Fintech lender appoints CTO

The fintech lender, which was granted a restricted banking licence by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) in December last year ahead of its push for a full banking licence, has appointed technology specialist John Pountain as its chief technology officer (CTO).

Mr Pountain was most recently CTO at digital consultancy Excelian and has previously worked at New York-based neobank Moven as well as BT Financial and Macquarie Group.

In his new role, Mr Pountain will help build and spearhead Xinja Bank’s technology platform that will drive the mobile banking offering.

Speaking of the bank’s focus on technology, CEO and founder Eric Wilson commented: “Our customers have told us that, as Millennials, they do everything differently to their parents, except banking.

“Our technology – and more importantly our overall customer experience – is changing that. 

“It is about ensuring we deliver the best possible banking to our customers, and that our systems are robust, secure and minimise friction.”

Mr Wilson added that as the bank was “not encumbered by legacy systems”, Xinja Bank could be “nimbler” and “use the best technology has to offer for our customers at much lower costs”. 

“We’re using world-class, cloud-based solutions,” he said.

“The platform we’ve built and our overall architectural design will allow us to focus on delivering additional value to customers.”

Mr Pountain added that millennial bankers want to be able to move money quickly and easily, track their spending and “see quickly and easily the best options for them, all digitally, through their mobile”.

“Our technology will allow us to scale into these solutions and, most importantly, into building out our data and AI capabilities to deliver hyper-personalised services for customers,” he said. 

“It’s time customers’ data was used to benefit them rather than the institutions they bank with; we are very excited about the CDR and open banking and what it can deliver for people.”

Mr Pountain added: “Banking is a very profitable industry with very low levels of consumer satisfaction. 

“Technology, data and the right framework, including ethical behaviour, offer an alternative.”

[Related: APRA grants banking licence to neobank]