SWIFT will focus on leveraging cloud technology to deliver a single point of access to the worlds markets going forward following the departure of CEO Lazaro Campos at the end of this week, according to Gottfried Leibbrandt, the current head of marketing who will take over as CEO next Monday. Leibbrandt and Campos spoke today at SWIFTs Latin American Regional Conference in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
Part of the push in cloud technology will include SWIFT streamlining its services and adding new ones to create a platform of services including reconciliation, matching, compliance, translation, market practices, business intelligence, regulatory reporting, services for market infrastructures, EBAM, exception management, collateral management, risk management and cash management, according to Leibbrandt. The goal is for customers to see SWIFT as a platform rather than SWIFT as a provider of a narrow set of services, he said.
It is part of the industry cooperatives focus on continuous innovation: We are a company of evolutions, not revolutions, Leibbrandt said, echoing an oft-cited SWIFT mantra.
SWIFT announced in May that Campos was stepping down and that Leibbrandt would replace him at the end of this month. Campos said today that he told SWIFTs board in March that he intended to leave the firm after 25 years because he wanted to do something different.
Leibbrandt takes over the CEO role after Campos five years at the helm of the organization, during which time SWIFT had to lay off staff during the uncertainty of the financial crisis. 2008 shook us up, Campos said. SWIFT lost two years of growth in one month during the financial crisis, he added.
The organization ultimately reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) by 30%, and traffic growth has increased by an average of 7% over the past three years, Campos said.
Campos and Leibbrandt have worked closely together on the executive team of SWIFT. Campos said his successor was instrumental in developing the SWIFT 2015 strategy, the organizations five-year plan announced in 2010 that focused on reducing TCO, among other things.
The challenge has always been managing growth while keeping costs under control, Campos said.
Campos was appointed CEO in 2007 after Leonard Schrank, who was CEO for 15 years, left the organization. His appearance in Brazil this week will be his last as CEO of SWIFT.
According to Campos, he is departing an organization in good health. Weve never been better, he said.
Christopher Gohlke