N26 has hired Aytac Aydin from Oldenburgische Landesbank as chief operating officer and managing director of N26 SE and N26 Bank SE, the German digital bank said today (Wednesday).
He will join on July 15 alongside an expanded mandate for current Chief Business Officer Daniel Lappas and a reporting overhaul that places the country chiefs for Spain, Italy, and France directly under Chief Executive Officer Mike Dargan.
Aydin's appointment remains subject to approval from German financial regulator BaFin, the company said in a statement.
From OLB's Sale to Berlin's Largest Neobank
Aydin spent more than four years at OLB, most recently as chief operating officer and head of retail and SME banking, where he sat on the management board and worked on the lender's sale process.
OLB's shareholders agreed in March 2025 to sell the entire share capital to TARGO Deutschland GmbH, a subsidiary of France's Credit Mutuel Alliance Federale, with the deal closing in January 2026.
At N26, Aydin will oversee technology, operations, and legal functions, according to the company. The mandate places him at the center of an infrastructure agenda Dargan has prioritized since taking the CEO seat in April from UBS.
"Aytac's experience leading complex operational and technological transformations in the banking sector will be invaluable as we continue to scale our platform," Dargan said in the statement.
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Before OLB, Aydin served as chief operating officer at Nova KBM in Slovenia between 2019 and 2022, where he led the merger of the country's second- and third-largest banks. Earlier in his career, he ran Turkish business process outsourcing firm CMC Turkey as chief executive.
Lappas Gets Product Portfolio in Combined Mandate
The second move expands the brief of Daniel Lappas, who joined N26 in 2022 as general manager for DACH and Northern Europe and stepped up to chief business officer earlier this year. Under the new title of chief product and business officer, Lappas will absorb the product division, unifying commercial strategy and product development under a single executive.
The product portfolio at N26 has cycled through several hands in recent years. The bank brought in former Binance executive Mayur Kamat as chief product officer in early 2024, a hire that came as N26 was rolling out its stock and ETF trading platform and broadening into savings accounts across 13 European markets.
Country Managers Pulled Into the CEO's Line
The third change is structural. The country general managers for Spain, Italy, and France will report directly to Dargan rather than through an intermediate layer, the bank said. N26 framed the move as a step to give its core European growth markets more representation at the top of the company.
The Berlin firm operates in 24 markets and has identified Southern Europe as a focus area for retention and product depth.
Reshuffle Caps a Year of Upheaval
The latest changes follow a turbulent stretch for N26. BaFin imposed fresh restrictions on the bank in late 2025, including a ban on new mortgage lending in the Netherlands, and installed a special monitor after an audit flagged structural weaknesses. The watchdog also ordered N26 to hold additional capital.
The pressure prompted a leadership rebuild that began with the appointment of former Bundesbank executive Andreas Dombret as supervisory board chairman in August 2025, followed by Dargan's hire from UBS. Co-founder Valentin Stalf stepped aside as joint CEO in the same period.
"Aytac Aydin brings deep operational and banking expertise as well as extensive experience leading transformation at scale," Dombret said in the statement.
Senior Hiring Picks Up Across European Neobanks
The pace of executive moves at N26 reflects a broader hiring cycle across European neobanks, which are layering in regulated-finance experience as scrutiny intensifies.
UK-based Revolut, the largest competitor by user base, this month hired former Coinbase risk chief Michael Schroeder as global head of crypto expansion and named former African Bank CEO Gaby Magomola as chairman of its South African unit in November.
N26 has also lost senior staff during the same period. Marketing director Kertu-Liina Lehismae departed for investment platform Mintos, and Chief Regulatory Officer Jan Stechele left in 2024.
The Berlin bank, founded in 2013, has roughly 8 million customers and a 1,600-strong workforce. Its valuation has been reset sharply lower since the 2021 peak of $9 billion, with Allianz X having marked its stake at a $3 billion company valuation in 2023.
