Michael Fish, Joe's longstanding deputy, will be promoted to succeed Joe as CIO and Head of ITOPS.

Speaking about his decision to leave SWIFT, Joe Eng said: "I came to SWIFT to make SWIFTNet a reality, and I leave SWIFT knowing that this is the case. It has been a wonderful experience working with the community, the Board, and all of the people of SWIFT. Having achieved what I set out to do at SWIFT and knowing that Mike is well prepared to take over the CIO role, I believe the time is right for me to move on to other opportunities. Most importantly I will spend some extended time with my family. This will be the first time whether pursuing my education or in my career that I will have paused to recharge my batteries and get ready for the next big thing ahead."

Erik Dralans, SWIFT Board member from the Netherlands, CIO, ING Bank, and Chair of the SWIFT Board Technology and Production Committee commented, "Joe set the standard for what a SWIFT CIO should be. Everyone on the Board admires Joe's accomplishments which benefited our entire SWIFT community. Joe will be missed, but Mike has established a strong track record working alongside Joe and is well positioned to be a capable successor."

Leonard Schrank stated: "I very much regret Joe's decision to move on, but I understand his desire to seek new challenges and do even more. Joe has done a fantastic job at SWIFT, since he joined as Executive in 1999. He continued: "There are so many successes in Joe's tenure at SWIFT. First, he developed SWIFTNet and oversaw the successful migration of our entire community, receiving well deserved recognition in last year's CIO 100 awards. Second was the instilment of our Failure is Not An Option (FNAO) culture that permeates everything we do. The results speak for themselves—SWIFT recorded its highest system availability ever in 2005. Finally Joe has developed an extremely strong team and bench. Mike Fish is ready to seamlessly take over from Joe. We all wish Joe the best in his future career, wherever that may take him, and congratulate Mike on his promotion."

Mike Fish joined SWIFT in 1999 from Ameritech, where he held various senior management positions in IT. Prior to Ameritech, Mike taught MBA courses at New York University, led project management seminars for the American Management Association, and performed IT consulting for various companies. Before that, he held various management positions with Bellcore and SBC (now AT&T). He is a graduate of The University of Texas at Arlington with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and of the Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University with a Master of Philosophy in Business.