Life Sciences Forum 2020

Avichal Agrawal

Group head of FATCA-CRS, CITIC CLSA Group

Avichal Agrawal, currently heads the FATCA CRS tax compliance at the CITIC CLSA Group, which is a capital markets and investment group operating in over 20 top financial centres including US, Europe, UK, China, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, ASEAN, India and Australia. The group focuses on alternative investment, asset management, corporate finance and capital markets, securities and wealth management for institutional, corporate, high net worth, and retail clients in various countries. CLSA is owned by CITIC Securities Co Ltd, the largest full-service investment bank in China listed on the Hong Kong and Shanghai Stock Exchanges.

Agrawal is a subject matter expert in tax transparency regimes including FATCA / IGAs, CRS, LEIs, anti-tax evasion regimes such as CbCR and MDR (BEPS/OECD); tax withholding arrangements including QI and DTAA; and regulatory compliance including AML, KYC. He has rich experience in reviewing, withholding and reporting for all the client structures as well as the investment structures. He is the representative of the group for purposes of regulatory liaison, registrations and reporting for such tax transparency matters across jurisdictions. He is a frequent speaker at industry seminars on these topics and contributes towards establishing best practice standards across the industry.

Agrawal obtained his management degree from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in 2007. He is a Project Management Professional (PMP) with the Project Management Institute (PMI), and Certified Management Consultant (CMC) with the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes (ICMCI). In his free time, he is a scientific innovator in green technologies. He holds several international patents in the field of commercial air cooling.

 Speaking session 

What does BEPS 2.0 mean for your business?

Tuesday, August 25 - 9.30-10.00 HKT/SGT/CST

Adnan Begic

Transfer pricing, Michelin

Adnan Begic leads Michelin’s APAC Transfer Pricing (TP) practice and is responsible for all aspects of TP including TP compliance, TP planning, implementation of TP policies, managing audits & dispute resolutions, APAs and operational TP across Asia Pacific. Begic has over 13 years (10 years in Asia) of experience in TP and international tax and has previously worked in Big 4 firms in New Zealand and Singapore.

Begic is also the Singapore Vice President of Tax Executives Institute (TEI) Asia Chapter, Board member of TEI Asia Chapter and is a frequent speaker on regional tax and TP conferences.

 Speaking session 

Key challenges with transfer pricing

Wednesday, August 26 - 14.50-15.50 HKT/SGT/CST

Umang Dhingra

Head of tax, GlaxoSmithKline Asia

Umang, a Chartered Accountant by qualification, and a seasoned tax professional, holds more than 15 years of hands-on experience dealing with a wide variety of complex tax issues in India, including at some of the top Fortune 500 companies. He has held critical positions with Samsung, Walmart and Discovery prior to joining GSK where he currently heads the Tax department. His ever- growing passion for taxes in last 15 years makes him a forerunner in the list of Next Gen Tax Leaders who are young, dynamic, innovative and disruptive.

Umang has handled and successfully led a variety of projects relating to M&A, APA, MAP, GST implementation, litigation settlement, export incentives etc. during his career. Besides imparting internal trainings to business leaders and support functions at his organization, he has been an eminent speaker on both Direct and Indirect Taxes at various tax / industry / educational platforms, in India and abroad. He is currently an active member of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) National Committee on Taxation.

In succession to winning “CA Professional Achiever Award for the year 2016” conferred by Institute of Chartered Accountants of India to top performing Chartered Accountants employed in varied industries pan India,Umang has been also recognized as “Asia in-house Tax Director of the year 2018” bestowed by International Tax Review at Asia Tax Awards, 2018 (Singapore).

 Speaking session 

Lessons Learned from Covid-19 and managing an in-house tax department

Wednesday, August 26 - 16.10-17.10 HKT/SGT/CST

Amit Gupta

Director of tax, Dell Technologies

Amit Gupta is currently the Director – Tax for Dell Technologies (including legacy EMC) – Indian subcontinent based in Bengaluru (India). Amit is responsible for all the tax matters of Dell Technologies (including legacy EMC) in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Mauritius. Amit reports directly to the Global Head of Tax (Sr. VP, Tax) of Dell Technologies (including legacy EMC) based in Austin, US.

Prior to relocating to Bengaluru, Amit was based in Singapore managing taxes for Dell in the Asia Pacific & Japan (APJ) region. In this role, Amit was responsible for all the tax matters across Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, India and Singapore.

