Berlin neobank turns to a Santander heavyweight after Carina Kozole announces her exit
Why the shake-up?
German business daily Handelsblatt reports that chief risk officer Carina Kozole will leave N26 on 31 July 2025. Stepping in on 1 December 2025 is Jochen Klöpper, currently CRO at Santander Consumer Bank AG. The timing is telling: regulator BaFin is said to be re-checking N26’s risk models as the EU’s MiCAR and DORA rules loom. handelsblatt.com
Who is Jochen Klöpper?
| Years | Role & organisation | Highlights |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 – 2025 | CRO, Santander Consumer Bank AG | Cut NPL ratio from 4.1 % to 1.9 %; rolled out AI fraud-detection for 13 m retail accounts. |
| 2012 – 2014 | CRO, BAWAG PSK (Vienna) | Led €5 bn balance-sheet de-risking before Cerberus exit. |
| 2005 – 2008 | Chief Credit Officer, Deutsche Bank Italy | Built IFRS 9 early-warning models; sat on European CRM exec committee. |
| 1993 – 2005 | Deutsche Bank Germany | Rose to MD, Credit Risk (retail & SME). |
| Side roles | Chair of Hyundai Capital Bank Europe & Allane SE; adviser to SCHUFA. | |
| Education | Dipl.-Bankbetriebswirt, Bankakademie Frankfurt. |
Klöpper’s reputation in Frankfurt circles: the “quiet fixer” who gives supervisors zero surprises. marketscreener.com
Klöpper’s to-do list at N26
- Lift BaFin’s deposit cap
The 2021 growth ceiling still constrains German balances; a sturdier risk framework could finally remove it. - Scale consumer credit
N26 plans to triple its personal-loan book by 2027—without repeating past AML hiccups. - MiCAR & DORA readiness
Harmonise crypto-asset and ICT-risk controls across 24 EU markets before the 2026 deadlines. - Data hygiene
Fuse legacy SQL stacks with N26’s real-time risk engine to meet granular reporting rules.
Industry reaction
“Hiring a seasoned retail-risk surgeon shows N26 is graduating from rocket-ship startup to grown-up lender.”
— Marcus W. Mosen, N26 supervisory-board chair (quoted in Handelsblatt) handelsblatt.com
Bottom line
By poaching Jochen Klöpper from Santander, N26 is betting that old-school risk discipline can give its millennial banking brand the regulatory stamina it needs for the next growth phase—and perhaps clear the runway for that long-rumoured IPO.
