SIBOS 2023: Fintech Futures interview of our CEO and CCO

Sirine Jelassi, Business Development Consultant-North America

From Tunis to the United States to Canada, following my American High School journey in Washington DC, I joined the University of Ottawa in Ontario from which I graduated in Commerce and Finance.

The idea of joining axefinance family was mainly driven by my passion for the business world specifically the banking industry, along with the emerging and innovative FinTech industry. This combination happens to be at the heart of axefinance’s core business. Joining such a global company involves dealing with colleagues & clients from across the globe and requires a certain level of flexibility, cultural awareness & openness which are skills that I acquired thanks to my personal journey across multiple geographies & cultures.
I first landed as part of the business development team in Amsterdam. My day-to-day responsibilities include but are not limited to identifying territories/leads in order to develop axefinance’s footprint and supporting clients & partners on a regular basis.

As part of axefinance strategic expansion plan along with my intention to relocate back to my second home Canada, we mutually agreed to bring to life the idea of exploring the North American market and we took on the challenge. Thanks to axefinance extensive expertise in lending digitalization along with its state-of-the-art solution, I strongly believe that we are well-positioned to succeed in this market that has shown to be quite responsive to our solicitations. The flexibility of our modular service offering is deemed to be well appreciated and highly needed.
Unsurprisingly, axefinance has proven to be successful in penetrating new markets by partnering with the most reputable financial institutions such as International Development Desjardins (North America), Société Générale (Europe), FAB, ADCB & Al-Rajhi Bank (Middle East), Vietcombank (Asia) and many others:

We look forward to exciting new opportunities.

Stay tuned!

Selim Chiboub, Project Director in the Professional Services Department (PS)

I am a proud Tunisian Canadian. I have two degrees, both from Montreal. I completed my bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business Management, and International Trade at HEC and then did a Master’s in Finance at UQAM.

Following my studies, I started my career in the banking industry as a broker, managing client portfolios and supporting business development. Then, in 2011, I decided to switch to the growing FinTech industry. This transition suited my desire for a faster pace and more actionable work.

Since April 2017, I have been with axefinance as a Project Director, working on solution implementation journeys in the PS department. With more than a decade’s experience in the banking and FinTech industries, I was entrusted from the outset with large-scale lending digitalization projects at First Abu Dhabi Bank, Abu Dhabi Commercial Banks, and alrajhi bank (KSA) to name a few. These types of large transformation projects are what I find most rewarding.

But what does my work actually entail?

The PS work starts much earlier than the transformational journey. As part of the selection process, we help both the bank and our business development teams in several ways. We first guide them to choose the right implementation approach: agile, hybrid, or waterfall. Then, we map out the project scope according to bank priorities, while setting ambitious yet achievable deadlines. This is all done in an inclusive manner, involving key stakeholders from the start to facilitate the entire project.

Once the implementation journey has begun, I actively participate in project governance, management, planning, and monitoring before handing off these processes to our Support & Customer Success teams.

How does my team ensure success?

There are many key factors that lead to successful implementation. Solid preparation is required before we even begin the scoping phase. It is crucial to have a deep understanding of the bank’s needs in order to adapt our implementation approach. No two banks are the same. Then, as with any good project management, we need to clearly define roles and responsibilities. Additionally, we always have strong quality assurance and testing plans.

Finally, we focus on bringing our innovative proposals and product excellence to our clients. axefinance has a wealth of expertise and our software is industry-leading.  We want to ensure that comes to the fore as we deliver a frictionless adoption of our ACP software by end-users at the bank offering steadfast support for effective change management.

It is exciting to come to work every day, where I get to play an integral role in axefinance being the long-term, proactive partner for our valued customers.

EYA, Software Engineer R & D Department,

While studying for an IT Management degree from IHEC (Carthage), I joined axefinance as an intern in February 2015. My final project was well received within axefinance and I was lucky enough to be hired immediately after my internship. I’m grateful that while working at axefinance during that time I could finish my master’s degree in IT & E-commerce. It was a challenging period with projects to deliver for both axefinance and my degree. At axefinance, I help in completing projects to improve ACP in order to maximize user efficiency and productivity (look & feel, UX and UI). I also deal with internal delivery processes.

