Finstar Financial Group has made senior additions to its management team with the recruitment of Eugene Timko as investment director, Michele Tucci as head of mobile products and business development, and Alexander Ivanov who has been appointed to develop venture capital investments.
These latest appointments reflect Finstar’s strategy to continue with the expansion of its fintech and financial services investment programme.
As the global economy moves into a digital era, investment in the fintech sector continues to gather pace and overall fintech investment reached USD5.7 billion globally during the first quarter of 2016. Finstar Financial Group is focusing its efforts to capitalise on the opportunities present in the space by seeking out the brightest companies that are ready to challenge the status quo in the financial services industry.
Nicholas Jordan, CEO of Finstar, says: “Finstar has both the resources, expertise, technologies and geographic reach to develop ground-breaking solutions to rapidly changing corporate and consumer needs in the financial services industry. Finstar’s decision to strengthen its focus on fintech solutions across a number of sub-sectors reflects the manner in which fintech investments are bucking trends across the globe. We see tremendous long-term growth opportunities across all industry segments, from lending platforms to insurance and asset management.
“Our latest senior management appointments are of the highest caliber and reflect our ambition to seek out the best talent in the industry and deploy our Human and Financial capital to develop the most innovative credit products and solutions. Finstar is building a formidable team and a knowledge-sharing technological platform across multiple geographies.”
Timko will be responsible for evaluating venture capital investment opportunities in the fintech and services industry with a particular focus on disruptive business models and technology. Timko has been focused on the fintech industry since 2012, when he successfully completed the acquisition of a mobile banking business by Inventure Partners, a VC fund specialised on disruptive technology businesses. His most recent transactions include the acquisition of a 50 per cent stake in Hearst Independent Media Publishing, a former subsidiary of Sanoma Oyj, publisher of luxury magazines, and a successful investment in car service Gett and the Busfor budget bus company. Prior to joining Inventure Partners, Timko served as the IBD Associate of Morgan Stanley and participated in various M&A and ECM transactions in technology, media and telecom industry.
Tucci will grow mobile products and partnerships that will contribute to the group’s FinTech global expansion plans. Tucci has more than 16 years of international industry and consulting experience across Asia Pacific, USA, Europe, Middle East and Africa. He has held senior management positions including director of international business development at Mint Payments, a listed mobile and online payment and transaction processing company, and vice president and senior managing consultant of the professional services arm of MasterCard Worldwide.
Ivanov will be responsible for developing venture capital activities in fintech. Ivanov has experience in venture capital, financial services, and technology. Previously, he was a co-founder of Life.SREDA, a venture capital firm focusing on investments in fintech mobile and Internet projects in the US, Western and Eastern Europe. He has held senior positions in international financial groups, including head of balanced scorecard division at BCS Financial Group, a financial service group that provides customisable high and low touch trading solutions for global and emerging markets.
