17 May 2022
Following a period of rapid growth in 2021, Kore Labs (“Kore”) today announces the appointment of two seasoned Non-Executive Directors to its Board. Phil Smith, previously Founder and Group Chief Executive of the Embark Group, joins with immediate effect as Non-Executive Chairman. Phil is joined by Sally Clark, currently an Independent Board Member and Non-Executive Director at Citibank, Metro Bank and FinTech business Acin.
Phil and Sally will support Kore as it capitalises on the extensive opportunities to deploy its pioneering financial product governance solutions into retail financial services businesses, whether they are banks, insurers, asset managers or advice-led. These businesses are under growing pressure to address governance and compliance issues associated with the ‘rising bar’ of consumer outcome needs being set by regulators across the world.
Kore was launched in 2019 by Sabrina Del Prete, an acclaimed FinTech entrepreneur who, during her 25-year career in retail banking, successfully deployed institutional-level product control technology into several blue-chip financial services organisations in the UK and Italy. Kore was an early participant of the UK PwC Accelerator programme and in March 2022 won a place in Cohort 5 of the UK Investment Association’s 2022/23 IA Engine FinTech accelerator initiative.
Prior to founding Embark Group, Phil Smith was Global Managing Director at both Barclays Wealth and Fortis Investments. Sally Clark has had an extensive executive career with Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland Group and J.P. Morgan.
Sabrina del Prete, CEO, Kore, commented: “This is an exciting milestone in the Kore journey. Following our early-stage success, this injection of significant experience to our Board will enable the executive team to materially accelerate our commercial growth in the UK and Europe, and ultimately to have global reach. I strongly believe we have the right product at the right time, and their endorsement further validates this view.”
Phil Smith, Non-Executive Chairman, Kore, commented: “Having worked with Sabrina at Barclays, I was well aware of her commercial qualities and her ability to innovate. On exploring the solutions offered by Kore, I had no doubt of its large-scale global opportunities. I am excited to be able to add my own global financial services experience to that of the executive team as we take this business from early stage to significant player on the global stage. I am also very pleased to welcome Sally Clark to the Board alongside me. Sally brings a wealth of complementary experience to our Board table.”
ENDS