News from the Wire

Fintech Glint hires Emmanuel Ide to head engineering

Thursday, March 25, 2021 — 12:13:10 (EDT)

March 25, 2021—Glint, the global gold-based payments system that allows clients & businesses to instantly and securely save, spend and share real gold, has hired Emmanuel Ide as its new Head of Engineering to develop the fintech’s platform and play an integral role in positioning Glint as the leading global, alternative currency.

Emmanuel has 15 years leadership experience in technology and product, working for B2C and B2B start-ups and scale-ups. He was most recently Chief Technology Officer at Curio, a media platform for high quality audio journalism. As CTO, Emmanuel was responsible for founding and growing both the product teams and data teams to support the rapid growth of the company. During his tenure as CTO, Curio successfully closed a $9m Series A funding round in September 2020.

Prior to Curio, Emmanuel demonstrated a strong record of building and managing high performing teams and successful products, holding roles as Head of Technology at online accountancy firm Crunch, CTO at art therapy non-profit Chroma, Head of Development at a business logistics specialist Quru, as well as software development roles at Motorola and Shop.com. Emmanuel was also CTO at financial services price comparison platform, BeatThatQuote, which was acquired by Google for almost £40m in 2011.

As Glint’s new Head of Engineering, Emmanuel will be responsible for growing a world-class product team to continue to enhance the user experience and deliver new features for clients. This hire is integral to Glint fulfilling its growth plans and expanding market share. Currently, Glint has processed £147m ($208m) in transactions since launch in 2016.

Jason Cozens, Founder & CEO of Glint, says: “Emmanuel brings fantastic expertise to Glint and we’re delighted to welcome him to the team. As a fintech, we know the user experience of our platform is integral to our success and this is something that he will be overhauling over the next few months. This is something that our clients expect, and Emmanuel is the perfect hire to meet this challenge and lead the creation of a truly world-class mobile app and platform.”

“Consumers have been punished for saving for years, with inflation outperforming historically low interest rates, the continuation of quantitative easing and seemingly endless government borrowing all combining to erode the value of our cash. In this climate, consumers need a store of value and means of exchange that allows them to maximise their wealth – I believe that gold has always been the answer to this. However, accessibility to gold has always been limited; Glint has unlocked access to using gold as an everyday, global currency for the first time in centuries. We firmly believe that gold is security, Glint its key.”

Emmanuel Ide, Head of Engineering at Glint, adds: “Glint’s ambition to democratise gold and to give everyone an equal opportunity to prosper is inspirational. I’m proud to be joining such a talented leadership team with a deep knowledge of the industry and have a great opportunity to shape Glint’s future and establish it as a premier payments platform. Jason and everyone at Glint firmly believe that gold is the best option for anyone looking to maintain their purchasing power over the long-term, even though we are all aware that it can go down in value too. I have the exciting role of building on and leading a dedicated team that are already working tirelessly to ensure that Glint’s platform provides our clients with the best possible user experience to allow them to take advantage of the alternative currency revolution.”

Glint adds that this new hire is the latest step in the fintech’s efforts to increase market share and grow the business. Key developments in recent months including:

Securing “Principal Member” status with Mastercard®, meaning it can now issue the Glint card directly to UK customers and issue on behalf of other institutions and corporates, unlocking new commercial opportunities and revenue streams. Glint now holds a UK Mastercard® Licence

The UK launch of Glint It!, Glint’s peer-to-peer (P2P) tool allowing real gold and other currencies to be sent instantly and securely between Glint accounts – a global first. Glint It! is currently available in over 200 countries and will be launched in the US this year

Opening the largest corporate account to date for asset manager Perspective Investments, which is storing its capital in gold and offering to pay staff salaries in gold

In addition, Glint has raised a total of over £20m ($28m) since launch, with further fundraising imminent.

Press information

Glint Pay Services Ltd. (glintpay.com) is a fintech company, based in London, Boulder (US) and Tokyo, that uses gold as an alternative global currency to enable its clients instantly to buy, sell, save, spend and now, share their physical gold and other currencies, through the Glint Mastercard® and Glint App.

Glint offers no credit facilities, it allows users to transfer, receive and save real gold, which is secured in Brink’s vaults in Switzerland.

Glint has generated approximately 160,000 app downloads, 75,000 registered users and more than USD 200 million in transaction volumes.

The new Glint P2P offer, Glint it!, allows customers to instantly send or receive money, including real, spendable gold and other currencies between Glint account holders. This facility is available as part of the Glint app which can be downloaded to smartphones from Apple’s App Store and Google Play.

Glint is authorised and regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority which has given permission for Glint to issue electronic money (e-money) and provide payment services (FRN 900657).

Gold is not regulated by the FCA. However, Glint’s clients know their gold is secured in a Brinks Vault in Switzerland. Brinks is insured by Lloyds of London and their policy covers the replacement value of Glint client’s Gold as held in their vault.

The Glint card is issued by Glint Pay Services Ltd pursuant to licence by Mastercard International Inc.

Whilst we strongly believe that gold is the fairest and most reliable currency on the planet, we obviously need to point out that it isn’t 100% risk free. Whilst we have seen a steady increase over time, the value of gold can fall, which means the purchasing power of the customer can also fall.

The Green Sheet Inc. is now a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals. Click here for more information: bankcardlife.com?orid=33533&opid=1 .

Source: Company press release.