna JhajhariaHead - Programme DeliveryGlobal Finance & Technology Network (GFTN)Moderator
About this session
A report by Google and the India SME Forum found that AI adoption by India's MSMEs could unlock more than US$490 billion in economic value, and that number sits inside a pattern that isn't unique to India. OECD data shows that each wave of digital adoption has widened, not narrowed, the gap between SMEs and large enterprises: cloud adoption gaps grew even as SME uptake rose, and AI is following the same trajectory, with large firms adopting AI at more than three times the rate of small ones. Limited access to compute, skilled labour, and capital means this next wave of AI-led transformation risks further locking SMEs out of gains at a scale the world has not yet seen.
This roundtable, held under Chatham House Rule, convenes policymakers, industry associations, multilateral organisations, investors, banks, and technology providers best positioned to close this gap. Discussants will explore whether AI adoption genuinely changes SME bankability and risk profiles, the interventions policymakers, industry associations, and investors can make to improve the structural conditions that enable access for SMEs, and the concrete strategies for AI adoption that SMEs can undertake to reduce costs and increase revenue.
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