N26 has filled a gaping hole in its leadership team with the appointment of HypoVereinsbank's Carina Kozole as chief risk officer.
The German digital bank has been searching for a new risk chief following the departure of the former incumbent Thomas Grosse, who had previously worked at Deutsche Bank and Google.
N26 appointed managing director Jan Stechele as an interim placeholder while it strived to appeae German watchdog BaFin over its lax AML procedures.
Kozole, who is a senior vice president and head of credit risk operations at HypoVereinsbank, will be charged with fixing the bank's compliance controls after BaFin last week extended money laundering controls at the digital bank after noting there were still "deficiencies" in its systems.
A 50,000 per month cap on new customer recruitment remains in place and has been augmented with an audit presence at the bank to monitor progress.
BaFin is demanding more adequate IT monitoring, stepped up quality assurance and the establishment of effective outsourcing controls.
Valentin Stalf, N26 CEO, says: “I look forward to welcoming Carina to the team. Alongside our strong bench of leaders, her comprehensive expertise and experience will further strengthen our focus on risk management and compliance.”
Kozole will take up her new position "later this year".