George Toumbev

Scaling Tech businesses in Financial Services is HARD! Growing beyond the ‘MVP’ to a commercially sustainable size requires a difficult progression - evolution in ways of working, maturity of processes and enhanced governance. These capabilities are often at odds with the agility and innovation required to build loved products that achieve market fit. However, this evolution is a must if start-ups are to ‘grow up’ and win over the long run in a complex regulated market. I am an accomplished financial services executive transforming growth in FinTech and Banking organisations. I am passionate about leveraging my broad functional expertise to help FinTechs future-proof their business models to deliver sustainable growth, but without losing the culture that fosters innovation. I have proven leadership experience across all the core elements of the business model. I love solving problems and overcoming challenges to achieve exceptional outcomes for clients and shareholders. A few examples: - As a software engineer at UBS, I led the development and deployment of the bank’s Equities Sales and Research CRM solution - As a senior associate at Booz & Co., I advised executives globally on strategy and operational transformation, working across Retail Banking, Insurance, Asset Management and Capital Markets - As VP of Market Risk in Deutsche Bank, I optimised the function's operating model to improve risk control, oversight and reporting - As Head of Strategy at Coutts, I led the strategic growth agenda, including corporate development activities, in the UK and across Switzerland, Middle East and Asia - As Head of Commercial Strategy at NatWest, I improved financial return through focused product profitability, sales productivity and capital optimisation initiatives - As Head of Lending at Coutts, I managed the lending book (£10bn+), including P&L and financial targets across coverage areas, delivering 20%+ growth and exceeding plan by 50% - As COO of Mettle, I helped scale the business from <10 customers to a sizeable UK new market share, 130k+, and grew the team from c.35 to 300+ FTE in three years - As Founder and CCO of NatWest Boxed, I led the investment case for Boxed, securing funding and negotiating the Boxed-Vodeno partnership on behalf of NatWest with Warburg Pincus. Since then, I have built a £200m+ client pipeline to support profitable and sustainable growth, and secured our cornerstone client If you want to chat about Boxed or any other part of my experience please get in touch via LinkedIn messenger.