Between keeping business users happy, integrating new technologies into the app, and preparing for an upcoming consumer rollout, Curve’s new head of operations, Rona Ruthen, has a lot to do.
Ruthen, who was promoted to the position two months ago, will be keeping her focus on two main goals: scale, and the simplicity current Curve users have come to expect.
Curve, a fintech developing a platform to aggregate multiple bank cards into one, allows users to manage money via one plastic card, powered by Mastercard, and an accompanying mobile app. The company is known for its “time-travel” feature, which allows a user to retroactively pick which card to use to make a transaction, after that transaction has already happened.
Ruthen told Bank Innovation in an emailed statement:
Interest in the card is high and growing exponentially. So, as well prepare to launch fully and introduce Curve for consumers, my focus will be on scaling up operations to make sure Curve’s customer base continues to enjoy simplicity, security and top class customer service, no matter how quickly we grow.
Just this week, we began deploying two new AI and machine learning-based technologies that will make our compliance and fraud-prevention less manual, more accurate and more nimble.
Ruthen, a veteran of fintechs including Payoneer and Fiverr, was appointed after the departure of Curve’s previous Head of Operations and co-founder Tom Foster-Carter, who joined challenger bank Monzo as chief operating officer last week.
Both companies are located in the U.K. and compete somewhat for customers, though Foster-Carter’s departure was friendly and the two services are already integrated with each other for customer use, according to Curve CEO and fellow co-founder Shachar Bialick.
Said Bialick in an emailed statement:
Tom joined us very early in Curve’s journey, with the task of laying the operational groundwork for launching a groundbreaking product that could support rapid growth through to Series A stage. He did a fantastic job, and we’ve parted ways amicably as friends.
The move has not been driven by any immediate plans to work in partnership with Monzo – but we’ll be wishing him the best of luck in the new role, and are always open to working with fellow innovators and peers in the banking sector. We’ve already integrated with Monzo and other challenger banks, and users love loading their Monzo card into Curve, so that they can manage it alongside all their other spending cards in the Curve app.
Curve will continue to improve its services for its current business users while preparing for its consumer launch later in the year.
Ruthen told Bank Innovation:
Ultimately, I’m responsible for making sure that our customers get their Curve cards quickly, have a smooth activation process and a seamless experience transacting and using our card and app. That includes our Customer Experience team, Compliance and Fraud processes to ensure security and privacy and building robust processes to support our customers and product as we scale.
Over 70,000 consumers have signed up for the upcoming app in just over a year, according to the company, with 20,000 of those signups occurring in the past two months close to the $10 million funding Curve raised in early July 2017.
Currently, the app is available for business users to download in Europe. Consumers can join the waiting list here.