Citi Group named long-time executive Yolande Piazza the head of Citi Fintech today.
Piazza, a 30-year financial technology veteran, who has been serving Citi in a variety of roles since 1988, will lead the group’s efforts in mobile, payments, and general fintech innovation. Before this appointment, Piazza was serving as the bank’s Chief Operating Officer.
Stephen Bird, chief executive officer for Citigroup, said in a statement:
As many of you know, Yo has been leading the team on an interim basis for the last few months. Under her leadership, we successfully launched a new set of features for U.S. Retail Bank clients that make us the first global bank to integrate banking and wealth management on mobile — epitomizing ‘playing to win.’ Client feedback is terrific, colleagues have a powerful platform for engagement, reengineered processes are reducing costs and improving speed, and the team has established itself as a trusted partner with the businesses.
Now that Piazza is the official head of the group, she has a little more freedom to innovate though she’s keeping such projects quiet for now, according to a company statement sent to Bank Innovation.
‘Yo’ has been serving as the interim leader of the group for several months now, since the previous CEO Heather Cox departed for USAA, where she currently serves as the bank’s chief tech and digital officer.
Under Piazza’s interim leadership, Citi Fintech expanded the banking and wealth management features offered on mobile for its retail bank clients in the U.S. The group’s primary focus remains on mobile innovations and features, though it continues to invest in and partner with numerous fintechs.
“I’m honored to be leading such a remarkable group of talented individuals focused on delivering digital solutions for our customers,” Piazza told Bank Innovation.