The premise on which 10x was founded in the summer of 2016 are themes I have been preoccupied with over my whole career – how do we get banks to serve the customer better and how can we use technology to deliver true transformation in financial services.
10x was created to make banking 10 times better – for customers, the bank and ultimately society. That is what we work on here and we are always mindful of the global opportunity because the challenges are the same worldwide.
There has been a real shift in mainstream bank thinking as they realise that digital is fundamentally changing their business and that customers expect them to be very digitally-enabled. At the same time, the economics of banking are extremely challenging beyond just low interest rates. These trends have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Return on equity is a really big issue for banks and they are increasingly looking at what they can do to address that. Structurally, automating the bank through technology has become a key way to deliver fundamental change for the better.
In terms of 10x, building our capability and expertise to support our clients has been a major focus for me and our teams in the UK and Australia as we move towards large-scale live services with the banks we work with and banks interested in using our technology. It is about having the right people in the right roles - as it is for any business. I remain very focused on making sure we grow 10x in a very deliberate way, particularly through to the end of 2021 when I see us having between four and six banks on our platform and scaling further from there.
In terms of our capability and expertise, as industry and client needs evolve, it became clear to me that on our Executive Committee we needed an equal and separate focus on our client relationship management and business development.
Our Chief Client Officer role, to date led by Tam Holmes, has been focused on client relationship management and client acquisition. Given our growth and strategic priorities we saw the need and value to have an executive lead focused on each area.
So, we are really pleased to announce two new additions to our Executive Committee and a newly created role that Tam, who has been with us since 2017, will lead. He will be our Chief Business Development Officer, focusing on new client acquisition.
I am delighted to welcome Mark Holt into 10x in a new role as our Chief Product & Engineering Officer and Dr Leda Glyptis as our Chief Client Officer.
Mark will lead our product and engineering, and platform functionality development while Leda will focus on driving client success for our existing and new clients.
Mark has more than 20 years of experience in technology roles, most recently as Chief Technology Officer at Trainline, Europe’s leading train and coach app. Before that Mark held CTO, architect and advisory roles at numerous businesses.
Leda is a former banker, technology executive and founding CEO of 11:FS Foundry, where she led the growth of its modular core digital banking offering. Prior to that, Leda was Chief Innovation Officer at Qatar National Bank, the largest bank in the Middle East and North Africa, with responsibilities for employee-driven and market-led innovation strategy and execution.
Together, their business expertise and experience across and beyond banking and technology will be invaluable in supporting our growth strategy as we support our bank clients with transforming their approach to banking.