Boku has announced the appointment of Rob Whittick as its new Chief Financial Officer with immediate effect. He joins the AIM-listed company following the decision by Keith Butcher to retire. Butcher served the company first as a non-executive director and then as CFO for nearly five years. Whittick will be responsible for Finance, Legal, Company Secretariat, Data Protection and Risk & Compliance functions.
Stuart Neal, Boku’s CEO, commented, “We are delighted that Rob has joined the Boku team at what is a truly exciting time for the company. He brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge, in particular financial and operational expertise from within a large and complex organisation, invaluable as we progress our own scaling journey. I am looking forward to working with Rob and furthering Boku’s position as the world leading global network for localised payment solutions.”
The announcement came as Boku issued a trading update, which saw the global mobile payments solution provider announce increased revenues. Though with no significant increase in EBITDA.
Who is Rob Whittick?
Whittick joins from the NatWest Group, where he spent nearly 27 years. Initially joining RBS as Finance Director, RBS Grop Treasury and GBM Money Markets. He served in several senior finance roles at the global firm. Rising to Group Chief of Staff, leading a team of 200 people, and working closely with the CEO.
His tenure includes international experience. Including a stint in Hong Kong as Finance Director, Asia Pacific, Global Banking and Markets and CAO International Banking. He was also Finance Director for Commercial and Private Banking from 2014 – 2019, which accounted for £5.7bn in annual revenues in 2019.
He began his career at Grant Thornton, where he became a chartered accountant (ICAEW) working in audit. As well as leaving Nat West, he also left his non-executive role and member of the Audit Committee for Motability Operations Ltd. The Boku role will keep him busy it seems. Though it will be interesting to see whether he gains more non-exec roles in the future.
Rob Whittick, Boku’s newly appointed CFO, commented, “I am excited to be joining Boku at such an important time in the company’s development. I am delighted to have the opportunity to leverage my domestic and international financial services experience to help Boku continue to evolve to support its customers across the globe. I look forward to working closely with Stuart and the team to drive continued growth and innovation, and to contribute to Boku’s ongoing success.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Boku has hired a steady and experienced head of finance in Whittick. His experience in international banking will be useful to the payments vendor. There will be a learning curve for Whittick with new responsibilities, as it is his first role in a tech company.
In that respect, the appointment is unusual; most tech firms hire finance leaders from within the industry. It will be interesting to see how he adjusts.