Prior to joining Dell, Amit was the Tax Leader (VP) at GE Capital in India where his responsibilities included managing taxes (corporate and indirect) for various legal entities and advising/implementing tax efficient structures for equity investments, cross-border funding/loans, leases, joint ventures and acquisitions. Amit has also worked as South Asia Tax Manager for Intel and inter alia managed transfer pricing audits, negotiations with Government on tax holidays, duty/tariff reductions and exemptions. Prior to joining Intel, Amit has worked as Senior Consultant at Arthur Andersen/E&Y and was advising clients on various indirect tax and corporate tax matters and started his career with Kellogg in India as Financial Analyst. In his career spanning more than 23 years, Amit has managed tax functions end-to-end i.e. from tax planning to tax controllership/compliance.

Amit is a qualified Chartered Accountant, Company Secretary, Grad. Cost & Works Accountant (CWA), Bachelor of Law (Law Graduate) from KSLU and Bachelor of Commerce (Honours).

Amit has been a regular speaker for many years at regional and worldwide reputed tax conferences/seminars held in places like Sydney (Australia), London, Paris, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, etc.

 Speaking session 

Hot topics in Asia-Pacific taxation

Tuesday, August 25 - 11.20-12.20 HKT/SGT/CST

Dinesh Kanabar

CEO, Dhruva Advisors

Dinesh Kanabar has, over the decades, been recognized by his peers as amongst the top tax advisors in India. His ability to relate the business strategies of clients to the tax and regulatory environment has been recognized as unique and has played a critical role in evolving solutions for clients.

Prior to founding Dhruva, he held a series of leadership positions across several large professional service organizations in India. Most recently, he was the Deputy CEO of KPMG India where he played a key role in developing and implementing the firm’s overall strategy.

He also served as Chairman of KPMG’s tax practice. Before joining KPMG, he served as the Deputy CEO of RSM & Co, a leading tax boutique in India and subsequently led the tax and regulatory practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) upon the merger of RSM & Co with PwC.

He is a member of the National Committee of FICCI. He has worked with the Government on several policy committees. He was a member of the Rangachary Committee constituted by the Prime Minister of India to deal with tax reforms in the IT/ITES sector and for evolving Safe Harbour Rules.

 Speaking session 

India tax insights

Tuesday, August 25 - 14.00-15.00 HKT/SGT/CST

Megha Khandelwal

senior manager, taxation - Asia, Rio Tinto

 Speaking session 

Lessons Learned from Covid-19 and managing an in-house tax department

Wednesday, August 26 - 16.10-17.10 HKT/SGT/CST

Benchi Klaver

head of transfer pricing, Kulicke & Soffa

 Speaking session 

Key challenges with transfer pricing

Wednesday, August 26 - 14.50-15.50 HKT/SGT/CST

Barbara Voskamp

Partner ASEAN, Loyens & Loeff

Barbara Voskamp is Partner ASEAN, she is heading up the Singapore office and responsible for the ASEAN region. Voskamp, is admitted to the Dutch Bar and a member of the Netherlands Association for Tax advisors (NOB). She is specialised in international tax. She is a registered foreign lawyer in Singapore since 2006 and has been advising international operating corporate clients on the structuring of their cross border investments..

Voskamp frequently lectures on international tax at, amongst others, the Singapore Management University. She has been on the board of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce in Singapore and the Malaysian Dutch Business Council in Kuala Lumpur, is active in the regional trade committee of the European Chamber of Commerce in Singapore and currently a member of the executive board of the International Fiscal Association (IFA), Singapore branch..

 Speaking session 

Tax transparency in practice

Wednesday, August 26 - 13.30-14.30 HKT/SGT/CST

Michael Muncaster

executive director, APAC product head – regulatory compliance, IHS Markit

Michael Muncaster is an Executive Director with IHS Markit and has specialised in banking and financial services for the past 15 years, working with banks and financial institutions in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, UK and Europe. Muncaster’s areas of focus include FATCA, CRS, QI reviews and remediation, mergers and acquisitions, structuring, advising on the taxation of financial arrangements including foreign exchange transactions and capital instruments, as well as the audit of taxation and tax reporting..

Prior to joining IHS Markit, Muncaster was with PwC Singapore. Australia and UK. Mr Muncaster has worked extensively with financial institutions in both Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong on the implementation of FATCA and CRS programs and has extensive experience in conducting QI reviews.

