The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) has appointed Eric Litvack as its newest Chairman of its Board of Directors, succeeding Stephen O’Connor as of January 1, 2015.
Presently, Mr. Litvack serves as the Managing Director and Head of Regulatory Strategy for Société Générale’s Global Banking and Investor Solutions operations. He has held this role at Société Générale for nearly three decades, in addition to a variety of other roles.
Mr. Litvack has been on the ISDA board since 2006 and was appointed as Vice-Chairman of the Board in 2012. He will be succeeding Stephen O’Connor, a fellow Board member since 2008, who is relinquishing the role to focus more on ISDA’s strategic initiatives.
During Mr. O’Connor’s tenure as Chairman, ISDA led the industry through many transformational events, such as the adoption and implementation of clearing, trade reporting and trade Execution mandates, benchmark reform, margin requirements for non-cleared swaps, and more recently, measures designed to reduce the risk that market participants are ‘too big to fail’.
According to Scott O’Malia, ISDA’s Chief Executive Officer, in a recent statement on the appointment, “Steve has been a terrific leader of and ambassador for ISDA over the past few years. I have had the opportunity to work with him while at the CFTC and then since joining ISDA this past August. We thank him for his many contributions.
“I look forward to working closely with Eric Litvack on the key issues in our markets, including the new capital framework, margin requirements for non-cleared swaps, cross-border harmonization and trade execution rules. He and I share a common vision that ISDA has a vital role to play in ensuring the global derivatives markets remain safe, efficient and liquid so that firms around the world are able to manage their risks. ISDA will undoubtedly benefit greatly from his experience and expertise,” added Mr. O’Malia in an accompanying statement.
“It has been a great privilege to serve as ISDA’s chair. The past three years have been a period of great change and progress for ISDA, and I am proud to have played a part in it. ISDA’s work in documentation, netting, Risk Management , capital, margin, policy, education and advocacy remain very important for market participants. And with the significant amount of expertise we offer on a broad range of derivatives issues, ISDA remains an important resource for policy-makers,” reiterated Stephen O’Connor, who has been Chairman since 2011.
According to Mr. Litvack, “As I take on this new role, I would also like to thank Steve O’Connor for his leadership of ISDA over the past few years. He has played an important role at ISDA and we wish him well in the future.”
