N26 appoints industry veteran Heß as CFO. Published on 10/12/2026 at 04:45 am EDT Reuters - Translated by Marketscreener - See original Experienced bank manager Marc Heß will become the new chief financial officer of digital bank N26. The supervisory board appointed the 53-year-old as the successor to Arnd Schwierholz, who stepped down from the position at the end of August, the bank said in Berlin on Monday. Heß most recently served as CFO of Wiesbaden-based real estate lender Aareal Bank from 2018 to 2024, using its takeover by financial investors as an opportunity to exit. Before that, he was CFO of Deutsche Postbank for 11 years. "With his appointment, all positions on the digital bank's management board have been filled," N26 Supervisory Board Chairman Andreas Dombret said. The digital bank has been at odds with German banking regulator BaFin for some time. Most recently, there had been several changes on both the management and supervisory boards. "Marc Heß's broad expertise will contribute to N26's successful trajectory, and overall the company is now even better positioned for the future," Dombret said. (Report by Alexander Hübner, edited by Kerstin Dörr. For inquiries, please contact our editorial team at [email protected] (for politics and the economy) or [email protected] (for companies and markets).) (C) Reuters - 2026

N26 hires former Postbank CFO Marc Hess, filling its last Board seat. Monday, 12/10/2026 | 00:19 GMT-7 by Damian Chmiel * The former Aareal Bank finance chief starts Thursday, replacing Arnd Schwierholz, who left in August. * The hire still needs regulatory approval at a lender where BaFin installed a special monitor last December. N26 has named Marc Hess as its chief financial officer, the Berlin-based digital bank said today (Monday). He takes over a finance post Arnd Schwierholz vacated in the summer. Hess joins on Thursday as CFO and managing director of N26 SE and N26 Bank SE, subject to regulatory approval. Schwierholz left at the end of August. Hess began his career in investor relations. He became finance chief of Deutsche Postbank in 2007 and its deputy chief executive in 2015. For several years he was also global CFO of Deutsche Bank's private and business client unit, before serving as CFO of Aareal Bank from 2018 to 2024. He inherits a bank that has only just started making money. N26 reported net income of €1.6 million for 2025, its first full-year profit, on revenue of €501.6 million, while still holding the extra capital ordered by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). A Management Board rebuilt in 10 months. Former UBS executive Mike Dargan took over as chief executive in April, after BaFin imposed fresh restrictions on the bank. Schwierholz had served as interim co-CEO before Dargan arrived. "With his appointment, all positions on the digital bank's Management Board are filled," Dombret said in the statement. Aytac Aydin, who left Oldenburgische Landesbank to become N26's chief operating officer in July, was named interim head of the finance team when Schwierholz's exit was announced that month. Capital rules and a special monitor. BaFin ordered the extra capital last December, when it also appointed a special monitor at N26 and barred new mortgage lending in the Netherlands. It was the second time since 2021 that BaFin placed a special representative at the bank. That profit is small next to Revolut's. Revolut reported pretax profit of £1.7 billion for 2025, on revenue of £4.5 billion. N26 counts 5.6 million revenue-relevant customers, by its own measure. Dutch rival bunq reported 20 million users in September 2025. Hess said N26 was "now entering the next phase of maturity and growth." The company said it plans a significant expansion of its banking product starting in the fourth quarter and running into next year. Damian Chmiel is a Senior Analyst & Editor at Finance Magnates with more than 15 years of experience in the CFD and online trading industry. Active as both a trader and journalist since 2010, he focuses on broker coverage, fintech innovation, and regulatory developments across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. His work includes interviews with C-level leaders at major brokerages and fintech platforms, as well as co-authoring Finance Magnates' quarterly industry benchmarking reports. Damian's reporting is data-driven, market-aware, and grounded in direct industry engagement. His analysis and commentary have also been cited by external media outlets, including Investing.com, Binance, The Asset, Stockhead, and Dispatch. Education: MA in Finance and Accounting, Cracow University of Economics * 4039 Articles * 118 Followers

