EVP – International Strategy — Consumer-Finance Book

The mandate

An institutionally backed consumer-finance group has tested international growth through local licences, distribution partners and digital channels. Each initiative has a plausible story, but none was launched against the same entry gates. Some forecasts assume group funding without charging its value; others understate local servicing, collections or compliance capability. The investment committee has withheld further expansion until one executive creates comparable choices.

The EVP – International Strategy will govern a CHF 4,850 million asset and investment perimeter and lead approximately 300 employees and material partners. Scope includes market selection, entry model, partnerships, portfolio reviews, strategic transactions and the channel migration needed to serve customers efficiently. The role must carry enterprise authority across functions and markets rather than operate as a research office.

Every market thesis must connect addressable borrowers, credit data, pricing, funding, regulation, distribution, servicing, collections and exit optionality. The executive will decide when an owned model earns its capital, when a partnership protects flexibility and when a digital channel merely disguises local operating obligations. Failure gates matter as much as launch approval.

The first portfolio review may conclude that promising pilots deserve funding and that established projects should stop. The officer must make these decisions without confusing sunk cost with strategic commitment, while preserving customer and regulatory obligations through any migration or exit.

Market learning must be designed before launch. A pilot should answer a bounded question about acquisition, credit behaviour, funding or service, not become a small permanent business protected from comparison. The EVP will specify the observation period, minimum evidence and action that follows each result, including an orderly closure plan.

Strategic transactions may be appropriate where they shorten the path to local capability, but headline access is insufficient. Acquisition and joint-venture cases must include integration capacity, governance rights, minority protections and the cost of leaving. The strategy team will remain accountable when the attractive presentation becomes an operating commitment.

Why this seat is open

The seat is newly created for the next operating model. A planned four-to-six-month search permits the appointment before the next capital and talent cycle. Current leaders retain their mandates until activation, while confidentiality protects prospective market and partner choices.

What you will own

• Define common market-entry, continuation, scale and exit gates.
• Compare owned, partnered, acquired and cross-border digital models on fully loaded economics.
• Steward CHF 4,850 million of assets, investments, risk acceptance and board forecasts.
• Govern partner selection, incentives, data, control, service and exit rights.
• Connect channel migration to customer outcome, local capability and lifetime economics.
• Stop or reshape initiatives that miss evidence gates, regardless of sponsorship or sunk cost.
• Lead 300 employees and partners with succession for critical market and strategy roles.
• Present a three-year international portfolio with explicit downside and capital recycling.

The first 12 months

The first 90 days should catalogue commitments, decision rights and unresolved obligations by market. Meet the 30 stakeholders most consequential to expansion, including regulators, funders, partners, product, risk and country leaders. Rebuild the economics of the largest initiatives and test whether channel assumptions survive local service and collection requirements. Assess leadership and agree investment-committee gates.

Between months four and nine, fund, partner, pause or exit the principal initiatives. Renegotiate arrangements that misallocate economics or control, fill critical leadership gaps and migrate customers responsibly where the model changes. Deliver the first measurable release of cash, capacity or customer value and make future entry decisions repeatable.

By year end, the portfolio should demonstrate capital-efficient entry, explicit partnership choices and timely exits. Delivery must be within 10% of the approved case; forecasts should reconcile cash, customer, people and operating assumptions across three quarters. Priority issues must close on time with sustainable evidence, and no severe escalation may remain unresolved beyond 30 days.

What the board will measure

• Capital committed and recycled against common entry and continuation gates.
• Speed and quality of partnership, scale, pause and exit decisions.
• Risk-adjusted customer economics after funding, local service and collections.
• Forecast accuracy and disclosure of dependency or downside before commitment.
• Retain at least nine tenths of pivotal strategy talent and maintain immediate cover for seven tenths of direct-report roles.
• Quantified improvement in international-expansion discipline with named data ownership.

The person

You are an EVP Strategy, International Development Head or Chief Strategy Officer with 22–28 years in financial services or a similarly governed industry. You have exercised enterprise authority across functions and markets, with consequences visible in cash, customers or controlled risk.

You have owned at least CHF 2,800 million of P&L, budget, book or accountable portfolio and led 200 or more people; this role influences about 300. Your experience includes a market entry you stopped or redesigned and a partnership or channel choice whose outcomes persisted for two reporting periods.

You are analytically exact but action oriented. You can distinguish an attractive macro narrative from a defendable institutional advantage and maintain constructive relations after recommending that a sponsored initiative close.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is CHF 320,000–430,000 plus annual incentive. The permanent role is onsite in Zurich, supports international relocation and can accommodate notice up to six months. Final mix reflects verified scope and experience.

Confidentiality

Client identity is withheld until mutual relevance is established under confidentiality. Rounded ranges and blended events prevent triangulation of the organisation or its intended markets.