payabl, eToro, FINMA and More: Executive Moves of the Week

by Tom Hazan
  • Executive moves that dominated the week's news.
Weekly Executive Roundup
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In June, we witness both stressful times and potential opportunities arising in the Forex, Crypto and Fintech universe. Let’s review the executives that have taken on new roles and challenges in our executive moves roundup of the week.

Banco Santander Names Hector Grisi as CEO

Banco Santander's Board recently announced that it has appointed Héctor Blas Grisi Checa as the next Group Chief Executive Officer of Banco Santander and will also be positioned as a Group Director.

The appointment, which is subject to customary approvals, will take effect from 1 January 2023. In the new position, he will report to the Board. Grisi is succeeding José Antonio Álvarez who has been an integral part of the bank since 2002. He was appointed Chief Financial Officer in 2004 and then Chief Executive Officer in January 2015.

Find out more about Banco Santander naming Hector Grisi as the new CEO.

INGOT’s Dubai CEO Adel Jibrin Departs within Four Months of Joining

The Chief Executive Officer for Dubai at INGOT Financial Brokerage, Adel Jibrin has stepped down from his role after less than four months.

Recently in last March, Jibrin was recruited by the broker and the hiring coincided with the opening of the new representative office in Dubai. The regional move was pushed to spearhead its business activities.

After Jibrin’s resignation, it is unclear who will take over the office in Dubai. Meanwhile, the ex-CEO is an experienced financial services industry executive with more than a decade of experience.

Read more about Adel Jibrin departing his role as CEO at INGOT after just four months.

payabl. Onboards Theodoros Hadjistyllis as Cyprus Country Manager

payabl. hired Theodoros Hadjistyllis as its Cyprus Country Manager and is based in Limassol. Being a financial industry expert, he brings a decade of experience with several big names.

Before this new role with payabl., he worked at RCB Bank for more than four years. In May 2018, he joined the Cypriot bank as the Onboarding & Controlling Manager for Acquiring & Digital Payment Services. However, he recently parted as its Deputy Head of Merchant Acquiring & Digital Payment Services.

Discover more about payabl onboarding Theodoros Hadjistyllis as the Cyprus Country Manager.

eToro Promotes Yael Elbaz to Financial Crime’s Senior Director

eToro elevated Yael Elbaz to the position of Senior Director of Financial Crime and DPO. Located in Israel, she has already taken on the role. Though, previously she was the broker’s Group AML Compliance Officer.

Having joined eToro in June 2018 in the role of EU AML Compliance Officer, she was at first based in Cyprus. After four years, she moved to Israel and stepped up in a new role to oversee the group’s compliance efforts.

Learn more about eToro promoting Yael Elbaz to the position of Senior Director of Financial Crime.

FINMA Executive Board Welcomes Marianne Bourgoz Gorgé and Alain Girard

The Board of Directors of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, FINMA, announced that it had appointed Marianne Bourgoz Gorgé and Alain Girard as new members of the Executive Board.

According to the press release, Bourgoz Gorgé will begin hi role as Head of the Asset Management division on 1 September, while Girard will take on his role leading the Recovery and Resolution division on 1 August.

Find out more about the FINMA welcoming Marianne Bourgoz Gorgé and Alain Girard.

Dr Michelle Buontempo Becomes MFSA's Acting CEO

The Malta Financial Services Authority, announced the appointment of Dr Michelle Mizzi Buontempo as the Acting Chief Executive Officer effective from 15 June.

Temporarily, she is taking over from Joseph Gavin who is currently 'indisposed'. However, the MFSA has not provided any justification for Gavin’s absence or any specified timeline about his return.

Read more about Dr Michelle Buontempo becoming the acting CEO at MFSA.

Arun Lakhani Leaves Equiti Capital

Finance Magnates has learned that Arun Lakhani is leaving Equiti Capital after serving for 2 years as a Partner Solutions Manager. According to an update via LinkedIn, the former employee mentioned that Tuesday 14 June was his last day at Equiti Capital.

Prior to his experience with Equiti Capital, Lakhani worked in Gold-i Ltd as a Business Development Manager for almost a year and spent a short time as a Senior Support Engineer. Moreover, he worked as Technical Support Engineer for more than four years.

