AFME Appoints New CEO

The Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) has announced today that it has appointed Adam Farkas to succeed long-standing Chief Executive, Simon Lewis.

Mr Farkas, 51, is currently Executive Director of the Paris-based European Banking Authority (EBA), one of the three European Supervisory Authorities. He has held this post since 2011. In this role he has been responsible for the day-to-day running of the 200-person organisation. Prior to that he was the Chairman of the Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority from 2009-2010, and also held various senior central banking and private sector positions between 1997-2009.

Commenting on the appointment, AFME Chairman, Michael Cole-Fontayn, said: “I am delighted that we have appointed someone of Adam’s stature and experience. We carried out an extensive search of the pan-European market and Adam was clearly the outstandingly qualified candidate. His combination of leadership, technical and communications skills are an ideal combination for AFME and we look forward to welcoming him to our Board, as CEO.”

He continued: “I would like to take the opportunity to thank Simon for all he has achieved during his nine years as AFME’s founding Chief Executive. In that time, he has overseen the development of AFME into a truly pan-European trade group with 80 people based in offices in London, Brussels and Frankfurt.”

Commenting, Simon Lewis said: “I am delighted to hand over the reins to Adam. He is widely respected internationally, with the right experience and personal style and I am sure he will be a fine leader of AFME in the next stage of its development. It has been a great privilege to lead AFME and we mark our tenth anniversary this autumn with a real sense of achievement.”

Commenting on his appointment, Adam Farkas said: “I am honoured and delighted to have been selected by AFME to take over from Simon and lead the organisation in the coming years. I look forward to continuing AFME's work towards a well-functioning and truly integrated European financial market."

Mr Farkas will take up his new role on 1 February 2020.

Adam Farkas is currently the Executive Director of the European Banking Authority (EBA), a role he has held since the authority was created as part of the European System of Financial Supervision in 2011. He was instrumental in setting up the operations of the EBA and holds responsibility for the overall management of the authority and its annual work programme. Prior to this appointment, Adam Farkas served as the executive Chairman of the Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority with responsibility for banking, markets and insurance supervision between 2009-2010.

From 2001-2009 he worked in the private sector as co-CEO of CIB Bank, a subsidiary of the Intesa Group and later as CEO of Allianz Bank, an Allianz Group subsidiary in Budapest. He started his career as an Assistant Professor at the Budapest University of Economic Sciences. He was also a consultant to various financial institutions in Budapest and London, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) between 1991-1997. He then became Managing Director and Member of the Board at the National Bank of Hungary between 1997-2001, where he was responsible for reserve management, open market operations, treasury, and government banking services.