Founders Bank project welcomes new CEO

The Founders Bank project appointed former Deutsche Bank executive Kenan Altunis to the role of Chief Executive Officer, according to a press statement. Mr Altunis will commence his appointment upon cessation of his Deutsche Bank commitments in early June 2019.

Mr Altunis will lead a team comprised of senior executives with decades of global financial services experience across banking, asset management and corporate finance. Once licensed, Founders Bank hopes to become a corporate challenger bank servicing the tech industry, including blockchain and other emerging technologies, according to the press statement.

In his last role, Altunis served as Global Co-Head of the Institutional Client Group within Deutsche Bank’s Corporate and Investment Bank, where he was responsible for a multi-billion-dollar revenue operation and a team of over 1,000 people. He helped guide the institution’s investment banking business, dealt directly with institutional investors and regulatory bodies globally, and was a member of its executive committee, reporting directly to the deputy CEO of the bank.

The Founders Bank project is developing an enterprise-focused bank with the aim of redefining banking services. “I am excited about this segue in my career from managing traditional banking to building a world-class corporate challenger bank. We will focus on servicing technology companies who find accessing and using existing financial services difficult and cumbersome. These will include companies in emerging technologies, such as blockchain and crypto,” Mr Altunis said.

Mr Altunis will lead a multi-skilled team of senior executives unique in the industry. The group has decades of global financial services experience across banking, asset management and corporate finance at leading firms such as Deutsche Bank, Barclays, HSBC, Citibank, Bank of America, Royal Bank of Canada, Brevan Howard, KPMG, Mastercard, Amazon, Paypal and Bitpesa, the press statement said.

“As one of the lead investors of the Founders Bank project, we are committed to developing the ecosystem and supporting infrastructure cornerstones to facilitate growth across the broader industry,” said Changpeng Zhao (‘CZ’), CEO of Malta-based digital asset exchange Binance.

The Founders Bank project is currently under a licensing process to obtain an EU banking license from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). It will offer its services throughout Europe and beyond, according to the plans of the venture.