BNY Mellon has appointed Christopher Mager to lead a newly-created global innovation group in its treasury services business.

“It’s clear that the global payments industry is undergoing a dramatic change as new technologies are being introduced, global payments are rapidly increasing, and banks are under unprecedented pressure to improve the payments experience they deliver to their clients,” says Ian Stewart, executive vice-president of BNY Mellon and chief executive officer of the treasury services business. “The global innovation group was created to help us meet the challenges of this period of transformation.”

Mager, a managing director, is responsible for driving treasury services’ global innovation process, which includes management of strategic innovation projects, identifying and screening promising business concepts, evaluating and implementing new technology, assessing financial technology firms, and developing and guiding the group’s thought leadership around emerging payment technologies such as blockchain and distributed ledgers.

He reports to Anthony Brady, managing director and global head of product management.

Mager was previously BNY Mellon’s head of market segments in the treasury services business, with responsibilities that included leading the strategic development, product development and sales and marketing strategy for several global markets including asset managers, broker-dealers, insurance, healthcare and the emerging payment technology segment.  He has held a number of other leadership positions in global product management and sales during his more than 20 years in treasury services.