Mollie promotes CTO Koen Köppen to CEO

Dutch fintech Mollie has just appointed Koen Köppen as its new CEO.

Köppen joined the company as chief technology officer (CTO) last May after spending more than a decade at Swedish ‘buy now, pay later’ giant Klarna, the last five of which were in the role of CTO.

He takes over the role from Shane Happach, who has served as Mollie’s CEO for just under two years.

“We’ve been very impressed by Koen’s achievements and drive over the last eight months,” Mollie chair Eli Leenaars said.

“His promotion is richly deserved and we are confident in his ability to lead Mollie’s further growth and evolution.”

Köppen was first brought on board to support Mollie’s expansion into “world-class” financial services.

According to the company, he will now drive its mission to simplify complex financial services and level the playing field for small and medium-sized e-commerce platforms looking to challenge larger competitors.

Köppen’s appointment is conditional on approval from the Dutch Central Bank as Happach leaves the company to take on “a leadership role in Asia”.

“Shane can be proud of the company he leaves behind, leading our Series C funding round and our move into financial services. We wish him the very best in his new role,” Leenaars added.

As part of his role as CEO, Köppen will also spearhead the development of Mollie Capital, which launched last September.

Having “turned Klarna into a product delivery machine”, Köppen will increase the pace of product development and delivery for Mollie’s new move into the financial services that gives customers flexible access to funding.