The way in which Sam Bankman-Fried departed FTX is not par for the course in the banking and fintech industries. However, what is evident is that whatever the circumstances in which senior executives join or leave a company, it will be sure to make an impact. The end of 2022 saw numerous moves amid what has been referred to as a ‘fintech bloodbath’ with many organisations laying off hundreds or thousands of employees. Here’s a recap of the most headline worthy, recent hires, departures, and company shakeups and what that could mean for 2023.

NatWest

The start of last month saw NatWest hiring former Google executive David Grunwald in a newly created position of director of innovation and partnerships. Joining NatWest from PE firm AIRE, where, in addition to investment strategy, he focused on a portfolio of new ventures, including a digital bank serving corporate clients, Grunwald will now focus on how the bank delivers its strategy through partnerships and innovation.

In the same week, it was announced that former PayPal and American Express executive Mark Brant would also be joining NatWest as chief payments officer. He is taking over from Rupert Keeley, who was running NatWest's Payments Centre of Expertise on an interim basis. Both Grunwald’s and Brant’s appointments show that NatWest are definitely prioritising innovation in 2023.

Lloyds

Lloyds Banking Group has tapped ING technology chief Ron van Kemenade as its new chief operating officer. Van Kemenade was the first chief technology officer at ING, promoted from CIO, where he was instrumental in pivoting the Dutch bank's business as a data-driven digital bank, working there for over 20 years. He is expected to join the bank in June 2023 and will be responsible for driving the technology and data strategy and leading the technology teams in line with a new strategy and reorganisation announced by CEO Charlie Nunn in 2022.

Van Kemenade will oversee the new chief information officers which support the technology transformation across the new business units. Further, this reorganisation will entail spending £1 billion over the next three years on overhauling the UK bank's technology infrastructure and self-service capabilities. The long-term strategy involves porting 20% of its applications to the cloud by 2024 and decommissioning over 15% of legacy applications.

Santander

The Spanish bank has opened technology hubs in Malaga and Warsaw to welcome 1400 tech professionals as part of its digital transformation programme. Santander is currently advertising around 750 tech jobs on a new dedicated website as it seeks to attract people with backgrounds in science, technology, engineering, and maths.

The bank is hiring experts in platforms and APIs, cloud computing, big data, networks, DevSecOps, AI, software development, enterprise architecture, and cybersecurity. The hiring spree comes after a 2019 commitment to invest €20 billion in digital and technology over four years. The bank has already migrated 90% of its infrastructure to the cloud, and recently announced it would be launching Gravity, its own customisable software.

Bank of London

Global clearing and transaction banking startups Bank of London appointed Silicon Valley Bank's Gavin Hewitt as group chief financial officer. As CFO of Silicon Valley Bank, Hewitt was instrumental in establishing the UK subsidiary of the Bank and driving its growth in the region over recent years. Hewitt has previously held CFO roles at HSBC in both its UK and European Commercial Banking divisions, was also deputy CFO of its UK Retail division and held senior financial roles across a number of Barclays divisions.

Hewitt joins a number of recent hires at the Bank of London, including recently appointed UK CFO Marc Jenkins, who was recruited earlier this month from Metro Bank. Other recent hires include 10x Banking CTO Phil Knight as IT chief, Shawbrook Bank's Tom Wood as deputy CEO UK, Vince François from Société Générale as chief audit officer, and Accenture's Felipe Hillard as chief customer and product officer.

Starling

Starling Bank has promised to create up to 1000 jobs, including many technology positions as it opens its fourth UK office in Manchester. Starling is recruiting for roles in operations, software engineering, data science, cyber security and customer service ahead of the Manchester opening in the first half of 2023.

Swift

After news of chair Yawar Shah’s departure at the end of last year, Swift has re-hired Stephen Grainger from Mastercard to serve as chief executive for Americas and UK region this week. Grainger will return to Swift after a four-year hiatus at Mastercard, where he led the development and commercialisation of its global cross-border services business. 

Prior to his departure to Mastercard, Grainger had spent three years at Swift, joining as head of banking for payments and vendors in the UK before moving on to become head of North America. Grainger has also previously held senior roles at Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Citigroup.

Stripe

At the end of 2022, UK Fintech Envoy and chair of Innovate Finance Louise Smith was appointed chair of the board of directors for Stripe Payments UK Limited. This is a big announcement for the organisation and the UK fintech sector as Stripe's presence in the nation is nearing a decade. Smith's appointment is well timed, particularly because the company's customers now include some of the country’s largest organisations, such as Depop, Deliveroo, Hargreaves Lansdown, Frasers Group, the Natural History Museum and Church of England.

Smith was the first ever chief digital officer at Lloyd’s of London and led efforts to transform the firm into an advanced digital insurance marketplace underpinned by data. She also spent over 15 years in retail banking roles at Royal Bank of Scotland - now NatWest - and Barclays, where she built digital services for consumers and businesses, and rolled out artificial intelligence and data technologies to deliver more efficient operations.

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