Much travelled banking veteran draws on his vast experience to address international issues
Every time Ian Johnston cycles leisurely through the streets of his native Sydney, he may be reminded of the smooth yet varied terrain he has covered in past decades in banking, communications, international trade and systems implementation.
'Whenever I am in Sydney my favourite pastime is riding my bicycle,' said Ian Johnston, head of the Asia-Pacific region for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). 'I have had two significant spills and, on both occasions, I was back on the bike again the next day. But whenever I go past those same places, I won't do the same thing I did last time.'
Mr Johnston, who completed his MBA while he was working at SWIFT, can draw on comprehensive experience to address issues such as international trade barriers, the smoothing of commercial operations and customer support.
SWIFT is a hi-tech internationally standardised messaging platform that transmits 15 million messages a day for the exchange of confirmations, letters of credit for trade transactions, security sales, equities and bonds and pure payments between institutions, often in different countries.
He joined the Hong Kong office last September, overseeing operational and commercial activities that take him regularly between offices in Mumbai, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney. He enjoys a broad scope of roles in his day-to-day job, including customer support, market evolution and development, competitive activity, sales targets, finance, geographic expansion and human resource management.
Since his family is still in Sydney, Mr Johnston spends four months each year in the metropolitan city. While he admits to finding business travel tiring, he is helping to put more local staff on the ground to break down national and regulatory barriers within the Asia-Pacific region.