Finaro, the cross-border payment provider and licensed bank supporting international commerce via simple payments, has announced an expansion of its management team to take advantage of the fast digital commerce growth in three of the fastest-growing e-commerce regions of Europe.
Ruben Frimand Nielsen is reportedly joining Finaro as VP of Sales and Business Development for the Nordic region in order to lead Finaro’s ongoing growth plans in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland.
Before Finaro, Ruben had been responsible for global portfolio management, sales and product strategy as well as finances for the global payments unit at Mastercard.
In the DACH region, Finaro has hired Clemens Leitner to serve as VP of Sales and Business Development to lead Finaro’s expansion in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Before his role at Finaro, Clemens had been responsible for business development, carrier management and product marketing management at payment and messaging innovator DIMOCO Carrier Billing.
Or Frankenstein Paran has now joined Finaro as VP of Sales & Business Development in the United Kingdom, leading Finaro’s ongoing business growth in Europe’s largest digital commerce market.
With a solid background in business development including Fintech, trade and treasury solutions at Citi as well as d-local, Or brings considerable professional experience in identifying commercial opportunities and advanced project management to Finaro.
Itamar Kummer is now joining Finaro as Director of Sales & Business Development, overseeing and leading the expansion activities of Finaro in Israel.
Itamar’s expertise in acquiring long-term business opportunities reportedly includes stints at P3 Financial Group in Finland and AGT International in China, making him well-placed to support international growth initiatives for Finaro.
With their experience and management track records, Ruben, Clemens, Or and Itamar are now set to bring Finaro’s simple multi-dimensional payments solutions to merchants and assist them with connecting to more clients.
German, Austrian and Swiss consumers spent around €100 billion back in 2020, which is a record spending milestone accelerated by the online shopping trends during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Germany reportedly has the largest digital commerce market in the DACH region, with consumers there spending more than €83 billion in 2020 (up around 14.6% from 2019), Austrian consumers spent about €8.5 billion (+17.4%), while Swiss online shoppers made purchases worth €11.9 billion (+27.9%) – up 27.9% from 2019.
Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish consumers spent a total of €46.5 billion online in 2020, with 19% of Nordic consumers performing cross-border online purchases. In Denmark, more than 90% of consumers shopped online in 2020, followed by 87% in Norway and 86% in Sweden.
In the United Kingdom, digital commerce turnover reached €236 billion in 2020, making it the biggest digital commerce market in Europe.
These figures are on track to increase this year as more merchants and consumers across the Nordic, DACH and UK regions adopt new ways to carry out and accept payments, and increase their overall usage of mobile commerce such as online wallets and in-app payments.
Achiya Fried, Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer at Finaro, stated:
“I am pleased to welcome such key talent to the growing Finaro family. We have ambitious growth plans across Europe, and their dynamic expertise and proven management success will certainly be a catalyst for Finaro’s growing momentum and I look forward to seeing what they will do for the team and the company.”
Igal Rotam, CEO at Finaro, remarked:
“This is an incredibly exciting time to be joining Finaro and to be part of its stellar growth and ambitious plans for the future. We’re thrilled that these men are joining us to support this growth and expand merchants’ access to the innovative, cutting-edge payment solutions they need to serve their own growing global customers.”