Discover more about Arun Lakhani making his exit from Equiti Capital.

Themis Christou Departs from M4Markets

In a LinkedIn post earlier on Tuesday, Themis Christou announced his exit from M4Markets. Christou was onboarded by M4Markets in 2020 and worked at the company for close on two years as the Group Head of Marketing.

Over the time, he spent at M4Markets, Christou worked in collaboration with senior management and facilitated the company’s expansion across different regions. Prior to M4Markets, he served Tickmill for in excess of four years. At Tickmill, Christou fulfilled different key senior-level positions including Global Head of Marketing Projects.

Learn more about Themis Christou's departure from M4Markets.

Equinix Appoints Two Executives to Its Board of Directors

At the beginning of the week, Equinix announced that it had appointed Fidelma Russo and Jeetu Patel to the Board of Directors. According to the press release, Russo will serve as a member of the Board’s Audit Committee, and Patel will join the Nominating and Governance Committee.

Russo drives the innovation agenda and technology roadmap at HPE, overseeing design and development of the portfolio of products and services to deliver GreenLake edge-to-cloud customer experiences. On top of that, Patel represents Cisco as the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Security and Collaboration. Aside from leading strategy and development, he is also responsible for this multibillion-dollar portfolio’s P&L.

Find out more about Equinix appointing two new executives to its Board of Directors.

ComplyAdvantage Selects Mark Watson as CTO

ComplyAdvantage announced that it has chosen Mark Watson to be its Chief Technology Officer (CTO). In his new position, Watson will facilitate the expansion of ComplyData, the company’s proprietary knowledge graph.

The newly appointed Chief Technology Officer will lead ComplyAdvantage’s technical innovation and engineering efforts to expand its operations. According to ComplyAdvantage, Watson will play an important role in the company’s growth plans.

With more than a quarter of a century's experience in technology management, Watson is one of the most prominent names in the corporate sector. He has joined ComplyAdvantage from WorldRemit where he held the position of Chief Technology Officer from 2018.

Read more about ComplyAdvantage selecting Mark Watson as its new CTO.

In June, we witness both stressful times and potential opportunities arising in the Forex, Crypto and Fintech universe. Let’s review the executives that have taken on new roles and challenges in our executive moves roundup of the week.

Banco Santander Names Hector Grisi as CEO

Banco Santander's Board recently announced that it has appointed Héctor Blas Grisi Checa as the next Group Chief Executive Officer of Banco Santander and will also be positioned as a Group Director.

The appointment, which is subject to customary approvals, will take effect from 1 January 2023. In the new position, he will report to the Board. Grisi is succeeding José Antonio Álvarez who has been an integral part of the bank since 2002. He was appointed Chief Financial Officer in 2004 and then Chief Executive Officer in January 2015.

Find out more about Banco Santander naming Hector Grisi as the new CEO.

INGOT’s Dubai CEO Adel Jibrin Departs within Four Months of Joining

The Chief Executive Officer for Dubai at INGOT Financial Brokerage, Adel Jibrin has stepped down from his role after less than four months.

Recently in last March, Jibrin was recruited by the broker and the hiring coincided with the opening of the new representative office in Dubai. The regional move was pushed to spearhead its business activities.

After Jibrin’s resignation, it is unclear who will take over the office in Dubai. Meanwhile, the ex-CEO is an experienced financial services industry executive with more than a decade of experience.

Read more about Adel Jibrin departing his role as CEO at INGOT after just four months.

payabl. Onboards Theodoros Hadjistyllis as Cyprus Country Manager

payabl. hired Theodoros Hadjistyllis as its Cyprus Country Manager and is based in Limassol. Being a financial industry expert, he brings a decade of experience with several big names.

Before this new role with payabl., he worked at RCB Bank for more than four years. In May 2018, he joined the Cypriot bank as the Onboarding & Controlling Manager for Acquiring & Digital Payment Services. However, he recently parted as its Deputy Head of Merchant Acquiring & Digital Payment Services.

