EQUIFAX CEO EXITS

ATLANTA: Equifax (EFX) chief executive Richard Smith is out at the credit reporting agency in the aftermath of a data breach that exposed the personal information of 143 million Americans.

The company said Smith, 57, retired effective Tuesday. Equifax has appointed Paulino do Rego Barros Jr., who most recently ran the company's Asia Pacific business, as the company's interim CEO.

Smith was scheduled to appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Senate Banking Committee next week to answer questions about the hack.

Equifax said it would start a search for a new permanent CEO. It added that Smith will stay on as an "unpaid advisor to Equifax to assist in the transition."

The board apologized for the incident.

“The board remains deeply concerned about and totally focused on the cybersecurity incident,” said board member Mark Feidler, who has been appointed non-executive chairman with Smith's retirement, in a statement. “We are working intensely to support consumers and make the necessary changes to minimize the risk that something like this happens again. Speaking for every- one on the board, I sincerely apologize.”

Smith, who had led Equifax since 2005, has come under fire since the company disclosed the hack earlier this month. It's not publicly known when he became aware of the breach, which exposed Equifax customers' names, Social Security numbers, credit card data and other sensitive information. At an August meeting two weeks after the company discovered the hack, he stressed Equifax was putting “a huge priority” on protecting data.

Equifax's security chief and chief technology officer have also left the company since the hack. Wall Street analysts had predicted additional changes in leadership were in the works following the breach.

“For Equifax, this means there is going to be tremendous pressure coming from Congress to do a complete replacement of senior management,” said Cowen analyst Jaret Seiberg in a recent note.