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CHAPS Co, the UK’s same day high-value payment system, which is used predominantly for international and wholesale payments, as well as critical retail, commercial and corporate payments processing £277 billion daily, announces today (27 September) two new additions to its board[1].
Noel Harwerth is the Senior Independent Director. She will focus on scheme governance and will bring a wealth of experience given her impressive record in financial services at the highest level. Noel is currently a Non-Executive Director of Standard Life PLC, The London Metal Exchange and Sirius Minerals. She is also Chair of GE Capital Bank Europe.
To further enhance the work that the scheme is doing to put the needs of all CHAPS users at the heart of its activities, CHAPS is pleased to welcome Marcus Treacher. He is currently Global Head of Strategic Accounts at Ripple, a distributed fintech company that offers global real time settlement. Marcus’ expertise and background in utilising technology to improve banking will allow CHAPS to accelerate its innovation agenda, as well as better engage with, and promote fairer access amongst, CHAPS’ Indirect Participants[2].
CHAPS has already made considerable progress in this area, having set up the Service User Group two years ago, providing Indirect Participants with a mechanism for sharing their views and shaping change. This enables CHAPS to listen first-hand to views of its users’, other than its Direct Participants. More information on the Service User Group can be found online.
Commenting on Noel’s and Marcus’ appointment, CHAPS Co Chair, Herta von Stiegel, said:
“I am delighted that Noel and Marcus have joined us. The decision to further increase the ‘bench strength’ of our Board is an integral part of our ongoing governance process. Over the last few years, CHAPS has increasingly recognised that a board composed of Independent Directors, in addition to the shareholder appointed directors, ensures that the scheme is well governed, but also that we are best serving our Direct Participants and all our diverse users – whether they are banks and multi-national businesses, or individuals purchasing a house or car.
Tim Fitzpatrick, CHAPS Co Chief Executive Officer, added:
“Noel and Marcus, with their considerable experience in financial services, add significant depth to an already strong board. We will capitalise on this as we press on with our ambitious plans to meet the challenges arising from new regulation and the ever increasing demands of our service.
“Just two months ago, CHAPS increased its operating hours by an hour and 40 minutes – taking on board user feedback, and giving users more time in the day to make critical payments. We are now heavily focussed on supporting the delivery of Structural Reform obligations and supporting the Payments Strategy Forum, particularly in the simplifying access to Schemes arena.”
As owner of the payment scheme, CHAPS performs an important role in co-ordinating and connecting all the separate parties of the high-value payments ‘eco-system’ from the Bank of England performing its supervisory role; SWIFT in providing the messaging standard, and the Direct Participants of the scheme.
Last year CHAPS processed a staggering £68 trillion, which is the equivalent of processing the UK’s GDP every six days. It processes 92% of all sterling value payments, with the vast majority (78%) being wholesale financial payments.
