WASHINGTON — Catherine Allen, president/CEO of BITS, thetechnology arm of the Financial Services Roundtable, has announcedplans to step down as of May 1.

Allen, the founding CEO of BITS, will continue to work in thefinancial services industry through her consulting firm, the SantaFe Group. The Santa Fe Group manages the Financial InstitutionShared Assessments Program and Payments Partner Group, two programsthat initially started with BITS. Allen has served as CEO of BITSfor more than a decade.

BITS has worked on a number of emerging critical issues relatedto payments, e-commerce, risk management, IT security, crisismanagement, and fraud reduction. CUNA is a member organization.

“Catherine is a leader and a visionary,” said BITS ChairmanWilliam A. Osborn, chairman/CEO of Northern Trust Corporation. “Shehas tremendous integrity, she has earned the trust and respect ofthe industry and the regulatory community, and she gets results.She created BITS and made it what it is today. I look forward toher continued success and to working with The Santa Fe Group.”

Allen commented, “It has been an honor and a privilege to workwith the CEOs and senior executives at our member companies. I amtremendously proud of what we've accomplished at BITS and lookforward to its continued success. I'm also excited for theopportunities that lie ahead for The Santa Fe Group as we work withleading organizations on strategic issues.”