CEO, Board & C-level search
Financial Services Executive Search in CEE
Menity leads retained searches for CEOs, board members, CFOs, CHROs, CTOs and CIOs in financial services across CEE, including appointments during mergers, cost reduction and business transformation.
We help boards, CEOs, CHROs and private equity investors compare internal and external candidates and decide whom to appoint. Succession planning and management assessment are also available without a search.
Co-Founder & Managing Partner since 2007
Former HR Director, HVB Bank–UniCredit integration
Sector focus
Banking · Insurance · Leasing · Payments · Consumer Finance · Fintech
Core markets
Slovakia · Czechia · Hungary · Austria
Before you hire, promote or invest
When to involve Menity
01
Compare internal and external candidates against your priorities and the regulator’s fit and proper criteria. Establish who is ready, what gaps remain and when.
03
Assess whether your CFO, CHRO and business leaders can deliver planned savings while retaining critical people and maintaining service and controls.
05
Build credible alternatives before announcing a change. Agree who knows about the search and when to disclose the institution's identity.
02
Decide who should lead the combined business. Compare executives from both organisations against the new roles and identify where an external appointment is needed.
04
Define what your CIO or CTO must deliver. Verify what candidates achieved in core system replacement and data migration without disrupting service.
06
Before closing, assess whether management can deliver the investment plan. After closing, decide whom to keep and which roles to fill within the first 100 days.
Completed mandates
Who our clients appointed
Menity assesses candidates through structured interviews and references, adding a business case or psychometrics where relevant. Client names remain confidential. On average, more than 90% of the leaders we place remain in role 18 months after appointment.
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PE-backed fintech · Market expansion · Three CEE markets · 2024
Chief Executive Officer, CEE
Shortlisted candidates were not seeking a new role.
The brief: a private equity investor expanding a Western European fintech into three CEE markets needed a CEO with financial services and technology market-entry experience and knowledge of the region.
Our contribution: we searched four countries and assessed the market entries each candidate had personally led, their go-to-market decisions and the market share they could substantiate.
The appointed CEO delivered the CEE expansion and achieved the client’s target market share.
Insurance · M&A readiness · DACH search · 2025
Management Board Member, Commercial
An international insurer needed a commercial board member with expansion, digital product and distribution experience to prepare for potential M&A. The appointment required regulatory approval.
We assessed internal candidates from two countries against the external market and identified a candidate in DACH.
The client appointed the DACH candidate and, on our advice, promoted an internal candidate to a new role.
Banking · Finance transfer · Five-country search · 2024
Chief Financial Officer
A bank’s international operational centre needed a CFO with regulated banking experience who had transferred country finance functions into a regional centre.
We searched five CEE countries, shortlisted five candidates with cross-border experience and assessed two internal candidates. A tailored business simulation and psychometrics tested strategic thinking and how each candidate would run the finance transfer.
The client appointed the candidate we recommended.
Conversations with financial services leaders
Leaders Talk
Sandra Balážiková
Head of Human Resources
ING Hubs Slovakia
In conversation with Vladimír Janík. October 2026
Sector perspectives · CEE · October 2026
How leadership roles are changing
Sector developments and what we test when assessing candidates for senior appointments.
CIO / CTO / Board
Board accountability for ICT risk
DORA requires management bodies to oversee ICT risk and maintain the knowledge and skills to assess it.
We examine technology candidates’ incident and recovery decisions, and board candidates’ experience challenging management on outages, supplier dependence and corrective action.
Questions before a senior mandate
What boards, CEOs and CHROs ask first
How long does a CEO, board or C-level search take when regulatory approval is required?
Our planning target is a qualified shortlist by week four and a preferred-candidate decision within 8–12 weeks of the confirmed brief. The regulator’s assessment and the candidate's notice period come after that; we plan both from the start, as approval timelines differ by country.
Can you tell us before the offer whether a candidate is likely to pass the fit and proper assessment?
We can identify the risks; the decision remains with the regulator. Before the shortlist, we check each candidate's experience, reputation, potential conflicts of interest, independence and time commitment against the role, and raise any concerns before you make an offer.
Are there banks or insurers whose executives you cannot approach for us?
Before accepting your mandate, we check off-limits restrictions for your target institutions. A smaller client portfolio means fewer restrictions and more executives we can approach.
Speak with Vladimír Janík
Discuss a search or leadership review
Tell us which role or leadership decision you are considering, and what needs to change.
Co-Founder &
Managing Partner
Leads Menity’s Financial Services assignments.
Based in Prague. Working across CEE.
Confidential. Retained. Partner-led.