CEO Today Global Awards

CEO Today Global Awards 2020 UNITED KINGDOM 51 www.ceotodaymagazine.com cost and friction associated with moving money to, from and across developing, emerging and frontier markets, the bank makes a significant contribution to increasing financial inclusion in some of the hardest to reach markets. Standout achievements for the bank over the past few years were the launch of the EMpowerFX platform in late 2017, and the bank’s acquisition of Segovia in April 2019. What has driven 300% volume growth? The Bank’s customer-focused approach, niche and competitive product offering coupled with strong customer demand, quickly translated into top-line line growth and sustainable profitability. Throughout this period Crown Agents Bank’s achievements have resulted in supercharged growth in both customer volumes and revenues, which respectively recorded 300% and 175% increase over the 2016-2018 period. A key achievement in this period was the launch of EMpowerFX which provides real-time, direct access to competitive FX pricing and execution capabilities across all major traded and emerging market currencies. Since its inception, EMpowerFX has facilitated a seven-fold increase in transacting BEST FX PROVIDER FOR EMERGING MARKET CURRENCIES WINNER 2020 GLOBAL FINANCE volumes since 2016. It supports over 400 currency pairings – up from less than 200 when it began – with a fivefold increase in clients transacting on an average day. How will your fintech acquisition drive CAB further? Albert was the architect for the group’s acquisition of Segovia Technology, a US venture-backed technology company focused on frontier market payments. The deal allows Crown Agents Bank to extend its payment network, adding mobile money payments, and integrating its extensive FX capabilities with Segovia’s modern payments infrastructure. The new offering will be a uniquely scalable, flexible and efficient payment solution for global businesses, and the acquisition is therefore an essential element in the bank’s progress towards becoming the preferred choice for B2B payment and FX services.