OpenPayd appoints Fidor Bank founder, Matthias Kröner as Senior Advisor

 OpenPayd, an API-led Banking-as-Service provider, has appointed Matthias Kröner as a Senior Advisor. The appointment follows a period of significant growth for the company in the past year providing enterprise businesses access to cross-border banking and payment solutions.

In this new role, Kröner will support OpenPayd in bolstering its plans for international expansion and further developing its Banking-as-a-Service strategy. His years of experience planning, building and operating customer-centric banking business models represent a significant addition to the company.

Formerly, Kröner served as Founder and CEO of Fidor Bank and DAB Bank where he built both organisations from their inception, forging his reputation as a key figure in the fintech movement.

On his appointment, Iana Dimitrova, CEO, OpenPayd, said:

“With 25 years’ in financial services, Matthias has unparalleled insight into corporate strategy, innovation-leadership and M&A through the most transformative period in the history of the banking industry. To OpenPayd, Matthias brings a deep understanding of current technological trends grounded in a detailed knowledge of the regulatory environment, which has helped him to successfully bridge the gap between the traditional banking and fintech worlds. Matthias has already been part of some of the largest fintech success stories, and we hope that OpenPayd will follow a similar trajectory.”

Matthias Kröner, Senior Advisor, OpenPayd said:

“I’ve been deeply involved in the launch and growth of the Banking-as-a-Service sector over the past few years – it’s an upward trajectory that’s only set to continue. As business models evolve and payments becomes increasingly commodified, new banking and payments use cases are emerging which require international scale, greater flexibility and better margins. OpenPayd offers a unique approach in the space, through its global network of licenses, an established partner ecosystem and a single access point to all those services. It’s an exciting time to be supporting a company whose vision aligns so closely with my own and I’m thrilled to be joining as an advisor.”

Under his leadership, DAB Bank and Fidor Bank won numerous awards, including: Best Banking Innovation in San Francisco in 2013; the Celent Model-Bank-of-the-Year award in 2015 and 2019; and WEF´s Award for young companies in 2015. DAB Bank underwent a highly successful IPO in 1999, at a valuation of €1.5 billion. Fidor Bank was sold to a major French banking group in one of the very first successful major trade-sale acquisitions within the fintech industry in 2016.

Prior to Fidor in 1997, he was the youngest CEO of a German direct bank, Direkt Anlage Bank AG, at the age of 32. From 1993 to 2002, he co-developed the first continental European online broker.

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