Ian Oswald joins GFT as director of strategy and offerings

GFT has appointed Ian Oswald as its executive director of strategy and offerings. He brings more than 25 years of experience to the role.

Carlton Hopper, UK managing director at GFT, said, “Ian is a great addition to our leadership team. His experience working in industry and consultancy for some of the UK’s biggest banks means he understands the digital challenges and opportunities facing the sector and our clients. We’re looking forward to seeing the positive impact his appointment will have on our clients.“

Founded in 1987, GFT is a consulting firm specialising in digital transformation. Headquartered in Germany, the firm has offices across Europe, the Americas and Asia – and works to help clients to boost their productivity with intelligent software solutions.

Oswald joins GFT’s 280-strong UK team with a quarter-century of experience in technology transformation for retail and commercial financial services. At GFT, he will be responsible for driving the business’ capabilities and offerings for the company’s clients across the financial services industry.

Prior to joining GFT, Oswald was a partner with EY’s technology consulting team, leading engagements on technology strategy, transformation roadmap and execution for large banking groups and challenger financial institutions. Earlier in his career, he also held roles at IBM, PwC and NatWest.

Speaking on his new role, Oswald added, “GFT is a leader in engineering excellence and its expertise in integrating modern industry platforms is exactly what is needed in the financial services market. I'm looking forward to working with our clients to drive forward their transformations, and lead GFT’s strategy and offerings.”

GFT has already had a strong start to 2024, having announced its acquisition of Sophos Solutions in January. The acquisition has grown GFT’s headcount by 20 percent to more than 12,000 specialists worldwide. At the same time, the firm is also growing its headcount organically – and the arrival of Oswald is GFT’s second senior hire in six months. It follows the arrival of Priya Lakshmi, who joined as GFT’s chief revenue officer in October.