Until the end of January 2003 he was Director Consulting & International Projects at the Vienna Exchange, where he headed the profit centre for consulting & international development. Before his assignment as head of the exchange's consulting division he was head of the exchange academy of the Austrian Futures & Options Exchange as well as of the Stock Exchange.

Mr. Takacs designed and managed a number of financial market projects all over the world. He also acted as project director for the initiative of the European Union to restructure the Russian financial market after the crisis in 1998, where he led a team of 15 long-term and more than 50 short-term experts over a period of three years and advised Russian exchanges, investment banks, financial institutions, clearing houses, regulatory authorities and companies. Mr. Takacs is a frequent adviser to management boards of exchanges and securities commissions.

Furthermore, he drafted various feasibility studies for the implementation of derivatives exchanges and was member of the project team for the implementation of the Austrian Futures and Options Exchange in Austria. Currently, he is working on a Meta Exchange and Clearing House concept which inquires into the possibility to create a regional exchange and clearing hub to integrate fragmented capital markets without loosing the identity of the local exchanges under the perspective of the different currency regimes.

Mr. Takacs holds a master degree from the University of Leicester, UK and is a certified fraud examiner.

See also: 10:45 am Roundtable II - 'Education - learning to grow'