Gerd Schenkel | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | |
| Nationality | Australian/German |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | http://www.gerdschenkel.com |
Gerd Schenkel is an Australian-German businessperson.[1] He is the former Chair [2] of Credit Clear (ASX.CCR),[3] Non-executive Director of Helia (ASX.HLI),[4] and Senior Adviser at Kearney, a global consultancy.[5]
Schenkel has a master's degree in Engineering and an MBA from the Columbia Business School in New York.[5][6] He is the co-author of several scientific articles in the field of robotics.[7]
In 2008, Schenkel launched UBank, the direct bank of National Australia Bank which has grown its balance sheet to approximately $20b.[8][9][10] Before launching UBank, Schenkel was general manager of NAB's CRM system.[11] Prior to that, Schenkel worked for The Boston Consulting Group.[12]
Until June 2017, he was the CEO of Tyro Payments, an Australian EFTPOS services company, aiming to "disrupt" the incumbent banks.[13][14][15][16] In December 2019, Tyro Payments listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.[17] As of 15 July 2020, the company's market capitalisation was approximately A$1.85b [18]
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".[19] The Australian Financial Review reported that Schenkel was pursuing "a new banking venture”.[20] Schenkel is the Managing Director of consultancy "BGA Digital".[21]
Prior to Tyro, Gerd Schenkel was the founder and Executive Director of Telstra Digital, the digital division of one of Australia's largest corporations.[22][23][24][25][26] At Telstra, he led the launch of Belong, Telstra's low cost broadband business which as of June 2017 had over 150,000 customers.[27][28]
A regular contributor to the Australian business community,[29][21] in November 2017 was appointed to the Federal Treasurer's Small Business Digitisation Taskforce,[30] 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.[31][29]
In December 2018, Gerd was appointed chairman of Australian FinTech Credit Clear.[32]
In October 2020, Credit Clear listed on the Australian Stock Exchange via an initial public offering under the ticker symbol CCR.[33][34][35][36]
In December 2021, Schenkel was appointed to the Board of Helia (formerly Genworth), an ASX listed insurer.[37]
In 2021, Credit Clear announced that it acquired ARMA, a debt collections services business to grow its revenue at a cost of $45m.[38]
In 2021, Schenkel was reported to be part of a "consortium" wanting to acquire ME Bank,[39] but ME Bank was ultimately acquired by Bank of Queensland.[40]
Gerd was married and has two daughters, Faedra and Lillie.[41]