Discover more about payabl onboarding Theodoros Hadjistyllis as the Cyprus Country Manager.

eToro Promotes Yael Elbaz to Financial Crime’s Senior Director

eToro elevated Yael Elbaz to the position of Senior Director of Financial Crime and DPO. Located in Israel, she has already taken on the role. Though, previously she was the broker’s Group AML Compliance Officer.

Having joined eToro in June 2018 in the role of EU AML Compliance Officer, she was at first based in Cyprus. After four years, she moved to Israel and stepped up in a new role to oversee the group’s compliance efforts.

Learn more about eToro promoting Yael Elbaz to the position of Senior Director of Financial Crime.

FINMA Executive Board Welcomes Marianne Bourgoz Gorgé and Alain Girard

The Board of Directors of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, FINMA, announced that it had appointed Marianne Bourgoz Gorgé and Alain Girard as new members of the Executive Board.

According to the press release, Bourgoz Gorgé will begin hi role as Head of the Asset Management division on 1 September, while Girard will take on his role leading the Recovery and Resolution division on 1 August.

Find out more about the FINMA welcoming Marianne Bourgoz Gorgé and Alain Girard.

Dr Michelle Buontempo Becomes MFSA's Acting CEO

The Malta Financial Services Authority, announced the appointment of Dr Michelle Mizzi Buontempo as the Acting Chief Executive Officer effective from 15 June.

Temporarily, she is taking over from Joseph Gavin who is currently 'indisposed'. However, the MFSA has not provided any justification for Gavin’s absence or any specified timeline about his return.

Read more about Dr Michelle Buontempo becoming the acting CEO at MFSA.

Arun Lakhani Leaves Equiti Capital

Finance Magnates has learned that Arun Lakhani is leaving Equiti Capital after serving for 2 years as a Partner Solutions Manager. According to an update via LinkedIn, the former employee mentioned that Tuesday 14 June was his last day at Equiti Capital.

Prior to his experience with Equiti Capital, Lakhani worked in Gold-i Ltd as a Business Development Manager for almost a year and spent a short time as a Senior Support Engineer. Moreover, he worked as Technical Support Engineer for more than four years.

Discover more about Arun Lakhani making his exit from Equiti Capital.

Themis Christou Departs from M4Markets

In a LinkedIn post earlier on Tuesday, Themis Christou announced his exit from M4Markets. Christou was onboarded by M4Markets in 2020 and worked at the company for close on two years as the Group Head of Marketing.

Over the time, he spent at M4Markets, Christou worked in collaboration with senior management and facilitated the company’s expansion across different regions. Prior to M4Markets, he served Tickmill for in excess of four years. At Tickmill, Christou fulfilled different key senior-level positions including Global Head of Marketing Projects.

Learn more about Themis Christou's departure from M4Markets.

Equinix Appoints Two Executives to Its Board of Directors

At the beginning of the week, Equinix announced that it had appointed Fidelma Russo and Jeetu Patel to the Board of Directors. According to the press release, Russo will serve as a member of the Board’s Audit Committee, and Patel will join the Nominating and Governance Committee.

Russo drives the innovation agenda and technology roadmap at HPE, overseeing design and development of the portfolio of products and services to deliver GreenLake edge-to-cloud customer experiences. On top of that, Patel represents Cisco as the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Security and Collaboration. Aside from leading strategy and development, he is also responsible for this multibillion-dollar portfolio’s P&L.

Find out more about Equinix appointing two new executives to its Board of Directors.

ComplyAdvantage Selects Mark Watson as CTO

ComplyAdvantage announced that it has chosen Mark Watson to be its Chief Technology Officer (CTO). In his new position, Watson will facilitate the expansion of ComplyData, the company’s proprietary knowledge graph.

The newly appointed Chief Technology Officer will lead ComplyAdvantage’s technical innovation and engineering efforts to expand its operations. According to ComplyAdvantage, Watson will play an important role in the company’s growth plans.

With more than a quarter of a century's experience in technology management, Watson is one of the most prominent names in the corporate sector. He has joined ComplyAdvantage from WorldRemit where he held the position of Chief Technology Officer from 2018.

Read more about ComplyAdvantage selecting Mark Watson as its new CTO.

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