Bain consultant joins N26 as UK General Manager

A former Bain & Company consultant has been installed as the UK General Manager of a European disruptor bank. Will Sorby will now work to lead N26’s continuing growth in the UK market, which it entered at the end of 2018.

As digital offerings become ever more important for retaining customers, 88% of banks attached importance to working with FinTechs in the future in a recent survey. This is because banks are becoming increasingly concerned with the threat presented by new, digitally capable competitors. One such competitor is N26.

N26 is a German direct bank, headquartered in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 2016, it offers services throughout most of the Eurozone and has also announced plans to expand to the US in early 2019. The bank launched its UK wing in November 2018, and the coming months will see it introduce innovative features such as shared Spaces, allowing customers to share their finances in a new way. With measures like this, the firm hopes to grow its UK presence rapidly throughout this year.

In order to oversee that task, Will Sorby has been appointed as N26’s UK General Manager. He will now be tasked with leading the bank’s ongoing expansion into the UK market, and is responsible for building the N26 brand from its base of over 2.5 million customers across Europe.

Sorby arrives at N26 from strategy consulting giant Bain & Company, where he was most recently a Consultant. During his two-year stay with the MBB firm, he focused on consumer products, advising companies across Europe on how to navigate a range of commercial and operational challenges. Prior to this, he spent a year as a Strategy Executive with property firm British Land, and also honed extensive corporate finance and strategic expertise from seven years at Morgan Stanley. There, he was latterly Vice President within the group’s investment banking division.

Commenting on his arrival, Valentin Stalf, CEO of N26, said, “Since launching in the UK, we have been overwhelmed by the demand we’ve seen for our fresh approach to banking, with over 1,000 new customers joining us daily since launch. Will’s appointment is a clear demonstration of our commitment to the UK market, and the key role it will play towards our goal of building a bank the world loves to use.”

Will Sorby himself added, “Despite being Europe’s most advanced market for banking products, consumers in the UK remain four times more likely to be aware of mobile-first banks than to use them. There is a clear opportunity for an innovative bank to deliver a better customer experience and I am excited to lead our expansion in the UK as we grow to meet this demand.”