Ripple has hired Marcus Treacher as global head of strategic accounts, with a mandate to help implement and commercialise Ripple’s distributed financial technology.

Based in London, Treacher joins from HSBC, where he most recently held the position of global head of payments innovation. There he established a new team focused on solving customer challenges in digital payments, trade and supply chain through emerging fintech services. He supervised projects on establishing an alternative to traditional models for international mobile payments, and driving the adoption of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies.

Before his 12-year term at HSBC, he was head of eChannels for transaction services covering cash, trade and securities in the Emea region at Citi, which he joined in 1993 as IT executive after holding leadership positions at Accenture.

In the past six years, he has also served as a member of the global board of Swift, chairing the global advisory body for corporates, and most recently launched an innovation centre in collaboration with the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

“Marcus brings a tremendous amount of experience working within financial institutions to implement and create better systems for payments, and we’re proud to have him join our team,” says Ripple CEO and co-founder Chris Larsen. “Throughout his career he’s created new roles and initiatives to help banks stay ahead of the trends, and his insights and expertise will be invaluable as we help our customers improve the way value moves around the world.”

“Since the early days of the web, I’ve been exploring how new technology can impact and improve banking,” says Treacher. “Ripple stood out to me as a company that has both the vision and the expertise to truly transform the future of banking and payments, and I’m excited to join the team during this important moment in time where banks are starting to see the need for these advancements to better serve their customers.”

Ripple is a global provider of financial settlement solutions using distributed ledger technology.