Libra Association appoints Robert Werner as general counsel

The Libra Association, an independent member organization based in Geneva, announced the appointment of Robert Werner as its General Counsel. He brings a wealth of regulatory, financial crime compliance and enforcement experience from his work in both the public and private sectors.

Prior to joining the Libra Association, Werner was the founder and CEO of GRH Consulting and held leadership positions at several world-renowned financial institutions, including HSBC and Goldman Sachs, where he was the Enterprise Executive for Policy, Privacy and Regulatory Relations, in addition to heading financial crime compliance for Merrill Lynch. Previously, heserved at the highest levels of the United States Department of the Treasury as the Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, (OFAC), Senior Counsel to the Under Secretary of the Treasury, Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, and Assistant General Counsel for Enforcement and Intelligence in the Office of the General Counsel.

On April 16, 2020 the Libra Association formally initiated the payment system licensing process with FINMA (Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority), an important milestone as the Libra Association moves to a more operational phase of the project. The Libra Association membership is comprised of geographically distributed and diverse businesses and nonprofit organizations working to create a blockchain-based payment system supporting financial inclusion and responsible financial services innovation. «We work to transform the global payments landscape to empower billions of people», said Werner. «I have dedicated my career to combating financial crime and helping complex organizations achieve regulatory compliance, both in government and in the private sector. I look forward to meaningfully contributing to such an impactful project», he adds.