Global FinTech DirectID has today announced that it has signed David Freeman as the new Chief operating Officer (COO). 

Freeman began his tenure with DirectID on January 5th and will take charge of the Product Development and Customer Success teams within DirectID.  

A former member of the British Army, Freeman has formerly worked at Lloyds Banking Group, spent close to three years working at Amazon, most recently in the Edinburgh Development Centre, before going on to work for AND Digital helping Lloyds Banking Group to deliver digital pension journeys in a more Agile way. 

Key to his new responsibilities at DirectID will be the emergence of a new Data Science Team. DirectID, which has a wealth of data from analysing over 3m+ bank statements, has identified that future product development, and enhancement of current propositions will be led by the insights gleaned from this, and other product data.  

DirectID has already hired one data scientist to complement the Product Development Team and will look to make new acquisitions through 2021. 

The news comes as it was announced that DirectID upped its headcount by 25% through 2020 despite the pandemic while also doubling turnover. The company plans to further increase headcount with the introduction of ten new members of staff brought on board courtesy of the government’s ‘Kickstarter scheme’.  

Freeman commented: 

I am delighted to have kicked off this exciting new chapter for DirectID. Over the last few years, DirectID were well known as one of the most innovative and exciting FinTech companies in Scotland, launching the best products based on Open Banking and bank data.

My goal now is to further enhance the development of new and existing products through 2021 and beyond. There are few companies in Scotland that have the access to as much data as DirectID, and the launch of our data strategy and Data Science Division, will ensure that our products meet exactly the needs of the market. I look forward to working with the DirectID team to build and launch the most sophisticated and market leading tools based on bank data, that have yet been brought to market. 

James Varga, CEO of DirectID said: 

It has been a long search to find an individual with the technical expertise, experience and mental capabilities required for this exacting position. It’s great that we have David as the person who will be able to execute on this position, and I have no doubt that he will be a tremendous asset to the whole team. 

We have known for some time that the products we have launched have been of the highest standard, but also felt, that with the right data analysis and insights, that we could do even more. With David's introduction, allied with the creation of our Data Science Division, I now feel that we are in a position to further consolidate our position in the market and continue to grow and delight our user base of customers.