Charles Grech
Chief of Operations
Joining Truevo Payments in 2014, Charles Grech, Chief of Operations at Truevo Payments has been a part of the licensed financial institution for six years. Grech began his career in finance in 1995 at the Bank of Valletta. Grech has also co-founded and held positions at Agechecked.com and PNNY Consult prior to joining Truevo Payments.
“My journey in the payment industry started in 1995, 25 years ago when I joined a local retail bank in Malta, where I was deployed to the card services department. In the early 90’s, it was the beginning of digitalisation. Prior to that, payments were small and could only be made in store or via the telephone. I was fortunate enough over a span of 15 years to have witnessed a number of important milestones, such as e-commerce, chip and pin transactions and digital payments.”
When it comes to the essential traits of an effective leader, Grech believes that within the financial service industry, “the biggest capital for any organisation is its human capital. I believe at Truevo Payments we have been very good in building a rock solid team, which is a result of something that I have believed in from day one - to put the employee first. In 1995 I joined the industry as a banker and worked my way up. Therefore, I can empathize with the challenges agents at various stages within the company face. One of the most important lessons for every leader is to understand what each person in the value chain is trying to achieve and the challenges they face. Leadership is taking a mentor role, not only for your team but others that are not necessarily in your direct line of responsibility. I have gained varied knowledge and experience over the years, so I'd like to - as much as possible - share that knowledge with the people who are happy to receive it. To summarise, I think my leadership style is to support those who need it, which can be time consuming, but nonetheless rewarding.”
Following the outbreak of COVID-19, Grech reflects on the impact that the virus has currently had for Truevo Payments. In terms of difficulties, while the company has been used to operating from multiple offices Grech believes that “the main challenge has been the instant cut off of workplace culture within those offices, which happened without any choice.” With the company placing high importance on workplace and having a transformative mindset, the company has had to look to replicate the traditional workplace culture virtually. “We've had to try and replace it in different ways which was certainly a challenge. But we have been creating some fun virtual social events to maintain that sense of workplace culture. We have also been working to create a ‘virtual room’ concept, where employees can jump onto a video call and start speaking to others in a similar way that you would if you were going to the coffee machine, in order to mitigate the challenge of being physically separate and ensure that people who live alone are communicating with others.”
