Rahul Bhargava is a globally recognised financial sector business leader, board advisor and COO with over 23 years of experience across international bodies (World Bank, Swift, WEF, Global Fintech Institute), global banks (RBS, ICICI), high-growth platforms (Contour, NTT Data, FIS, Accenture) and public advocacy think-tanks (EPAA, Currency Research, AI 2030). As an industry practitioner, he continues to support both public and private sector with transitioning global transaction value chains - domestic and cross-border - to a less-paper, less-cash, more seamlessly interoperable and harmonised future. Previously the Global Head of Payments MI Strategy at Swift, his current public-private portfolio career includes being a Senior Consultant to the World Bank Group for global development projects. Recently he was appointed the Interim COO for Contour Network (an XDC company), aiming to drive change across the end-to-end transaction value chain, providing digitisation, optionality and scalability across the trade to payments continuum.