Fintech bank recruits music & betting CTO David Jeffrey

Online wealth management firm MoneyFarm has appointed a CTO from the media and music industry as part of the leadership team as it prepares for a UK launch. David Jeffrey joins MoneyFarm from Last.fm the challenger online music business that in recent years has disrupted the music industry.

Jeffrey was CTO for Last.fm for the last three years, developing the broadcaster’s use of data and software innovation that has been behind the business’ rapid growth. Jeffrey comes from a long line of former Betfair technologists that have taken on leading CIO and CTO positions, including Paul Cutter, Rorie Devine of Hailo and Tony McAlister. Jeffrey was Chief Software Architect at Betfair for nine years, joining when it was still a start-up and helping to build the world’s largest online betting exchange.

At MoneyFarm Jeffery will have responsibility for developing MoneyFarm’s ‘mobile first’ approach which will allow investors to manage every aspect of their wealth portfolio from a mobile device, including the development of the app allowing investors to manage their wealth portfolio. MoneyFarm claims that up until now UK based financial services firms have only made a small slice of their services available to users on mobile devices as opposed to desktops.

Jeffrey’s technology team will almost double in size by the end of 2016, with the majority of this growth in technology staff taking place in MoneyFarm’s London office.

“The brand’s ‘mobile-first’ approach is almost unique in UK financial services and is set to be a major part of revolution in how FS companies deliver their services.

“MoneyFarm sees technology as a central function of its business and a key differentiator. We see in-house development of our own proprietary technology as key to that. It is hard to deliver innovative technology that will deliver the very best in customer service if you are reliant on off-the-shelf technology,” he said in a statement. CTOs from the gaming industry, such as Finbarr Joy at William Hill have been at the forefront of bringing customer facing developments in-house, while outsource providers focus on the commodity and standardised services.