Gerd Schenkel is an Australian-German businessperson. He is the founder of UBank, former Chair of Credit Clear (ASX.CCR), a former non-executive Director of Helia (ASX.HLI), and Senior Adviser at Kearney, a global consultancy.

Education

Schenkel has a master's degree in Engineering and an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

from the

Columbia Business School Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University, a Private university, private research university in New York City. Established in 1916, Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and one of ...

in New York. He is the co-author of several scientific articles in the field of

robotics Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

Career

In 2008, Schenkel launched UBank, the direct bank of

National Australia Bank National Australia Bank Limited (abbreviated NAB, branded and stylised as nab) is one of the four largest Banking in Australia, financial institutions in Australia (colloquially referred to as "Big Four (banking), The Big Four") in terms of mar ...

which has grown its balance sheet to approximately $20b. Before launching UBank, Schenkel was general manager of NAB's CRM system. Prior to that, Schenkel worked for The Boston Consulting Group. Until June 2017, he was the CEO of Tyro Payments, an Australian EFTPOS services company, aiming to "disrupt" the incumbent

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

s. In December 2019, Tyro Payments listed on the

Australian Stock Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX) is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as, ...

. As of 15 July 2020, the company's

market capitalisation Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by ...

was approximately A$1.85b On 13 June 2017 Tyro announced that Gerd Schenkel had resigned because he wanted to "pursue other business opportunities and spend more time with his family". The

Australian Financial Review The ''Australian Financial Review'' (''AFR'') is an Australian compact daily newspaper with a focus on business, politics and economic affairs. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and has been published continuously since its foun ...

reported that Schenkel was pursuing "a new banking venture”. Schenkel is the Managing Director of consultancy "BGA Digital". Prior to Tyro, Gerd Schenkel was the founder and Executive Director of Telstra Digital, the digital division of one of Australia's largest corporations. At Telstra, he led the launch of Belong, Telstra's low cost broadband business which as of June 2017 had over 150,000 customers. A regular contributor to the Australian business community, in November 2017 was appointed to the Federal Treasurer's Small Business Digitisation Taskforce, which led to the federal Government to provide $37.3 million (over four years from 2018) to support small business' adoption of digital tools and methods. In December 2018, Gerd was appointed

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of Australian

FinTech Financial technology (abbreviated as fintech) refers to the application of innovative technologies to products and services in the financial industry. This broad term encompasses a wide array of technological advancements in financial services, ...

Credit Clear. In October 2020, Credit Clear listed on the

via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

under the

ticker symbol A ticker symbol or stock symbol is an abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded Share (finance), shares of a particular stock or Security (finance), security on a particular stock exchange. Ticker symbols are arrangements of symbols ...

CCR. In December 2021, Schenkel was appointed to the Board of Helia (formerly Genworth), an ASX listed insurer. In 2021, Credit Clear announced that it acquired ARMA, a debt collections services business to grow its revenue at a cost of $45m. In 2021, Schenkel was reported to be part of a "consortium" wanting to acquire ME Bank, but ME Bank was ultimately acquired by

Bank of Queensland The Bank of Queensland (BOQ), formerly known as the Brisbane Permanent Benefit Building and Investment Society (BPBBIS) between 1874–1970, is an Australian retail bank with headquarters in Brisbane, Queensland. The bank is one of the oldest fi ...

. Since 2010, Schenkel has been providing independent consulting services to global organisations.

Personal

Gerd was married and has two daughters, Faedra and Lillie.Gerd Schenkel
. exchange.telstra.com.au

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schenkel, Gerd Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Australian business executives Columbia Business School alumni