Double-clicking on the A-team, there are some interesting insights to be found. While it’s a given that all the regional CEOs come from a solid financial services background, each of them has several areas of expertise as per the markets they are spearheading.

• • In Australia, Matt Baxby played a key role in securing the Australian Credit Licence from the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC). This is partly thanks to his established corporate finance and law background.

• • Similarly, in Europe, Joe Heneghan, who started out as CEO of Revolut Payments Ireland, led the rapid growth of Revolut’s Irish business, doubling its customer base to 1.5 million. In June 2021, he was named the company’s CEO for its Europe division and is now responsible for leading Revolut’s licensed banks and e-money institutions in Lithuania and overseeing its further expansion in the EEA.

• • Joining the company first as the global Chief Banking Officer in 2021 and later in 2022, also donning the hat for US CEO, Sid Jajodia brings to the table some strong banking & finance competence. The company has witnessed considerable growth in the States, with over 500K active users. Sid’s expertise in global banking makes him the right weapon of choice to tackle the dynamic American dream.

• • When Revolut expanded to Japan in 2020, Yoko Christina Makiguchi joined the company with a previous experience of 32 years across banking, investing, and e-commerce. Her ambition to spearhead the FinTech’s super-app agenda in Japan has been a work in progress with some regulatory roadblocks recently.

• • Following Revolut’s in-principle approval from MAS to offer Digital Payment Tokens (DPT) in Singapore, Raymond Ng was appointed as the country CEO to further boost the customer adoption it witnessed since its launch. His previous experience with payments technology will prove beneficial in the company’s next growth phase in the country.

• • In Latin America, Revolut aims to provide multiple products ranging from cross-border payments and remittances to credit, insurance, and investments. By appointing Juan Miguel Guerra (Mexico) & Glauber Mota (Brazil), Revolut has welcomed experts in the above fields, who pay equal attention to local preferences and align themselves with the company’s regional goals.

• • In India, Revolut acquired foreign exchange firm Arvog Forex as part of its plan “to launch bespoke financial products, many of which would be new to the country, reflecting the unique needs of Indian consumers.” Paroma Chatterjee’s extensive experience in diverse areas will be paramount in making Revolut a household name in India.

What also must be noted is the role of previous regional CEOs — such as Ron Oliveira in the US, Virgilijus Mirkės in Europe, and James Shanahan and Deepak Khanna in Singapore — who passed on the torch to their successors after contributing considerable efforts in establishing operations, partnerships, and licencing processes in their respective markets.

Getting **It Done, A Lesson At A Time

Revolut’s leadership story isn’t all glory and no gloom. With its own set of drawbacks ranging from churn in the C-suite, regulatory scrutiny, and friction in obtaining licences, the list of challenges may be as long (if not longer) as the list of achievements. Nevertheless, setbacks are a leader’s learning mechanism, and the company has only gotten bigger and strives to be better driven by ambitious leadership. Channelling the mantra in every step of its climb — “Never settle, get it done, think deeper, and stronger together,” the FinTech mogul has mindfully built an arsenal to conquer its super-app summit.