Securities industry veteran Yawar Shah will leave the Swift board of directors after 16 years as chair.
Mark Buitenhek, currently deputy chair of the board, will fulfil the responsibilities of the chair until a new chairperson is elected by the Swift board of directors in coming months.
Shah is managing director in the institutional clients group at Citi, having worked at the New York-based bank since 2007.
Prior to this, he was executive vice president at J.P. Morgan, serving at J.P. Morgan from 1987 to 2007.
Commenting on his time on the Swift board, Yawar Shah says: “It has been an honour and privilege to serve the global financial community as chair of Swift and as a representative of the US community on the Swift board.
I am immensely proud of the cooperative’s many achievements in transforming the cross-border experience for both payments and securities, whilst upholding the highest levels of security, resilience and reliability.”
SWIFT CEO Javier Pérez-Tasso adds: “I would like to recognise Yawar’s many contributions to the Swift community over the years. I look forward to working together with the board through the leadership transition as we continue to deliver on our global vision for instant and frictionless transactions with the highest standards of operational excellence.”
In closing, Shah indicates that Swift is “in great shape” with strong financials, growing traffic, industry momentum around its strategy and exciting innovation ahead.
“At the end of a successful year and as we move to the next phase of strategic delivery it is the right time for me to retire from the role of chair and the board,” he says.
“I would like to thank Swift board colleagues from around the world for their continuing dedication and together with Swift’s management team, I am confident the cooperative remains in excellent shape for the years ahead.”
