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Irene Arias Hofman
Chief Executive Officer
MIRA
Irene Arias Hofman is a senior executive and CFA Charterholder with deep expertise across finance, venture capital, and private equity. She is an independent board member and CEO of MIRA Capital & Technology, Inc., a US-based advisory and investment firm focused on the future of finance.
From 2018 to 2025, she served as CEO of IDB Lab, transforming it into a global innovation platform supporting more than 1,100 startups and 115 venture capital funds.
Earlier at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), she managed loan and equity portfolios exceeding $16 billion and pioneered local capital market offerings across emerging economies. Irene has held senior global governance roles, and is recognized for combining technical rigor with strong institutional leadership.
Speaking At
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4:15–5:45pmMon 16 NovPublic-Private RoundtableRoundtable Room 4Open
Global Frameworks and Shared Best Practices in Payments Chains
Rethinking Instant Payment Infrastructure from the Ground Up
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Blaise Pascal GasabiraChief Executive OfficerRswitch Ltd
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Clara B. ArthurChief ExecutiveGhana Interbank Payment & Settlement Systems (GhIPSS)
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Irene Arias HofmanChief Executive OfficerMIRA
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John MukonoChief Executive OfficerKenswitch
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Julie GuettaManaging DirectorThitsaWorks
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Mark MunneHead of TechnologyNexus Global Payments
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Musa Itopa JimohDirector, Payments System Policy DepartmentCentral Bank of Nigeria
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Pandu PutraDirector for AsiaCo-Develop
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Steve HaleyGlobal Director, Mojaloop EcosystemMojaloop Foundation
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Pat PatelChief Executive Officer, USA, LATAM, Middle East & Africa; Co-CEO, GFTN ConnectionsGlobal Finance & Technology Network (GFTN)Moderator
About this session
Most conversations about improving instant payment systems focus on iteration: faster rails, lower costs, broader interoperability. This roundtable asks a more foundational question: are there aspects of how these systems are typically architected that are worth revisiting at the root, rather than only refining at the edges?
Many systems today rely on a model where a payment is sent, and if something doesn’t match up, the two sides exchange after-the-fact messages to reconcile what happened. This reconciliation-heavy approach carries real ongoing cost, and emerging approaches, including early pilot evidence, suggest that dependence on it can be reduced through pre-validation, where payment data is checked and verified before a transaction is executed. Such design choices made early in a scheme’s architecture can shape how easily it extends to full inclusion later.
This session aims to bring together development institutions, instant payments players, central banks, and relevant voices to discuss whether the iterative path – where systems are made incrementally better over time – or the fundamental path – where systems are rebuilt from the ground up – is a more viable solution for national payments systems looking to embark on pre-validation.
The roundtable aims to produce a practical roadmap for countries looking to implement prevalidation across financial institutions. Where available, early pilot data will serve as evidence, discussed frankly under the Chatham House Rule.
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