N26 has hired UBS’s chief operations and technology officer, Mike Dargan, to serve as its next CEO, effective in early April, the German neobank announced Sunday.
The hire ends a search that had extended at least since August, when N26’s co-founder, Valentin Stalf, said he would step down as co-CEO. That left fellow co-founder Max Tayenthal and then-board chair Marcus Mosen as co-CEOs of the neobank – with Mosen in an interim role.
Dargan addressed the move in a LinkedIn post Tuesday.
“What drew me to this role is both the clarity of the mission and the scale of the opportunity,” Dargan wrote. “The future of banking will be shaped by those who combine disruptive technology with unwavering client trust.”
He joined UBS in 2016 as chief information officer, and his role expanded to encompass digital in 2021, when he was elevated to the bank’s executive board. He became chief operations and technology officer in 2023, as UBS absorbed rival Credit Suisse.
“These years have been defined by meaningful transformation, and I am immensely grateful for the privilege of working with such a talented group of people,” Dargan said of his time at UBS. “Together, we built platforms at scale and strengthened how technology supports our clients globally.”
In the neobank’s release Monday, Tayenthal expressed confidence that he could “step back and put N26 in [Mike’s] very capable hands.”
Andreas Dombret, the former central banker who succeeded Mosen as N26’s chair, praised Dargan for his “deep industry expertise, … strong leadership track record and a clear vision for the evolution of the business.”
Dargan, for his part, said he is “incredibly honored” to begin his next professional chapter.
“Financial services are the lifeblood of any society, and I am deeply passionate about ensuring trust and strong customer outcomes,” he said. “My focus will be clear: to build on N26’s strong culture of innovation while strengthening its position as a trusted, world-class digital bank.”
Before UBS, Dargan served as CIO for corporate and institutional banking at Standard Chartered, and as managing director at Merrill Lynch and head of corporate strategy and mergers and acquisitions for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Pacific Rim, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Dargan’s appointment is subject to approval by the German regulator BaFin. The financial watchdog barred N26 on Monday from mortgage lending in the Netherlands after it found lapses in the neobank’s compliance framework.
As part of Monday’s order, BaFin appointed a special monitor to track N26’s progress in fixing the compliance issues and imposed additional capital requirements and business restrictions on N26.
The regulator previously ordered special oversight of N26 in 2021, over deficiencies in its anti-money laundering controls. That cost the neobank €4.25 million in penalties.
