UniCredit today announced the creation of a transformation & innovation advisory board blending internal and external specialists as a key component of its new strategy to create the "bank of tomorrow".
Building on the recent appointment of Finja Kütz as group chief transformation officer, this new advisory board has been created to explore and evaluate innovative ideas and solutions that will provide UniCredit's current and future customers with best in class products, services and customer care.
The advisory board will meet quarterly to debate and review critical topics for the banking industry such as technology & data, consumer trends, fintech innovation and security & risk mitigation, with the objective of proposing tangible development opportunities to the UniCredit CEO, as well as regularly debriefing the main UniCredit board of directors.
The advisory board will include four external technology and innovation thought leaders who will join internal specialists as permanent members. These are:
- Eileen Burbidge is one of the most prominent women in the UK tech scene and special fintech envoy to Her Majesty's Treasury. She is a co-founder and partner at Passion Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm. Through Passion and her personal investments, Eileen has invested in the likes of Monzo, Tide, Go Cardless and Maven Clinic, a digital healthcare provider catering to women and their families. In 2015, Eileen was awarded as a member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her contribution to entrepreneurship.
- Theresa Payton was the first woman ever to hold the office of White House chief information officer within the executive office of the president. With significant banking experience, Theresa is president, CEO and chief advisor of the cyber security resilience and intelligence company Fortalice Solutions and co-founder of the cyber security product firm Dark Cubed. Theresa is a national security veteran with decades of service protecting people, businesses and nations. She has successfully worked alongside law enforcement agencies to protect her clients and ensure the apprehension and conviction of cyber criminals. In 2018 Theresa was named to the top 5 of the IFSEC global list of security professionals and she won an FBI Director's award for her service to the nation in stopping cybercrime.
- Dr. Carlo Ratti is a practicing architect and innovator and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he founded the Senseable City Lab, which investigates and anticipates how digital technologies are changing the way people live in cities. Carlo is also the founding partner of the design and innovation office Carlo Ratti Associati, based in Torino and New York City. He has been named by Fast Company magazine as one of the 50 most influential designers in America and was also featured in Wired Magazine's Smart List. Carlo is co-chair of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization and was the curator for the much-admired Future Food District Pavilion at the Milan 2015 World Expo.
- Dr. Katia Walsh is Vodafone's first chief global data and analytics officer where she built the group's big data and artificial intelligence capability, pioneering customer-centric data products and transforming customer communications. Her global team's work has delivered billions of euros in new revenues and cost savings and she has been named the 2018 data leader of the year by Women in Technology and listed in Data IQ's top 10 most influential people. Before Vodafone, Katia led data-driven and customer-centric cultures for the financial services sector.
Jean Pierre Mustier, CEO of UniCredit, said: "The banking sector is evolving rapidly and at UniCredit we intend to seize opportunities and develop innovative solutions to better serve all our customers. We look to the future as our Transform 2019 marathon reaches the final stretch, and this innovative transformation & innovation advisory board will allow us to better challenge pre-conceived patterns and explore exciting new concepts. Building the "bank of tomorrow" underpins future value creation at UniCredit and I look forward to seeing first-hand the creativity and fresh thinking our highly experienced external advisory board members bring to the table."
Finja Kütz, UniCredit group chief transformation officer, added: "The new UniCredit transformation & innovation advisory board is an exciting initiative which aims to actively deliver tangible and constructive solutions to yet unknown challenges. I am confident this will position UniCredit at the forefront of what we call pragmatic innovation: anticipating the evolution of customer behaviours and needs and providing all our stakeholders the best possible experience in their interactions across all areas of the Group."
Milan, January 16, 2019
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