Country CEO, Regulated E-Money Institution
A UK FinTech was establishing a regulated (EMI) entity in Ireland to launch into Europe.
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There were two roles initially but the focus on the Country CEO took precedence. This was the hire that would set the tone for the ambitious growth plans for Ireland.
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Their application was at early stages with the Central Bank of Ireland and this role would be the one that would be charged with completing the licencing process and growing the business.
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This was a key hire for this business who had significant backing and growth plans.
The Client
This UK based FinTech had grown quickly in the payments space - acquiring market share from incumbents, forging significant strategic partnerships and sights set on continued growth.
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Ireland was a key location to establish it's European business offering the right mix of talent, access and regulatory regime.
Market Conditions
Payments is the largest section of the FinTech market in Ireland yet finding someone with the right mix of experience in a fast growing business, commercial acumen and knowledge of the licencing process was a complex ask.
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With a role like this, advertising is always going to attract significant interest and volume but a targeted market approach would always surface more accurate results.
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Licencing experience has always been in demand and that was the key requirement that would be most difficult to find.
The Search
Over the course of three weeks, over 150 applicants were reviewed, longlisted and interviewed. This was supplemented with a targeted search and approach campaign focused on people with commercial, licencing and growth experience.
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A longlist of ten was reduced to a shortlist of four who were all interviewed.
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Although it is normally beneficial for everyone to run a process in a logical sequence - shortlist, interview, offer - sometimes an opportunity comes up to add an additional candidate at a late stage.
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With this role, we became aware of someone, introduced through a network connection, who was coming to market. This person stood out for a number of reasons and was added to the process after 2nd rounds and subsequently offered and accepted the role.
Outcomes
After a short notice period, we worked closely with the CEO to identify a Head of Compliance for the Irish operation and went on to work together on a Head of Risk & MLRO.
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The experience through their appointment process led to a strong relationship built on trust allowing us to work together effectively going forward on building out a strong leadership team.