Ex-Commerzbank boss supports Unzer

Martin Blessing heads the fintech's newly established advisory board. He is to advise the management team around CEO Robert Bueninck.

Fintech Unzer is setting up an advisory board and can directly present prominent names as members. The company announced that former Commerzbank CEO Martin Blessing will head the board. After his time at Germany's second-largest financial institution, he served as co-president at UBS Global Wealth Management, among other positions. Currently, he is also chairman of the board of Danske Bank.

"I am extremely looking forward to the exchange and cooperation with Martin Blessing," says Unzer CEO Robert Bueninck: " His advice and support will help us seamlessly combine our ambitions as a high-growth FinTech with the further development of the company's structures." The new advisory board is also optimistic: "Together, we will build a payment and software champion that is firmly rooted in the DACH region."

In addition to Blessing, former Paypal Europe CEO Rupert Keeley and several representatives of majority shareholder KKR are also moving into the advisory board.

Payment provider Unzer, founded in 2009, has now won 70,000 customers for its end-to-end solutions. Earlier this year, the company acquired Berlin-based startup Tillhub to grow further. However, not everything is rosy at the fintech: At the end of August, Bafin had ordered a ban on new customers and appointed a special commissioner because the supervisory authority had identified several "in part serious deficiencies" at Unzer.