BIS announces Secretary General and Innovation Hub leadership appointments

• Véronique Sani appointed as Secretary General and member of BIS Executive Committee
• Karmela Holtgreve appointed Deputy Head of the BIS Innovation Hub and Head of Operations
• Miguel Díaz appointed Deputy Head of the BIS Innovation Hub and Head of Strategy

The Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) today announced the appointment of Véronique Sani as Secretary General. Her appointment takes effect on 1 December 2024 and is for a five-year term. Her appointment fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Monica Ellis, who has been Secretary General since 2017.

In her new role, Ms Sani will head the General Secretariat, one of the Bank's four main departments. As a member of the Bank's Executive Committee, she will play a key role contributing to the general management of the BIS and will have responsibility for the provision of corporate services within the BIS.

Ms Sani is currently President of Advasio Consulting and was most recently Chief Operating Officer of Natixis, the global financial services subsidiary of BPCE, the second largest banking group in France. In this role, she was responsible for the technology, operations, procurement, real estate and transformation strategy globally. She also serves as a board member and senior adviser of various companies. Prior to joining the BPCE group, she spent 16 years at Société Générale in senior leadership positions in India, New York and Paris, holding a number of global roles including Chief Executive Officer of the Global Solutions Centre, Global Head of OTC Derivatives Operations and Global Head of Equity Derivatives Operations. She has a master's degree in finance from HEC Grande École, Paris.

Ahead of Ms Ellis's retirement in December 2024, the Board took the opportunity to warmly thank her for her service to the Bank over many years and recognised her dynamic leadership and the key role she played in driving forward core elements of the ambitious Innovation BIS 2025 strategy.      

The BIS also announced two new senior leadership appointments in the BIS Innovation Hub. Karmela Holtgreve will be Deputy Head and Head of Operations and Miguel Díaz will be Deputy Head and Head of Strategy. Their appointments reflect the growth of the Innovation Hub, which in its first five years has expanded its global network to seven centres across the globe, fostering collaboration among public and private sector experts to support central banks and improve the functioning of the financial system.  

Ms Holtgreve is currently Director General Strategy and Innovation at the Deutsche Bundesbank. In this role, she is responsible for the overall transformation of the Bundesbank and is directly responsible for three main departments: innovation, transformation, and portfolio and strategy. She holds a diploma degree in political science from Goethe University Frankfurt and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid with a focus on International Relations and European politics.

Mr Díaz is currently the Head of the BIS Innovation Hub's Toronto Innovation Centre. In his current role, he is responsible for leading financial innovation projects and developing new technology to improve payments systems and financial market infrastructure.  He was previously Payment Systems and Market Infrastructures General Director at the Bank of Mexico. He holds a PhD in Business Economics from the University of Chicago.

BIS Management thanked Ross Leckow for his valuable service as Deputy Head of the Innovation Hub since 2019. Mr Leckow will leave the Bank at the end of August.

Notes to Editors:

The portfolio of the General Secretariat department at the BIS includes financial control, information services and management, human resources, real estate and facilities management, meeting services and the Board Secretariat.

The BIS Innovation Hub was created in 2019 to develop public goods in the technology space to support central banks and improve the functioning of the financial system. There are currently seven centres around the world and a global network of central bank experts on innovation. The BIS also has a strategic partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.