BIS makes changes to its executive leadership team
- Luis Bengoechea appointed as head of the Banking Department, effective June 2024
- Hyun Song Shin to assume role of head of the Monetary and Economic Department, effective January 2025, upon the retirement of Claudio Borio at end-2024.
The Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) announced the appointment of Luis Bengoechea as head of the Banking Department. The BIS Banking Department, with offices in Basel, Hong Kong SAR and Mexico City, provides banking services globally to central banks and other official sector customers to support their reserve management needs.
Bengoechea is currently deputy head of the BIS Banking Department and head of Treasury and will become Head of the Banking Department and a member of the Executive Committee of the BIS on 1 June 2024 for a five-year term.
In his current role, he has been working closely with the current Department Head, Peter Zoellner, in leading the implementation of the Bank’s Innovation BIS 2025 strategy in the banking area, as the BIS strives to enhance its banking services. In his new role, he will lead the department in completing the strategy.
Zoellner has been head of the Banking Department since 2013 and will retire at the end of May this year. The BIS Board of Directors and the general manager recognize his contributions to the Bank and the central banking community over the years.
Separately, the Board agreed that upon the retirement of the current head of the Monetary and Economic Department (MED), Claudio Borio, at the end of 2024. The current economic adviser and head of Research, Hyun Song Shin, will assume the joint role of Economic Adviser and head of MED.
STAC appoints Gidding as CEO
The Strategic Technology Analysis Center (STAC) announced that Jack Gidding has returned to take the position of chief executive officer. He takes the reins from Peter Nabicht, who has left the company to spend more time with his family.
Gidding helped build STAC from the ground up in its first seven years. As second in command, he was pivotal in establishing its research program, tool development, and events. The core STAC values of rigor, objectivity, and neutrality are in his DNA.
He returns after a decade in executive technology roles at Refinitiv and London Stock Exchange Group, which spanned real-time market data, wealth management, and trading in FX, fixed income, and equities. His experience leading change at scale will be an asset in STAC’s next stage of growth.
“Peter skillfully managed STAC through the pandemic and subsequent supply-chain challenges and has left it on a strong growth trajectory,” said Peter Lankford, STAC founder and chair, in an emailed statement.
BlackRock’s APAC division names new head and deputy heads
BlackRock announced the appointment of Susan Chan as head of Asia Pacific, and named Andrew Landman and Hiroyuki Shimizu as deputy heads of Asia Pacific, all effective immediately. Chan succeeds Rachel Lord, who relocates to London and takes on the role of BlackRock’s head of International.
Based in Hong Kong, she will be responsible for leading the Asia Pacific region and overseeing the full range of business, client, investment and operational platforms serving wealth and institutional investors via BlackRock’s active, index, ETFs, alternatives and technology offerings.
Chan holds more than three decades’ experience in financial services and asset management industries, having played various leadership roles in capital markets, trading, investments and client business. Her tenure of more than 10 years at BlackRock has included leading the ETF and Index Investing business, managing the trading, liquidity and securities lending team, and overseeing the sustainable and transition investing group, as well as developing BlackRock’s onshore business in mainland China.
Chan said in a statement: “My leadership team and I are sharply focused on accelerating the momentum in the region to achieve the best investment outcomes for our clients. This requires a thorough understanding of their needs, along with the ability to connect them to new and differentiated investment opportunities across our entire platform. Their success is our top priority.”
BlackRock has also named head of Australasia Andrew Landman, and head of Asia Pacific Institutional & head of North Asia (Japan and South Korea) Hiroyuki Shimizu as deputy heads of Asia Pacific. In addition to leading teams in Australia and New Zealand markets, Landman will expand his role to oversee Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific Wealth business. Shimizu will continue to lead BlackRock’s Asia Pacific Institutional business, while expanding his remit to cover Taiwan, in addition to Japan and South Korea. Asia Pacific head of Wealth James Raby will take on the role of chief operating officer for Asia Pacific. Hua Fan becomes head of China.
Ace Borrow: VERMEG appoints Govender amid Africa expansion
VERMEG announced Joshua Govender as the new business development lead for Africa, according to media site Ace Borrow. Based in South Africa, he will focus on expanding Vermeg’s footprint in the African region among the banking, capital markets, and financial services sectors, with a focus on collateral management and post-trade solutions.
As business development lead, Govender will focus on collateral management and post-trade solutions, as well as promoting VERMEG’s industry solutions MEGARA, COLLINE, and digital offering – Fast Track. He joins from Dark Pools AI/ML, a fraud detection platform, where he served as director of business development. Prior to that, he provided consultation services to ORG Corporate Solutions and held a 15-year tenure at HSBC as director of prime finance for South Africa.
Market Screener: HSBC hires Bhavna Haswani as director for Digital Assets and Currencies
HSBC has appointed a director for digital assets and currencies, Bhavna Haswani, according to Market Screener. Based in Hong Kong, she will focus on the firm’s digital strategy. Haswani has extensive experience in trading, quant analytics and product management.
AnalytixInsight announces management and board changes
AnalytixInsight, a data analytics and enterprise software solutions provider, announced that Prakash Hariharan has resigned as president, chief executive officer, and chair. He will continue to support the company as a member of its board and will act as a special advisor to aid in the management transition.
Vince Kadar, a current director, has been appointed as chair of the board, and Natalie Hirsch, the current chief operating officer, has been appointed as the interim president and chief executive officer.
Hirsch is an operational leader with significant experience managing complex projects and scaling businesses, teams, and processes with over 15+ years of work experience in enterprise software and fintech companies. More recently, she served as vice president of Operations for Coinsquare, one of Canada’s largest crypto trading platforms. She also retains an active designation as a Chartered Professional Accountant in Ontario.
Hirsch said in a statement: “I look forward to working with both the board and the rest of the team to develop and execute business strategies that capitalize on the company’s suite of fintech products and services. I believe that there are a number of interesting opportunities for the company in 2024, and I am excited to work with the team to explore these opportunities while building shareholder value.”