European 'banktech' Rauva shores up top team with CRO hire

European fintech super-app Rauva has appointed a new Chief Risk Officer, fleshing out its senior leadership team just weeks after announcing a milestone acquisition.

Last month, the Lisbon-based fintech agreed a €30m deal to acquire Portuguese bank Empresas Montepio, saying at the time that the deal would allow it to offer new financial products, such as credit solutions and other products.

But it will need a Chief Risk Officer to help launch credit products, and now the company has announced Tomas Oliveira da Silva as the person who will fill that vacancy. He was previously CRO at savings and lending bank DF Capital in the UK, and previously spent over five years working at the country’s central bank, the Bank of England.

His appointment will be a homecoming for Mr Oliveira da Silva, who holds a degree in Economics from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, as well as a Master’s in Monetary and Financial Economics from the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE).

He joins CEO Jon Fath and CTO Maxence Cornet as part of the management team at Rauva, which is striving to build one of Europe’s first fully digital business banks and has already set its sights on achieving coveted unicorn status.

Rauva wants to move ‘from fintech to banktech’

Speaking about his appointment, Oliveira da Silva says: “I’m excited to join Rauva, which I have been following with great interest for some time. The company has managed to keep a clear focus on its goals and ambitions, and it is moving forward at an unprecedented pace – a testament to its leadership and passionate multinational team. Their recent agreement with Banco Empresas Montepio, one of the first such purchases by a fintech company globally, reflects that ambition. I am thrilled to be part of this new team.”

Rauva Co-Founder and CEO Jon Fath says: “Rauva’s super-app has been developed specifically to make entrepreneurship easily accessible to everyone by taking away the hassle of managing daily finances and to enable small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to focus on their business growth. We launched the app five months ago. To further our growth, we have also signed an agreement to take over all the shares of Banco Empresas Montepio, ensuring our roll-out in Portugal is well under way. Rauva is moving at a rapid pace and we have our ambitions set on eventually expanding to the wider European market. The completion of our leadership team is key to helping us deliver on this vision.”

Rauva CTO Maxence Cornet, who himself was only appointed last year, elaborates: “It’s our goal to build the absolute best digital solution for SMEs. For that, you need the right people. Our 10-nationality team of seasoned banking and fintech experts has this as its singular focus. Adding Tomas to head our risk operations will help further guide us into becoming a bank and delivering innovative and relevant products, such as credit, to our customers.

“This transition from fintech to banktech will be extremely important in offering top value to our clients, as SMEs in both Portugal and the rest of the continent are sorely in need of solutions that meet their specific needs.”

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