In an otherwise generally unequal industry, FinTech is taking the challenge and running with it. Read on to learn how women in FinTech are being celebrated.
women in FinTech
Just 29% of workers in FinTech are women, despite women being 60% of the Financial Services workforce. The numbers become grimmer at the top. At the c-suite level, only 2% of banking CEOs are women.
In an otherwise unequal industry, meet some women in FinTech who are celebrated for disrupting the status quo and leading the charge of finance and technology into the future. Read on for more.
Normalizing the Women in Charge
For many women, leadership is an inaccessible and mysterious state. Normalizing women’s “place at the table” is a high priority and the first step in challenging the gender imbalance. Here are a few striking stories of women in FinTech who cut through all the noise to make their expertise count.
The Lawyer
Women in FinTech pioneer, Latham & Watkins partner Vivian A. Maese is recognized for her transactional work as the legal counsel in the outsourced development and implementation of the SEC’s Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT.)
CAT is one of the largest databases ever created and is designed to track the orders and transactions of the US equity and options markets. It was not Ms. Maese’s first venture into the intersection of finance and technology, as she also led Morgan Stanley’s sovereign intelligence hub and led the implementation of SEC market structure rule changes to benefit BIDS Trading.
The Full Stack Coder
One of the youngest Microsoft Certified Professionals at age 13, developer Stephanie Volfsun parlayed her software engineering skills to co-found two successfully funded startups connecting people by their opinions. Investors looking for hackers with ideas are pleasantly surprised shocked by her youth and savvy.
She held a patent for the work on a proprietary user feedback and color coding system for competitive intelligence firm Knotch, and she is currently working on a proprietary matchmaking system for her new app, Bubby. As a serial startup CTO, she is entering her third go-around in the investment circuit.
The Behavioral Economist
Using simple, distributed technology to bring banking access to underserved people in Sub-saharan Africa was the beginning of an incentives-driven financial platform for consumers called Wala.
Leader and Wala CEO Trish Martinez is using blockchain and mobile tech to bring banking services to otherwise underserved consumers. Wala works with banks to offer banking transactions, remittances, loans and insurance at low or no fee to emerging markets. Wala does not recreate banking infrastructure, it overlays its proprietary platform on a bank’s existing infrastructure.
The Frustrated Waitress and Founder
Azimo co-founder and general manager Marta Krupinska found it difficult and expensive to transfer money to her home in Poland while working as a waitress in Ireland. So she founded a company and created an app to make transactions easier. Azimo now makes transfers possible between 190 countries and in 80 currencies.
In the past two years, Azimo has doubled their personnel, raised $30 million in funding, and is among the fastest-growing FinTech companies in Europe.
Increasing Women in FinTech
Highlighting women in FinTech and normalizing their existence at the top is important, but it is imperative to invest in women as leaders, innovators, and role models.
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