PensionBee appoints former Klarna exec to its board

Online pension provider PensionBee has appointed Lara Oyesanya, former legal counsel to both Klarna and Barclays, to its board.

Oyesanya joins the board as a non-executive director as she serves as general counsel and company secretary to Zepz. 

She operates across the international money transfer service’s main brands, WorldRemit and SendWave, as part of the executive team.

Having held a number of senior roles at FTSE 100 and financial services businesses, Oyesanya brings legal counsel experience from both fintech and traditional banking through her time at Klarna and Barclays.

Most recently, Oyesanya was previously general counsel and chief risk officer at Contis Group, and brings “extensive legal, regulatory and commercial experience” as well as “significant compliance, governance and data privacy expertise” to the role.

“I have followed PensionBee's growth story for a number of years and long admired their industry-leading customer proposition, but also their commitment to upholding the highest standards,” Oyesanya said. 

Oyesanya is a barrister of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and a solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales.

“Lara will be a fantastic addition to our Board,” PensionBee CEO Romi Savova said.

“Her deep understanding of legal, regulatory and governance matters further strengthens the existing mix of skills and experience on our Board and our shared values of always doing the right thing by our customers, colleagues and society."

The appointment comes as part of a series of good news for the company, as it moved to the Premium Segment of the London Stock Exchange last week.

The Premium Segment is reserved for listed companies that meet the exchange’s highest standard of governance and regulation.

At the same time, PensionBee also reiterated its goal of hitting £20m in revenue in a trading update and increased its invested customer base to 138,000.

The pension provider also shared that its gender pay gap has been reduced to just 1.6 per cent with a 0 per cent median bonus pay gap.

This news came as the company won the diversity and inclusion award at the UK Fintech Awards, in addition to fintech of the year and pensions tech of the year.