Revolut and N26 alumni launch Quartz: the AI personal banker secures £2.75M pre-seed. London-based fintech Quartz has officially launched its wealth management platform in the UK, following a £2.75 million pre-seed funding round. By combining FCA-regulated account aggregation with an AI-driven interface, the startup aims to bridge the gap between high-cost personalised advice and low-touch digital products for a new generation of investors. What was announced. Quartz is now admitting members from its UK waitlist by invitation, with the mobile application available on both the App Store and Google Play. The company's £2.75 million pre-seed round was led by Daphni, with participation from Outward VC and K Fund. Notable angel investors also joined the round, including Kantox founder Philippe Gelis and former N26 and Kraken executive Gilles BianRosa. The platform functions as a digital personal banker, registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an Account Information Service Provider (AISP). It uses proprietary connectors to aggregate a user's entire financial footprint - including pensions, ISAs, savings, and investments - into a single interface. Central to the experience is "Charlie," an intelligence layer that monitors market movements and provides real-time updates to users about their portfolios. This allows users to interact with their data through a conversational interface, receiving insights on what matters to their specific holdings as market conditions change. Founded in 2025, Quartz has been in a testing phase since Q1 2026. During this period, the platform has tracked more than £10 million in assets for its early members. The company is led by Co-Founder and CEO André Silva, who previously served as Head of Global Expansion at Revolut, and Co-Founder and CPO Mateus Mesquita Alves, formerly the Investment Product Lead at N26. The startup currently operates with a team of 10 people distributed across offices in London, Barcelona, and Porto. "Small differences in how your money works compound into enormous differences in how your life goes and that shouldn't be reserved for a small niche of people" André Silva, Co-Founder & CEO at Quartz. The companies involved. Quartz enters the UK market as a specialist in digital wealth management, founded by veterans of Europe's most prominent neobanks. CEO André Silva brings experience from Revolut, where he managed expansion across North America, Latin America, and the Asia Pacific region. CPO Mateus Mesquita Alves provides deep product expertise from his tenure at N26, where he led investment product development. The funding is led by Daphni, a venture firm focused on European tech startups. They are joined by Outward VC, a London-based venture capital firm that has established a significant footprint in the fintech sector. Outward VC is known for its early-stage investments in high-growth financial technology companies, having previously backed major industry players such as the banking platform Curve, the capital markets platform PrimaryBid, and the investment infrastructure provider Vauban. The round also saw participation from K Fund and individual investors with deep roots in the European fintech ecosystem, including Philippe Gelis of Kantox and Gilles BianRosa, who has held senior roles at Kraken Digital Asset Exchange. What FF News has reported before. FF News has previously covered the investment activities of Outward VC as they continue to expand their portfolio of UK-based fintechs. In early 2025, we reported that Firenze Closes £2.5m Seed Funding Round Led by Outward VC, the Backers of Curve, PrimaryBid and Vauban. This prior investment highlighted Outward's strategy of supporting platforms that aim to democratise access to sophisticated financial tools. Additionally, the broader trend of AI integration within financial services has been a recurring theme in our reporting. We recently covered how Fintech Heavyweights Back Adclear in $2.75m Round to Bring AI to Financial Promotions Compliance, reflecting a similar funding scale and technological focus to the Quartz announcement. Our coverage of Veridox Raises £1M to Launch AI-powered Forensic Fraud Detection for Insurers also underscores the growing reliance on automated intelligence across the UK fintech landscape. What this means. The launch of Quartz signals a shift in the wealth management sector, where the traditional boundary between automated "robo-advisors" and high-touch private banking is dissolving. By leveraging AISP status to gain a holistic view of user assets, Quartz is challenging incumbent wealth managers who often struggle with fragmented data across different asset classes. The market is increasingly crowded, and the pressure is on for platforms to prove that AI-driven "intelligence" can provide genuine value or cost savings compared to passive index tracking. The success of this model will likely depend on whether users trust an automated interface to manage complex tax wrappers like pensions and ISAs without human intervention. Featured speakers.