Libra Network, former HSBC James Emmett becomes managing director

Libra Network has a new managing director: James Emmett, who will start working from October 1st.

Libra Network is the operational part of the Libra Association, the organization that brings together the companies that have chosen to support Libra, the cryptocurrency on which Facebook has been working for over a year. 

Who is James Emmett and what will he do for Libra?

James Emmett has a respectable curriculum, featuring a 25-year career at HSBC, one of the world’s leading financial services providers. This makes Emmett an expert in business, strategy and technology. 

In more detail, he was the CEO of HSBC Bank with leading roles in various “branches” of the company, in Europe, the UK, but also in Turkey and New York.

It is easy to see how his task will be to strengthen the use of Libra for financial purposes. 

Stuart Levey, CEO of the Libra Association, commented on the new appointment: 

“James is a first-class financial services executive with deep substantive expertise and operational experience. I am excited that he is joining us and confident that his leadership will help make Libra’s vision a reality”.

James added:

“As someone who is passionate about the opportunities for financial services and technology to make a real difference, I am delighted to be joining Libra Networks with a mission to enhance financial innovation and inclusion and to deliver the operationalization of the network”.

The challenge of Libra

Libra is in a delicate phase of its development. While studying a way to enter the market in line with international regulation, it must also defend itself against competition from other stablecoins. 

Tether, for example, seems unstoppable. And then there are the CBDCs, the digital currencies issued by central banks, on which far too many countries are now working. In short, Libra’s currency seems to have entered a race against time. A race that maybe Libra itself has unleashed. 

But Libra has on its side the possibility of being linked to Facebook and therefore already has two billion potential users worldwide. 

The challenge is to bring the financial system to everyone, even the so-called unbanked. Innovation and blockchain can make this possible. Libra believes in it.