Changing hats, April 2012

SFC opens central risk office
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), Hong Kong’s financial regulator, has set up a central risk and strategy unit, under the leadership of Bénédicte Nolens, who has been named senior director of risk and strategy. Nolens will report to the chief executive, Ashley Alder. Before joining the SFC on March 5, Nolens was head of compliance for the Asia-Pacific region at Credit Suisse, covering the investment banking, private banking and asset management operations. The new unit will identify and evaluate “significant risks facing the financial sector” and determine the SFC’s priorities in addressing them, the regulator said.

BOE deputy governor appointed CPSS Chair
Paul Tucker, deputy governor, financial stability, at the Bank of England (BoE), has been appointed chair of the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS) – a Bank for International Settlements (BIS) committee that sets standards for payment, clearing and securities settlement systems.

The appointment was made by the central bank governors of the Global Economy Meeting in Basel. Tucker was appointed for a three-year term, and will retain his position at the BoE.
He replaces William Dudley, president and chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, who served as CPSS chair from May 2009. Dudley was recently appointed chair of the Committee on the Global Financial System, another BIS committee.

CPSS recently worked closely with the International Organization of Securities Commissions to develop a set of risk standards for central counterparties. It also published a final set of guidelines for over-the-counter derivatives reporting and aggregation in January.

Tucker has held his current position at the BoE since March 2009, and is also a member of the monetary policy committee, financial policy committee and court of directors. He is also a member of the Financial Stability Board’s steering committee.

DME chief executive steps down
The Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) announced on March 7 that Thomas Leaver was to step down from his role as chief executive.

Leaver joined the DME as chief operating officer in 2006 and played a key role in the development and launch of the exchange in 2007. In 2008, he took on the role of chief executive and since then the exchange’s flagship DME Oman crude oil futures contract has grown to become the largest physically delivered crude oil futures contract in the world.

According to a statement from the DME, Leaver will depart to “pursue other interests” after a successor is found. The board of directors at the DME has appointed a transition committee, which is being supported by Leaver in finding a new chief executive.

Basel Committee’s Walter joins Ernst & Young
Stefan Walter, former secretary-general of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, has joined consulting firm Ernst & Young.

Walter left his Basel role in October 2011. At Basel, Walter oversaw the committee’s response to the subprime mortgage crash and ensuing financial crisis. The results include Basel 2.5 – a package of measures designed to better reflect risks held in bank trading books – and Basel III, a new regulatory framework for bank capital and liquidity due to be phased in from January 2013 onwards.

Walter joins Ernst & Young as a principal in its financial services regulatory management practice, based in New York, and will be responsible for leading the firm’s global bank supervisory and regulatory policy network. Speaking to ORR’s sister publication Risk, he said his role would include bringing together a diverse range of perspectives on regulatory change from experts in different jurisdictions.

His appointment follows a number of other high-level appointments by the firm, including Thomas Huertas, previously a member of the executive committee at the UK Financial Services Authority. Ernst & Young also recently hired Alvir Hoffmann, previously a deputy governor of the Banco Central do Brasil – Brazil’s central bank – and Hidekatsu Koishihara, a former regulator in the Japanese finance ministry.

Prior to becoming secretary-general of the Basel Committee, Walter spent 15 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where his work included leading policy development initiatives and managing the bank’s examination teams for market risk, liquidity risk and counterparty credit risk.

Ireland replaces credit institutions supervisor
The Central Bank of Ireland’s director of insurance supervision, Fiona Muldoon, has taken over responsibility for the supervision of credit institutions with effect from March 2, following Jonathan McMahon’s decision to return to the UK at the end of April.

Muldoon returned to Ireland in 2010 and joined the central bank last August, taking on the newly created role of head of insurance supervision. She has 25 years’ experience in the financial services industry, spending 17 years in progressively senior financial and general management positions at financial services company XL Group in Dublin, London and at group headquarters in Bermuda.

The central bank says this announcement will not have an impact on the divisions involved. “Fiona Muldoon will continue to operate as a director in the central bank with the support and expertise of the staff reporting to her,” a spokesperson says.

McMahon will continue to chair the Financial Stability Board group on deleveraging. He will also continue to be involved in the work related to the financial measures programme and other discrete projects, as well assisting Muldoon as she takes on her new responsibilities.