Hermann Tischendorf, M.Sc. | Senior Technology Leader · Board Member

Executive Profile

A Leader Who Delivers

Award-winning visionary leader with more than 25 years of international experience in the financial services sector — occupying C-level positions as CIO, CTO, CTIO, CDO and CPO across Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Austria.

I have led large multinational IT organisations, driven major digital and banking transformations, owned annual budgets exceeding $60M, managed teams of up to 1,000 FTEs spanning up to 12 time zones, and contributed to over $5 billion in value across all leadership positions combined.

My track record spans FinTech startups and regulated tier-one banking institutions alike — from building full mobile financial services stacks from scratch, to rescuing failed core banking implementations and steering multi-billion dollar investor due diligence processes.

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              Global Operator
              Lived & worked in 6 countries across 4 continents
            

🏆

              Award-Winning
              Multiple international banking & FinTech accolades
            

💡

              Digital Innovator
              AI, Blockchain, Cloud & Big Data — delivered in production
            

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              Board-Level Leader
              Executive Board Member and Independent Supervisory Board Member
            

🇬🇧 English — Fluent

🇩🇪 German — Native

🇷🇺 Russian — Professional

Core Competencies

Areas of Expertise

Deep domain knowledge across strategy, technology and leadership — forged through decades of hands-on delivery in the world's most demanding banking and FinTech environments.

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FinTech & Banking Technology

End-to-end expertise in building, transforming and scaling financial services technology platforms across consumer finance, mobile money and retail banking.

Core Banking Mobile Money Card Processing Payments Lending Remittance

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Digital Transformation

Proven track record of leading large-scale digital transformations — from cloud migration strategies that halved infrastructure costs to launching AI-powered products at scale.

Cloud Strategy DevOps Agile IT Modernisation PaaS / SaaS

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AI, Big Data & Innovation

Introduced and delivered AI, ML, Big Data and Blockchain strategies in production — including AI credit scoring, OCR-based lending apps and ML-powered code quality assurance.

AI / ML Blockchain Big Data OCR Chatbots

👥

Leadership & Organisational Design

Built and led IT functions from scratch — including the entire MTN MoMo IT organisation — spanning recruitment, governance, budgeting and multi-continent team management.

C-Suite Board Governance Turnaround KPI / OKR Culture Building

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M&A · Due Diligence · Advisory

Participated in multi-billion dollar M&A and strategic investor processes. Currently Independent Supervisory Board Member at Halyk Bank Group, a leading Central Asian financial institution.

M&A Due Diligence Supervisory Board Investor Relations

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IT Security & Compliance

Deep security and compliance background: CISA-certified since 2000, ISO 27001 certification leadership, SOX/Basel II/PCIDSS implementation and regulatory engagement across multiple jurisdictions.

CISA ISO 27001 PCIDSS Basel II SOX

Professional Journey

Career Timeline

November 2021 — August 2026

MTN Group FinTech

CTIO · Executive Board Member

📍 Johannesburg, South Africa

Market leader in 15+ African countries — 69M+ active clients and 1Bn+ transactions/month (Dec 2025)
Built the IT function from scratch: recruitment, governance, IT Operations and DevOps
Participated in due diligence for the first strategic investor into MTN MoMo at a $5.2B valuation
Launched QR payments, remittance, cards and loan products across the footprint

September 2019 — July 2021

4Finance Group

CTO · Executive Board Member

📍 Riga, Latvia

Led 300-person globally distributed IT team with €40M+ annual IT budget
Drove 50% reduction in infrastructure spend via end-to-end cloud migration
Achieved 50% reduction in DevOps cycle times by consolidating 5 delivery hubs into 2
Saved the core banking implementation project through successful contract renegotiation

August 2018 — August 2019

FEC VPBank Finance

CIO · Head of IT Division · Executive Board Member

📍 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Led 700+ IT team with $50M+ annual budget at Vietnam's #1 consumer finance firm (25M+ customers, $7B+ loan book)
Launched AI lending app with OCR & face/voice recognition — over 1M+ decisions in 2018 after launch
Achieved ISO 27001 certification and zero-downtime migration of multi-million card portfolio
Built the largest contact centre in Vietnam (15k+ agents) on Genesys

October 2017 — August 2019

SmartNet / SmartPay

CTO · Executive Committee Member (Startup CTO · remains shareholder)

📍 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

FinTech startup: designed and delivered a full MFS wallet stack from zero to market in 6 months
250k+ clients and 3k+ SMEs active within 3 months; 1.7M+ customers and 200k+ merchants by 2020
Secured regulatory licence (2019); continues as shareholder

October 2016 — October 2017

MARFOR International Advisory

Shareholder · Investment Advisor

📍 New York & Jacksonville, USA

Investment SPV — lead generation, due diligence and deal closing
Member of Investment Committee; operational management at portfolio companies
Focus on finance and retail technology leveraging cloud, AI, Blockchain and Big Data

