Covington joins ITRS after twelve years with BT Global Financial Services where he was Head of Strategy and Portfolio & Propositions Development. For more than twenty years Covington has specialised in IT services for the global wholesale banking industry including developing and supplying advanced technology. He also worked at several major banks where he was responsible for IT strategy and implementation of technology and global infrastructure. Covington has been a non-executive director at ITRS since 2000. This role enabled him to witness the growth of ITRS and see it increasingly become the main provider of global management and monitoring solutions to the majority of tier one and two banks round the world.

Covington commented: "ITRS solutions have always been seen as integral to the efficiency and integrity of an institution. More than ever now, as global players strive for additional increases in efficiency and cost reductions we are seen as a core component of their businesses. This is the right time for me to have greater involvement with the company as we enter the next phase of growth and development. My knowledge and international experience will be put to good use in my new position, as we go into the next phase of growth."

He began his career in research and development in the defence industry; prior to his time at BT Covington held a number of positions in the City. He was a senior manager in the Equities IT group with SG Warburg and at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson where he ran a range of integration programmes following the merger of the two institutions.

Stephen Bates, ITRS managing director, said: "Kevin has been a valued member of the board for many years and will be a real asset in his new role as the head of our European operations. His knowledge of the company and understanding of the value and benefits we bring to our institutional clients are valuable assets. We are seeing a lot of interest from clients wanting increased efficiency and robustness in their critical systems and Kevin is the right person to help us to deliver these to our clients."

One of the key areas of growth for ITRS over the recent years has been electronic trading and low latency monitoring. Covington is a long-time advocate of low-latency infrastructures including proximity hosting and is recognised as one of the pioneers of this concept and its importance as a route to achieving low-latency.