Issue 10 2020

8 CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 10 2020 , Jul20502 Building The Bank Of The Future The United Kingdom is in the top three global destinations for start-up businesses, but thirteenth for medium and scale-up businesses. Medium businesses are hugely important to the United Kingdom’s economy, accounting for millions of jobs and contributing massively to the financial strength of the country. It makes sense therefore, that they should have a bank that strategically supports them and helps them to grow, and that is what Cynergy Bank has aimed to do since its establishment. Now, the bank has become a strong player in the banking sector and delivers outstanding services for its clients. Business owners really value personal relationship-driven services with knowledgeable bankers, and the speed of decision-making that Cynergy Bank offers. Since its establishment, Cynergy Bank has operated with the vision and mission of empowering entrepreneurs and business owners to allow them to achieve their dreams. To deliver on this promise two key strategic initiatives have been delivered. Firstly, to create scale, Cynergy Bank was established by entrepreneurs in 2018 through the acquisition of a UK based community bank, A recent player to the world of banking in the United Kingdom, Cynergy Bankwas formed in 2018 as a specialist bank for mediumbusiness owners and those customers who value face to face service blended with the latest technology. Cynergy Bank is delivering one of the world’s first digital relationship bankmodels. We at CEOMonthly had the privilege of being able to speak to CEONick Fahy following his award-winning success in being named as the CEO of the Year 2020 – The United Kingdom. Discover more about Cynergy Bank and the success that it has achieved underMr Fahy’s leadership. this strategy differentiated Cynergy from other early stage banks by creating scale and a ready-made customer base through acquisition. Secondly Cynergy Bank embarked on creating the world’s first digital relationship bank delivering a seamless blend of face-to- face relationship management enabled by digital delivery of service. Cynergy is partnering with a global technology player to deliver this platform, details of which will be announced later this year. Cynergy Bank is a partner of the Institute for Family Business which promotes and supports family businesses. The partnership has given the bank good insights into the challenges that ambitious businesses face, including leadership and corporate development needs, and possible solutions. Cynergy Bank also has a strong track record of supporting businesses with the ambition to scale up. Over the few years that the bank has been in business, it has successfully provided financing in excess of £2.5 billion to customers in sectors across the economy, and the business itself as grown by circa 30% each year for the last two years. Research has shown that entrepreneurs become time-poor as their businesses scale up, wanting quick decisions and a meaningful personal relationship with a bank that understands their business needs. The target market that Cynergy Bank works to deliver for has been shown to want a trusted advisor to help them grow, as well as invest in digital technology to help them address their own barriers to growth. Cynergy Bank delivers this, and so much more, through the leadership of its CEO, Mr Nick Fahy. Prior to working as the CEO of Cynergy Bank, Mr Fahy spent many years refining his banking knowledge and leadership skills at other banking firms such as Westpac Banking Corporation in Australia, and also the Bank of Ireland across both Belfast and London. During his years in these roles, Mr Fahy fulfilled a number of roles that allowed him to be the leader that these banks needed him to be, all whilst learning more and more about what the clients really needed from a bank. Armed with this knowledge that the medium and scale up business sector needed a trusted banking partner, Cynergy Bank set about creating the bank, providing the services that clients in the United Kingdom were crying out for. During his time at Cynergy Bank, Mr Fahy has strived to always have a workplace culture that is warm, welcoming, and fully inclusive of every single staff member. As a regulated entity, Cynergy Bank’s culture underpins everything that it does and is based around five core values: doing the right thing, putting the customer first, embracing agility and entrepreneurship, diversity and inclusivity, and being at its best every day. For Mr Fahy and his teams, these are more than simply words on a page. Rather, they guide the leadership actions and choices that Mr Fahy makes on a daily basis, particularly in the challenging times that the country is facing right now. In 2019, this came to fruition as Cynergy Bank won a coveted Korn Kerry Workplace global award as a great place to work, and also continued delivering market-leading customer NPS. As any great leader knows, they are only as good as the people around them. Mr Fahy understands this philosophy perfectly, and has made sure that his team is one that is hungry for success, and happy in everything they do. There is a fantastic blend of long-serving employees and relatively new employees, both of which are excited about the future of the business and where it might go under the sage guidance of Mr Fahy. It is no cliché to say that the employees are central to the development and future success of Cynergy Bank, and Mr Fahy is