Articles & Papers
FinTech Trends Report: PE/VC
Perspectives from Boyden’s FinTech Experts
Insights into Executive Talent
Lopez: With the emphasis on both growth and profitability in the fintech industry, how are organisations balancing the need for visionary, human-centric leadership with a focus on financial discipline when recruiting senior executives?
Kleppe (Norway): Organisations are redefining recruitment criteria to include cognitive diversity, emotional intelligence, and demonstrated change leadership alongside traditional metrics. This holistic approach ensures leaders drive innovation and employee engagement while maintaining financial discipline. Scenario-based evaluations assess candidates' ability to balance growth and risk, evaluating strategies for market entry and product launches. Aligning values and vision is crucial, ensuring executives are motivated by the company's mission and understand fintech's broader impact. This approach enables leaders to prioritize growth or profitability based on strategic goals.
Hernandez (U.S.): Fintechs are prioritizing candidates who demonstrate a unique blend of visionary thinking and financial prudence. Given the sector's shift towards B2B models for more stable revenue streams, executive recruitment focuses on individuals skilled at driving innovation while maintaining rigorous financial discipline. The ideal candidates are those who can navigate the complexities of a rapidly evolving market, lead human-centric innovation, and adhere to strict financial controls to ensure sustainable growth and profitability.
Lopez: With the focus shifting towards profitability, how are executive search partners advising fintech clients on structuring their leadership teams to drive sustainable growth and achieve their financial objectives?
Hernandez (U.S.): We advise fintech clients to structure their leadership teams with a balanced mix of strategic, financial, and technological expertise. Emphasis is placed on recruiting leaders who have experience in managing through cycles of growth and consolidation, with a strong focus on operational efficiency and profitability. This includes roles with expertise in data analytics, AI, regulatory compliance, and customer experience, ensuring that leadership teams are well-equipped to drive sustainable growth while meeting financial objectives in a challenging economic landscape.
Kleppe (Norway): Executive search partners advocate for leadership teams blending disruptive innovation with operational prowess. This entails pairing a Chief Innovation Officer with a Chief Financial Officer for balanced focus. They suggest flexible leadership roles encouraging cross-functional collaboration for cohesive strategies. Performance metrics extend beyond financial targets to include customer satisfaction and innovation indices. Advisory boards, comprising industry experts, support prudent growth and compliance. Continuous leadership development ensures a dual focus on growth and profitability.
Lopez: What specific executive skill sets or expertise are in higher demand?
Hernandez (U.S.): There's a heightened demand for executives with expertise in AI and machine learning, particularly in application to underwriting, fraud prevention, and enhancing customer experience. Skills in managing B2B operations, regulatory compliance, especially in open banking and real-time payments, and strategic partnership development are also highly sought after. Leaders who can drive innovation while optimizing operational efficiency and navigating regulatory landscapes are in prime demand.
Wargo (U.S.): Reflecting on this question, I recall a CEO attributing his start-up’s success to an unconventional business model. He remarked, “unlike most tech start-ups beginning with engineers designing a product they believe is perfect, we started with salesmen who designed a product based on our target customer’s needs and then sought the engineer who could build it to spec.”
The lesson here is clear—the most sought-after executive skill set is an ability to understand the value proposition of their company’s product or service to their clients and then prioritize and focus their organisation’s efforts on consistently delivering and improving that value proposition. As technology rapidly transforms the financial industry, an unwavering focus on meeting customer needs in innovative ways is imperative across all functional departments of the most successful organisations.
Lopez: Is there growing consideration in leveraging Interim executives?
Kleppe (Norway): Indeed, leveraging interim executives is increasingly strategic for fintech firms during transitions, rapid growth, or significant challenges. Interim executives offer experience, flexibility, and specific skill sets crucial for short-term objectives or change management. Key trends and considerations include rapid scalability, specialized skill sets on demand, objective decision-making, cost-effectiveness, and mentorship. For instance, Ross McEwan's transition from interim CEO to Chairman at National Australia Bank exemplifies this trend, demonstrating confidence in his leadership. Integrating interim executives allows fintech firms to navigate change efficiently, leveraging expertise to achieve goals and prepare for future growth.
Lopez: How do you see the evolving fintech landscape influencing the demand for senior executives with specific expertise in areas like generative AI, open banking, and real-time payments?
Wargo (U.S.): Each new technology platform, the latest being generative AI, opens new and exciting ways to innovate financial services. The need to integrate these new technologies into bullet-proof services in the financial industry is both a great opportunity and challenge. Financial services are, for good reason, highly regulated, and new technologies like generative AI create new and sophisticated avenues for fraud. We see a need and a significant challenge in blending the need for regulatory compliance with the adoption and integration of these new technologies into future open banking and real-time payment solutions.
Hernandez (U.S.): Companies are seeking leaders who not only understand these technologies but can also integrate them into strategic plans to enhance service delivery, drive efficiency, and create new revenue streams. Executives with experience in leveraging AI for product innovation, navigating open banking regulations, and implementing real-time payment solutions are particularly valuable as fintechs adapt to and shape market trends.
