Polish listed brokerage XTB (WSE:XTB) has installed Jakub Leonkiewicz as head of the group’s leadership team, taking over the role of the company’s Chairman of the Supervisory Board.
Leonkiewicz is no stranger to XTB, as already held the same position from 2015 to January 2017. He is also one of the co-founders of the foreign exchange (FX) brokerage, which was established in 2003 and then expanded its operations to other European markets.
After selling a minority stake in the company to Enterprise Investors in 2010, Leonkiewicz switched his focus to the development of the brokerage platform and liquidity provider X Open Hub Ltd.
Leonkiewicz has been actively involved in XTB’s operations but also acted as an investor in various FinTech ventures, which “don’t conduct in any form of a competitive activity or participate in a competitive entity,” XTB confirmed in its statement.
Earlier last year, XTB saw its longtime executive and Chief Executive Officer Jakub Maly relinquish his role as the Chairman of its Board of Directors. The decision to supplant Maly came on the heels of the lackluster aftermath of XTB’s IPO as well as shifting trends in the Polish regulatory regime, with regard to FX. Since debuting in May 2016, XTB’s share prices and financial results have also been mixed, possibly paving the way for a changing of the guard.
At the time, the company said in a statement: “Mr. Jakub Maly was dismissed from the position of the Management Board’s President. This decision is strategic and results from the need to ensure by the Supervisory Board proper dynamic of the Company’s value growth. The Supervisory Board believes that the pace of strategic goals realization and the capital group’s development has not been sufficient so far. Therefore the Board decided to make changes in the Management Board’s composition.”
Leonkiewicz has a lengthy career in business development and the financial services space. He began in 2001 at Interhyp.de, having also worked at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. The majority of his career has been relegated to JPMorgan for over thirteen years in which he held multiple roles.
This includes stints as an analyst in the merger and acquisition team in London and since 2012 as the Director of the JPMorgan in Warsaw. He also headed JPMorgan in Poland and the Baltic states.
(Photo: XTB)
