Organisation & Governance

Gottfried Leibbrandt was appointed Chief Executive Officer of SWIFT in July 2012. He joined SWIFT in 2005 to focus on the development of the SWIFT2010 strategy. Upon completion of the strategy, he was appointed Head of Standards, and then in 2007 he was promoted to Head of Marketing. Gottfried was a key architect behind the SWIFT2015 strategy. Prior to joining SWIFT, Gottfried worked at McKinsey & Company for 18 years as a partner in the Amsterdam office and a co-leader of the European payments practice.

Javier Pérez-Tasso is Chief Executive Americas, UK, Ireland and Nordics at SWIFT. Appointed in September 2015, he is responsible for key client relationships and business development across the region. Previously, Pérez-Tasso served as Chief Marketing Officer, whilst earlier in his career, Javier held several senior leadership positions in SWIFT’s sales and marketing divisions.

The region led by Pérez -Tasso encompasses North and Latin America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, as well as the Nordic countries. The division’s responsibilities include client relationship management, sales, and customer support. This structure enables us to work closely with our customers around the globe and respond quickly to evolving market requirements.

Christian Sarafidis was appointed as Chief Marketing Officer in September 2015. He was previously Head of Western Europe, Middle East and Africa and Deputy Chief Executive, EMEA. Prior to joining SWIFT, Christian held senior executive positions for several multinational finance and technology groups.

The Marketing group delivers market segment specific solutions that respond to the needs of our customers. It runs the product portfolio focusing on financial messaging solutions, software and connectivity, and shared services. The Marketing group also includes Sibos, Innovation, Partner Marketing, and Standards (a key component of SWIFT’s value proposition).

Craig Young took up his position as Chief Technology Officer in February 2015. He joined SWIFT from Verizon Communications, where he had worked for twenty years, most recently as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer.

The Information Technology group brings together SWIFT IT development and testing. This division is responsible for the delivery of the core FIN and SWIFTNet messaging solutions, as well as interface products, matching, business and enterprise applications. The Information Technology group is also responsible to ensure best in class cyber, logical and physical security solutions in addition to driving infrastructure and technology evolution to ensure that SWIFT’s global network works securely, efficiently and effectively.