De Niese was most recently head of Visa's European innovation labs in London, Berlin and Tel Aviv where she led all digital innovation client co-creation and thought leadership projects across the company. She has held a number of other senior technology and innovation leadership positions in the financial services and consulting industries. 

The EMEA innovation centre, which opened in October 2015, allows cross-business client experience delivery and technology teams to explore and prototype new solutions in partnership with client companies and fintechs.

Based in London, De Niese will be responsible for expanding the innovative solutions delivered via BNY Mellon's NEXEN digital platform, driving client engagement and building relationships with the region's fintech community.

“Our network of global innovation centres is a core part of BNY Mellon's NEXEN digital transformation strategy,” said Lucille Mayer, global head of innovation and client experience delivery at BNY Mellon. 

“Our EMEA Innovation Centre is ideally located to be a catalyst centre for new solutions that we can envision and develop alongside our clients and fintechs. Under Niamh's leadership, we anticipate a step-wise increase in collaborative innovation in financial services.”

The group also has innovation centres in Pune and Chennai in India, and Jersey City, Silicon Valley and Pittsburgh in the US. It plans to open additional centres in Oriskany, New York and Singapore.

The trend of banks and financial institutions setting up innovation centres is a fast-growing one. Click here for a recent feature looking at how successful such ventures have been so far.