UK challenger Tandem Bank has appointed former BT exec Russell Strevens as its new chief technology officer (CTO), effective immediately.
Strevens, a veteran technology leader with over 30 years of experience, takes over from Suavek Zajac, who departed in August to join German firm AirHelp as CTO. During his year at Tandem, Zajac played a critical role in launching the bank’s digital lending platform, Connect, which was introduced in April to automate second charge mortgage processes for brokers.
In his new position, Strevens will be responsible for “simplifying the bank’s propositions, boosting app performance and capability, and accelerating its use of AI to enhance both customer and colleague experiences”, states Tandem.
Strevens joins the company from London-based paytech Small World Financial Services, where he has served as CTO since 2020. He took on this role following the closure of Bó, NatWest’s digital challenger bank, where he was credited with transforming its mobile banking concept into a live current account that served 10,000 users.
Earlier in his career, Strevens spent nearly a decade at BT, eventually becoming CIO for BT Consumer. In this position, he led the technology strategy for broadband, mobile, TV, and digital services. He also spent close to 10 years at Accenture and two years as IT portfolio director for equity derivatives at UBS.
In 2025, Tandem also welcomed a new CEO, with Neil Chandler, the former chief of Vanquis Bank, succeeding Alex Mollart in June after his three-year tenure at the helm of the challenger.
For more insights into Tandem’s technology initiatives, listen to the recent What the FinTech? podcast episode featuring former CTO Zajac. In the episode, Zajac discusses how the bank balances delivering personalised services with its commitment to environmental sustainability, as well as the emerging technologies that could transform eco-friendly banking practices.
Source: https://www.fintechfutures.com/
