London-based financial services provider Finastra named Chris Walters as chief executive Monday, effective immediately. 

Finastra provides bank technology to many of the world’s largest banks, including Lloyds Bank, First Citizens Bank and Vystar Credit Union.

Walters, who succeeds Simon Paris, will work with Paris over the “next few weeks” to transition into the leadership role, a Finastra spokesperson told Bank Automation News.  

Walters joins Finastra from technology learning platform Pluralsight where he served as CEO for nearly a decade, according to a Monday Finastra release. He also previously held the CEO title at wealth management solutions provider Avantax. 

Simon, who has served as Finastra’s CEO for nearly 10 years, plans to depart Finastra “to pursue new challenges,” the spokesperson said. 

State of Finastra

Simon leaves Finastra following the company’s November cybersecurity breach. 

Late last year, the tech provider identified suspicious activity in its internally hosted Secure File Transfer Platform, according to a Finastra statement provided to BAN in November. Finastra has not disclosed which of its more than 8,000 financial institutions clients were affected by the breach. 

Walters takes the helm as the tech provider recently made the following moves: 

• $434 million First Pacific Bank selected Finastra as its FedNow service provider in September; and 

• Finastra appointed Andrew Bateman as its executive vice president of lending in September. 

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