The biggest fintech appointments of 2017 so far

Our roundup of the biggest people moves affecting the fintech industry throughout 2017. 

Metro Bank appoints Chief Technology Officer

Earlier this month Metro Bank announced the appointment of Martyn Atkinson as Chief Information Officer (CIO). Atkinson is currently director of digital and change at the bank and will take up the new role on 4 September 2017. He will report to the CEO, Craig Donaldson, and will be a member of the bank’s executive leadership team.

As CIO, he will be accountable for IT strategy and architecture, IT development, support and operations, operational resilience and risk management. He will also continue to be responsible for the bank’s change and transformation division.

Atkinson said: “It’s an absolute honour to be appointed as CIO at Metro Bank, which is undoubtedly the best place to be in British banking today.

“We are growing every day, have world-class agile technology, and are committed to servicing the needs of our customers through the channel of their choice, I can honestly say there isn’t a more exciting CIO position out there.”

Bank of Ireland names first female CEO

Bank of Ireland has appointed HSBC Holdings Plc executive Francesca McDonagh as its new chief executive officer to succeed Richie Boucher, who will retire on October 2. Boucher announced in March he would retire before the end of the year after almost a decade in charge of the bank he guided from the brink of nationalisation to lead a revival across the sector. McDonagh, 42, will become the first female CEO of the 234-year-old lender.

“I am very pleased we have been successful in attracting a person of the calibre and experience of Francesca. She has been with HSBC for 20 years, during which time she has held a number of senior leadership roles across seven different countries,” Bank of Ireland chairman Archie Kane said in a statement.

Monzo appoints Curve co-founder as COO

Monzo has named Tom Foster-Carter as its new Chief Operations Officer. With previous spells at child friendly banking Osper, and banking app Tandem Bank, he co-founded Curve in 2015 with Shachar Bialick where he served as Head of Operations.

It’s a change in approach for Foster-Carter. Whilst Curve aimed at ‘connected finance’ to pull all payment cards into one Mastercard connected to a mobile app, Monzo are heading down the full current account route.

His role at Curve will be filled by former Payoneer exec Rona Ruthen.

LendingHome hires new CFO

LendingHome Co., the San Francisco mortgage-marketplace lender, has named Robert Stiles as Chief Financial Officer. Stiles was previously CFO for three years at the Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc., a residential-mortgage service provider. He will be instrumental in leading LendingHome’s financial operations and taking the company through the next phase of its business growth.

Matt Humphrey, Co-Founder and CEO of LendingHome commented: “Robert brings LendingHome over 20 years of accounting and finance experience, a wealth of know-how from top mortgage and real estate firms, and a thoughtful, long-term approach to building businesses. We’re thrilled to have Robert join us on this journey to build one of the world’s leading financial services brands.”

PwC appoints first Chief Digital Officer

Vishy Narayanan was appointed to the newly created role of Chief Digital Officer at PwC in February earlier this year.

Mr Narayanan previously held the position of Global Head of Digital Technology at Cochlear Limited. His appointment is intended to optimise PwC’s investment technology for the business and their clients for future growth.

Looking to the future, Mr Narayanan said: “I want to help strengthen PwC’s innovative culture and the digital mindset across the whole of the business. I’m determined that we fully embrace the benefits of our technology as this will not only upskill our people, it will ultimately deliver even better value for our clients.”

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