It was easy for me to make the choice to join the team after my internship because I was impressed by the work atmosphere and commitment of the R&D team.

4 years in now and more experienced, but I’m still learning and finding new ways to contribute and add value. I especially appreciate two things at axefinance #1transparency, and #2 teams that help one’s personal growth. Many people are eager to join axefinance straight after their internship period for these two reasons. When I joined R&D, not only was the youngest team member but also the only girl. It was fun to see their eyes when I arrived…

Fares, Pre-Sales Business Solution Manager

I graduated from HEC Montréal – Canada with a Master of Science in Financial Engineering after a Telecommunication Engineering Diploma from Sup’Com. I’m also a certified as an International Professional Risk Manager.
My cumulative years of experience have allowed me to work in various environments but always within the financial industry, namely, asset management, software development, consulting and banking.

Furthermore, I’ve been lucky to have the chance to work within different cultures and collaborate with people from all over the world during my time in Canada & Qatar before joining the axefinance family in 2018.

In a typical day at axe, my team and I oversee the pre-sales activity. Our major concern is to understand a customer’s needs both technically and functionally and then work with them to confirm that ACP is the solution that addresses these needs. To successfully achieve this, our main responsibilities are to answer to RFI/RFQ/RFP, conduct onsite and remote Demos, Prepare and present POCs. We also actively provide feedback for the ACP Enhancement Roadmap, keeping our colleagues in the loop about the needs of our market.
axefinance is full of highly skilled and open-minded individuals from who I’m continually learning. I’m very satisfied with my work, and look forward to continuing an international minded and challenging experience in fintech while working in an expanding company focused on delivering quality and client satisfaction.

Latifa, Ph.D., Integration Engineering

I joined axefinance early 2018, when I performed my joint Ph.D. research (The Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Portugal & ISITCom Tunisia) I have several international contributions related to the BPM, Software Engineering and Health Informatics research areas. I’m attracted by both technical and business sides of my role at axefinance, since banking has always been a challenging industry for me.

In a typical day at axefinance, I’m supporting the implementation, improvement & optimization of ACP solution and its integration with third-parties systems. I also, deal with consolidating and deploying the implemented solution in our local environment in order to meet the banks’ expectations.
I am proud of myself as I got my first appreciation certificate from the bank during my first onsite mission at FAB. What I appreciate the most at axefinance is working in an international environment, learning from highly skilled and open-minded managers focusing on client satisfaction. At axefinance, our leitmotiv is “work hard, play hard”: during company meetings and team buildings we share friendly moments and it makes me feel like we are really a family. So proud to grow up within the axefinance  family.

Ngoc Truong (Ruby), Business Development Manager

I graduated from the University of Paris Pantheon – Assas – with a Master of Projects Management. Since the time I came back to Vietnam in 2015, my cumulative years of experience have allowed me to work through multiple positions in the financial and banking industry, from an RM for a Korean bank to a project leader of a leading bank in Vietnam and now a Business Development Manager for the Fintech market. Before joining axefinance family, I’ve had a chance to experience the French culture and to work with partners from various countries in the world, which makes me comfortable and familiar with axefinance global culture since day one.

On a typical day at axe, my team and I concentrate our efforts on expanding our business in different regions in the world and typically, myself, in Vietnam and in the Asia Pacific. In the same spirit of axe customer centralization, I’m happy to give advice, share our best practices, and help our clients to make better decisions on how to address their credit automation needs through our solutions/services and to grow with them day by day.
My favorite quote is: “ Xoi loi troi cho, so do troi lay “, this applies to all situations in your life, from relationships with family members to relationships with colleagues, bosses, and business partners. Things in life often don’t go your way, luck will find people who are generous. This is also one of the ways to keep a long and lasting relationship with any people in your life, including your family, friends, clients, etc.

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