XREX taps former Federal Reserve official as director of risk management

Blockchain payments startup XREX has tapped an official with more than a decade's experience at branches of the US Federal Reserve in San Francisco and New York as its director of risk management. 

Michael Shing is joining the company as it expands to serve more users in India, Africa, the Middle East, South America, Southeast Asia and beyond, XREX said in a press release today. He will oversee the analysis and modeling of operational and business risks.

During his tenure at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Shing's focus included Treasury-related risks such as liquidity and asset-liability management. Prior to that, he led the implementation of a variety of vendor models at the New York Fed, providing stress-testing analysis, and reporting on investment securities portfolios across several asset classes. 

Shing is the latest example of a slew of former regulators and public officials being snapped up by crypto firms. Earlier this month, exchange giant Binance appointed Steven McWhirter, a top official from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as its global director of regulatory policy and hired Stéphanie Cabossioras from France's Autorité des Marchés Financiers. 

The Bank of England's fintech chief also left to join custody platform Fireblocks in April. Last year, Austrian exchange Bitpanda hired former FCA official Matthias Bauer-Langgartner as its managing director for UK and Ireland and ex-UK chancellor Philip Hammond joined Copper as a senior advisor last year.