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Elise Soucie Watts

Executive Director

Elise is the Executive Director of Global Digital Finance (GDF), Policy & Regulation & Board Member. 

Elise was formerly an Associate Director at the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) where she lead the division’s Digital Assets and Data Strategy work, with a focus on emerging regulation such as the Market in Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislation and the European Commission’s targeted consultation on open finance and data sharing in the financial sector. Furthermore, she also worked closely with global standard setters, driving and guiding engagement between the capital markets industry and bodies such as the FSB and IOSCO.

Prior to her work at AFME, Elise was in the public sector, working at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in both their Technology, Resilience and Cyber Division and International Division. Notably she pioneered the FCA’s International Digital Assets strategy in 2022 and led technical policy dialogue on DLT, Consumer Risks, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC’s), and Decentralised Finance (DeFi), among other topics.

Elise was named ‘Next Generation Leader of the Year’ at the 2022 Women in Finance Awards UK.

Elise’s experience with both the public and private sector enables her to support members in their engagement with policy makers around the globe. She has experience in both drafting and advocating for regulatory outcomes that will support the development of the digital assets ecosystem, and her technical understanding of the industry makes her well suited to represent the membership of Global Digital Finance.