 Speaking session 

Tax transparency in practice

Wednesday, August 26 - 13.30-14.30 HKT/SGT/CST

Charles Oetomo

tax partner advisor, GNV Consulting Services

Since January 2014, Charles Oetomo has been a Partner Advisor at GNV Consulting Services providing various types of tax & customs consultation, as well as in the transfer pricing & trade regulatory issues..

Prior to joining GNV Consulting, Oetomo has spent 12 years with Deloitte. He was a Partner in Deloitte Southeast Asia, based in Jakarta, Indonesia (Deloitte Tax Solutions). During his service, Oetomo headed several industry/service lines in the areas of banking and financial, indirect taxation and customs, as well as BMO (Business Model Optimization – supply chain rationalization) projects. As part of the firm’s development initiative, Oetomo was also the tax learning leader in Deloitte.

Oetomo formerly served other Big Four accounting and consulting firms as an external auditor, which gave him relevant knowledge in the financial accounting area to lead the tax team of IFRS tax-related matters in Deloitte.

As a summary of his portfolio as a tax advisor, Oetomo has extensive experience in serving multinational and large national clients in a broad range of industries. Oetomo has been involved in various tax advisory, restructuring, merger and acquisition, and strategic planning projects, as well as dispute resolution and compliance cases. His advisory roles have covered a broad range of tax issues in areas from Indonesian domestic to cross-border tax issues.

Oetomo is a Licensed Indonesian Tax Consultant (Brevet A, B, C Level), a Registered Tax Court Attorney, having graduated with a Bachelor of Finance and Accountancy degree. He is also a member of the Indonesian Tax Consultant Association.

 Speaking session 

Case study: Negotiating with an aggressive tax authority

Tuesday, August 25 - 15.20-16.20 HKT/SGT/CST

Kari Pahlman

vice president global tax, Techtronics Industries

Kari Pahlman works as Vice President, Global Tax and Treasury in Techtronics Industries (TTI). His primary area of work is related to the overall tax strategy of the Group, involving strategic management of tax, restructurings and value chain transformations, management and resolution of significant disputes and APAs, financing strategy and finance/treasury/tax/IT integration. He also has oversight of the global transfer pricing strategies and policies of the Group. Prior to joining TTI, Pahlman was for several years a partner and regional Asia-Pacific transfer pricing leader at KPMG..

 Speaking session 

What does BEPS 2.0 mean for your business?

Tuesday, August 25 - 10.05-11.05 HKT/SGT/CST

Bhavin Shroff

Head of South East Asia and India tax, Nomura Singapore

Bhavin Shroff is currently the Head of Tax, South East Asia and India, Nomura Singapore Ltd. In his current role he is responsible for all the tax matters of Nomura. He has more than 20 years of experience in handling tax matters for banks and investment banks. His expertise lies is handling direct tax, indirect tax, transfer pricing and international tax matters. Prior to joining Nomura, Shroff was handling tax matters at Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and ICICI Bank Ltd. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India..

 Speaking session 

Lessons Learned from Covid-19 and managing an in-house tax department

Wednesday, August 26 - 16.10-17.10 HKT/SGT/CST

Ketan Palan

Head of tax APAC, Pfizer

 Speaking session 

Case study: Negotiating with an aggressive tax authority

Tuesday, August 25 - 15.20-16<span style"="">.20 HKT/SGT/CST

Vijayashree Ranganathan

Head - taxation, VFS Global

 Speaking session 

Key challenges with transfer pricing

Wednesday, August 26 - 14.50-15.50 HKT/SGT/CST

Greg Elliott

Global head of tax - businesses and regional tax lead GCNA & ASEAN, Standard Chartered Bank

Greg Elliott, is the Global Head of Tax for Businesses and Regional Tax Lead – GCNA & ASEAN.  In his role, Elliott has responsibility for supporting and developing the tax function to support SCB’s global businesses. 

Elliott is a senior tax professional with over 27 years of corporate and international tax experience working in the financial services / banking industry within the Asia Pacific region. He has expertise in both direct and indirect / transactional taxes combined with a deep product knowledge across the financial services industry.

Prior to joining SCB, Elliott spent three years as the Global Head of Tax with the CLSA Group.  Prior to that, Elliott spent nearly fourteen years with Deutsche Bank AG based in Hong Kong and Singapore as part of their APAC regional tax team and before that, at KPMG and Arthur Andersen. 

Elliott has previously been Chairman of Asian Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA) Tax Product Committee.

