These are the female faces of the industry

Every Wednesday, in our popular “Faces of the Industry” series, individuals from the payments and banking industry answer our standardized questionnaire of ten questions each. Over the years, a large number of interesting answers have come together.

This series also features many great women in the industry whose ideas, vision and foresight are making a significant impact on the financial industry and driving the move towards greater diversity. Today there is a selection of their answers to the question: What were your first touches with the payments and banking industry?

And here are their answers:

I remember well, my first bank statements were green. And that’s exactly why I chose this bank back when I was 18. 20 years later, other criteria are of course decisive for the selection of our cooperation partners and investment strategies – we have only remained true to the green-blue tones.
Maria Mann, Financery

Like so many of my generation, it was the classic piggy bank and going to the bank to empty the piggy bank: the first step into independent financial planning. On a professional level, the topic took root during my internship in the Bundestag. My job at the time was to compile the daily press clippings on relevant financial issues in an MP’s office.
Nazli Visne

Strong women, strong voices

That was an internship in the family office at HSBC during my studies right at the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2008.
Juliane Schmitz-Engels, Mastercard

I had my first contact with the banking industry from a research perspective during my time at the Max Planck Institute. Here, the economic research groups have focused primarily on the issue of banking regulation. In the applied area, I then had direct contact with the payment and banking industry through my work at PAIR Finance.
Minou Ghaffari, Pair Finance

Potential for development and disruption

That was the stock market simulation game of the LzO in 1999 ;) No, seriously: that was at the same time when I got to know more about FinTech – in 2015. At the time, I moved to Frankfurt for personal reasons and, after four years in the consultancy sector, I wanted to get a taste of corporate life and ended up in the finance sector in the classic way, rather by chance at Deka Bank. There I managed the national advertising campaigns for Deka Investments and repositioned Private Banking.
Kristina Baumhardt, CrowdDesk

On the customer side, it was probably as a kid opening my first savings account. I had a small role at the playhouse and wanted to put my first own earned money aside for my driver’s license. Getting to know the industry in its fullness then came quite quickly in my early days at finleap.
Carlotta Laetizia Mondino, finleap connect

My interest in FinTech started during my studies. I studied economics and was always surprised at how slowly the financial industry was changing. There is so much potential for disruption and the development of new products and services. So I realized early in my career how much I liked working in technology. There are so many ways we can use it to solve real people’s problems. With FinTech, you can very quickly make a real impact on how people interact and use technology.
Katja Hunstock, finleap connect

There are so many ways we can use fintech products to solve real people’s problems.

That was a long time ago – as a former Knax Club member (children’s club at savings banks) – I got my first savings book. I wasn’t in school then. And I worked as a summer job at a savings bank when I was 16, so I committed pretty early.
Maren Heiß, DKB

I then joined PayPal as Legal Counsel after moving from corporate law, where I provided legal support for the acquisition of a bill payment provider, the launch of installment payments and P2P payments.
Aiga Senftleben, Billie