Crypto Firm Nabs Ex-HSBC Banker as CEO

A British banker is taking over the top job at Valour, a Swiss start-up that plans to expand a zero-fee bitcoin exchange-traded product across Europe.

Zug-based Valour is naming Diana Biggs as its CEO, effective immediately, it said in a statement. She is the former chief of innovation at HSBC’s private banking unit and a cryptocurrency backer of the earliest hour.

Biggs is the latest banker to leave traditional finance for digital assets, which is a booming industry in Switzerland thanks to friendly regulatory handling. Diana is the perfect candidate to lead the company through this next phase of growth and expansion, Valour founder Johan Wattenstrom said.

Founded three years ago, Valour in December launched a fee-less digital asset product that trades on the Nordic exchange’s growth index, NGM. The start-up manages nearly $30 million and plans to roll out more exchange-traded notes at other European venues in the coming months.

At HSBC, Biggs led fintech partnerships and championed open innovation. Prior to joining the British bank, she worked for digital currency platform Uphold, e-commerce startup Soko, and spent nearly five years as a consultant at Oliver Wyman.