Europay International's board of directors has appointed Louis-Noel Joly, a prominent retail banker, as director and chief executive.
Mr. Joly, 57, will replace Ron H. Williams, Europay's founding chief, in January. Mr. Williams, a 30-year veteran of National Westminster Bank of London, has held the post since the company's inception in September 1992.
Mr. Joly comes from Societe General, one of France's leading commercial banks and a Visa issuer. Europay is an affiliate of MasterCard International.
Eugene Lockhart, MasterCard's chief executive and former chief executive of England's Midland Bank, served on several European banking committees with Mr. Joly in the 1980s. Mr. Lockhart said he is "pleased with the appointment" of Mr. Joly, who has "extensive payment industry experience."
Mr. Joly, who earned a master's degree at the University of California at Berkeley, understands the American market as well as the European, Mr. Lockhart said.
Marc Van Wauwe, secretary general of Europay, the Waterloo, Belgium- based payment system company, said selecting a banker is significant, because in Europe "banks are very much in charge of payment systems. That policy will be continued."
Though Mr. Van Wauwe said Europay is a successful company, with more than 120 million cards issued throughout Europe and nearly all European banks signed up, he is looking forward to the new chief's arrival. "We're getting a fresh wind," he said.
One welcome change may be the conquest of Societe General, which does not issue Europay-branded cards.
Still, Mr. Van Wauwe added, "it's not our intention to radically change." Mr. Williams will work alongside Mr. Joly for the first six months of his term to smooth the transition before he retires.
Mr. Joly, who's been in French banking for almost 25 years, joined Societe General in 1982 as deputy general manager in charge of the technical services department and as a member of the management committee.
Since then, he has served as either chairman or a member of the managing committee of several national and international payment bodies. He cofounded the Groupement des Cartes Bancaires, and was given France's National Merit Award and Agricultural Merit Award for his contributions to the business community.
Mr. Joly entered the French banking industry in 1971, with his first job at Caisse National de Credit Agricole as head of data processing. While there he became vice chairman of Eurocard France.
