The Libra Association continues to staff up, adding industry veteran Saumya Bhavsar as general counsel of its payment subsidiary.
Bhavsar brings two decades of experience in financial services, with expertise in legal, regulatory, and compliance work.
Most recently, she was global head of regulatory affairs and group head of data protection office at Credit Suisse. She has also had stints at UBS and Euroclear Bank as well as at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, where she was a senior attorney in the enforcement and compliance division.
Says Bhavsar: “Along with many in the banking industry, I have been watching the Libra project from afar and believe the Libra payment system is poised to transform the industry and enable unprecedented financial innovation and inclusion at a time when we need it most.”
The Facebook-backed Libra Association has been building up a roster of compliance specialists as it seeks to navigate its way through a tough regulatory environment.
The project has faced huge blow-back from watchdogs around the world since it was first unveiled last year, leading to many of its biggest payments members - including Visa, Mastercard and PayPal - to jump ship.
In May HSBC chief legal officer and former US treasury department official Stuart Levey was tapped as the association's first CEO, while financial crime veteran Robert Werner has been brought in as general counsel and Credit Suisse's head of financial crime compliance, Sterling Daines, is in as chief compliance officer.
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