Gilles BianRosa was hired by German challenger N26 as the new chief product officer.
Previously, BianRosa was the chief product officer of the music-sharing platform SoundCloud.
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He spent about two years at the audio distribution platform. He also has experience at Samsung Electronics, Tivo-acquired Fan TV, and Spigot-acquired Vuze.
BianRosa also holds an MBA in general management from Harvard Business School, but has no previous from any financial institution.
His responsibility will be defining, steering and implementing N26’s global product strategy, with plans to scale the team and N26’s product innovation capabilities in 2021 and beyond. Gilles will be appointed in his new role in the upcoming months.
N26 co-founder and CEO, Valentin Stalf said, “Gilles has a track record of delivering consumer-facing innovation that truly engages, excites and entertains customers. Today, N26 has revolutionized how people relate to their banking experience on an everyday basis.”
“With Gilles on board, we will expand our experience further to being banking that easily connects an account with one’s lifestyle in an even more tangible way,” he added.
Gilles BianRosa himself said, “After almost two decades in Silicon Valley, I’m very pleased to be joining one of the most dynamic product teams in FinTech globally. I look forward to applying my experience from the world of online consumer services to help N26 continue to connect authentically with its customers.”
“Having already begun to redefine banking for customers, I believe that N26 has a unique opportunity to touch more aspects of daily life with their simple, trusted, and delightful experience,” BianRosa added.
N26 is about to recruit around 500 new employees by the end of June, according to an internal email seen by Finance Forward.
N26 has a twice-yearly promotion cycle, in September and March. However, “several employees” told Finance Forward this did not happen due to the pandemic.
In January, N26 has surpassed the amount of 7m customers across Europe and the US.
N26 increased its sales from €43m to nearly €100m in 2019, but losses increased from €70m to €217m.
