Women have long been making strides in the banking world, and now they’re playing pivotal roles in the future of fiance as well. This article from Forbes highlights some female powerhouses in financial technology and cryptocurrency, looking at four women who were already powerhouses in their own rights—and their contributions to this growing industry. Click through to read more!
Women have secured some of the top European posts in traditional banking: Christine Lagarde heads the International monetary fund, Ana Botin is Executive Chair of Santander Group. Now Europe’s leading women in tech are pioneering startups focused on the future of finance too.
In London, the financial capital of Europe, Anne Boden left a string of top finance positions including Head of EMEA at RBS and Chief Operating Officer at Allied Irish Bank to become the first woman to found a UK bank. Boden has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Chemistry and an MBA. She has raised more than $190 million at the helm of Starling, an app-based bank used by 100,000 British customers. “I understand how to build technology, how to deliver technology and how to manage technologists. That gives you an awful lot of credibility, whether that’s with the industry as a whole or with investors,” she tells Forbes.
Despite her background, convincing the industry she knows best hasn’t always been easy. Boden spent much of 2015 explaining to non-believers that, yes, in just a few years we would all want to bank on our phones not just our laptops. If the environments she worked in weren’t 80 percent male they’d be “far more cooperative” in general, the founder adds. “Women have had to work twice as hard for twice as long,” she says.
Photo courtesy: Starling
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