By Oliver Smith on Tuesday 26 January 2021
Dr Jan Kemper becomes the digital bank’s latest executive hire.
Berlin-based digital bank N26 has promoted co-founder Maximilian Tayenthal to the role as co-CEO alongside long-serving boss Valentin Stalf.
The move came yesterday as N26 also announced Zalando’s former financial chief Dr Jan Kemper is joining the bank as its new chief financial officer to replace Tayenthal.
As well as Zalando, Kemper also served as CFO of listed entertainment giant ProsiebenSat.1 Media until March 2019.
The announcement, which included no fewer than five mentions of IPOs, indicates that N26 is cleaning up its executive team ahead of an inevitable public offering reportedly coming in 2023.
“I’m very happy to welcome another seasoned leader to the N26 family,” said the newly-promoted Tayenthal.
“Jan’s track record in scaling companies from start-up through IPO will be invaluable as we set in motion our plans for the future.”
Before Christmas Stalf told Reuters that N26 aimed to reach break-even by the end of 2021, with one final funding round planned before going public in 2023 at the earliest.
“If we list on the stock exchange in three years that would be fast,” he said.
This month N26 secured a Brazilian banking licence from the local regulator to begin credit operations in Latin America and presumably take on local fintech giant Nubank on its home turf.
However, N26 has also found itself in hot water, filing a restraining order against employees in August 2020 after employees sought to form a works council and alleged a breakdown in the relationship between staff and the leadership team.
