SWIFT, the organization that offers a communications platform for more than 10,800 financial institutions and corporate customers in over 200 countries, has earlier today held its annual general meeting, resulting in a landmark event for Russia.
Eddie Astanin, chairman of the Executive Board of Russia’s National Settlement Depository, has become the first Russian candidate to join the SWIFT Board of Directors.
The ROSSWIFT Association had previously put forward Eddie Astanin as their candidate for the Board, on behalf of Russian financial institutions that use SWIFT. This time, his candidate application was successful.
Astanin now joins a 25-member Board of Directors whose functions include strategic manageme
nt and oversight of the SWIFT Executive Committee. His appointment comes along with three other new directors joining SWIFT’s Board: Patrick Tans from KBC in Belgium, Søren Haugaard from Danske Bank in Denmark, as well as Neo Bock Cheng from OCBC Bank in Singapore.
The incoming Directors from Belgium and Russia represent their respective user-communities, whereas the new Directors from Denmark and Singapore will hold amalgamated seats, meaning that they represent several countries on the SWIFT Board.
The National Settlement Depository is a part of the Moscow Exchange group of companies. It is the largest settlement depository in Russia, servicing on-exchange and OTC transactions with all types of debt and equity securities of Russian issuers and providing settlement services to participants in financial markets of the Russian Federation.
To view the official announcement about Astanin joining the SWIFT Board of Directors, click here.