The payments industry is regularly filled with a plethora of hirings and departures, Payment Expert’s recruitment round-up checks in with all the updates.
Wirecard deepens compliance focus
Wirecard has enhanced its focus on compliance with the appointment of Dr. James H. Freis as Chief Compliance Officer effective 1 July, 2020.
Joining the company’s Group Management Board, he will be responsible for the newly created department “Integrity, Legal and Compliance”. The Legal, Contracts and Compliance functions will be bundled in this department.
James Freis has been responsible for compliance at Deutsche Börse AG, Frankfurt, since 2014. Prior to this, he worked for the international law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Washington DC. Between 2007 and 2012, he was Director of the United States Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), where he was a senior US government official responsible for the regulation of financial institutions.
Thomas Eichelmann, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, said: “The business model of Wirecard AG is sustainable and highly profitable. With the resolutions adopted, we are setting the course for a continued successful future of the company.
“In particular, I am personally delighted that with Dr. James Freis I have been able to win an internationally recognized compliance expert for Wirecard AG. On the basis of the organizational and personnel changes that have now been agreed, the Supervisory Board has confidence in the Management Board and its Chairman.”
Markus Braun, Chief Executive Officer, added: “This reorganization lays the foundation for the next growth phase of Wirecard AG, which I am extremely pleased about. I would like to apologize to all our shareholders, customers, partners and employees for the turbulence of the past weeks and months. Wirecard is and will remain a sustainably highly profitable company. We will do everything necessary to lead our company from operational success to operational success with a steady hand, but resolutely and unwaveringly.”
Alla Gancz becomes head of digital at Capco
Capco, the global technology and management consultancy, has confirmed the appointment of Alla Gancz as its new Head of Digital for the UK.
Gancz brings extensive domain expertise and knowledge of new digital technologies and fintech. She has over a decade’s experience leading and delivering digital transformation programmes and enterprise-wide strategic engagements in the financial services sector.
Her specific areas of focus include redesigning the customer experience and end-to-end digitalization through better use of emerging technologies.
Mike Ethelston, UK Managing Partner at Capco, commented: “Alla’s experience working with business and technology stakeholders to transform customer experiences and reinvent operating models will be invaluable, both as we build on the success of our UK Digital practice and, crucially, as we help our clients navigate through the present global crisis and reshape their businesses in readiness for the post-pandemic ‘new normal.’
“The sudden enforced shift to a virtual marketplace means that the digital aspirations of financial institutions have never been more urgent or business critical. Working closely with their colleagues across our different domain practices, our Digital team can provide the tools, support and strategic guidance that firms need to reorient their businesses and build for the future.”
Commenting on her new role, Alla Gancz added: “Our UK Digital team is taking a leading role as firms look to adapt and enhance their services and capabilities during this period of intense disruption. It goes without saying that COVID-19 has driven home the importance of customer-centricity, agility, resilience and efficiency within financial services.
“Our designers, engineers and strategists are ideally placed to help our clients shape and execute digital enablement programs and embrace new ways of working, ensuring they will emerge stronger as ‘new normal’ business models take shape over the coming months.”
CLS appoints Thomas Barkhuff as CIO
CLS, a market infrastructure group delivering settlement, processing and data solutions, has confirmed the appointment of Thomas Barkhuff as Chief Information Officer.
He will report to Chief Executive Officer Marc Bayle de Jessé and serve as a member of the Executive Management Committee.
Barkhuff will oversee CLS’ technology and information security strategy and operations. He will be responsible for ensuring the continued delivery of stable, resilient and effective IT services, applications and infrastructure, commensurate with CLS’s role as a systemically important financial market infrastructure.
He will also play a central role in supporting CLS’ efforts to continue delivering market-wide solutions that provide transparency, mitigate risk and enable business growth for the FX market.
Commenting on the appointment, Marc Bayle de Jessé, Chief Executive Officer at CLS, said: “Tom’s appointment is of critical importance to CLS. A robust technology platform has always been at the core of CLS, both for our settlement services and now CLSNet, the first global FX market enterprise application running on blockchain in production.
“Tom will oversee the continued implementation of CLS’s multi-year program to deliver a single platform supporting CLSSettlement, CLSNow and CLSClearedFX as well as the further development of CLSNet.”
Thomas Barkhuff, Chief Information Officer at CLS, added: “As the FX market continues to undergo structural and regulatory change, technology plays a crucial role in the evolution of market infrastructures.
“CLS has successfully adopted existing and new technologies to bring innovative solutions to the FX industry in settlement, processing and data. In partnership with the Technology division, I look forward to further developing our infrastructure to support our clients and the market.”
