Identrus lost its first CEO in June last year following its merger with the Digital Signature Trust company, a US-based network with a strong focus on the application of certification services in the public sector.

The appointment of Wendel is being billed as a 'turning point' for Identrus, which has so far struggled to enthuse the wider corporate and government market about the potential benefits of the trust network, despite its big bank backing. Lack of interoperability between Identrus' B2B payments project Eleanor and Swift's E-Payments Plus initiative has also slowed momentum.

Wendel joins Identrus from eFinance Corporation, an applications development outfit providing risk and credit decisioning solutions. She was previously a partner at Capco in Belgium where she led the growth of the firm's e-finance practice, including raising capital and building out the required team and infrastructure to serve global financial institutions in Asia, Europe and Latin America. Prior to that, Wendel led the US financial services practice of Gemini Consulting where she developed and managed global accounts.

At Identrus she has been charged with expanding the network and accelerating digital certificate usage globally. Additionally, Wendel will be given the backing for capital raising projects to spearhead strategic alliances and acquisitions.

Doyle Arnold, executive vice president and CFO at Zions Bancorporation and member of the Identrus board of directors, believes Wendel's depth of experience "will help Identrus to sharpen its focus and deliver greater value to Identrus banks, the corporate sector and government agencies".