Tyro look for new CEO
(14 June 2017 – Australia) The chief executive of recently licensed Australian bank, Tyro, has left his position after just eight months in the role.
Tyro said Gerd Schenkel had resigned because he wanted to pursue other business opportunities and spend more time with his family.
Schenkel, whose past experience included founder of both National Australia Bank's UBank and Telstra Digital, will be replaced in an interim capacity by Rob Ferguson, a long-time Tyro director and shareholder, and the managing director of Bankers Trust between 1985 and 1999. He will become acting managing director and guide the search for a new CEO.
The firm’s previous CEO, and its largest shareholder, Jost Stollman will no longer be involved in a management capacity, but will become a full-time non-executive director, it said.
Schenkel has recently made several high-profile hires in an attempt to build out its customer base of small businesses including PayPal executive Kareem al-Bassam, as head of product; former ING Direct distribution head Joshua Walther, Tyro's director of sales; and former IAG technology head Dave Coombes, who will join the company later this year as director of engineering.
"My departure will allow a new CEO to lead the implementation of Tyro's significant growth program. I felt privileged to lead the organisation and I thank the board for the opportunity," Schenkel said.
The company reportedly earned A$95 million in revenue last year. It is planning to use its new banking license to take deposits and lend unsecured loans tied to cashflow.
In a recent study of Australian merchants, East & Partners found that more than one third of all businesses have used or considered using Tyro’s point-of-sale terminal, behind one in two for PayPal. Those non-bank providers are well ahead of their competitors including new market entrant, Square Payments.
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