Mike Fish, chief information officer and head of information technology and operations, has decided to retire after 15 years at Swift. He will leave on January 31 2015.

Swift is starting the search for his successor, which will be conducted on both an internal and external basis.

"I am extremely grateful to Fish for his contribution to the business in this demanding role,” said Gottfried Leibbrandt, CEO of Swift.

“He has steered this important function through an extended period of intense change, meeting a number of key new technological challenges while always maintaining consistent operational excellence and ensuring we never veered away from our core mission.”

Fish was appointed chief information officer at Swift in July 2006. He has been responsible for overseeing important transformation projects such as the SwiftNet messaging platform migration and the construction and go-live of a new operating centre in Switzerland. 

"Over the time I have been here, volumes and users have grown consistently; our services and functionalities have increased; and the challenges and complexities have multiplied,” said Fish.

"It has been a privilege to hold this position for the past several years, leading an ever expanding and ever more accomplished team of professionals."

He joined Swift in 1999 from US telecom firm Ameritech, where he held various senior management positions in IT.