N26 Appoints Marc Hess as CFO, Completing Management Board Overhaul
N26 Appoints Marc Hess as CFO, Completing Management Board Overhaul #
Berlin-based digital bank N26 has appointed Marc Hess as chief financial officer and managing director of both N26 SE and N26 Bank SE, completing an executive rebuild that unfolded over the past year under chief executive Mike Dargan.
Hess, 53, joins effective 15 October 2026, subject to regulatory approval. He succeeds Arnd Schwierholz, who stepped down at the end of August after three and a half years in the role. Chief operating officer Aytac Aydin has covered CFO duties on an interim basis since September.
Hess has more than two decades of senior banking experience. He served as CFO of Deutsche Postbank from 2007, was elevated to deputy chief executive in 2015, and held the position of global CFO of Deutsche Bank’s private and business clients division for several years at the same time. He then spent six years as CFO of Aareal Bank, leaving at the end of 2024 following a mutual agreement with its supervisory board.
Dr Andreas Dombret, chairman of N26’s supervisory board, said in a statement that Hess’s “deep understanding of retail banking, capital management and regulatory resilience” complemented the leadership profiles already in place and confirmed that all seats on the management board are now filled. Hess described N26 as entering “the next phase of maturity and growth,” while Dargan said the hire would help write “the next chapter of N26.”
The appointment is the last in a near-total renewal of N26’s executive team. Since Dargan, a former UBS executive, took the helm in April, the bank has also brought in a new chief operating officer, chief product and business officer, and chief technology officer. N26 remains under elevated regulatory scrutiny: Germany’s BaFin installed a special monitor at the bank last December. N26 said it plans a significant expansion of its retail banking product line beginning in the fourth quarter and continuing into next year.
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