iBanFirst appoints Johan Gabriels to expand its fintech business in SEE

iBanFirst, a French fintech that has recently closed a deal of €200 million with the US fund Marlin Equity Partners, has appointed Johan Gabriels to coordinate the business expansion in South-Eastern Europe. Johan will be in charge of all region’s offices, including the recently launched Romanian office, and the upcoming Bulgarian and Hungarian ones. iBanFirst’s expansion strategy is to offer companies in South-East Europe, access to state of the art technology that offers fast, secure and cost-effective transactions in over 30 currencies and hedge their foreign exchange risks.

Johan has extensive experience in the financial and technology sectors, as well as a good knowledge of the Romanian market, having spent the last 12 years at the head of several financial and banking institutions including RBS, Carpatica Commercial Bank, Moneycorp and Ebury. He is one of the few experts in fintech, an industry that has seen spectacular growth in recent years, with more and more companies choosing to work with fintech due to fast and transparent payments, attractive exchange rates, flexibility and lower costs.

“I am delighted to join iBanFirst in its new growth phase and to coordinate the South – Eastern Europe expansion. There are many cultural similarities and business connections between countries in this region, so I am confident in the potential of the area and I believe it will be a driver for business development across Europe”, said Johan Gabriels, South – Eastern Europe Manager at iBanFirst.

“The appointment of Johan Gabriels as SEE manager is part of our expansion strategy in the region. Johan has a successful career in fintech and knows the specifics of these emerging markets. Under his leadership, we will be able to maximize the potential of iBanFirst’s services and create new international growth opportunities for our clients, thus strengthening our success in the region”, added Pierre-Antoine Dusoulier, CEO and founder of iBanFirst.

iBanFirst operates a state-of-the-art online platform that enables companies to conduct fast, secure and cost-effective transactions in over 30 currencies. It also integrates the ‘open banking’ facilities, offering customers the ability to manage all their bank accounts and transactions, regardless of bank or currency. Both payers and payees can track the payment status in real-time due to the ‘payment tracker’ option.

The fintech’s expansion in South-Eastern Europe was made possible by the acquisition earlier this year of a majority stake in iBanFirst by the US fund Marlin Equity Partners, in a deal valued at €200 million. The fintech recently opened its first office in the region, in Bucharest, under the leadership of Alin Latu, and plans to open offices in Bulgaria and Hungary in the coming months.

iBanFirst is an award-winning fintech company at the European level and is included in the Financial Times 1000 Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies for two consecutive years (2020 – 2021) and in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Belgium (awarded 3 consecutive years, 2018 – 2020).