Avaloq has hired a digital specialist from Credit Suisse to run its product management. The appointment is the first notable move since the Zurich software firm sold a stake to private equity.

Swiss banking software provider Avaloq said it is hiring Jiten Varu as head of product management and a member of its executive management under Chief Executive Francisco Fernandez.

Avaloq said Varu's hire is a bid to cash in on opportunities from digitization's transformation of financial services.

Varu has been the chief information officer at Credit Suisse's private bank for the past nearly three years. He will report to Thomas Beck, Avaloq's technology chief. 

Private Equity Move

Prior to the Swiss bank, Varu was a managing director at Swissquote and began his career at ABN Amro in London. At Avaloq, he joins a 24-person executive board which operates underneath top management.

«With his industry knowledge and technology foresight, Avaloq will exploit new opportunities opened up by the digital transformation,» Beck said.

Varu's appointment is the first notable personnel move since New York-based Warburg Pincus bought more than one-third of Avaloq in a deal which values the firm at 1 billion Swiss francs. The private equity firm, advised by former investment banker and insurance executive Jacques Aigrain, told finews.com it expects Avaloq to publicly list within three to five years.