Fuze, one of the Middle East and Turkey’s fastest-growing financial infrastructure providers, has appointed Serena Sebastiani as its new Group Chief Strategy and Venture Officer (CSVO). Serena was most recently PwC Middle East Virtual Assets Consulting lead, and is currently the Co-Chair of the MENA Fintech Association’s Digital Assets Committee and President of GCC at the Association for Women in Cryptocurrency.
Serena Sebastiani, Group Chief Strategy and Venture Officer, said: “Having been part of the early build-out of the UAE’s digital assets ecosystem and witnessing its rise as a global hub, joining Fuze feels like a natural progression. After years of advising and shaping the industry, I’m stepping into the arena to scale a business I deeply believe in. I’m excited to join a leadership team that has poured relentless commitment into this vision, one I witnessed being born and built. This is a commitment I fully share and am ready to accelerate.”
Mo Ali Yusuf, Fuze CEO and Co-Founder, said: “Welcoming Serena into the business is like hiring three world-class experts in one. Her strategic advisory capabilities, specialist aptitude within virtual assets and robust experience within regulatory environments, will be of great benefit to Fuze as we scale the future of finance in the region and beyond.”
Serena has spent the past 15 years advising across the financial services sector in Europe and the Middle East, working with leading investment banks, asset and wealth managers, securities services providers, governments and regulators. She contributed to the development of Europe’s securities market infrastructure and has helped shape the regulatory foundations for fintech and digital assets, including advising on the creation of the first Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority. Drawing on this experience, she has supported multiple governments and regulators on policy frameworks, guided banks and virtual asset service providers as they enter new markets and, she has guided the development of new digital asset and fintech propositions.
Within her new role at Fuze, Sebastiani will be responsible for enhancing strategic growth and sustainably scaling Fuze across its core infrastructure, including institutional over-the-counter (OTC) desk, digital assets-as-a-service (DaaS) platform and payments. Serena will play a major role in shaping Fuze’s long-term vision and roadmap for its API-integrated financial services offering for banks, institutions and enterprises.
