2024: Top five movers and shakers stories of the year
2024 has witnessed major leadership shifts at financial institutions globally, including new chairs, global banking CEOs, and key departures and retirements.
Here, FinTech Futures highlights five of the top movers and shakers stories of 2024, featuring HSBC, Temenos, Standard Chartered and more.
Ozone API appoints former Virgin Money CEO Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia as new board chair
Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia named chair of the board at Ozone API
In February, UK-based open banking tech provider Ozone API appointed Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia as its new board chair.
Gadhia has extensive leadership experience gained from some of the UK’s biggest financial institutions. For over 10 years she was the CEO of Virgin Money, during which time she led the company’s acquisition and successful integration of Northern Rock and the launch of Virgin Money’s current account offering.
Huw Davies, Ozone API’s co-founder and co-CEO, states Gadhia’s “unparalleled expertise and vision will offer huge benefit to Ozone API at this pivotal point in our journey”, claiming the fintech is now ideally positioned to expedite its planned expansion.
Temenos concludes CEO search with appointment of Jean-Pierre Brulard
Core banking software heavyweight Temenos concluded its extended search for a new CEO in April with the appointment of Jean-Pierre Brulard.
Brulard moved from VMware, a US-based cloud computing and virtualisation technology company, where he is credited with migrating the business model to a subscription-based, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model.
He also drove annual recurring revenue (ARR) and revenue growth, which was a “critical factor in his appointment” as CEO, according to Temenos’ non-executive chairman, Thibault de Tersant.
JP Morgan Payments head Takis Georgakopoulos to step down after 17 years at the bank
Takis Georgakopoulos departs JP Morgan Payments (Image: LinkedIn)
In June, Takis Georgakopoulos announced that he was stepping down from his role as global head of JP Morgan Payments, a position he had held for the past seven years, stating he had “decided to pursue a very exciting opportunity outside the firm”.
First announced by Reuters, an internal memo revealed that Georgakopoulos, who first joined JP Morgan back in 2007 and also sat on the organisation’s operating committee, was set to leave the business.
Reflecting on the outgoing executive’s tenure, Jennifer Piepszak and Troy Rohrbaugh, co-heads of JP Morgan’s Commercial and Investment Bank (CIB), noted in the memo that Georgakopoulos has played a key role in helping JP Morgan Payments “become one of the firm’s biggest growth engines, increasing revenue and market share in a highly competitive environment”.
In response to Georgakopoulos relinquishing his position, Umar Farooq and Max Neukirchen have been appointed as co-heads of global payments.
HSBC concludes search for new Group CEO with Georges Elhedery appointment
HSBC concluded its search for a new Group CEO in July, appointing CFO Georges Elhedery to the role, with his official promotion taking effect in September. The search followed the April announcement of Noel Quinn’s departure after five years in the role.
Elhedery’s appointment followed a “rigorous selection process”, led by group chairman Sir Mark Tucker and the Nomination and Corporate Governance Committee, with support from an unnamed search firm.
Commenting on the bank’s new Group CEO, Tucker describes Elhedery as having a “track record of leading through change, driving growth, delivering simplification, containing costs and brings a strong focus on execution”.
Standard Chartered’s India and South Asia CEO Zarin Daruwala to retire
Zarin Daruwala to step down from Standard Chartered (Image: Standard Chartered)
In October it was announced that Zarin Daruwala, Standard Chartered’s India and South Asia CEO, was to retire from the leadership position, effective 1 April 2025.
Daruwala joined the bank in 2016, becoming its first female leader in India in 163 years. Prior to this, she led the corporate credit function of Mumbai-headquartered ICICI Bank for 27 years.
In its parting statement, Standard Chartered credits Daruwala’s leadership for cultivating its “strategic emphasis on cross-border solutions” in corporate and investment banking (CIB).
“Her leadership of the franchise has helped make India one of the largest markets for the group,” the statement notes.
