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In a press release issued today (May 6, 2020): the Geneva, Switzerland-based Libra Association made the official announcement that it had chosen its first Chief Executive Officer in Stuart Levey. It should be noted, however, that the duties of this CEO role have not been explicitly detailed as of yet.

Stuart Levey possesses a combination of public and private sector experience. He is currently the Chief Legal Officer at HSBC Holdings, however he is stepping down from this role at some point during the summer this year.  Before this, Levey assumed the role of ‘under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence’ at the U.S. Department of the Treasury during the Bush and Obama administrations.

“I am honored to join the Libra Association as it charts a bold path forward to harness the power of technology to transform the global payments landscape… I look forward to working closely with governments, regulators, and all of our stakeholders to realize this vision,” - Stuart. Levey (Libra Association: incoming CEO)

Between his public and private sector experience (both at senior or executive levels) it can be assumed that Stuart Levey is something of an expert in the field of financial security and the prevention / intervention of financial crimes and misconduct. According to the press release: “Mr. Levey brings to the Association a wealth of leadership experience in the public and private sectors cutting across banking, regulatory policy and national security issues.”.

Levey hasn’t featured heavily in the news for a while, with one of the top stories returned upon searching coming from 2016: when he delivered a speech at Sibos (a financial technology conference located in Geneva). Here, he reportedly called for greater unity between governments and banking institutions with the aim of reforming measures to combat and prevent financial crimes.

"[Stuart’s] unique experience allows him to bring a wealth of knowledge in banking, finance, regulatory policy and national security to the Association and strike the right balance between innovation and regulation… Stuart shares our vision for using blockchain technology to deliver a more open, inclusive and high-functioning payment system that puts crypto in the hands of billions around the world.” - Katie Haun (General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, Libra Association board member)

Libra Applies For Swiss Financial License

The press release also references the Libra Association’s recent application to FINMA (Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority) for a ‘payment system license’, and how “Mr. Levey’s leadership will help ensure our vision for innovation, inclusion, compliance and competition can be realized.”.

Announced April 16, 2020: Libra Association describes its FINMA license application as “an important milestone” representing the beginning of a shift from conceptual, planning and announcement phases - towards “a more operational phase of the project”.

Another update mentioned in this release is the fact that the association has published an updated white paper online, as well as announcing that “the near-term operating expenses of the Libra Association have now been funded by its members.”.

The whitepaper includes:

“a robust framework for financial compliance and network-wide risk management, as well as strong standards for anti-money laundering, combating the financing of terrorism, and the prevention of illicit activities.”

More About The Libra Association

Libra Association, first announced back in 2019, has since been plagued with obstacles which have helped to delay the launch of Libra. This includes legislation instigated by regulatory authorities such as the SEC, in addition to negative PR surrounding Facebook including the Cambridge Analytica scandal and its 2018 senate hearing.

Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum: the eponymous Libra token is to be pegged to a basket of fiat currencies to ensure a stable, non-volatile value - whilst not strictly being a ‘stablecoin’.

Following these events, the association faced a mass exodus of founding members - which took place between late 2019 and early 2020. This included founding members: PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, eBay, Stripe, Mercado Pago and Brooking Holdings. The last member to leave during this period was Vodafone in January 2020.

Current and remaining members of the Libra association include: PayU, Calibra (Facebook subsidiary), Uber, Shopify, Lyft, Farfetch, Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, and more.

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