Trade Republic says it manages 35 billion euros in assets for four million customers worldwide. The neobroker employs around 700 people for this mammoth task. Since December 2023, the Berlin-based fintech has held a full banking license from the ECB. This enables Trade Republic to offer all essential banking services – for example, an account including a payment card. However, the license also comes with strict legal requirements from the ECB and BaFin. One of these requirements is an audit committee, which the German unicorn convened shortly after receiving the full banking license. The audit committee checks whether the banking transactions are carried out properly and recorded in the books.
Difficult weeks at Trade Republic
Now former Bundesbank board member Joachim Wuermeling has been appointed to the audit committee. The appointment follows difficult weeks at Trade Republic: customers had complained about delayed or even missing dividend payments. As a result, the neobroker closed its internal customer service. In an interview with Welt in June, Hecker explained: “From now on, we will no longer operate customer service internally, but via much larger, specialized customer centers throughout Europe. In this context, we are closing our customer service subsidiary and integrating some of the expert positions directly into the bank.”
Except for a wave of layoffs in 2022, which followed the 250 million euro Series C financing round, there were hardly any conspicuous personnel issues at the neobroker. By startup standards, the length of service among Trade Republic executives is high: According to a survey by Carta, the average length of service at startups is around two years. Many of Trade Republic's senior employees have been with the company for a long time.
The men next to Christian Hecker
Source: https://www.businessinsider.de/gruenderszene/business/kein-klassisches-c-level-das-fuehrungsteam-um-trade-republic-chef-christian-hecker/