Petr Baron — (born, 28 November, 1980) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

banker 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 ...

angel investor An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital to a business or businesses, including startups, usually in exchange for convertible de ...

and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

who currently holds the position of

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of challenger tbi. Baron has been an early investor in several technology ventures as well. Baron was featured on the cover of the

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n edition of

Forbes Magazine ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The c ...

in January 2023.

Early life

Baron attended

Taunton School Taunton School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, now co-educational, in the county town of Taunton in Somerset in South West England. It serves boarding and day-school pupils from the ages of 13 to 18. The current headmaster i ...

(GCSE, A-levels) between 1994 and 1999. In 2002 he earned a BSc degree in

Investment Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

and

Financial Risk Management Financial risk management is the practice of protecting Value (economics), economic value in a business, firm by managing exposure to financial risk - principally credit risk and market risk, with more specific variants as listed aside - as well ...

from

Cass Business School Bayes Business School, formerly known as Cass Business School, is the business school of City St George's, University of London, located in St Luke's, just to the north of the City of London. It was established in 1966. Bayes Business School ...

Career

During the early stages of his career, Baron held several

board Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a ...

positions in the

finance industry Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...

across various European markets. Baron has also made angel investments in multiple fintech ventures such as Silverbird, Finmap, Releva.ia, FintechOS, Lili, 3S Money, Swipe, ANNA Money, Myos.

VAB Bank

Baron joined the Supervisory Board of Ukrainian VABank in 2003. Later, he was appointed as the

and

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 the bank, which was subsequently rebranded as VAB Bank. During his tenure, all nine companies in the VAB Group merged into a unified financial services supermarket in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, VAB Bank emerged as one of the most technologically advanced

brands A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

in Ukraine, and Baron was recognized as a prominent figure in the country's banking industry. In 2008, Baron participated as a judge in two seasons of the local edition of the television program " Dragons’ Den" - known as "Business Sharks" in Ukraine. In 2011, there was a change in ownership of VAB Bank, and due to a difference of opinions, Baron

resigned Resignation is the formal act of relinquishing or vacating one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or ...

from his position.

TBIF Financial Services

Baron joined TBIF Financial Services in 2012 as the

Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

Strategy, following the company's acquisition of the Bulgarian branch of Nova Ljubljanska Banka (NBL), which was subsequently rebranded as tbi bank. During his tenure, the Kardan Group, which owned TBIF, decided to divest its financial business. Baron played a crucial role in the 2016 acquisition of TBIF by the Latvian 4finance Group.

tbi

In 2016, Baron assumed the role of

at tbi, a consumer lending bank with operations in

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

tbi bank TBI Bank, stylized as tbi bank, is a consumer and SME-focused bank with headquarters in Sofia, providing financial services in Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and through digital channels in Germany, Denmark, and Poland. The bank is owned by TBIF Finan ...

is recognized as one of the highly profitable banks in

Southeast Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...

. in January 2023 Baron was featured on the cover of the Romanian edition of

, where he shared his personal and tbi's story.

Personal life

Petr Baron lives with his wife and two sons in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, UK. He is also an art collector and dog enthusiast.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baron, Petr 1980 births Living people Alumni of Bayes Business School English bankers Angel investors British venture capitalists People educated at Taunton School