SWIFT CEO Joins XBRL Board

SWIFT, the financial messaging provider for more than 8,500 institutions, and XBRL US, the nonprofit consortium for XML business reporting standards in the U.S. marketplace, announced today that Chris Church, SWIFT CEO of Americas and Global Head of Securities, is joining the board of directors for XBRL US.

The board of directors provides oversight to XBRL US, which is responsible for developing the dictionary of reporting elements in XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language) format, used by the business information supply chain to prepare, publish, exchange and analyze financial statements and the information they contain. SWIFT will play a key role in providing technical and business expertise for standards development and extending the reach of XBRL standards formats through the entire SWIFT community.

“SWIFT is joining the board of directors for XBRL US to reaffirm its commitment to work with the industry to define standards, shape market practice and develop solutions to issues of mutual interest,” said Church in a company release. “The work XBRL US does in facilitating the reporting of public company filings, combined with SWIFT’s expertise and presence in the financial sector, will substantially increase automation in activities such as corporate actions, financial disclosure filings and accounting reports,” he added.

“SWIFT’s presence on our board of directors will enhance the overall adoption of XBRL in the U.S. and globally with the co-operative’s 8,500 institutions worldwide,” said Mark Bolgiano, President and CEO, XBRL US, in the release. "The appointment of Chris Church furthers our commitment to work on the use of structured data in the capital markets. Chris’s experience in this area will serve us well as we develop new tools and dictionaries of terms for XBRL reporting,” he added.

Church brings more than 20 years of experience in the financial services sector to the XBRL US board of directors. He joined SWIFT in August 2008 as Chief Executive Americas and Global Head of Securities from BT Global Financial Services, where he served as Managing Director of Radianz Services for approximately two years. Church was part of the executive team that founded Radianz in 2000, taking on the role of Head of Global Sales & Marketing, until its acquisition by BT in 2005. Previously, Church held senior positions at Reuters in both London and the U.S.