 Speaking session 

Lessons Learned from Covid-19 and managing an in-house tax department

Wednesday, August 26 - 16.10-17.10 HKT/SGT/CST

Siti Syadiah Latief

Vice president head of tax, Nestle Indonesia

Siti Syadiah Latief (Diah) is VP-Head of Tax in PT Nestlé Indonesia, a subsidiary of Nestlé, S.A., one of the biggest food company in the world. Her main responsibilities are leading the tax team, ensuring tax compliance, providing tax advisory for the organization, planning and executing tax strategies for the company and its sister companies in Indonesia, and liaising with tax authorities and other relevant government institutions.

Latief holds crucial roles in winning several tax and custom disputes, obtaining tax facilities for the company’s factory expansion, managing smooth tax transition of business acquisition and divestment, and being a Leadership Development pillar in the Nestle Continuous Excellence project in Finance and Control division.

During her time with Nestlé Indonesia, Latief was assigned as Function Controller for Human Resource, Legal-Corporate Affairs and Marketing Services division to control and monitor the spending, to deal with its stakeholders, to ensure full compliance of internal control and to drive operational efficiencies. She is an active team work player with strong commitment and high passion to learn and share through coaching.

Prior joining Nestlé, she was Tax Manager in PT Unilever Indonesia, Tbk, one of the biggest consumer goods in Indoneisa. Latief formerly served a tax consulting firms, KPMG Indonesia, which gave her relevant knowledge in taxation.

Latief is graduated with a Bachelor of Accountancy from Gadjah Mada University and obtained her Master in Business Administration from KU Leuven in Belgium majoring in International Business Management.

With 18+ years of work services, Latief brings solid experience in finance and tax gained from her positions in Nestle and from her previous professional career at KPMG and Unilever Indonesia.

 Speaking session 

Case study: Negotiating with an aggressive tax authority

Tuesday, August 25 - 15.20-16.20 HKT/SGT/CST

Vaibhav Sanghvi

Senior director, International & APJ Tax, NortonLifeLock

NortonLifeLock is a global leader in consumer Cyber Safety helping secure devices, identities, online privacy, home and family needs of nearly 50 million consumers, being a trusted ally in a complex digital world. In his current role, Vaibhav is responsible for worldwide tax planning, managing operational and strategic tax planning projects and all aspects of tax advisory, risk management, tax controversy and compliances in Asia-Pacific, Japan and Latin America regions..

Sanghvi has over 23 years in International Tax and Planning focusing on BEPS, IP planning, supply chain, marketing structures – 9 years with Big 4 firms (Arthur Andersen and PwC) and last 14 years in the Technology, Software, Mining, Oil & Gas Industries with Symantec, Rio Tinto and Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS).

Currently, member of the Transfer Pricing Roundtable constituted by the IRAS comprising of tax experts from the industry, practice and academia. Participated as a member of Singapore Institute of Accredited Tax Professionals (SIATP) Tax & Levies Committee to promote tax excellence by facilitating discussions with key stake holders and Government, comprising accredited tax professionals from Big 4 firms, MNCs and law firms.

 Speaking session 

What does BEPS 2.0 mean for your business?

Tuesday, August 25 - 10.05-11.05 HKT/SGT/CST

Jay Shim

Partner, Lee & Ko

With 30 years of working experiences in three continents, Jay Shim co-leads the tax practice at Lee & Ko and advises clients on tax advisory, tax audits, tax appeals and tax litigation matters. Shim is a member of the International Bar Association, the International Fiscal Association and the Inter-Pacific Bar Association. He is also a co-chair, Taxation Committee, American Chamber of Commerce Korea..

 Speaking session 

Hot topics in Asia-Pacific taxation

Tuesday, August 25 - 11.20-12.20 HKT/SGT/CST

Bhavin Shroff

Head of South East Asia and India tax, Nomura Singapore

Bhavin Shroff is currently the Head of Tax, South East Asia and India, Nomura Singapore Ltd. In his current role he is responsible for all the tax matters of Nomura. He has more than 20 years of experience in handling tax matters for banks and investment banks. His expertise lies is handling direct tax, indirect tax, transfer pricing and international tax matters. Prior to joining Nomura, Shroff was handling tax matters at Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and ICICI Bank Ltd. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India..

 Speaking session 

Lessons Learned from Covid-19 and managing an in-house tax department

Wednesday, August 26 - 16.10-17.10 HKT/SGT/CST