FinTech specialist merchant bank SenaHill Partners has made a series of senior appointments to drive its next stage of growth. As the firm continues to invest in talent to support its global client base and meet the increasing demand for its FinTech advisory and portfolio investing services, the new team members will leverage their proven industry success to bolster the firm’s already deep roster.
As a response to global industry and client requirements, SenaHill has structured itself for expansion with a focus on five principal sectors: Banking and Payments; Capital Markets and Exchanges; Emerging Technologies and Infrastructure; InsurTech and Information Providers; and WealthTech. New team members include:
- Richard Korhammer joins SenaHill to head its Capital Markets and Exchange business. A respected senior executive and strategic advisor, Rich has spent his career building and growing companies within the technology, trading, market data, finance, and exchange sectors. As the CEO, co-founder, and chairman of Lava Trading, he successfully guided the firm from its inception to its acquisition by Citigroup Inc. where he became MD of Global Electronic Trading for equities. Rich is also serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Yieldbroker Pty Ltd, Australia’s leading regulated exchange for OTC debt and derivative asset classes. Throughout his career, Rich has also held roles as a senior advisor to Lightyear Capital, a multi-billion leading financial services-focused private equity firm; was CEO of Airex, Inc. a research aggregation platform (where he currently serves on the board of directors) and was CEO of market data company Vela Trading Technology (formerly SR Labs).
- Alex Weil, who joins SenaHill as head of InsurTech and Information Providers, brings nearly 25 years of experience in investment banking and strategy for FinTech, insurance, banking, capital markets, and asset management businesses. Throughout his career, he has advised senior management teams on their most critical strategic imperatives across M&A and capital markets activities, growth and innovation, and product and operating model strategies. Alex will leverage his deep domain expertise and extensive experience to help SenaHill’s clients navigate and capitalize on the large-scale disruption occurring in financial services. Prior to SenaHill, he held leadership positions at Strategy& (the global strategy consulting team at PwC), Lazard Middle Market, UBS, Citi, General Electric, William Blair and AAM Company. He is also a CFA charterholder.
Justin Brownhill, Managing Partner at SenaHill said: “The addition of these industry leaders who have deep domain knowledge allows our team to deliver a superior level of client and consultative services as we simultaneously accelerate our global business as a leader across the FinTech sector. From the outset, SenaHill has focused on providing a unique blend of experience, innovation, and access to our emerging portfolio companies and advisory clients alike, and we are excited to add this level of senior talent as we continue to expand across the FinTech ecosystem.”
With the addition of Richard and Alex and its new structure, SenaHill is proactively positioning itself to best guide its clients during the next phase of market innovation.
The capital markets have experienced many transformations, including electronification moving towards all asset classes, different market segments becoming the leading liquidity providers, regulatory-driven new mandates for better transparency and sheer landscape-changing technologies not seen since the advent of the internet. Working effectively in this new mosaic will require many new skill-sets and strategies.
A tsunami of technology advancements in the insurance industry is set to radically change the nature of relationships between the insured and the insurer, the nature of risk and the value of data analyzed to assess it. These rapidly moving large-scale changes due to IoT and our more ‘connected’ world, among others, will force market participants to innovate or risk being left behind. As a result, firms need to align themselves with the right partners to ensure they capitalize on the InsurTech-driven disruption, which is currently in its early innings with unchartered opportunities ahead.
