David Watson will replace current president and chief executive officer Jim Aramanda, who is retiring in the coming months

The Clearing House (TCH) has named David Watson as its new chief executive officer. 

He will replace current president and chief executive officer Jim Aramanda, who is retiring in the coming months. 

Watson will join from Swift, where he was chief product officer. In this role, Watson was responsible for the company’s product engineering, development and innovation.  

Prior to Swift, Watson spent 17 years at Deutsche Bank in a number of commercial and product leadership roles.  

Commenting on the transition, Brian Moynihan, Bank of America chair and chief executive officer and chair of The Clearing House supervisory board, said: “The Clearing House’s supervisory board is grateful for Jim Aramanda’s long-standing service to the organisation.

“During Jim’s tenure, TCH continued its critical role in delivering ultra-reliable payments capabilities to the US financial system, but importantly, also introduced innovative new payments capabilities. This includes the RTP network, which is now delivering real-time payments capabilities.” 

David Watson

David Watson

On Watson’s appointment, Moynihan added: “We are very pleased to welcome David Watson to lead The Clearing House. David brings extensive payments experience, in-depth expertise in the field, and a strong track record of innovation.  

“David will continue TCH’s important work of driving adoption of real-time payments capabilities and focusing on the safety, security, reliability, and efficiency of bank-owned payment systems which are critical to the financial system.” 

The Clearing House operates US-based payments networks that clear and settle more than $2t each day through wire, check image and real-time payments. 

Image: The Clearing House

Josh Poyser
Josh Poyser is an editor at FinTech Intel. He has written about fintech for several years and appeared at FinTech Connect 2023 on the 'Unlocking Success: The Art of Fintech PR' panel.