Coface : Governance change – Declan Daly appointed Coface Group COO

Coface is pleased to announce that Declan Daly has been appointed Chief Operating Officer of the Coface Group, effective as of April 1, 2021. He will continue to report directly to Xavier Durand, the Coface Group's Chief Executive Officer, and will join the Group's Executive Committee.

In this newly created role, Declan will be responsible for furthering and accelerating Coface's transformation terms of service quality and operational efficiency across the Group.

This role is a part of Coface's 'Build to Lead' strategic plan. Building on Coface's previous 'Fit to Win' strategic plan, Build to Lead focuses on operational efficiency and customer service quality. The objective of this plan, launched in February 2020, is to position Coface as a leading player in the credit insurance sector, particularly in terms of service quality.

Declan has a very strong record of accomplishment in operations management as well as business transformation, both in the financial services sector and in the manufacturing industry.

Declan has been Chief Executive Officer of the Central & Eastern Europe Region at Coface since 2017. He started his career in software engineering at ABB in Ireland and Austria, before joining General Electric Company in 2000. In 2002, he became Operations Director of GE Money Bank in Switzerland, before being appointed Managing Director of GE Money Bank in Austria in 2006. In 2009, he joined the Western Union Financial Services management team as Vice President of the European region, heading the B2B business. In 2014, Declan was appointed CIO and member of the Executive Committee of Semperit Holding AG.

Declan, 54, holds a degree in electronic engineering from Dublin City University and an MBA from INSEAD.

Declan's successor will be announced at a later date. In the meantime, Jaroslaw Jaworski, CEO of Coface in Poland, will act as interim CEO of the Central & Eastern Europe region.