May 2012 — October 2016

Eurasian Bank

CIO · Managing Director · Management Board Member

📍 Almaty, Kazakhstan

Led 400+ team with $30M+ annual IT budget; full IT transformation programme
Delivered merger with Bank Pozitiv within 3 months of announcement
Core banking upgrade, new Tier-2 data centre, SAP ERP (9 modules), PCIDSS, MasterCard Principal launch
Multiple international awards — Bank of the Year (The Banker 2012 & 2014), Best Bank in Kazakhstan

June 2010 — April 2011

Russian Standard Bank

Vice President · Business Development Director, Strategic Projects

📍 Moscow, Russia

Developed & launched Europe's first mobile money transfer / remittance service (ECAF Best Product 2011)
Implemented loyalty card scheme for Inditex (Zara) in Russia
Developed online card acceptance for P2G payments (Republic of Tatarstan)

August 2007 — January 2009

CB Renaissance Capital

CIO · Senior Vice President

📍 Moscow, Russia

Owned $60M+ IT budget at one of Russia's fastest-growing consumer finance businesses (150k+ credit decisions/day)
Revived stalled core banking implementation; tripled system capacity over 3.5 months
Launched Russia's first credit broker platform; saved $30M in investment assets

August 2000 — August 2007

Raiffeisen Bank

CIO Russia & Information Security Officer (Austria)

📍 Moscow, Russia & Vienna, Austria

Managed 450+ employees across 46 Russian cities; $50M+ annual IT budget
Led IT streams for Impex Bank acquisition integration; implemented new core banking (Midas Plus)
Built network infrastructure achieving 99.999% availability across 32+ locations

1990 — 2000 · Earlier Career

Deloitte & Touche · Tischendorf & Margreiter

Senior Consultant ERS (Enterprise Risk Services) · Senior Accountant

📍 Vienna & Graz, Austria

Launched the ERS service line in Austria at Deloitte; management consulting for multinational companies
Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) — external system reviews and SOX compliance audits
Full accounting cycle, ERP implementation and tax planning at family firm

Industry Recognition

Awards & Achievements

International recognition across multiple years and institutions — the result of consistently delivering first-to-market innovation in some of the most competitive banking markets in the world.

2015

Best Bank in Kazakhstan & Domestic Retail Bank of the Year

EMEA Finance · Euromoney · Asian Banking and Finance

2015

Best Securitization Deal in CEE

EMEA Finance — First landmark synthetic securitization in Kazakhstan

2014

Bank of the Year & Best Bank in Kazakhstan

The Banker · EMEA Finance · Euromoney

2013

Best Retail Bank in Kazakhstan & Domestic Retail Bank of the Year

EMEA Finance · Asian Banking and Finance

2012

Bank of the Year · Best Bank in Kazakhstan · Domestic Retail Bank of the Year

The Banker · EMEA Finance · Euromoney · Asian Banking and Finance

2011

Best Product — Mobile Money Transfer & Remittance

ECAF — European Card Award Foundation · First & largest implementation in Europe

Academic & Professional Development

Education & Credentials

Academic Background

🎓

Master of Business Administration (M.Sc.)

Karl-Franzens University, Graz, Austria
Master's thesis awarded with distinction — Best of 1997

1997

🏛️

Finance & Banking — Exchange Programme

UCLA Anderson School of Management
University of California, Los Angeles

1997

Certifications & Professional Training

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Applied Agentic AI for Organizational Transformation

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

September 2026

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CISA — Certified Information Systems Auditor

ISACA — Information Systems Audit and Control Association

Since 2000

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Six Sigma Black Belt

Full training cycle — Six Sigma methodology

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FinTech Revolution

Wharton / University of Pennsylvania

🇦🇹

Management Consultant Accreditation

Austrian Chamber of Commerce — UBIT

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Cost & Efficiency Management in Operations and IT

Arthur D. Little, Vienna

Hermann
Tischendorf M.Sc.

A Leader Who Delivers

Areas of Expertise

FinTech & Banking Technology

Digital Transformation

AI, Big Data & Innovation

Leadership & Organisational Design

M&A · Due Diligence · Advisory

IT Security & Compliance

Career Timeline

Awards & Achievements

Education & Credentials

Academic Background

Master of Business Administration (M.Sc.)

Finance & Banking — Exchange Programme

Certifications & Professional Training

Applied Agentic AI for Organizational Transformation

CISA — Certified Information Systems Auditor

Six Sigma Black Belt

FinTech Revolution

Management Consultant Accreditation

Cost & Efficiency Management in Operations and IT

Get in Touch

HermannTischendorf M.Sc.

A Leader Who Delivers

Areas of Expertise

FinTech & Banking Technology

Digital Transformation

AI, Big Data & Innovation

Leadership & Organisational Design

M&A · Due Diligence · Advisory

IT Security & Compliance

Career Timeline

Awards & Achievements

Education & Credentials

Academic Background

Master of Business Administration (M.Sc.)

Finance & Banking — Exchange Programme

Certifications & Professional Training

Applied Agentic AI for Organizational Transformation

CISA — Certified Information Systems Auditor

Six Sigma Black Belt

FinTech Revolution

Management Consultant Accreditation

Cost & Efficiency Management in Operations and IT

Get in Touch

Hermann
Tischendorf M.Sc.