Board appoints new CEO
Brussels, 24 April 2019 - Swift is pleased to announce today the appointment of Javier Pérez-Tasso as its new Chief Executive Officer. A member of the Swift Executive team for the past seven years, Pérez-Tasso currently serves as Chief Executive Americas & UK region. He will take up his appointment on 1 July 2019 in place of Gottfried Leibbrandt who announced his intention to step down from the post at the end of June in December 2018.
The appointment follows a comprehensive internal and external search conducted by the Board’s Human Resources Committee, advised by a professional search firm.
Swift Chairman Yawar Shah, said: “I am delighted to announce Javier’s appointment with the full endorsement of the Board. Swift has an exceptionally strong management team which has enabled the Board to appoint an internal candidate and which will also allow for a smooth transition.”
“Javier‘s track record of impressive leadership, coupled with his in-depth understanding of the company and its business, means that he is expertly positioned for this new role. I am confident that his appointment will ensure that Swift can continue to build on its tradition of excellence and innovation in support of the global financial community, while also enabling acceleration of its endorsed strategy.”
Pérez-Tasso joined Swift in 1995 and was appointed Chief Executive, Americas & UK region in September 2015. In this position, he significantly deepened Swift’s engagement model with global transaction banks and successfully delivered business development results in high-growth markets. He was also an Executive sponsor of Swift’s Customer Security Programme from 2016 to 2018, helping to formulate and lead Swift’s response to the growing cyber challenge facing the community.
Prior to that, Pérez-Tasso served as Chief Marketing Officer, a role in which he was responsible for developing Swift’s current five-year strategy. The Swift2020 strategy he defined has led to the co-operative’s renewed focus on cross-border payments, expansion into financial crime compliance and deeper presence in the market infrastructures area, including its entry into instant payments. Earlier in his career, Pérez-Tasso held a number of technology and leadership positions in business development in regional offices in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Commenting on his appointment Pérez-Tasso said: “I thank the Swift Board for its trust and feel privileged to lead Swift and serve its customers as CEO. I am fortunate to start this mandate building on Gottfried’s strong legacy, and I look forward to maintaining our focus on operational excellence as well as to accelerating Swift’s transformation during a period of unprecedented change and opportunity for the community.”
A Spanish national, Pérez-Tasso holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from Institut National Polytéchnique de Grenoble, a Master's degree in Management from Solvay Business School, a Master in Finance from IE Business School and the Executive TGM from Insead.
As Chief Executive Officer of Swift, Pérez-Tasso will be based at Swift’s headquarters in Belgium.
“The Board joins me in thanking Gottfried for his extraordinary dedication and service and we wish him all the best in his future endeavours. Swift has become a stronger, more agile company under his leadership – defining, establishing and delivering on a bold agenda,” said Shah. “I look forward to working with Javier to build on this, as Swift continues to serve the banking community as its Fintech.”
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About Swift
Swift is a global member owned cooperative and the world’s leading provider of secure financial messaging services. We provide our community with a platform for messaging and standards for communicating, and we offer products and services to facilitate access and integration, identification, analysis and regulatory compliance.
Our messaging platform, products and services connect more than 11,000 banking and securities organisations, market infrastructures and corporate customers in more than 200 countries and territories. While Swift does not hold funds or manage accounts on behalf of customers, we enable our global community of users to communicate securely, exchanging standardised financial messages in a reliable way, thereby supporting global and local financial flows, as well as trade and commerce all around the world.
As their trusted provider, we relentlessly pursue operational excellence; we support our community in addressing cyber threats; and we continually seek ways to lower costs, reduce risks and eliminate operational inefficiencies. Our products and services support our community’s access and integration, business intelligence, reference data and financial crime compliance needs. Swift also brings the financial community together – at global, regional and local levels – to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest or concern. Swift’s strategic five year plan, Swift2020, challenges Swift to continue investing in the security, reliability and growth of its core messaging platform, while making additional investments in existing services and delivering new and innovative solutions.
Headquartered in Belgium, Swift’s international governance and oversight reinforces the neutral, global character of its cooperative structure. Swift’s global office network ensures an active presence in all the major financial centres.
