DTCC has hired Andrew Leonard as head of operational risk. Leonard was previously head of risk for Fannie Mae, the U.S. federal mortgage association, from 2006 to 2009.
Leonard is the second financial heavyweight DTCC have hired in 2010. In April, the firm hired Andrew Douglas as head of public affairs in Europe. Douglas was previously head of SWIFTs securities research and development team and one of the architects of the Giovannini protocol.
In November 2009, DTCC also hired Anne T. Noonan to the position of managing director and chief systemic risk officer.
Noonan, Douglas and Leonard all hold new roles within DTCC. Leonard will report directly to Donald F. Donahue, DTCC chairman and chief executive officer.
Prior to Fannie Mae, Leonard was head of CIB Operational Risk at Wachovia Corp and global head of operational risk at Goldman Sachs
According to the DTCC announcement on Leonards appointment, the firm has been working with Ernst & Young to create a new risk program. DTCC has made a concerted effort in 2010 to increase access to counterparty information on its Trade Information Warehouse. Regulators from both the EU and the SEC see increased transparency as key to decreasing risk in the OTC derivatives market.
We are delighted that a person with Andys broad expertise will be leading operational risk at this critical juncture, said Donahue. While DTCC has an extremely strong record of managing during times of industry crisis and mitigating risk, as we did during the Lehman Brothers, Inc bankruptcy, there’s no question that we need to rise to an even higher level of performance.
Andy will play a key role in helping us transform DTCC in how we think about risk, how we manage it and how we achieve best in class risk capabilities to protect DTCCand the industry.