Anantha Ayer to become new CEO of SwissSign on 1 September 2023

The management at SwissSign is changing: Anantha Ayer will take over as CEO of SwissSign AG, effective 1 September 2023. He will succeed Jürg Graf, who is retiring and will continue to be available to SwissSign with his expertise as a member of the Board of Directors. 

Anantha Ayer will become the new CEO of SwissSign AG on 1 September 2023. During his career, Anantha Ayer has been responsible for a range of different company development and expansion projects in the banking and technology sector, both domestically and abroad, and has taken on extensive strategic and leadership responsibilities. Most recently, Anantha Ayer was involved in management roles within the Avaloq Group in the Asia-Pacific region (as General Manager & Head Avaloq Australia and previously as CEO Avaloq Sourcing Asia Pacific), where he successfully built up and expanded business in Australia and Singapore. Before this, he was responsible for operation and transformation of the Assets & Wealth Management business unit at Deutsche Bank. Anantha Ayer has a Master’s degree from the Indian Statistical Institute in Calcutta and an MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University. He is currently also completing a Master’s programme in Blockchain Technologies at eZigurat Global Institute of Technology in Spain. 

“Anantha Ayer’s range of skills and experiences in the field of technology and digitalisation make him the ideal choice for a successor. It was very important to us to start the succession process early on. I strongly believe that doing so helps us to ensure a smooth transition and further reinforce the strategic alignment of SwissSign AG”, says Tecla Solari, Chair of the Board of Directors at SwissSign AG and Head of Trusted Interaction Services with Post Communication Services. 

Under the leadership of Jürg Graf, SwissSign was able to position itself as a relevant trust service provider both within Switzerland and on the European market. In the field of certificate management, a state-of-the-art solution was launched in the form of a new managed PKI platform, greatly relieving certificate management workload for our customers. In the area of identity solutions, SwissSign became the first company in Switzerland to launch online identification for an electronic signature service. The signature business unit was also successfully expanded. Along with a web and integration solution for SMEs and large enterprises, SwissSign has also offered an on-premise solution for highly regulated sectors since 2022. SwissSign has thus positioned itself as one of the few Swiss trust service providers able to offer all solutions from a single source – from certificates and identities to signatures. This is also reflected in our user figures: 3.5 million customers already rely on SwissID as a secure and future-proof login solution.

Anantha Ayer, CEO-designate of SwissSign AG: “I am very much looking forward to my new role as CEO of SwissSign AG and to being part of such a great and talented team. The trust services offered by SwissID are key pillars in the field of IT security and enable business processes along with identity and signature services to be mapped securely. It is my aim to continue shaping this promising market with the customers and the company in mind.”

Tecla Solari, Chair of the Board of Directors, SwissSign AG, adds: “Swiss Post is simply and securely driving digital networking forward with its trusted solutions. As a subsidiary of Swiss Post, SwissSign has managed to successfully position itself as the Group’s data security specialist. Jürg Graf is passing on to his successor a company that is well equipped to take on the future. We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to him and are delighted that he will be remaining on the Board of Directors at SwissSign AG with his expertise. We wish him all the best for his well-earned retirement.